Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Ephesians 4:17 - 6:9 identified as one unit that Pastor has been preaching through in sections
Keep this verse
Ephesians 5:15-16
quoted as the closing verse from the previous week: look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil
15 Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise;
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Ephesians 5:17-21
the main passage for the sermon, covering do not be foolish, do not get drunk, be filled with the spirit, and the five participles that follow
17 Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;
21 subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Colossians 3:16
cited as a parallel passage to Ephesians 5:19, letting the word of Christ dwell richly with psalms hymns and spiritual songs
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Philippians 2:5-11
identified as one of the earliest Christian hymns, about Christ's humility
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
2 Timothy 3:16
identified as one of the earliest Christian hymns, about scripture being God-breathed
16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mike opened Ephesians 5 on what it actually looks like to walk wisely, working through three "don't do this, do this" contrasts that Paul lays out and the five practical marks of a Spirit-filled life that follow from them.
What was said
The sermon sat inside a longer series moving through Ephesians 4:17 through 6:9. Pastor Mike explained that Paul builds his argument the way a traffic sign works: communicating vital information for safety, protection, reassurance, and direction. The passage for the morning gave three of those red-light, green-light contrasts, and the goal was to follow each one in order.
The first contrast is "do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Pastor Mike drew on his experience stepping off curbs in South Africa and nearly being hit by oncoming traffic. Having the knowledge that driving runs the other way and actually looking the right direction before you step are two different things. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, and it has to be deliberate every time.
The second contrast is the flattest command in the passage: do not get drunk. Pastor Mike said he was delivering it as plainly as it could be said, and that Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, prohibits drunkenness without exception. The stories of Lot and Noah are there as warnings. He also noted that "buzzed driving is drunk driving" points in the same direction, because chasing the buzz is still gratifying the flesh.
The matching green light is "be filled with the Spirit," and Pastor Mike pointed out that the grammar matters here. Do not get drunk is an active command you are responsible for. Be filled is a passive construction, meaning God is the one doing the filling. He pressed on the fairness objection some raise, that the responsibility is uneven, and answered it simply: you are going to have to rely on Him.
Five participles spell out what being filled with the Spirit looks like in practice. The first is addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, speaking those words to each other, not only singing them. Pastor Mike moved through a handful of well-known hymns to show how the lyrics carry theological weight that settles into memory and holds a person when temptation comes. The second is singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. He said Charles Stanley's counsel applies here: when you begin to doubt, that is the time to start singing.
The third participle is giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor Mike called it probably the hardest command in Ephesians to actually live, especially for anyone carrying grief or regret. He noted that Paul wrote Ephesians from prison, which makes the instruction harder to dismiss. The fourth and fifth participles, covered briefly to set up the following week, move into submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, a concept Pastor Mike acknowledged runs hard against an individualistic culture.
The service closed with Communion. Pastor Mike framed the Lord's Table as one more sign: reassurance, direction, a call to examine how you are walking, receive forgiveness, and live in that forgiveness going forward.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor used the image of traffic signs to talk about why God gives us clear commands. Which purpose of a sign, safety, protection, reassurance, or direction, do you find yourself most needing from scripture right now, and why?
- The pastor described the current of our society as always flowing away from the holiness and goodness of God, and said a sleeping shrimp gets carried along by that current. Where in your own life have you noticed yourself being carried along without realizing it?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,155 words
0:00
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? Is this thing on? Good morning, everybody. How are you?
0:07
Okay. It's good to see you. I'm glad. I'm glad to be here. I'm happy this morning.
0:13
We had a kind of a rousing service, the first service. It was really nice. So, I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Would y'all stand with me? Imma invite Scott up if he will to come on forward and sing.
0:26
We're going to sing a few songs and then in the sermon, you're going to feel good about having sung these songs, alright? We're going to start off with one that spontaneously in the middle of the first sermon, I just sang the first line of this song because he keeps me singing. That's just the way it is. So, would you sing with him? Hymn number seven forty six.
0:44
Speaker 2We get the whole thing. One of my favorites. All my life was wrecked by sin and strife. Discord filled my life with pain. Jesus swept across the broken strings, stirred the slumbering doors again.
1:38
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. If you know
1:53
Speaker 1the desk camp part singing, alright? If you know the desk camp part during the chorus What's happening? You don't know what a desk camp is. Don't worry about it. But if you know the desk camp part singing, alright?
2:02
Speaker 2You know it, right?
2:02
Speaker 1I know it.
2:03
Speaker 2Alright. Here we go. That is why I shout and sing Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know drows him all across my way. Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep, see his footprints all the way. Jesus.
2:54
Jesus. Jesus. Sweetest name I know. Builds my every longing. Keeps me singing as I go last.
3:08
That
3:08
Speaker 1was the last.
3:09
Speaker 2Amen. Oh, there's probably nothing. Right.
3:11
Speaker 1Come on. One more. Leave me one more.
3:13
Speaker 2Love that song. Love that.
3:15
Speaker 1That's the assurance. How about that? Hymn number 572.
3:19
Speaker 2That's a good song, isn't it? This is a good one too. They're all good. Blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
3:36
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, worn of the spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story this is my song praising my savior this is my story this is my This is my story. This is my song. Raising my savior all the day long. This is my story.
4:41
This is my song. Raising my savior all the day long perfect submission all is at rest I and my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song, savior the day long
5:32
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning and they are. Youth group. Mike, Demetrius has started up the youth group again. Got kids are back in school.
5:45
Young people back in school and so youth group has started back up when the schedule starts to get kind of set in a rhythm. Put this in that rhythm. Middle school is 06:30 to eight on Tuesdays. So sixth grade through eighth grade. Middle school, Tuesday, 06:30 to eight and high school is seven to 08:30 on Thursday evenings.
6:05
Now Thursday evenings, not Thursday or Friday morning. It's Thursday evening. So Tuesday, Thursday, middle school, high school. We are on Facebook, so with a slight delay, it's live each morning in the first service, and we usually do them on Monday nights too. So if you want to go back and hear a message again or if you'd like to hear one because you have to miss, you're going to be on the other side of the world somewhere, you can see them on Facebook.
6:31
And they stay up there so that you could see them later. There will be a baby dedication, September 24. So if you have a baby that you want to dedicate or if you know somebody who does, we do we'll be doing baby dedications September 24, which is next Sunday by the way. And children in church. The nursery's available for kids zero to three, and then children's church is in the first service ages four to the fifth grade.
7:01
So, that works. That baby looks kind of confused. You could volunteer actually. There are some spaces. What we'd like to do is have it spread so that people can serve once a month or maybe a little less than once a month.
7:16
So there are spaces available and it is a huge blessing. That is actually Pat, Patrick Daly right there that's taking care of it. I see three kids in the picture and two of them are his but it doesn't have to be that way. They can be somebody else's. To give the parents a break, we would like for other people to take care of their kids so the parents can have a moment of quiet contemplation, okay, up here in the in the sanctuary while there are volunteers down in the nursery.
7:43
Awana Club is back on, so on Monday evenings at 06:00, this room fills with expectant little kids and great volunteers that come in and pour scripture into their minds so that it'll get to their heart. Awana Clubs is great, and it happens right here at 06:00. Monday nights at first B. I did not know if that picture was going to be up there. That's me doing improvised bullfighting.
8:10
That was a long time ago. I'm going to talk about walking not as unwise but as wise. That was not the wisest thing that I have ever done. Okay? Monday night's first beat.
8:21
It's more fun than improvised bullfighting. I can guarantee that. So that's that's fun. You could also volunteer to cook on a Monday night. So if you just have a recipe that you love and you can't wait like Doyle's beans recipe.
8:35
Doyle's beans and his brisket are the best that I've ever had and I'm I just called you out. Doyle, didn't mean to but will you cook for a Monday night at some time in the future? Sorry. You could volunteer to cook for Monday night. Imma try to change these volunteer slides.
8:50
He has done that before. I'm really not throwing him under a bus. I hope. I I really really appreciate his Southwest West Texas style of cooking. So, could volunteer to cook from Monday night.
9:00
We have had every different kind of food from Romanian. We've had Mexican. We've had Italian. We've had some pretty amazing dishes, and we've had peanut butter sandwiches. I mean it.
9:09
We've had cereal. We have had every different kind of thing. We'd rather not go the cereal route, but if you want anything else, if you want to do anything else, it's open for you to volunteer to cook for Monday night. There's a sign up sheet for that. And for any other announcements, the weekly bulletin is always good for that.
9:27
So, if you didn't get one on your way in, you can grab one on your way out and I'm very very thankful for y'all this morning. I've been last week's service was the antidote for all of these six things was gratitude and I've been really trying to dwell on that gratitude this week and I'm really thankful for y'all. I want you to know. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song.
10:28
Speaker 2Jesus. Oh Jesus. Without him, how lost See how you felt when we the words weren't on the screen. You felt kinda lost for a sec. Just a sliver of reality.
11:49
How lost are you? Oh, let me point this back. Amen. Freely, freely. You had some great thought going there too, didn't you?
12:01
Yes, we go. Freely, freely. God forgave my sin in Jesus
13:54
Speaker 1I can have a seat but I'm going invite Mike Mayer if he'll come up. Mike, would you just ask the operatory prayer this morning? I promise I'm not going do this to everyone of y'all at some point, okay? Mike has been on our elder board multiple times, and he is on the elder board or was on the elder board until this week. Appreciate you pushing me on the spot.
14:17
Speaker 2Thanks a Yeah.
14:18
Speaker 1I I didn't want to give you time to get scared
14:20
Speaker 3about it. Let us pray. Dear Lord, we just thank you for the abundance that you pour down on us. We thank you for all the blessings. I just read in second Corinthians, this morning about being a cheerful giver, and what a blessing that is.
14:36
We thank you so much for all you do in our lives. We just wanna give a portion of this back to you, for your kingdom. We thank you and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
19:26
Speaker 1Amen. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you. So, this morning, before we get into Ephesians five, we're going back there. That's where we're going.
19:33
Ephesians five, you know, last week, I ended with 16. You normally, it seems I'd start up with 17 but Ephesians, this passage going from about four chapter four verse 17 all the way to chapter six verse nine is one unit. I just can't preach that much to an American audience on a Sunday morning. I can't I could read it but I couldn't preach that much to you and so, we've splitting it up in a little chunks and you know how at the end of a a series sometimes, it'll say to be continued or the you'll watch something that says previously on Walker, Texas Ranger. I don't know.
20:06
Whatever. Previously on some show and it'll tell you something that's leading up to this. Well, each week I have been, if you hadn't noticed, I've been ending with something and then the next week I start back with that same phrase. They are transitional statements. They do end the thought previously before but they begin another thought and it's it's it's kind of amazing to see how it works and you can look at you can look at all kinds of commentaries and everybody splits certain books up the same way but Ephesians is hard to do because everybody says, this is the unit from four seventeen to six nine but they don't agree on where to stop the thought.
20:41
Well, it doesn't stop. It's that's the thought. So before we get into that, why do we have traffic signs? And this is a serious question. Why do we have traffic signs?
20:51
I have been to places in the world and I have driven in those place where there were no signs. You just drive, and people do like the judges. It's a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. They go however they want to and they seem to make it work. Why do we have traffic signs?
21:07
For order, safety, protection. I've thought of a few. It's to communicate vital information, right? You want to communicate vital information, and you should be communicating that vital information to the people who need it most. If it's a road sign, it's the people who are driving and the passengers can help out, yes.
21:30
I was riding back from visiting Bud Searles. Bud Searles has been a pastor for years. He used to used to sit right here every Sunday. He has a brain tumor. We've been praying for him.
21:39
Carl and I went over, did a little church service for him, sang a bunch of songs actually and we had communion and it was a great time of fellowship, good time. When we were coming back, we were coming back over the past and there was one of those temporary signs and the temporary signs when you see those, oh, this is something that's immediate. Maybe it's road work. You need to know. It's going to give you some valuable piece of information.
21:59
Well, the sign said moose in area, give them a and the sign was messed up. Instead of saying break, the last two letters were cut off, it said moose in area, give them a bra. Dave Kaufman is the one of the engineers for YDOT. He said they had to go take bras off of the sign before they could fix it. The idea is to communicate vital information.
22:26
If you mess up the message, I try to give you the message just as it's written because I don't want you to be confused. To communicate vital information primarily for safety, I think that's the number one reason. It's much easier if we all know about red lights and green lights. You stop on red lights and you can go on a green light, right? So for safety, for protection, that might sound like the same thing, but I don't, I think there's a little slight difference between the two, but to protect us, if we know ahead of time on I-eighty that those those little crossing places that will be closed here before too long, they'll drop and it says when the sign is flashing, go back to Laramie or go back to Cheyenne or go back to Rock Springs when this that's for our protection.
23:08
It's not an immediate hazard, but hey, you can't do this right now. Now, can you drive around them? Oh my goodness. Had a bus driver when I was a little kid that drove around those things. She said, they tear up all the time.
23:19
I can't see a train. Not wise. Reassurance. So when you're riding along, especially out here across South Dakota or across Wyoming or Nebraska, and you're riding and you cross in and you see that sign of four twenty four miles and then every mile marker counts down. And you think I'm going all the way to Rock Springs before I turn right to head to Jackson.
23:46
And you think am I ever gonna get there? Well then, it says Rock Springs a 100 miles. And you're like, oh, yeah, I'm still on the right road. 90 miles, 22 miles, 13 miles, and then you know you're turning. To see, they also give direction.
24:01
Farson, up ahead. When you get there, you know, you do this or that. They give you safety, protection, reassurance, and direction. They do that if what? This is a sign from Mexico.
24:12
I love this one because I like the signs in Mexico anyway. They they think up things that I don't think to announce. That says which means obey the signs. It's a sign that says obey the science. I was trying to think of other ones that I found weird and they're, they had one that was do not place flaming pots on the roadway.
24:34
On the pavement actually, literally. Do not place flaming pots on the pavement. I never would have thought to place a flaming pot on the pavement. But that's the way that the federales and the troops, if they have if they have a blockade, if they have an inspection, if they have anything that they're doing and you're riding along, they will take little pots of kerosene or something and light it, and it's a little, you know, flame so that you can see, oh, something's going on up here. Well, the highway department doesn't really want people to carry around flammable liquids and pots in the back of their car.
25:08
So they say don't leave these in there. They also say don't leave stones, piedras, don't leave stones on the pavement because that's the other way. If you're protecting yourself while you're working on your car, you put a few stones in the pathway to keep so people will hit them. They don't have cones. You just grab stones off the side and put them in the roadway.
25:26
Well, the problem with that is when you finish, you drive off and you leave the stones. Now people are hitting stones. Don't do that. Obey the signs. I like that.
25:34
Traffic signs help if we obey them. What is this sign? Don't walk, right? That one? Walk.
25:43
You don't ever see this at the same time, do you? It's don't walk or it's walk. It's not both at the same time. There's a flashing one to let you know. Okay, you're running out of time some places, sometimes, but it's usually either this or this.
25:59
And our passage today has three of those up front. There are three of these where it's don't do this but do this. So that's where we can get to. And actually, I ended with this passage last week. It's really good to close off the section we did.
26:13
Now last week, we talked about how there were six don'ts from a loving God through a loving messenger presenting to you, Paul says, sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness must not even be named among you and filthiness, foolish talk, and coarse jesting are out of place in the family of God. Don't do those things. But then he gives you a walk this way. Be careful then how you walk, how you are walking, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time. Gratitude was the one that you should do.
26:49
We'll talk about that in a few minutes. It'll come up again. But I use this little Spanish idiom, That means the shrimp who sleeps will be carried along by the current. And make no mistake about it, the current of our society is flowing this way. You remember me walking back and forth in sin is right here.
27:11
The current of our society and every society since the beginning, since man sinned in the garden has been flowing away from the holiness and goodness of God. The current is flowing that way and if you, shrimp, are sleeping, you're going to be carried along that way. So last week, he said, awake, arise, oh sleeper, and Christ will shine upon you. So we went back to that verse right there. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
27:43
I saw this picture and this is just on a public clock. It's a remember time lost cannot be regained. Does that just give you a little bit of like it's important. Every moment we have is important. We know that Christ redeemed and we know that we are encouraged in Colossians to be redeeming the time, redeeming the time, spending it wisely because every moment that passes just cannot be regained.
28:14
So, the not that but this Here we go. Therefore, do not this the whole passage we're going to cover today. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
28:46
That's the English Standard Version if you were wondering. So these start off with look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise. Now knowledge is one thing and wisdom is another. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, okay, for the good. Wisdom is the application of knowledge.
29:11
Now I know that in England they drive on the opposite side of the road, and I know that in South Africa they drive on the opposite side of the road we do. In Kenya, opposite side of the road that we do. Okay. It's nice to know those things. But when I stepped out from a curb and into the street, which way was I looking?
29:35
Why? Because that's the way I grew up, out of habit. The norm for my culture, remember the current is flowing this way, the norm for my culture is to look that way when you step out in front of traffic because we drive on this side of the road. Well, in South Africa when I was there in 2010, had several times where I stepped out and there's a car coming. Yeah, that's bad.
29:58
So I know that. I have the knowledge that that is true, but if I'm looking that way, that is unwise. That is not an application of that knowledge and you have to look then carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise and that's the comparison there. Not as not as unwise but as wise. Enough said, moves on.
30:17
Not being foolish. So, I knew that. I have known it. I have almost been hit a couple of times. When I go back to it, if I'm not thinking about it, I still do it.
30:27
Why? That's foolish. You have to be conscious of every step. There are other foolish things that I could go into. Bull fighting for one.
30:38
That was probably one of the more foolish things I did but actually, I thought, well, it's a cultural thing to do. It'll be getting me. I'm a missionary in with the people. It's a nice thing to do. Well, that bull was dangerous, you know?
30:49
I I I did not end up suffering the consequences but there was a guy behind the cape that I was holding who did or a 175 of us out there in the ring and I'm holding a cape in it. Bull goes through it and he nails a guy on the backside back there. We were both out there. It was foolish for both of us. I might not have suffered the consequences that time but it was foolish to get out there and put myself in harm's way.
31:12
I thought I was doing it for a good reason and it was fun but it was still foolish. Okay? But understanding. Now, don't be foolish not being foolish but understanding and it goes on to state not just understanding but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Understanding the will of the Lord.
31:31
Now, he's talked about it for the first three chapters of Ephesians. He's given us all this theology and he's given us all these good things about what God has done removing us even though we're in our sins and trespasses, removing us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and understanding that he would have us walk worthy. Verse four one, walking worthy. So, understanding what the will of the Lord is. That not being foolish but understanding what the will of the Lord is is next and then, he says it just as flatly and as bluntly as it can be said.
32:04
Do not get drunk. Just like that and it's just as flat a command as there is anywhere else in scripture and he does not say, don't let me let me think about this for just a second. Do not get drunk. He does not say, do not drink. Jesus turned water into wine, not the other way around.
32:25
He does not say, don't have more than two. Don't have more than one. He doesn't say specifically what it is, except he is specific about not getting drunk, Okay? There are some of you in this room, I would imagine, in a group this size, who have suffered mightily from drinking to excess. I would imagine that that's the case.
32:45
I don't know. I'm not calling any of you out specifically, but if God has you here today, this is the message of the day. Do not get drunk. Alcoholics Anonymous and all of the other 12 step programs that have followed them have right up front in their 12 steps. There is a higher power.
33:06
And you have, your life has become out of control, and then you have to cede responsibility for that life to the will of that higher power. So do not get drunk. How are you gonna follow that one up? Do not get drunk. I have heard a thousand sermons about do not get drunk, and I've heard them from lots of different places in the Bible uniformly throughout all scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, drunkenness is prohibited always.
33:32
In the Old Testament, if you see a story, which Paul says that the stories from the Old Testament are taught us so that we may learn to walk uprightly from those examples. Good and bad. So the Lot and his daughter's drunkenness. Bad things happen. When people get drunk, bad things happen.
33:53
Noah, after the flood for crying out loud, after he's the guy who builds the boat, Noah immediately after gets drunk, bad things happen. Do not get drunk. I am delivering the message to you as purely and as straightforward as I know how. Do not get drunk. Now, I also agree with the DOT.
34:16
Have you heard the commercial that says buzzed driving is drunk driving? Do not get buzzed. Okay? Don't chase that buzz. If you are doing that, you're stuck in last week's sermon.
34:28
Last week's sermon is about gratifying the flesh. And if you are trying to gratify the flesh, that's where you're gonna go. And that's not a good thing. It's not good for you. Do not get drunk.
34:42
So I typically do not drink. I might have one at a wedding for a toast if I feel like it would be offensive not to, maybe. But the do not get drunk is straight up. Don't get drunk. There are some of you here who do not ever need to have one more drink ever.
35:00
You don't ever need to have the first one because you're not going to need to have the second one, and then if you have the second one, then all bets are off. Okay? So do not get drunk and then, he gives us a walk symbol. Walk this way. Be filled with the spirit.
35:13
Now, do not get drunk is a direct command. It is active. It is personal and it is going forward. You have the responsibility to do that. But it's interesting how the green side over here is but be filled with the spirit.
35:30
I'm sorry I cut. Our our building, sometimes when the weather shifts, these cameras all shifts about the same angle. I don't understand it, but it does that. So last night when the temperature changed, it does that. It'll come back.
35:42
But be filled with the spirit. Be filled is a passive construction. It means that there's someone else who is doing the filling and if you're being filled with the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God, God is doing the filling. It's called a divine passive Do not get drunk but be filled with the spirit Now, I have heard some people even this morning who said, that's not fair. The do not get drunk is my responsibility but the filling is God's part.
36:09
If God's not filling me, then how am I going to keep from being drunk? You are going to have to rely on him. And he gives us five different participles that follow this, be filled with the spirit. I wanna say before I get there, road sign. This is on the Trans Sahara Highway Highway.
36:29
It is desert track. So it's desert all around in all directions right here. There's not anything close by. There's not a filling station. There's not anything.
36:37
And then there are three fifty five gallon drums and a sign sticking out of the middle of it in Niger. They told me I pronounced that wrong in the first service. I said Niger. It's Niger. We said Niger, where I'm from anyway.
36:54
Road sign on the Trans Sahara Highway. And that is turn right for Arlit. Okay? That's what that sign means. It's saying you can turn right or turn left, but if you want to go to Arlit, turn right.
37:07
So I said signs for your safety, for your protection. This is for your reassurance. Actually, in this case, it's for your safety and your protection because if you just keep on going straight out there, you're gonna hit nothing for a long, long time. This is Trans Sahara, you know? If you wanna go to Arleet, turn right.
37:24
I like that because of this. Turn to this. If you ask God to fill you with his spirit, he will. He always responds to a call of faith. He always responds when you call out to him.
37:39
Sincere heart, I want your help. My life has become unmanageable. I trust that there is a higher power who can make it manageable. If he takes control, and that's those beginning of those 12 steps, he will do that. Do not get drunk, but be filled with the spirit.
37:59
I will say this too. Isn't it often the case that when people are in their sins or they've done things, and we all know intrinsically when time passes and we haven't done something that we should, we have a sense of regret when we come to realize what I should have done was this. What I should have done was this. And so we have that picture, that clock. Time loss cannot be regained.
38:27
And if you think about that and it settles in and you feel like I haven't said what I should have said, I haven't done what I should have done, then there can be a mounting pressure. And a lot of times what that pressure does for people who have taken solace in strong drink or in sex or in anything other addictive behavior, they start to go to that because it numbs the pain of thinking about what's already going on. Well, the promise of God is that he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He will restore you and you can walk forward knowing that his grace accompanies you. Okay?
39:01
That's a good, good promise. So here we are. Be looking carefully then how you walk, consider your way, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time. Well, why? Why should we make the best use of the time?
39:16
Because the days that we're living in is evil. I thought last night I read something from James Montgomery Boys. He said, think about this. You can only do something with the time that you have. You can't do something tomorrow and you can't do something yesterday.
39:30
You can do something in the now. You can act presently in the now. And he said also, you can't do something where you're not. You have this space. Florim is looking forward to a time when he will be ministering in Romania again, and he will be.
39:45
I believe that. He feels like God is moving in that direction but right now, he's ministering wherever he is, sitting in that chair, sitting at this piano, standing at Smith's at the checkout. You can only use the time that you have in the space that you are. The days around you are evil. Don't be foolish.
40:04
Understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery. Actually, the word debauchery, when I think of the word debauchery because I've been in church my whole life, I think of debauchery. There's actually there are several clubs, nightclub that are named debauchery. That's what I think of.
40:20
Late night, carousing, drinking, promiscuity, and general filthiness, you know, like the previous passage talks about. That's what I think of when debauchery. You know what the word means? A waste of time. It is a waste of time because all of that time spent carousing is going to be a worthless and fruitless pursuit.
40:45
It's a temporary high, temporary gratification, and it's something that will not satisfy. You'll always chase the buzz. It's a waste of time. Now, here's the red light, green light on this, not as unwise but as wise. Do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine.
41:04
Praise God. There is a but right there and the but is this, be filled with the spirit. I've already told you it's a passive construction meaning that God is the one doing the filling but he's good and he's God and he loves you and when you reach out and accept that he said he loves you, he means he loves you. He promises that for everyone who believes, he will give the tree of life. He will give eternal life.
41:26
Be filled with the spirit and then we have five participles and I'll through em one at a time. Addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Addressing here in some of your translations is going to say speaking, not singing but speaking. So the lyrics of songs and poems are important. Do y'all remember the songs you sang in Bible school?
41:49
Yeah. Do you remember the top 40 songs that came on the road radio when you were a teenager? Yeah. Why do you think you remember them? It's top of the mind awareness.
42:00
It's something that we get it enough times early enough and it gets in there. So he's saying address one another with those psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. This morning in the first service, I did start just spontaneously singing a couple songs. They were the first two songs we sang in this service. He keeps me singing.
42:18
There's within my heart a melody. Yeah, that's the next point. So addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, some people try to differentiate between the three of those. I actually don't try to differentiate.
42:34
I think he's saying music, edifying, building up type, good music. Now, Psalms, we have the Psalms in the Old Testament. Those that's the hymn book of Israel. Hymns are repetitive usually and structure. They have a refrain and spiritual songs, it's it's kind of keeping the people who say hymns only.
42:53
Now, you can't say hymns only. He says, Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs and you can't say spiritual songs only. Hymns are good too. So, it's a both and situation. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.
43:11
I think to be filled with the spirit and these two right here, I dare you to try it. If you feel dry and you feel like you're you wanna get wet, drunk, I dare you to try it, to start going over some of the hymns that you know. Some of you might not know them. You might not have been there in the first place. I pray that God will bring those things to your mind that you can grab hold of a book of them somewhere, or that someone will come in and just start teaching them to you.
43:40
Addressing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. So I looked up. I just Googled the 25 most popular Christian hymns at all of all time. Wasn't hard to find them.
44:00
Amazing Grace. We knew that'd be on the list, right? How sweet the sound. It saved a wretch like me. It was a person who was a wretch and God's grace, unmerited favor, something I didn't deserve that God gave.
44:14
It's amazing that it exists at all. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. It saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see.
44:23
How great thou art, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made. These are just coming up, you know? We sang that over at Bud's the other day. When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. Oh, that's great.
44:43
Living here? Yeah. Wonderful. Holy, holy, holy. It is well with my soul.
44:52
Great is thy faithfulness. Praise to the Lord the almighty, the king of creation. Not exactly the tune but that's close. Oh my soul praise him for he is my health and salvation. All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near, sing now and glad at all ration.
45:23
All creatures of our God and king lift up your voice and with us sing hallelujah hallelujah Praise the father. Praise the son. And praise the spirit three and one. Oh praise him. Oh praise him.
45:53
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. When my brother was in the hospital after a one car accident and it was the week that I became a missionary. I was able to sit with him.
46:12
I was able to read the Psalms. I was addressing my brother in a coma after a drunk driving accident actually. I was able to address him with Psalms and it gave him comfort and it gave me comfort. Nineteen days. And he's out of it.
46:30
He struggles from time to time, but would you pray for him? I'm praying for him. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. It's hard to concentrate on these things and have that melody in your heart and keep on walking the way you're you're tempted to walk. Why?
46:49
I hear the savior say, thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness watch and pray, find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow. If you concentrate on the fact that he washed your sin white as snow, you don't need to anesthetize or self medicate and be drawn back in to this life. If you can concentrate on that and that's what reassurance a lot of these songs give. Blessed assurance.
47:31
Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. That's my story. That's my song.
47:41
Praising my savior all the day long. So, that's the singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I reserve the right to come back and preach a topical sermon about Thanksgiving, okay? And I'll probably do it about Thanksgiving, alright?
47:59
That is probably the hardest command in Ephesians to live by. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know among us, there are folks who have felt the pain and suffering loss of losing a child. I know that among us, there are folks who have felt the pain of their own sin harming someone else. Giving thanks always and for everything has to be a moment that you're doing in the present right now.
48:29
You cannot be living in the past. You gotta be giving thanks and for always and for everything. God, through that past mistake you brought me to this point, and I know you will lead me on, giving thanks always. Now this, I mentioned it, I didn't mean to, but I mentioned it just before the shake hands time this morning or just before the offer, I'm really thankful for y'all, and I've been trying to concentrate on being thankful since last week, or last three weeks actually, because I've been studying this before I present it. But that giving thanks really does work.
49:03
This is the voice of experience. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given opportunities this week for first B to to minister to folks who are struggling with substance abuse. Would you be praying for them? There are a number.
49:18
It's not just a few. Would you be praying for us? Giving thanks always and for everything that God's given the opportunity to us to be doing that. In the name of Jesus, to God the father. Giving thanks always and for everything.
49:32
We'll come back to that again but I want to get to this next point. So, those first four are kind of covered already when we went through Colossians three. This is Colossians three sixteen in one verse. Paul says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, not as unwise but as wise, teaching one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thanksfulness in your heart to God. So that's from Colossians, parallel passage.
50:09
And then this one is not covered in that portion of Colossians, but I like this one, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, next week, when I start, I'm going to start with this verse. It's verse 21. That submitting right there is a participle just like our all of these underlined words. All of those underline words go back and they modify being filled with the spirit, addressing.
50:32
So which comes first? Addressing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody, giving, submitting to one another. Does that come before being filled with the spirit or after? Okay. Initially, yes.
50:47
In salvation is the place where you begin this process. I agree with that. But for a Christian, since this letter is written to Christians, where does which one happens first? It's kind of a chicken and egg situation. I was daring you a little while ago when you feel tempted to start doing any of these five things.
51:09
If you start doing these things, I think you'll be filled with the spirit. I'm pretty sure that's the way God works. When you begin to doubt, Charles Stanley says, when you begin to doubt, that's the time to start singing and making melody in your heart to God and being thankful it will stabilize your faith. I agree based on these five participles. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
51:34
Submission in The United States Of America is a very, very unpopular thing. We tend to be so incredibly individualistic in our cultural makeup. It's just our culture to be me, my, you know, now, I want. So, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ does not come naturally in our culture. Our culture again is flowing away from God.
51:59
Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ is ordering yourself up under another. Now, it says one another and that's where we're starting next week. We're starting with 21 and going from 22. I've told you that a lot of people don't agree about where the break happens between paragraphs from four seventeen through six nine. It looks like one long paragraph to me.
52:22
Really long paragraph, a few run on sentences, but the the flow of thought is there. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ is the end of this section because it's the last of those participles that modify be filled with the spirit. Be filled with the spirit. Talk to each other with the reassuring and comforting words of Psalms and hymns of spiritual Psalms. Did you know that Philippians two five through 11 right in there where it's about Christ's humility and imitating that?
52:51
Make my joy complete by having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus who being in very nature God wasn't. That is a hymn. That's one of the earliest Christian hymns. Timothy three sixteen about the scripture being God breathed. That is one of the earliest Christian hymns.
53:06
It's profitable for doctrine and rebuke and all those things. He did that. Paul did that. He lived that out. He spoke in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
53:16
He even grabbed songs and poems from the from others that had some spiritual truth he wanted to share. So, it wasn't just Christian hymns. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, he did that. Giving thanks always and for everything. We see him writing this from the Mamertine Prison, A dungeon, you know, we see him writing this and he's saying, give thanks always and for everything.
53:40
Did you realize he was in prison when he wrote it? Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. We're going to go to a time of communion right now and I'm going invite Ray, would you the the frontline team come forward? We come together because Christ has brought us together. It is his perfect life given as a ransom for many, his shed blood that washes us free from all of our sins, that brings us to this table.
54:10
He commanded that we get together and be one and he says that every time that we do this, we do it in remembrance of him. So, I'm going to pray and ask Florine to just play something pretty or Judy could play something pretty. Florine, would you come up when we do the cup though and play with me? Yeah. God, would you bless as we distribute this bread, this cracker as a representation of your body that was given, Lord, your perfect life, your perfect record.
54:41
God, I pray that you would bless each one who partakes and have us, lord, consider carefully our walk. How it is that we're walking? How does that line up with how you walk? Lord, would you allow us to see in bright, glowing red the things not to do and in bright, glowing green, the things that we should do. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask for this blessing, for this representation of your body in Jesus name.
58:00
Jesus was betrayed. He took bread after supper and after having given thanks, he blessed it and said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the way that you walked. I thank you for the way that you are completely surrendered and completely filled by the Holy Spirit.
58:29
Lord, I thank you for the feeling of having our sins washed away in your blood. I thank you that it's true. And Lord, as we go through this today, we're going we're giving a sign, and it is a sign of reassurance, and it is a sign for direction. It's a sign that calls us back to considering our walk, asking for forgiveness, and living in that forgiveness, Lord. Would you bless this little bit of grape juice and these little plastic cups as we distribute them.
59:03
For every soul, Lord, here, and for everyone that would take the cup, would you allow them to feel your very real presence and your infilling spirit. And God, for everyone who allows this to pass because they just don't believe, they're almost persuaded perhaps or they're completely rejecting it for every single one of those who does not partake, Lord. Would you bless them in such a way through this body here assembled that they would reconsider and look carefully at their walk and turn to you. Jesus name, amen. By Jesus.
1:03:29
Speaker 2For Jesus. We
1:03:33
Speaker 1the the Jesus took the cup after supper and and he told his disciples and he tells us today that this is the new covenant in his blood. Yes, we have failed but the new covenant says that by God's grace and by the blood of the lamb that was slain, we can have life. So he said to his disciples, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it in remembrance of. Amen.
1:04:07
And now, would you all stand with me We proclaim Christ's death until he comes again Every time that we do this would you sing the doxology with me as we as we go? We sing sing a hymn and depart. How about that? Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below praise him above you heavenly host praise father, son, and holy Amen. Ghost May the Lord bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace.
1:05:01
Amen.
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