Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Church. Before you take a seat, say hi to several people around you. Several, several, several people around you.
[00:00:07] If you have never seen them, say hello to them. Shake their hand. Give them a high five. Give them a hug. Tell them that you love them. Tell them that Jesus loves them. Kids ministry, you are dismissed. Say hi to a few more people. It's a beautiful Sunday.
[00:00:23] Say hi to a couple more people, will ya, please?
[00:00:27] Kids ministry, yes. You are dismissed. Ms. Dorothy is going to take care of you. Learn a lot more about Jesus.
[00:00:33] Amen. Amen. Well, good morning, Christ Church. How we feeling?
[00:00:39] We feeling good. Amen. Amen. Amen. It is so good to see you guys. My name is Javon. For those who may not know if this is your first time here, we want to say welcome. It is an honor to have you guys. It's an honor to have you serve with us. We do have a gift for you. We do have something for you. So stop at our connection center to get connected, fill out a connection card and so that we can be able to assist you the best way possible if you have yet to connect with us, man. We want to learn more about you. We want to get to know you and all of that. But you guys do me any honor. Will you say hello to all of our friends watching online.
[00:01:17] We have a large, large online presence.
[00:01:21] Hello, online family. It is so good to see you guys. And so today I am excited to join in with you. School is back, vacation is done for a lot of us.
[00:01:32] But you know, we are excited to continue in the worship with you guys week in and week out. So. But today I just want to just got one announcement for you. We are picking back up in our, what do we call them, our growth nights. I almost forgot what they were called our growth nights that we were doing earlier this year. Our growth nights are a way for us to intentionally grow to become stronger in our faith to understand who God is calling us to be in our Bible study skills and whatnot. But on September 15th, it's a Tuesday now, they're no longer Thursdays, but on Tuesday, September 15, we will be starting our growth nights again.
[00:02:17] But we're going to be doing a pretty cool series where we're going to be doing four weeks in the Gospels.
[00:02:23] So if you are looking to grow in your Bible study skills, as I said before, if you're looking to understand the Bible more and more and how to interpret it and read it, and this class is for you, we want to encourage you to be a part of it, to come with us, come Hang out with us. It's going to be at 6:30pm on Tuesday, September 15th. We're gonna be doing that for four weeks and then we will break and then we'll pick it back up with something else. So we're gonna be studying the gospels starting on the 15th. Make sure you're there if you need. If you have any questions and you need more information, make sure you stop at our connection center and we'll make sure we take care of you guys. Today though, we are continuing in our series that we're going to be getting closer and closer to finishing very, very soon. And that is through our study through Ephesians. So if you have your Bibles with you, if you don't have it, go ahead and open up your screen, your phone or your, your device, but it will be on the screen for you as well. We're gonna be reading Ephesians chapter five and we're going to be just doing five verses today, so it won't be two hours sermon like it was a few weeks ago.
[00:03:35] Don't laugh because you know that happened.
[00:03:37] But I'll be reading Ephesians 5 of verses 15 to 20. When I'm done reading. You're going to say, this is the word of the Lord in which you respond, thanks be to God. So I'm going to head and read Ephesians chapter 5 beginning at verse 15. It says this.
[00:03:55] Pay careful attention then how to walk, not as unwise, but as wise.
[00:04:03] Redeeming the time. Some translations may say, making the most of the time. Most of your time.
[00:04:09] Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
[00:04:18] Do not get drunk on wine which leads to reckless indiscretion.
[00:04:23] Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we are here again, your children asking for you to speak.
[00:04:51] And we are listening.
[00:04:53] We are listening and we are ready to receive.
[00:04:56] We are ready to receive what you have for us and what you want for us. And we want to walk in that more and more.
[00:05:04] Lord, I. I pray that today that people will come to realize that we have a sufficient Savior in Jesus Christ, that He is above all, that he's in all, and he's over all as well.
[00:05:17] I pray that Lord we would submit to the truth that you will present to us today that this merely won't be a sermon just to give us information, but it will be a sermon where your spirit would produce transformation.
[00:05:32] We don't just need to know more. We need to obey and to walk into all that you are calling us to do. So help us, I pray. Bless us, I pray. Lead us. I pray.
[00:05:45] Say your Son's perfect. In holy name is who we pray. Amen. Amen and amen. Can you bring me my drink, man? It is again, so great to see you guys again. We're going to be studying. We Walking through Ephesians. Thank you, sir.
[00:06:00] Walking through Ephesians. And we're picking back up now. If you don't know, we have been in Ephesians for 18 years, so it's been a while. And thank you guys for bearing with us. Well, we've been in this part in Ephesians where Paul is talking about application, right? How to apply these things to the Christian life. I said it in my prayer, right? Christianity is not just information. It is transformation, right? It's not just knowing things about God, but it's in light of what I know about God, shaping the way that I live, right? Shaping the way that I think, shaping the way that I speak, shaping the way that I treat one another, those around me, those who annoy me, who probably sitting next to you right now, but you know.
[00:06:45] Right, right, right. That Christianity is merely just not knowing, but it's also. It's responding in light of what, you know, responding in light of what is true. That's the aim and the goal of the Christian walk. And so today, Paul's gonna help us to establish that more and more in our lives. But I gotta say this. Before I jump into this wonderful passage, I gotta say this. My kids have a bad habit. Every time I'm driving. They have a bad habit of always wanting my attention while I'm driving.
[00:07:20] Like, I'll be driving and I'll be. Literally, I'll be on the freeway or the highway and I'll, you know, be driving. They'll say, hey, dad, look, I'm like, do you know what I'm doing right now?
[00:07:31] Do you know that I'm driving, doing 70 miles per hour and you want me to turn my head to look at what you're doing? And every time they want me to look, it's always me looking at them doing something, like, really silly. They'd be like, dad, look.
[00:07:47] I'd be like, really? You gonna put our lives at Risk for a Funny Face. This is what this is about, right? And they don't understand the danger. They just want to entertain dad and get laughs and, you know, get attention. But the danger is obvious. If I take my attention off of the road, things could get messy. Right? Right. If I always responded on everyone else's urgency, especially my kids, to look at them. Right. I take my eyes off the most important thing, which is the road.
[00:08:24] Right? Which is the road. I remember it was literally the other day, it was the first day of school this past week, or they went back to school this past week. And I'm pulling out and you know, it's chaos and I'm trying to pull out and, you know, they're pulling everything out of their book bag. Dad, look. Dad, look. I cannot look right now. I am trying to get out of here safely.
[00:08:43] It was just. It was bad. I didn't have the best dad moment at that moment. But it's interesting.
[00:08:48] When I think about that moment, I think about how that applies in my spiritual life, spiritually speaking. There's a lot of things that try to steal my attention.
[00:09:02] There's a lot of things in my life that try to distract me, to take my eyes off what's most important.
[00:09:13] It's not that I don't love Jesus.
[00:09:15] It's just that sometimes I get so consumed with things around me that it takes my eyes off Jesus.
[00:09:22] Is anybody with me on that? It's not like you stop loving God. It's just that things begin to get your attention more than God.
[00:09:30] It's not that you stop loving God or you stop believing, you stop trusting in all of that. It's just that sometimes you and I can get so distracted with so many voices and things pulling for our attention that it pulls us on a thing that matters the most.
[00:09:49] And so today, Paul, what he's going to do, he's going to try to help us to have what we call focused Christianity.
[00:09:57] Not perfect Christianity, but focused and purposeful Christianity.
[00:10:04] And that's what Paul's going to do. And Paul's going to help us to establish this reality, right? And this is the first thing we want to establish right? Before we get into it. The Christian life isn't lived accidentally, it's lived intentionally.
[00:10:19] Right? So I want you to think about this. Think about this. The Christian life, it isn't lived accidentally. For instance, you know, if you want to become financially stable, that doesn't happen just by accident.
[00:10:34] You got to do things to make it happen. Right? If you want healthy relationships, if you Want a healthy marriage. You can't just wake up and just say, well, we have the best marriage without the work, without the effort. If you want to be healthy physically, no one can wake up tomorrow and say, I have a six pack.
[00:10:52] Right?
[00:10:54] Right. There's a difference, right?
[00:10:56] There's intentionality that needs to be attached to it. And that's what Paul's gonna help us to understand. That the Christian life, that the life that our faith, it doesn't grow, it doesn't become stronger, it doesn't have the produce the work that we wanted to result in without intentionality.
[00:11:19] And that's what Paul's gonna help us do. And Paul's gonna use these five verses to help you and I to live a focused Christian life. Let me remind you, this is not a perfect Christian life, right? This is just a purposeful Christian life. And he begins this actually in verse 15. Now, in verse 15, Paul is continuing kind of in light of what he spoke about earlier in the chapter. Now, I didn't do the verses before this verse 15. Cause it talks a lot about what we've already established a few weeks ago. But Paul is hinting, and I'm sorry, Paul is revisiting those things for a reason. But then he lands this. He says, in light of living out this way, here's how you do it. He says in verse 15.
[00:12:06] You must pay careful attention then to how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise. Let's stop there. Let's stop there. Now, it's very easy to look at the very first part and to want to just jump into the second part. But the first part is intentional, pun intended. The first part is intentional. Paul says, here's the thing.
[00:12:33] If you want to live out this Christian life, here's what you need to do. You need to pay careful attention to your life.
[00:12:44] Think about that for a second. Because when we think about this or when we see this passage, we give attention to whatever we deem is valuable.
[00:12:55] Think about that. You give attention to whatever you consider valuable. For instance, if you're a student, you track your grades, right?
[00:13:05] Right. You don't just. You gotta track your grades. If you're someone, again, you know, one wanted to be financially stable, you, you examine your finances, right? If you want to become healthier physically, you.
[00:13:17] You get an examination, right?
[00:13:20] You have evaluations, performance at work, whatever it may be. What Paul wants to do, he says in light of that, he, Paul says, Paul challenges us that we are to put that same level of intentionality when it comes to our own Spiritual lives. As much as we give attention to those things, we. We need to give intention to the inner workings of our souls.
[00:13:46] Because to live purposefully, it requires examining ourselves.
[00:13:54] It requires for you and I to evaluate our very lives. And the purpose of evaluation, the purpose of you and I exist, examining ourselves is to do two things. You ready? It's to reveal where we are and where God is calling us to grow.
[00:14:15] Right. Because some of the reasons why I lose my way is because I haven't become aware of the things that are causing me to lose my way.
[00:14:24] Does that make sense?
[00:14:26] Right. One of the reasons why I drift is because I haven't taken the time in my own personal life to examine the things that are causing me to drift.
[00:14:37] Right? Right.
[00:14:39] For instance, the car doesn't just. When I'm driving, the car doesn't just drift on its own unless I take my hands off the wheel, unless I take my attention off the road.
[00:14:49] And the same thing happens when it comes to our Christian lives.
[00:14:54] We drift sometimes because we haven't checked the things that are causing us to drift. And Paul says, here's what you need to do. You need to get really good at evaluating your life. You know, the one thing about me, I'm really good at evaluating other people's life, though.
[00:15:14] That woke you up, didn't it?
[00:15:16] I'm really good at telling you about somebody else's attitude.
[00:15:20] I could tell you, did you see how such and such acted? I wish they could see it, you know what I'm saying? You know?
[00:15:27] But it's interesting. It's easy to see what's off in others, but it's hard to see what's off in me.
[00:15:36] Right. It's easy. And God wants us to be people who take the time and we say, okay, listen, if I'm gonna live purposefully, I need to examine the things that could cause me to swerve, cause me to drift. And it makes me think about one of my favorite passages in Psalm 139. If you need a passage to study, if you need a psalm to read over, if you need a devotional for this week, Psalm 139, verses 23 to 24, is actually one of my favorite psalms. I remember this was one of my first sermons that I've ever preached here at Christchurch. I've been on staff for 10 years, and this was one of my first sermons back in like 2015, 2016 or something like that.
[00:16:18] It was actually this psalm that I preached, and it says this Psalm 139, verse 23 to 24, David writes this. David says, search me, O God.
[00:16:27] Whoo.
[00:16:29] Notice David doesn't say, tell them how bad they are, God. No, he says, no, God, start with me.
[00:16:36] Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my concerns. Verse 24, he says, and see if there is any offensive way or grievous way. Some translations say, see if there's any offensive way in who say it. Come on, y'. All. In who?
[00:16:59] Me.
[00:17:01] Not them, not her, not him, but me.
[00:17:06] Thank you, baby. See if there is any offensive way in me. And lead me. Now. Here's the. This is the big part.
[00:17:16] Show me and now lead me.
[00:17:19] You see the two.
[00:17:21] Show me God and now lead me into the everlasting way. You know, the one thing we gotta really do really well at when it comes to our Christianity.
[00:17:31] Asking God, God, show me what I can't see about myself.
[00:17:37] That's the one thing I really feel I can really change the game. When it comes to our faith, when it comes to our growth, when it comes to our marriages, when it comes to our families, when it comes to our mental health, when it comes to our emotional health, when it comes to everything about us, I think the one thing that can really, really shine more and more in our lives is when we take the time and we say, God, show me what I can't see about myself. Now, God, exposing us is not to shame us. God is not in the business of condemning you to tell you how bad you are. No, the purpose of asking God to show us is so that God can lead us as well.
[00:18:16] And I can admit church.
[00:18:18] Listen, I have to get into this habit more and more because there are some things that I'm just not aware about myself.
[00:18:25] There's just some things that people see before I see it.
[00:18:32] There's some attitudes. There's some way that I respond. There's some. There's some habits that I've formed that people can catch that I haven't caught yet as well. And here's what Paul wants us to understand this.
[00:18:44] You can't intentionally change what you are unwilling to expose.
[00:18:51] That makes sense.
[00:18:53] You can't intentionally change what you are willing to expose. Expose. Right.
[00:18:59] Right. And that's what Paul. That's what this idea of pay careful attention. Don't miss this part. This is important, man. God, show me what are some things that I need to do. And there were some things that are in me that shouldn't be in me. What are some things that you desire? And all of that, taking that time and Making that prayer. And Paul says this, this is the reason why. One of the reasons why we need to give careful attention is so that we can walk wisely.
[00:19:29] Right?
[00:19:30] Sometimes the best prayers isn't God get rid of it? No, God make me wiser.
[00:19:38] You ever thought about that?
[00:19:40] So many times I'm asking God for escape, but really I need to ask God for discernment.
[00:19:46] So many times I spend my Christianity asking God to, to just lessen the pressure a little bit.
[00:19:54] God, you know, I'm not asking for you to take away everything, but can you take away them?
[00:19:59] Can you take away just this?
[00:20:01] But, but really maybe that's a means so that God can make you wiser.
[00:20:07] So God can make you wiser. Because the Christian life, the Christian life is a life walking in what we will call God's wisdom.
[00:20:17] Now wisdom is nothing but taking what God has revealed, right? What God has revealed and allowing that to shape the way that you live or a better way or another way to say this. You could think about this Wisdom.
[00:20:33] It's more than just making better decisions. I think sometimes we attach our Christianity to just how us making better decisions, right? God will like us if we get it right.
[00:20:45] God will love us if we just make the right choice right now. But rather wisdom is more than just making better decisions. Listen, it's learning to see life from God's perspective.
[00:21:00] Does that make sense?
[00:21:02] It's learning to see life from God's perspective and choosing the course of action the that aligns with that.
[00:21:13] For instance, I'm a very impulsive person. I don't know if you know that about me, right? I'm a very, very impulsive person. Pretty much what I'm trying to say is when I say that by nature, what I mean is typically I'm living based off how I feel.
[00:21:30] If I feel angry, I respond angry. If I feel insecure, I respond insecure.
[00:21:37] If I feel forgotten, I'll respond such like that. But here's what wisdom, as time has taught me, wisdom has taught me that what I feel in the moment isn't necessarily true in the moment.
[00:21:56] And walking in the goal of the Christian life isn't to now feelings are great.
[00:22:02] They're.
[00:22:03] They're a part of the human life. They are natural.
[00:22:08] But Paul and God wants you and I to be people who don't live by how we feel, but we walk in what is true.
[00:22:17] So here's how we can apply this.
[00:22:19] Here's what wisdom looks like. Here's wisdom 101. Are you ready?
[00:22:24] Are you ready?
[00:22:25] Yes. Pastor, I am ready. I want to learn more wisdom today.
[00:22:29] The first step of wisdom, right? First step of wisdom is admitting you don't have any.
[00:22:36] Is admitting you don't know what you need to know.
[00:22:39] But, you know, we live in an environment, we live in a culture. Everybody's got an education. People got 45 degrees. You know, people got every. People got more degrees than the Fahrenheit. I mean, it's just. It's ridiculous, right? I mean, you got degrees on top of degrees. You got certificates and all of that. Listen, it's not about having. There's a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge but lack a lot of wisdom.
[00:23:02] There's a lot of people, they have a lot of knowledge, but they fall short on wisdom. The first step to wisdom is admitting you don't have any.
[00:23:11] Admitting you need more.
[00:23:13] Right? Reminds me of Proverbs, chapter one, I think it's in verse three with the writer. Solomon says that let the wise listen.
[00:23:27] Increase in learning.
[00:23:29] Right? Right.
[00:23:32] We never hit Mount Everest when it comes to wisdom.
[00:23:36] We must admit first, more and more we need it, we don't have it.
[00:23:42] That's the first step towards wisdom that we need to do. It's first admitting we need more.
[00:23:49] We need more. But also the next thing is to realize that wisdom doesn't come from within us, but rather God is both the source and the giver of knowledge and wisdom.
[00:24:03] Jesus Christ is known by Paul. He says that in him is hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom. Jesus isn't just a wise person, he embodies it.
[00:24:18] He embodies wisdom, right? And if you and I are gonna walk in wisdom, it begins first by submitting to Christ more and more by submitting to what he says. Hey, you know what? You know what?
[00:24:34] You know what? Impulse says, when someone offends me. When someone offends me, impulse says, cut them off.
[00:24:41] Wisdom says, how can I honor God right now?
[00:24:47] There's a difference.
[00:24:50] When I feel you get the point.
[00:24:56] Let me not hurt you anymore, right? Wisdom asks, how can I honor God in this moment, at this time? And so Paul, he continues down this path. He said, all right, here we go.
[00:25:09] You gotta examine yourself sometimes. Sometimes you gotta. You got to ask what's in you, what should be out of you, so God can lead you. And make sure that when you examine yourself, make sure that you become a person of wisdom. Make sure that you become a person who walks in wisdom, who is seeking wisdom, who is receiving wisdom, and all of these things. But then also, Paul adds to It Paul adds to it later. Paul says it in verse 16. He says, Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Again, Paul is continuing. What does purposeful Christianity look like? What does, I'm sorry, intentional Christianity look like? Number one, it begins with examining yourself.
[00:25:52] Number two, it makes. It also moves to making sure that we're walking in God's wisdom, that we're applying that more and more in our lives. And now he says, number three, redeeming the time. Some translations say making the most of every opportunity.
[00:26:09] If you think about it, every week your phone gives you a report of how much you were on it.
[00:26:17] And sometimes, y', all, it can be very disrespectful.
[00:26:21] Right? I don't like what my phone tells me. Right.
[00:26:25] It tells me how much energy I think last week. And I'm not afraid to admit this. My phone said that I spent nine hours a day on my phone.
[00:26:35] Yes, I know. Don't judge me. I'm doing work. Y' all doing work for Jesus.
[00:26:42] Shut up.
[00:26:43] I promise you, it's not me watching Hulu or anything. But the report shows me how much energy, how much time, and how much attention I was giving it.
[00:26:56] Now let's flip that. Imagine there was a report that was not about your screen time, but a report about your life.
[00:27:09] Where did your attention go?
[00:27:13] Where did your energy go?
[00:27:15] Right. What received your best and what continually got pushed aside?
[00:27:23] Imagine that. Imagine if a report came out about our lives.
[00:27:27] What would it show us?
[00:27:29] And so this is what Paul means by redeeming the time or making the most opportunity. Making the best opportunity. He means this purposeful living means.
[00:27:41] It means making God's priorities your priorities.
[00:27:47] You know what it's making?
[00:27:50] You have to ask yourself this question.
[00:27:52] Am I spending time in the areas God says matters the most?
[00:27:59] You know what God says matters? Your marriage.
[00:28:06] See, for me, I can spend a lot of time talking down on my marriage instead of investing in my marriage.
[00:28:15] Can I be raw with you?
[00:28:17] Right. You know, what God says is what matters, that you have a forgiving heart.
[00:28:25] There's that buzzword again. Dang it, Pastor, you did it again. Yes, I did.
[00:28:30] Yes, I did.
[00:28:31] Right. Right.
[00:28:33] It's making what God calls priority, right? What God desires. Probably a much more biblically accurate way. What does God desire? It's allowing his desires to become my desires.
[00:28:46] See, that's purposeful living.
[00:28:48] It's when God's desires start to shape my desires.
[00:28:53] It's when God says, hey, this is important. And then I'm putting emphasis and I'm putting attention into those things. You know, what God says is important, raising these kids, being patient with your children, Right?
[00:29:11] I'm missing the mark on that, y'. All.
[00:29:14] I'm asking for help is what I'm trying to say.
[00:29:17] If you got a book that I can read or anything, come hook up your boy, right?
[00:29:23] You know what God says, What you do with your finances, it matters.
[00:29:28] What you do with your life.
[00:29:31] Paul wants you. And I just spend time making what God called desire, what God desires, our desires. And making the best use of your time. Is it. Is this learning to steward what God has placed in your hands for his purposes and his purposes alone.
[00:29:51] So Paul says this, all right, guys, here's intentional Christianity.
[00:29:54] The Christian life isn't lived accidentally. It's lived intentionally.
[00:29:58] Right? How do we do that? Well, sometimes we got to take a step back and we got to examine ourselves.
[00:30:04] We gotta examine our souls, gotta examine where we are and where we need to grow and ask the Lord to do both, right?
[00:30:11] This isn't a try harder season. This is a look to God more and more.
[00:30:17] And so he says, okay to do that. Okay. Make sure that I'm walking in God's wisdom.
[00:30:22] Then also he adds that you and I would make the most of every opportunity. Am I making what God calls important, important in my life as well?
[00:30:35] But then takes it a step further. All right, look what he said in verse 17. Verse 17, he says. He says, therefore. Therefore a continuation. Therefore, do not be foolish. Who you calling the fool, Paul?
[00:30:50] You calling me a fool?
[00:30:52] Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Now, I love this part, right? And the reason why I love this part because I identify with the fool a lot. No, no, the reason why I love this part because if you look at verse 15 and verse 17, Paul brings up the fool and the wise.
[00:31:13] Now if you take a look at the book of Proverbs. This is me nerding out a little bit. If you take a look at the book of Proverbs, one of the dominant compare, or one of the dominant compare, contrasts, themes you see is the wise and the fools.
[00:31:28] You read Proverbs, they would say, the wise do this, but the fools do that, right? The wise are teachable, right? The fools are know it alls, right? It always kind of gives that compare and contrast. And one of the cool things that it does that it gives this imagery or gives this picture between the wise and the fool and the paths they take.
[00:31:55] Pretty much, it says this, the proverb says this, the proverb Says the wise, they're heading down one path, the fools are heading down a completely different path.
[00:32:10] And that's what the scriptures want to reveal to us more and more. See, simply friends, choices, choices. Here's what I want to say. Attached to every decision, there's a destination.
[00:32:26] Where is this leading you to?
[00:32:29] Where is this taking me?
[00:32:31] Every time I choose this habit, where is this taking me? Where road is this taking me down?
[00:32:39] Right? Every time that I choose this response, what path this is leading me towards? See, wisdom isn't what looks good or feels good to me.
[00:32:50] It's in light of what God has revealed, which path is actually aligning to where God is calling me to live in. Because wisdom both shapes who you are becoming and the direction your life is moving.
[00:33:08] Wisdom shapes who you are becoming, shapes the character, but also, also it directs where your life is moving towards more and more.
[00:33:24] Because behind every decision is a destination.
[00:33:30] Right? When I choose not to forgive, guess what? It's not just the moment that's impacted, it's the future that's gonna be impacted as well too.
[00:33:42] When I choose to be hard hearted and not listen, it's not just the moment that gets impacted.
[00:33:49] It's the future.
[00:33:50] Like, it's a path that I'm choosing.
[00:33:53] Cause sometimes, sometimes a lot of people say the question isn't always, is it sinful? The question is, does this lead me to become more like Christ?
[00:34:02] The question isn't always, hey, is this bad for me? No. Where does this take me in this moment? Is this going to lead me towards more of Christ or the other path as well? That's what Paul says. Paul wants you and I to know walking in God's will, right? And God's will is just nothing but learning what God desires. As we said already, Paul says, walking in God's will keeps our lives moving in the direction God desires. Walking in God's will. God's will for your life.
[00:34:37] The why say, let your will be done? The fools say, let my will be done.
[00:34:45] There's a difference.
[00:34:48] There's a difference.
[00:34:49] The wise say, no, Lord, your will be done.
[00:34:52] Right? Because your will moves me in the direction my life needs to go. All right, so we've arrived.
[00:35:01] Here we go.
[00:35:02] Here are a couple things we can start doing this week. But Paul, Paul doesn't stop there.
[00:35:08] Paul lands it hard and lands at home. And he lands it with this very truth. Because Paul wants the people that he's writing to, but also us who are reading this today.
[00:35:20] Not to think of this as a sermon, just to Go out and now work harder. No, because the Christian life, living the Christian life isn't living off your own strength.
[00:35:33] It is a strength that God gives to each and every one of us, enabling us to walk into all that he's calling us to do and who he's calling us to become.
[00:35:46] More and more meaning this. Friends, don't walk away with this sermon and say, all right, let me make sure I do this. Make sure I do that. No, the first step today is submission.
[00:35:56] The first step is not practice and do more. It's no. Submit to who?
[00:36:01] Paul says it in verse 18. Look what he says. He says, do not get drunk on wine. Now, let's stop here.
[00:36:08] Know a lot of you are ready for me to preach this. What's the pastor going to say about alcohol, y', all, when Paul says this? Paul wants us to understand this. First of all, when he says, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the spirit. There's your submission right there.
[00:36:28] Submit to the Spirit's influence.
[00:36:31] Right? Because this is important. Whatever fills you will influence you.
[00:36:38] That's the whole thing.
[00:36:40] Whatever fills you eventually influences you.
[00:36:45] It will influence you.
[00:36:47] Right?
[00:36:48] That's just true. Christian, non Christian, no matter where you are, whatever fills you begins to influence you. Now, about alcohol, about alcohol, there's been several debates. This is not a sermon about alcohol. Please do not hear that. But I do feel, as your pastors who address this, listen, if you're a person today and you know, you like to, you know, have yourself a drink or whatever, listen, I need you to understand this. The Bible shows us that alcohol is a gift.
[00:37:17] It's a gift from God, but a gift. But the gifts of God are meant to be enjoyed, not abused.
[00:37:27] There's a difference.
[00:37:29] Notice Paul talks about drunkenness.
[00:37:32] Paul's not talking about consumption. He's talking about drunkenness right now. For some of us, maybe some of the reasons why life is going the way that it's going is there are some substances that have influenced us otherwise, right?
[00:37:56] And maybe it's time for us to be done with them.
[00:38:00] Just be done with them.
[00:38:02] Just be completely. Just. I'm not doing this anymore. For some of you, man, God bless you.
[00:38:08] God has given you that ability to like, man, God bless you. Keep doing it. That's your conviction, like the Christian, you know, you can live with that conviction. But for some of us, we just got to be done.
[00:38:20] We just got to be put. We got to put it away. Alcohol, marijuana, any other substance, right? Because what fills you, influences you. So Paul's giving it. So what does Paul say? He says, listen, to live out the purposeful Christian life, to be intentional in your Christian life begins with submitting to the Holy Spirit.
[00:38:43] It's submitting to the Holy Spirit.
[00:38:45] It's submitting to his influence and his influence alone. It's allowing him to shape the way you speak. Because if you think about it, drunkenness, we've all seen people drunk, right? Right. What does drunkenness do? Cloud your judgment?
[00:39:00] Right. You know, slurs your speech.
[00:39:04] You know, you don't make the right choices sometimes. Right. You say things you shouldn't be saying. Right. You're under an influence.
[00:39:12] Right. And Paul says, here's a better. Here's an influence that keeps you on the right path. The Holy Spirit.
[00:39:20] Submit to the Holy Spirit. Here's your job. Tomorrow morning, you ready? You wake up and say, all right, here are five ways I can try to be nice to my husband this week. Five ways I can be nice to my wife this week. Five ways I cannot yell at my kids. No. Here's the first step. Holy Spirit, I need you.
[00:39:36] I need you to influence me. I need you to strengthen me. I need you to guide me. Because I won't live this purposeful Christian life based off my strength. I live it through the strength that God supplies through the work of his Spirit. More and more, the Spirit empowers you and I to live as Christ called us to live, so we can become people of self control, so we can become people who can be patient, so we become people who can walk in joy, so we can become people of peace, so we can become people of love. These are all fruits of the Spirit, by the way, so we become people of all these things. It comes to the point where we ask ourselves, lord God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I need you more in my life. Because purposeful Christianity begins by realizing you can't do it on your own.
[00:40:31] You need the Holy Spirit to help you and to guide you and to lead you and to influence the parts of your life more and more.
[00:40:45] That's Paul's aim today, and this is our aim. Purposeful Christianity doesn't begin with us.
[00:40:52] It begins with the Spirit working in us and through us more and more.
[00:41:01] Let's pray.
[00:41:03] Dear Heavenly Father, I pray and I ask that your spirit would enlighten us today.
[00:41:10] It would enlighten us to this holy truth.
[00:41:14] We cannot live purposefully without you.
[00:41:20] We can't.
[00:41:22] We can try as hard as we want. We can do as much as we feel like we need to. But we will fail miserably time and time, working in our own strength. But when the Spirit himself who gives life, when the Spirit himself who breathes within us the life of Christ, the Spirit of truth, the more and more he has leadership, the more and more he has influence, the more our lives have direction.
[00:41:56] Because, Lord, without you I have no direction.
[00:42:01] I'm drifting, I'm swerving.
[00:42:05] But with you, Lord, you move my life into all that you've called it to move towards.
[00:42:15] And you move me to become the person you're calling me to be.
[00:42:20] So, Holy Spirit, I pray that today you will would work within the people who submit and surrender and say, I need you.
[00:42:33] And Lord, I pray that we become people of wisdom.
[00:42:37] I pray that we become people who walk in wisdom, who seek wisdom, who say to themselves, wisdom doesn't originate within me.
[00:42:48] Its origins start and begin with the living God who is the giver and the source of wisdom. Lord, I also pray that we would put the energy, put our energy into the things you say is important.
[00:43:04] Because, Lord, I could spend a lot of time in areas and I can waste my life, I can waste my time, I can waste my day, I can waste my week on things that don't produce the work you want to do through me.
[00:43:20] So, Lord, shift my attention towards what you say that matters.
[00:43:25] I want to desire what you desire.
[00:43:29] Because when I desire what you desire, my life has direction and it moves towards all that you're calling me towards.
[00:43:39] Bless me, I pray. Bless us, I pray. Help us, I pray. Sing your son's perfect name. Amen. And amen.
