"Rooted & Grounded" - Part Two: "AGENCY - The Power Working Within"

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BRIEF SUMMARY: In Rooted & Grounded, Part Two: The Power Working Within, Pastor Bryan Hudson teaches from Ephesians 3:14–21 that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think because His power is working within believers. Being rooted and grounded in love gives us stability, while God’s inner power gives us strength, confidence, and responsibility.

The sermon emphasizes that believers are not powerless, even when they feel weak or overwhelmed. God’s power within us gives us agency—the ability to act, choose, make decisions, resist oppression, and make a difference. Pastor Hudson connects this spiritual truth to personal life, ministry, history, and justice, showing that God’s power is not only for personal blessing but also for serving others and impacting systems.

The main message is: God’s power within us enables us to live in victory, bless others, and use our God-given agency to make a difference in the world.

DETAILED SUMMARY

Series Title: Rooted & Grounded   Part Two: The Power Working Within
Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.
Main Text: Ephesians 3:14–21

Key Verse: Ephesians 3:20,  “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…” 

Central Theme

This sermon teaches that God’s power is not only above us or around us, but working within us. Pastor Hudson connects Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 to the believer’s personal life, the church’s corporate mission, and the broader responsibility to use God-given power to bless others and confront unjust systems.

The message moves from personal encouragement to social responsibility. God’s power within believers is not merely for feeling better, receiving blessings, or personal success. It is also for agency, dominion, service, courage, justice, and community impact.

1. Review of Part One: Rooted and Grounded

Pastor Hudson begins by reviewing the first part of the series. He explains that the phrase “rooted and grounded”combines two images:

Rooted is an agricultural term. It pictures a tree planted deeply in soil, drawing life, nourishment, and stability from its roots.

Grounded is an architectural term. It pictures a building resting on a strong foundation.

The point is clear:
There is no growth without roots, and there is no structure without foundation.

Believers must be rooted in God’s love and grounded on a solid spiritual foundation. This foundation prepares them to understand and experience the power of God working within them.

2. Paul’s Prayer in Ephesians 3

The sermon centers on Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14–21. Pastor Hudson highlights the major blessings Paul prays for:

The believer is strengthened with might through the Holy Spirit in the inner person. Christ dwells in the heart by faith. The believer is rooted and grounded in love. The saints are able to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of Christ’s love. They come to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. They are filled with all the fullness of God.

Then Paul reaches the powerful conclusion:
“Now to Him who is able…”

Pastor Hudson emphasizes that the words “He is able” summarize the confidence of the passage. God is able to do what we cannot do. He is able to work beyond human weakness, limited resources, opposition, uncertainty, and difficult circumstances.

3. God’s Ability Works Through God’s Power in Us

A major point of the sermon is that God’s ability is not disconnected from believers. God does exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think according to the power that works in us.

This means God’s power is not only external. It operates internally through believers.

Pastor Hudson stresses that life contains situations, circumstances, opportunities, and uncertainties. In all of these, believers need the mindset that God is able. But they must also understand that God often works through the power He has placed within them.

This power is not only for individual comfort. It is for generational impact, ministry, witness, and service. Pastor Hudson uses the example of ministry at a juvenile center, where young men were saved, to show that lives are changed when God’s power works through people.

4. God Is Never in a Slump

Pastor Hudson uses sports illustrations to explain that people may go through “slumps,” but God never does.

He references athletes such as James Harden and Shohei Ohtani to show that gifted people may have seasons when they do not seem to perform at their normal level. Yet the ability remains within them.

He applies this spiritually: believers may feel like they are in a slump, but God is never in a slump. The Holy Spirit is never in a slump. The Word of God is never in a slump.

Therefore, when believers feel weak, stuck, or discouraged, the issue is not that God’s power has disappeared. The issue is learning how to reconnect with, believe in, and act according to what God has already placed within them.

5. The Meaning of “Power”: Dunamis

Pastor Hudson explains that the Greek word for power in the New Testament is dunamis. He connects it to the idea of dynamite, noting that it refers to inherent ability, force, or capacity.

This power is not merely emotional excitement. It is the power residing in something by virtue of its nature. For believers, this means God has placed real spiritual capacity within them.

The sermon emphasizes that believers should not speak against what God has placed inside them. Even when they do not feel powerful, they should agree with God’s Word.

Pastor Hudson says believers should not primarily ask, “How do I feel?” Instead, they should ask, “What do I believe?”

Faith-filled speech matters because people hear their own words. What believers say can either strengthen or weaken their faith.

6. Powerlessness Is a Feeling, Not the Truth

Pastor Hudson identifies one of the worst feelings people can have: the feeling of powerlessness.

However, he warns that feelings are data, not final truth. A person may feel powerless, but that does not mean they are powerless.

He refers to 2 Corinthians 2:10–11, where Paul says believers are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. Pastor Hudson applies this principle by teaching that one of Satan’s devices is to make people feel powerless.

The enemy wants believers to accept the idea that they cannot act, decide, resist, speak, move, or make a difference. But this is deception.

The believer must reject the lie of powerlessness because God’s power is working within.

7. Agency: A Key Concept in the Sermon

A central concept in the sermon is agency.

Pastor Hudson defines agency as the ability or power to act, make decisions, choose, make things happen, and influence one’s life and environment rather than being controlled by others or circumstances.

He teaches that agency is part of being made in the image of God. The closest biblical concept to agency, he says, is dominion.

Using Genesis 1:26–27, he explains that God gave humanity dominion over creation. However, he makes an important distinction: God did not give people dominion over other people.

Agency means believers have responsibility before God to act faithfully. It does not mean controlling others.

8. The Loss of Agency as a Strategy of Oppression

Pastor Hudson teaches that one of the enemy’s strategies is to remove people’s sense of agency.

He shares personally that there have been times when he felt beat down, disrespected, or overwhelmed to the point that he began looking for others to tell him what to do. In those moments, he recognized that the enemy had tried to convince him he no longer had agency.

He recalls his mother’s counseling approach: after talking with someone, she would ask, “Now, what are you going to do?”

That question restores responsibility. Counseling, advice, prayer, and encouragement are valuable, but the person must eventually act. Agency requires decision and action.

9. Agency and the Founding of the United States

The sermon then moves into a civics and history application. Pastor Hudson notes that the United States is approaching the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the nation.

He warns that people will hear many romanticized and fabricated versions of American history. He urges listeners to value the full truth, not only the polished narrative.

He says the founding of the United States was rooted in agency because the colonists rebelled against the repressive reign of King George III. They resisted taxation, lack of representation, and oppressive control.

The nation was founded through rebellion against repression. That was an exercise of agency.

However, Pastor Hudson then exposes the contradiction: while the founders exercised agency for themselves, they denied agency to enslaved Africans.

10. The Contradiction of Liberty and Slavery

Pastor Hudson highlights the contradiction between the language of liberty in America’s founding documents and the reality of slavery.

He references the population of the colonies around the founding, noting that a significant number of people were enslaved. He also mentions the 1790 census, which counted millions of people in the new nation, including hundreds of thousands of enslaved people.

The point is not merely historical. It is theological and moral.

The founders spoke of liberty, justice, domestic tranquility, and the blessings of freedom, but enslaved people were excluded from those promises. Pastor Hudson asks: if the nation was truly founded on Christianity and the Bible, why were so many people kept enslaved?

He argues that the nation had brilliant founders and a remarkable Constitution, but the full history must be told honestly.

11. The United States Was Not Founded as a Christian Government

Pastor Hudson references the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, signed during the presidency of John Adams, which stated that the government of the United States was not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.

His point is that while many founders respected Christianity and some were Christian, the government itself was designed to be secular, not a church-state system.

He argues that the founders understood the danger of religious power being fused with government power, as had happened under monarchy in England.

This section supports his broader theme: people must know the truth, reject idolatry, and exercise agency wisely.

12. Civil Rights as an Example of Agency

Pastor Hudson then connects agency to the Civil Rights Movement.

He references the Freedom Riders of 1961, including young Black and white activists who rode buses together into the South to protest segregation. They knowingly entered dangerous situations because they believed segregation was wrong.

He mentions that the buses were attacked and firebombed, yet the Freedom Riders demonstrated agency by standing up to injustice.

He also references Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, especially the image of coming to the nation’s capital to “cash a check.” King used the words of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to demand that America honor its promises.

This is presented as agency in action: knowing what belongs to you, standing on truth, and acting for justice.

13. God’s Power Within Is Agency

Pastor Hudson brings the sermon back to Ephesians 3:20 by saying:

God’s power within is agency.

The power working in believers is not passive. It enables them to stand up, speak out, help people, challenge the status quo, and use their lives to make a difference.

This power is not only about personal victory. It is about responsibility.

Believers are called to use their agency to empower others.

14. Responsibility to Bless Others

The sermon closes with several scriptures that emphasize responsibility, service, and good works.

Pastor Hudson cites Jeremiah 29:7, where God tells His people to seek the peace of the city where they have been carried. He explains that peace means more than the absence of conflict. It includes completeness, welfare, soundness, and making a difference where one lives.

He also cites Acts 20:35, where Paul reminds believers to support the weak and remember Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

He references Titus 3:14, which teaches believers to maintain good works and meet urgent needs so they will not be unfruitful.

Finally, he cites Galatians 6:10, which says that as believers have opportunity, they should do good to all, especially those of the household of faith.

The sermon ends by calling believers to use their agency and dominion to honor God by blessing others.

Main Takeaways

• The believer is rooted and grounded in love, but also empowered for action.
• God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.
• God’s power works within believers, not only around them.
• Feelings of powerlessness are not the truth.
• Agency is part of being made in the image of God.
• Dominion does not mean controlling people; it means acting responsibly under God.
• The enemy tries to remove people’s sense of agency.
• Oppressive systems often function by denying agency to others.
• Believers must use God’s power within them to bless others, seek justice, meet needs, and impact systems.
• The blessing of God comes with responsibility.
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Concise Sermon Thesis

Because believers are rooted and grounded in God’s love, they carry God’s power within them. That power gives them agency—the God-given ability to act, choose, serve, resist oppression, bless others, and make a difference in their generation.