back to indexEphesians Bible Study Lesson 19
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Pagan Bible study for today, let's take a moment to look before the Lord 00:00:12.000 |
and ask for His grace and help, and really understand and apply 00:00:20.000 |
we do thank you for your work. Thank God many times 00:00:24.000 |
we have worked in punishments and in corrections. The Lord we're so thankful 00:00:28.000 |
for your faith, knowing by the God that your scriptures continue 00:00:32.000 |
to examine and bless us, and it caused us to walk in that. 00:00:36.000 |
To abide by your truth, it caused us to be sane, 00:00:40.000 |
to grow into truth. And that's what we pray for, God, 00:00:44.000 |
that we would grow to the measure of Christ, that God 00:00:48.000 |
we would be growing in both wisdom and understanding, but also that I'm being able 00:00:52.000 |
to apply what you say. We thank you Lord that Christ can be praised. 00:01:00.000 |
to be continuing our study of Ephesians in the passage this evening 00:01:04.000 |
from verse 15 through 21, which I entitled "Walk carefully 00:01:16.000 |
"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as 00:01:20.000 |
wise, making the most of your time, because it pays our 00:01:24.000 |
people. For then do not be foolish, but understand what the will 00:01:28.000 |
of the Lord is, and do not get drawn to the mind, but rather to the 00:01:36.000 |
in a soft and gentle spiritual song, singing in a neat melody 00:01:40.000 |
with your heart to the Lord. Always be in thanks for all things in the 00:01:44.000 |
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father, 00:01:48.000 |
and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." 00:01:52.000 |
Okay, well, let's briefly have a way of review. 00:01:56.000 |
We realize again that there has been such a repetition of the 00:02:00.000 |
admonishment to make sure that our pattern of life and the way that we walk 00:02:04.000 |
is God-like. And so, starting all the way back 00:02:08.000 |
in chapter 4, Paul challenges us, and you've heard the Gospel 00:02:12.000 |
lessons in all of this radical teaching, for you, you need to walk in a manner 00:02:16.000 |
worthy of this call. And he describes how our 00:02:20.000 |
walk should be characterized by humility, by love, by unity, 00:02:24.000 |
and more. In chapter 5, verse 1, the Scripture challenges us 00:02:28.000 |
to imitate God as his children, and to walk in love. 00:02:32.000 |
In verse 8, we're challenged to walk as the children 00:02:36.000 |
of life, no longer partaking in deeds of darkness, but rather 00:02:40.000 |
exposing everything that we're doing to the truth. 00:02:44.000 |
And here, we're having this call, this command 00:02:52.000 |
carefully, and to walk quietly. Here, out of the message 00:02:56.000 |
we take a look at it, all these colors, what I've done for you is outline 00:03:00.000 |
the passage according to the commandments. So what do I mean 00:03:04.000 |
by that? There are main commandments within this passage, 00:03:08.000 |
and then there are, I guess you could say, supporting commandments, as you see. 00:03:12.000 |
And the way you differentiate is by taking a look at 00:03:20.000 |
So here, as I read this, it says, "Be careful how you walk." 00:03:24.000 |
That is a standalone imperative. We're not going to stop there. It's a complete 00:03:32.000 |
"Not as unwise, but as wise." But if you take 00:03:36.000 |
"not as unwise, but as wise" by itself, it almost feels like an incomplete 00:03:44.000 |
verse 17, the commandment should be, "that you do not walk foolishly, 00:03:48.000 |
but understand what the will of the Lord is." And to summarize, I can say the second 00:03:52.000 |
main commandment is, "understand the will." Thirdly, 00:03:56.000 |
he says, "Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." 00:04:00.000 |
This command, "be filled with the Spirit," obviously it's an important one, 00:04:04.000 |
but there's a lot more to say about it. But you can clearly figure out one of the main 00:04:08.000 |
commandments. And then letter D, down in verse 21, 00:04:16.000 |
"Walk carefully and walk wisely," I see as the main heading of the paragraph. 00:04:20.000 |
And then he says, "Understand God's will, but then be 00:04:24.000 |
"are walked," so being careful and wise, "be filled with the 00:04:32.000 |
So we don't have to jot all of this down, but I just wanted to show you that 00:04:36.000 |
this passage uniquely was just full of commandments, 00:04:40.000 |
one after another. And I saw a structure where 00:04:44.000 |
not every single commandment was just that other side of the road. 00:04:48.000 |
Rather, you saw four main ones, walked out of the first. 00:04:52.000 |
Let's take a moment then, and jump to commandment number one. 00:05:04.000 |
it says, "Therefore be careful how you walk." And what we want 00:05:08.000 |
to observe is just that commandment, "Hey, be careful!" 00:05:16.000 |
we might think the other commandments are more important, 00:05:20.000 |
we'll come back to them, because they're more consistent. But I think actually 00:05:24.000 |
it's good for us to take heed of this general, again, more broader commandment as well. 00:05:32.000 |
I would like to show you a re-reading here. In the Greek instruction, 00:05:40.000 |
because the way that you would more literally read it is like this. 00:05:48.000 |
"See then, accurately, how you walk." So, the commandment, 00:05:52.000 |
"Be careful!" actually is several words. "See accurately 00:05:56.000 |
and specifically." What we're talking about here is that 00:06:00.000 |
we hear the expectation for us to be willing to examine 00:06:04.000 |
everything that we're doing. That we have the ability to stop 00:06:08.000 |
and be assessed, so to speak. And more so, we'll actually 00:06:12.000 |
assess ourselves. What we need to be doing is making sure that we are 00:06:16.000 |
paying attention to the way that we are doing and what we're doing. We should be willing to 00:06:20.000 |
ask the question and meditate on this. What happened? 00:06:24.000 |
Is there any part of me right now that I'm not paying attention to? 00:06:32.000 |
in the way that I'm approaching or whatever in my life? 00:06:36.000 |
And to meditate on this further, I have this question. What happens 00:06:40.000 |
if I'm not asking the question and self-evaluating and asking 00:06:48.000 |
And I want us to take a moment to think about that. 00:06:52.000 |
If in your home, whether you're working on a project, 00:06:56.000 |
whether you're trying to fix something, whether you're trying to build and then you get 00:07:00.000 |
to the furniture and everything, if you're not careful, what ends up happening? 00:07:04.000 |
A lot of times, what ends up happening is we hurt ourselves. We stub our own toes. 00:07:08.000 |
We smash our thumbs. Or we hurt other people. 00:07:16.000 |
If we're not careful, what ends up happening is that we end up wasting our time. 00:07:20.000 |
If we're not careful to build our furniture in a specific way, or 00:07:24.000 |
according to the instructions, you end up doing something and then you realize, like, "Oh! 00:07:28.000 |
I missed that important part and now I gotta dismantle it." 00:07:32.000 |
Well, that is a fasting scripture. It warns us, if we're not paying careful attention, 00:07:36.000 |
we're putting together something that will not last, that needs to be done 00:07:40.000 |
over again, or altogether scrapped, and it will not 00:07:44.000 |
have the potential to apply. What is that? That's called 00:07:48.000 |
"ending." That's called "wasting." What's more, 00:07:52.000 |
in our day, if we're not careful right now, we can be 00:07:56.000 |
really messing up all of our priorities. What do I mean? 00:08:00.000 |
There are so many different priorities in our lives. 00:08:08.000 |
church, personal, and the responsibilities continue 00:08:12.000 |
to stack. And if we're not careful, what ends up happening is 00:08:16.000 |
the various priorities that God has given us get turned upside down. 00:08:20.000 |
The priorities that should be more spiritual, heavenly-like, more 00:08:28.000 |
of the world, the priorities of this age, the priorities of next, whatever is 00:08:32.000 |
urgent, those things have to take place. I think this is a 00:08:36.000 |
big source of challenge for us, and for me too, personally. 00:08:40.000 |
I feel like God has been teaching this, as a layman, 00:08:44.000 |
through people in our church, through fellowship, that sometimes if we're not careful, 00:08:48.000 |
we definitely lose sight of what's most valuable, what's 00:08:52.000 |
most important. And I think this is the call that is most emphasized 00:08:56.000 |
in the starting sentence, you need to be careful. For example, to me, 00:09:00.000 |
you know, I think everybody these days, everybody has lots of 00:09:04.000 |
messages to get through, everybody has lots of people to text, everybody has 00:09:08.000 |
lots on their plate. But again, if you're not careful, what ends up happening is 00:09:12.000 |
your goal gets distracted. There are times when literally 00:09:16.000 |
my goal was, you know what, I just need to make sure by the end of the day, my box 00:09:24.000 |
on the flip side, if I have a bunch of tasks, you know what my goal is, just to make sure that all of those things 00:09:28.000 |
get checked off. But then if I'm not being careful, 00:09:32.000 |
I have to end up answering to God, essentially. Like, God, did I ever do 00:09:40.000 |
equally the same? And I've been learning this, and I've been being challenged by this. 00:09:52.000 |
how am I totally actually accomplishing God's 00:10:00.000 |
actually tending to the need of the day? What kind of fruit is this 00:10:04.000 |
bearing? These are all very important questions. Why? 00:10:08.000 |
Because He says, "When you do that, you are then a need-wise person." 00:10:12.000 |
So we hear this challenge and this demand. Scripture says 00:10:16.000 |
it all the time. Watch your writing and doctrine closely. 00:10:20.000 |
Many other passages tell you, I'm not going to read this whole thing, but if you look at 00:10:24.000 |
1 Corinthians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul talks a lot about there's a 00:10:28.000 |
wisdom of the world, and there's a wisdom of God. And what needs to happen is that 00:10:32.000 |
Christians need to understand the value of things. And he says, 00:10:36.000 |
there are things in our lives that the world might see that this is important, and that's 00:10:40.000 |
important. But he says, the spiritual things are spiritually 00:10:44.000 |
great, I believe, because we have the mind of God. 00:10:48.000 |
So, I spent a lot of time on this first one because it was very 00:10:52.000 |
tight. We need to be paying much closer attention to what we are 00:11:00.000 |
Apostle Paul challenges us with this next phrase, 00:11:04.000 |
where he says, "Make the most of your time." And so the second 00:11:12.000 |
Now, by way of observation, this phrase begins with the hardest 00:11:20.000 |
Making the most of your time. And so if you notice, I indented it 00:11:24.000 |
to show you that it is a second or supporting 00:11:28.000 |
idea of how we're supposed to be careful in our lives and our day. 00:11:32.000 |
Now, by way of observation, I want to highlight this idea of 00:11:36.000 |
making the most of our time. It is literally translated 00:11:48.000 |
other literature or other passages of Scripture, the idea is 00:11:52.000 |
redemption, purchase. So actually, it is used in Christ 00:11:56.000 |
when it talks about the dogmas that Christ fully purchased 00:12:00.000 |
us. And what's more, in other literature, it is used 00:12:04.000 |
of an individual by a slave in order to set them free. 00:12:08.000 |
It is also used in moments when an individual 00:12:12.000 |
is sold into whatever it may be, they buy it all out. 00:12:16.000 |
And so I want you to take a moment to think about that when it comes 00:12:24.000 |
of mentality then for us is to maximize that time. 00:12:28.000 |
This kind of mentality for us is to make sure that we try to squeeze every ounce 00:12:32.000 |
of benefit from whatever we're doing. And now that's not to 00:12:36.000 |
say, obviously, and you guys can discuss this in your groups, and I didn't think about 00:12:40.000 |
it a minute ago, that's not to say that you have to be a machine and every 00:12:44.000 |
waiting moment you should be doing nothing but free-preying abandonment. 00:12:48.000 |
I wish you could! But there are moments of rest, 00:12:52.000 |
there are moments of enjoying the company of your loved ones, 00:12:56.000 |
there's a lot more. But let's take a moment to think 00:13:00.000 |
about this idea because Scripture challenges us to do this on 00:13:04.000 |
an everyday basis. Here, in Colossians, conduct yourself 00:13:08.000 |
willingly towards the outside world, making the most of every opportunity. 00:13:12.000 |
So here, we kind of get the sense of what you talk about. 00:13:16.000 |
That when we have opportunity, are we actually making the most of it? 00:13:20.000 |
Or again, are we just passing it first and we hold it? 00:13:24.000 |
This is just a challenge for all of us. How good would it be to be attached 00:13:28.000 |
to the opportunity that we have? Intentionality. 00:13:32.000 |
In Scripture, it tells us when we're speaking words, those words should be both 00:13:36.000 |
seasoned with salt and it should actually point beneath the knee of the hour. 00:13:48.000 |
What's more, relations. So then, while we have opportunity, let us 00:13:52.000 |
do good to all people, especially to those who are a household of the 00:13:56.000 |
Savior. There it is, it builds in with the Scripture 00:14:00.000 |
definition for us. That as we have this chance to do good, 00:14:04.000 |
we need to be making sure that there is good being. 00:14:08.000 |
And I wanted to say, there's another observation we can highlight. 00:14:12.000 |
Notice how when we go back to the passage, it says making the most of the time. 00:14:16.000 |
That term for time doesn't just mean hours and minutes. 00:14:20.000 |
Time is a set period of time. A lot of times, 00:14:24.000 |
translated, it is a season. So in this moment, so to speak, 00:14:28.000 |
we need to make sure we understand that we have 00:14:36.000 |
Scripture says it's not like we have time for every single thing, but you need to make sure 00:14:40.000 |
that you understand we have but a moment. And Scripture 00:14:44.000 |
challenged us to see that we are transient beings. We are 00:14:48.000 |
like papers and we need to be active in knowing that 00:14:52.000 |
no, we don't have time to do every single thing, every single hobby that we would like to do. 00:14:56.000 |
I just want to share another personal opinion. 00:15:00.000 |
A lot of people know that I just love learning stuff. 00:15:04.000 |
I'm not like necessarily a super ambitious person, 00:15:08.000 |
but nonetheless, I just love learning. I like 00:15:12.000 |
knowing how to do things. And so if you ask the question about 00:15:16.000 |
my gift to them, some people have said, "You're kind of like a jack of all trades." 00:15:20.000 |
And the other part of it is, "Absolutely, I'm not an alpha male." 00:15:24.000 |
But it's true. If you have all these different 00:15:28.000 |
interests, you can't be a bachelor. So what's funny is 00:15:32.000 |
in terms of sports, when some people are like, "Let's get 00:15:36.000 |
people to play tennis." I play tennis. I have tennis practice. 00:15:40.000 |
I played tennis in high school. I played soccer. I'm a soccer ball. 00:15:44.000 |
I even have a badminton set at home that I haven't touched in two years. 00:15:48.000 |
Pretty much every sport you can think of, I have to be a good player. I have softball gloves. 00:15:52.000 |
I have a baseball bat. I have a baseball glove that I haven't touched in a month. 00:15:56.000 |
And I say that not to brag, I actually say that 00:16:00.000 |
mostly to shame, because the majority of people don't get touched in like years. 00:16:04.000 |
Now what's really interesting about this is I just want to say, I mean, 00:16:12.000 |
But I want you to think about this. And we're talking about the idea that you don't 00:16:16.000 |
have time for this. And so those people who just 00:16:20.000 |
want to go out and experience everything, and think about this even for parenting, 00:16:24.000 |
"Do I want my child to experience everything that they possibly can?" 00:16:28.000 |
And the answer is yes. I want them to know what it's like to go 00:16:32.000 |
here and there and experience this sport, and that sport, and this sport. 00:16:36.000 |
I'm talking about instruments. I'm going right now, like you, you know, we got a piano 00:16:40.000 |
from somebody. Someone gave us ukuleles, and now we have that. We have 00:16:44.000 |
a guitar at home. We have a flute. It's crazy to me. 00:16:48.000 |
But now we have this privilege of having anything that we have. 00:16:52.000 |
And yet we realize, "No, we don't have three hours 00:16:56.000 |
for the guitar, three hours for the flute, three hours for the car, 00:17:00.000 |
get me started on that. I have pieces of car that I don't have 00:17:04.000 |
ever installed yet." I'm sure some of us would like that. 00:17:08.000 |
And I want you to think about that, because King Solomon 00:17:12.000 |
widely said, "All of man." He says, "I planted my vineyards 00:17:16.000 |
I had to be dumb. I grew this, grew that. I bought this, bought that. 00:17:20.000 |
I had slaves, I had servants. I had just about everything." In the end, man, 00:17:24.000 |
what was it? And you know what's really interesting? 00:17:28.000 |
I was going to compare it, because I was going to give a thirdly suggestion. 00:17:32.000 |
Don't have 50 million hobbies. Have one that you're good at. 00:17:36.000 |
Be good at it. And I was going to give that admonishment, 00:17:40.000 |
but that too is actually worthy of it. And in the end, 00:17:44.000 |
you know what's really cool right now? People right now 00:17:48.000 |
on the internet, on Facebook, and thank you to those who coordinated it, 00:17:52.000 |
they're using their skill, garnering interest, 00:17:56.000 |
and using that as a means to support issues, to support 00:18:00.000 |
the evaluator, to support these causes of adoption. 00:18:08.000 |
Way to add intentionality to what you're doing. That's a two-thumbs up right there. 00:18:12.000 |
That was great stuff. Is it always that we have to do that 00:18:16.000 |
all the time, do everything? Probably not. But should we be thinking about that? 00:18:20.000 |
Absolutely yes. What a great challenge that has been 00:18:28.000 |
of the fact that our time is absolutely up. That we don't have 00:18:32.000 |
all the time. And what's more, the rationale that this could give is actually 00:18:44.000 |
Now I want you guys to, in your group, discuss what does it mean that the days are even? 00:18:48.000 |
And how does that challenge the way that we think about what opportunities 00:18:52.000 |
are actually happening? It is a very interesting 00:19:00.000 |
discussion that Satan has instilled, I think, in our generation. 00:19:08.000 |
all the opportunity in the world. The answer is yes and no. 00:19:12.000 |
The answer is it's a balance game. We are absolutely privileged 00:19:16.000 |
that we have such great, incredible freedoms like never before. 00:19:20.000 |
The fact of the matter is you're not. You have limited time, 00:19:24.000 |
limited opportunity, and you have to make sure you are not squandering 00:19:28.000 |
and wasting your time. We're going to achieve this in response 00:19:40.000 |
Commandment number three says, "So then, don't be fooled, 00:19:48.000 |
The commandment here, I just want to highlight that, obviously 00:19:52.000 |
is not just to study the will and get to know 00:19:56.000 |
the will, but the idea is that you would know the will and why 00:20:08.000 |
what God is up to. Here's the way I like to put it. The wise 00:20:12.000 |
individual knows what is pleasing to God. We talked about this 00:20:16.000 |
in previous weeks. The wise individual, the individual who's walking 00:20:20.000 |
carefully, understands this pleases the Lord. 00:20:24.000 |
You should be able to say, "This is what God is honored by. 00:20:28.000 |
This is what God is pleased by." And you should be able to say, "I kind of 00:20:32.000 |
got that stuff." These are the things that a good son 00:20:40.000 |
If you're thinking about a gift for your father, the first question 00:20:44.000 |
you should be asking is, "What does he like?" 00:20:48.000 |
If you're sitting there like, "I have a good handbook, 00:20:52.000 |
and now we have a problem. We have a bigger problem 00:20:56.000 |
than I need to buy a gift. Your problem is more so than I need to get 00:21:04.000 |
I would like to make another observation that 00:21:08.000 |
the commandment is very clear. Do not be foolish. That part we've already talked about. 00:21:12.000 |
Foolish individuals do not walk carefully, do not be attentive, do not be 00:21:20.000 |
do not be a point in the knee. You just walk. 00:21:24.000 |
Just walk and be kind of careless. Here is that 00:21:28.000 |
I don't understand what the rule is. My personal belief 00:21:32.000 |
of where this applies, and I've been thinking about this recently, is in men. 00:21:36.000 |
Now a lot of people will say this, "You know what the key to marriage is? 00:21:40.000 |
Good communication." When you have bad communication, that's when things go south. 00:21:44.000 |
So people talk about how men are from Mars and women are from Venus. 00:21:48.000 |
We talk two different alien languages. That didn't mean so. 00:21:52.000 |
Men just communicate way different. We're not expressive. Sometimes 00:21:56.000 |
we don't dig into meaning of words and all that kind of stuff. 00:22:00.000 |
And sometimes we do. We just have a different way of expressing ourselves. 00:22:04.000 |
Okay. I don't think that's true. Because I've literally 00:22:08.000 |
seen people speak two different languages and yet still 00:22:12.000 |
come together. You know what actually one of the main 00:22:16.000 |
keys of self-awareness is? When individuals know 00:22:20.000 |
what they need to adopt. They know their role. 00:22:24.000 |
They know what they're supposed to do because they know this dishonors 00:22:28.000 |
the role. You know what's super frustrating? When an individual has no idea 00:22:32.000 |
what we just got and they just automatically assume, "Whatever makes me 00:22:36.000 |
happy because the thoughts are just going to do whatever makes me happy." Do you know how much that 00:22:40.000 |
ruins any institution? Not just marriage. Churches. 00:22:44.000 |
Basketball teams. Jobs. Business teams. Whatever they need. 00:22:48.000 |
When an individual has no idea of their God-given 00:22:56.000 |
it's all messed up. All of a sudden, when you go to a team 00:23:00.000 |
it does not feel like God. And so what's more 00:23:04.000 |
worse than that is not only an individual who does not feel like he's a God, but maybe 00:23:08.000 |
an individual who knows what he's a God, but just doesn't disobey. 00:23:16.000 |
One of the most foolish things you can do is know that 00:23:20.000 |
I am a God and this is me. And that's what this idea 00:23:24.000 |
of wisdom begins with. You're a God. When you acknowledge 00:23:32.000 |
that's a place. But when all the hearts are dug, like, "Now 00:23:36.000 |
I've got to do this right," that's when actually the biggest frustration happens. 00:23:40.000 |
So he says here, "Don't be fooled. Understand 00:23:56.000 |
the Spirit." Commandment number four, "Be filled with the Spirit." 00:24:00.000 |
Now, I apologize, because of time we're not going to be able 00:24:04.000 |
to get into every single element of this passage. But again, I trust that 00:24:08.000 |
you guys have done your own observation, done your own question. I'm just going to 00:24:12.000 |
highlight it. The first thing I want to highlight is clearly we make this observation 00:24:20.000 |
being drunk off of wine and described as dissipation. 00:24:24.000 |
And then in contrast to that "with," "be filled with the Spirit." 00:24:28.000 |
And you have to ask this question then, I ask 00:24:32.000 |
this question, "Why do people drink so much?" But the other question really is, "How 00:24:36.000 |
does Scripture view drunkenness and dissipation?" That summary 00:24:40.000 |
stated, "This is dissipation." What does that mean? Those are some observations 00:24:44.000 |
that we need to have. And in order to answer that question, 00:24:48.000 |
I definitely think that we have to take a moment to just meditate on it. What is it 00:24:52.000 |
about getting drunk that this world thinks is so cool? 00:24:56.000 |
What is it about getting drunk that this world thinks it's so awesome? 00:25:04.000 |
partying, wedding celebration, when you get a hang 00:25:08.000 |
celebration, when they think about birthdays, when they think about St. Patrick's 00:25:16.000 |
you can think of, this world thinks, "Let's get drunk. Let's get alcohol." 00:25:20.000 |
Why? Well, someone can say, "You know what? It just feels 00:25:28.000 |
might say, "Well, this just brings us together." 00:25:32.000 |
It's like a little joke. Other people might say, "That 00:25:36.000 |
just brings in that community joy. We're celebrating." 00:25:40.000 |
And then you realize, "Oh, that's weird." Because some people use it 00:25:44.000 |
when they're sad, when they're depressed, when they want to escape the pain of this 00:25:52.000 |
You have individuals who love the world, and they think it's 00:25:56.000 |
amazing, and that's what they drink. You have individuals who hate the world, and all the 00:26:00.000 |
biases and all the rules of the world that they drink, and they're like, "That's 00:26:04.000 |
a waste." And what's really interesting is when the word dissipates, 00:26:12.000 |
the immediate definition is "extravagant squandering." 00:26:16.000 |
You're going to hear me say that. It says, "This is dissipation." 00:26:20.000 |
You're just getting off on one. The definition of dissipation, 00:26:24.000 |
you know, when you think about water dissipating, you think about it in an accurate way, 00:26:28.000 |
but the actual definition that's more literal is "extravagant 00:26:36.000 |
theologically and more, I guess, metaphorically, like that 00:26:40.000 |
codical sign. The one who just spends much. Perhaps 00:26:44.000 |
you could think of the rich kid. The rich kid whose father owns 00:26:48.000 |
a lot of stuff, and so as a brat, he wants it, and he wants to go spend it. 00:26:52.000 |
And he spends it on all kinds of vices to his own gain. He is 00:26:56.000 |
easily under the influences and flattery of others. He's given to 00:27:00.000 |
temptation, and he surrounds himself with spending free to his 00:27:12.000 |
won him. These are just some of the things that the theological 00:27:16.000 |
dictionary has about this term. "Extravagant." 00:27:20.000 |
When you think about this term, you have individuals who turn to 00:27:28.000 |
full. As a means to feel like maybe the feeling 00:27:32.000 |
of joy. Turning to it as a means to feel like 00:27:36.000 |
whatever it is, the psychology of a rich child 00:27:40.000 |
who feels like they have all the resources in the world in 00:27:48.000 |
in terms of that as a means of their joy, as a means of their pleasure, 00:27:52.000 |
as a means of their escape, as a means of anything 00:28:04.000 |
We don't have to overcomplicate what it means to be filled 00:28:08.000 |
with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit means 00:28:12.000 |
we have, just like a child has his blessings in the Father, so we have 00:28:16.000 |
our blessings in the Father. We have His power, His wisdom, His purpose, His truth. 00:28:20.000 |
In Ephesians, we're talking about we have every 00:28:28.000 |
We're not talking about any kind of mystical greater measure 00:28:32.000 |
of the Spirit, we're talking about the very presence of God. 00:28:36.000 |
Now what the Scripture says, by way of observation, 00:28:40.000 |
is that when we are filled with the Spirit, we are going to be 00:28:44.000 |
what Peter speaks of as an observation. Being filled with the Spirit 00:28:48.000 |
is described by an ongoing overflow of speech 00:29:04.000 |
The previous commandment is to be filled with the Spirit, 00:29:08.000 |
underneath that is overflow of joy and thanksgiving. 00:29:12.000 |
So speaking to one another in song and in spiritual song, singing 00:29:16.000 |
and making melody with your heart to the Lord. Always 00:29:20.000 |
giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, 00:29:24.000 |
even in the Father. Think about this as fruits, a description 00:29:28.000 |
of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. So, if you have questions about what does it really mean 00:29:32.000 |
to be filled with the Spirit, are we talking about being empowered to do great works? 00:29:36.000 |
Are we talking about being filled with the Spirit to do miracles? Are we talking about 00:29:40.000 |
some kind of, you know, "guess what" scene? Well, here specifically, 00:29:44.000 |
you're filled with the Spirit is described as an ongoing overflow 00:29:52.000 |
So, this is an overflow of joy and gratitude. 00:30:04.000 |
that is, "and be subject to one another in the fear of 00:30:12.000 |
I'm going to talk about how commandment number six, humble yourself. 00:30:16.000 |
Humble yourself. If we're thinking about the logic of 00:30:20.000 |
being careful, being wise, we completely get all the 00:30:24.000 |
things that we're talking about so far. A quick way to do that 00:30:28.000 |
is to think about your needs. We need to make sure that we're giving people 00:30:32.000 |
time. We need to make sure that we understand how to live. We need to make sure 00:30:36.000 |
that we are living this overflowing of joy and gratitude. 00:30:40.000 |
What is very, very character and very, very wonderful 00:30:48.000 |
to me make sense. If you're wise, if you understand, 00:30:52.000 |
if you're living in reality, you should be the most 00:30:56.000 |
joyful and thankful person. Right? You should be the 00:31:00.000 |
person who is in time. You should be the person who is 00:31:04.000 |
in the gospel, the truth, the impact, and the wisdom 00:31:08.000 |
of God is hitting us because we recognize His presence. All of 00:31:12.000 |
those to me make sense, especially to the public. 00:31:24.000 |
an understanding of Christ, His authority, His power, 00:31:28.000 |
His mercy, His kindness, and our reverence for Christ 00:31:40.000 |
able to subject ourselves. Humble ourselves. Even before 00:31:44.000 |
people are humble. I want you to think about this in your head. 00:31:56.000 |
I go to God and I'm like, "You know, I'm in it. You make sure you 00:32:00.000 |
manage it for me." We're not going to say that to God directly. 00:32:20.000 |
And if you've ever, let's say for example, you were the 00:32:32.000 |
sit-down, fighting each other about defense, watching the picture there. 00:32:40.000 |
that kind of competitive edge, that kind of egging each other, that kind of 00:32:48.000 |
because you still see how foolish they are over what you've done. 00:32:52.000 |
You're going to talk about who was great in front of you. So I want you to think 00:32:56.000 |
about that in the presence of God. When we are 00:33:00.000 |
frightened, God's looking at us like, "Wow, who wants to be blind?" 00:33:04.000 |
You must not have seen. And if you're sitting there 00:33:08.000 |
thinking, "Well, I'm the best," God's looking at us like, "Wow, you're lying." 00:33:12.000 |
If we're competing with other people thinking like, "Oh, I'm better than that person." 00:33:16.000 |
He looks at me and he deserves the credit for this. God's looking at us 00:33:24.000 |
"Well, I've got all the foot seating in your room, Thomas. I do just as few as the mountains above." 00:33:32.000 |
don't look, don't mention it. Our world is so small 00:33:36.000 |
we think of the few. Only when we step outside 00:33:48.000 |
with the Lord, empowers us to be humble with each other. 00:33:52.000 |
To submit ourselves to being with other people. 00:34:00.000 |
We're not much, right? And more importantly, it also modernizes us. 00:34:12.000 |
"There's nothing. Please don't even look at me." 00:34:24.000 |
"That's all that matters." "There is no jockeying for position between me and my brother." 00:34:36.000 |
"When we exercise our penitentiality, it's a great grace." 00:34:44.000 |
being filled with the knowledge of God, seeing 00:34:48.000 |
the world of God's commandments, it causes us to be 00:34:52.000 |
wiser and more brave on the other side. It helps us to 00:34:56.000 |
avoid the foolishness of speaking in English. 00:35:24.000 |
in our own time, and we get more of it because 00:35:36.000 |
we don't realize God, God, you might have a tendency to hurt ourselves 00:35:48.000 |
spiritual. What is of greater importance? What is your priority? 00:35:52.000 |
Heavenly Father, you have told us. You have told us