Ephesians 5:15-21 | Walking with God

Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3 are a teaching on what it means to become a child of God, the transitions that must take place.

Chapter 2 is almost a summation, starts from who you were to how

God deals with you to the transition by faith to what we've become. And then starting in chapter 4 and through it is like, therefore, now what?

If I reread in chapter 4, verse 1, it says, and it depends on which version you have, but mine has a therefore right at the beginning of the verse.

Therefore, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy. And then you move on down to 4 .17.

This I say and testify in the Lord, you must no longer walk as the Gentiles. And then if you go in 5, the beginning of 5, therefore, be imitators of God, walk in love.

The teaching is going to continue on, the transition is made, you can't really get into chapters 4, 5, and 6 unless you have the transition that's taken place.

There's very little in chapters 4, 5, and 6 that can be expected of somebody who's not a believer because you don't have the

Holy Spirit. Last night in our small group, we're in 1 John, and we are told to love agape.

And we're given the example of Christ who gave his life for us in the same way we ought to be willing to give our life for somebody else.

The depth, the breadth, the enormity of that agape is intense.

One of the people in our group had just recently had their computer remotely hacked.

And the perpetrator actually got into their banks, wiped out money, and all this other kind of stuff.

I have no idea who this person was. I said, let's just call him Irving. Can you love

Irving? That's the intensity of that verse.

We're not commanded that we have to like the guy, but we are told to love unconditionally.

It's intense. And so we've been going now into chapter 5, and Jeff, you gave us the last couple of sessions about walking as children.

Don't walk as those who are evil. We're given these instructions.

And now we get into verse 15. And it starts out by saying, look carefully then how you walk.

And these next few verses, my one thing, you're walking with God.

That's my one thing. Look carefully how you walk, it says in verse 15. There are many paths that we have to choose from.

This is my verbiage, not in there. But there are many paths that we have in life that we can choose from.

And I believe that there's only two kinds of paths, truth or untruth. Or written ever so slightly according to this verse, wise or unwise.

So this next few verses are going to go into, it's almost like it's a how do

I do it type of thing. And we're told to be imitators of God. And so we're going to look in this, it's going to talk about how do you spend your time.

That impacts how you actually, what path you're on, how you're spending your time. How do you experience life?

Are you experiencing life through the Lord? Are you being influenced by the Holy Spirit or by other types of things?

And then we get into some details. Having a heart that is so overflowing with God that it overflows on your dealings with other people.

And that you see God in such a way that everything, no matter what it is, you are filled with blessings and thanksgiving.

Finally, we just finally are to the point that we get and we just surrender ourselves for the better of the one another.

This is a beautiful passage. It is a great example of God's teaching us what he expects, what he desires from us.

But you can't do it. But you can do it. Because in chapters 1, 2, and 3 we learn what it means to be a child of God.

And when we have a child of God, we have the Holy Spirit that enables us to do it. He is not going to abandon you, but he will give you the way.

And that's where we're at. So it's going to be a fun session. Pastor, would you open us with a prayer? Absolutely. Our gracious Father, we look to you now that you would teach us from your word.

That every word that you have written would jump off the page into our hearts and change the way that we walk.

Not just how we think theologically, Lord, but how we actually live our lives. That we would not just look into the mirror and go away forgetting what we look like, but that we would be changed by what we see.

So help us to live out the things that you teach us, Lord. And bring to mind the areas where we need to change.

Lord, we commit this time to you and pray for our walk with you. In Jesus' name, amen.

That was a phrase we moved here, got involved with the culture of Philadelphia sports.

It's just Charles being Charles.

Anybody hear that phrase? No. It's just Charles being Charles. Charles Barkley was a superstar in the

Philadelphia 76ers, but he just wasn't a nice guy. And so people excuse it.

It's just Charles being Charles. Well, scripturally speaking, we don't get a get out of jail free card like that.

Give me verse 16 if you would. And Rod, I'm going to ask if you would get

Proverbs 13 ready, Galatians 6, John and Carol, if you would get Philippians 3 ready.

Give me the whole thing, 15 through 21. All right.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And 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, 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. Verse 16, very simply, make the best use of time because days are evil.

I want to postulate that we have options that we can do.

And so what this verse is going to challenge us is to think about what is it that I choose, which really then becomes also down to the question, how do

I set my priorities? Spending time playing basketball is not a bad thing.

Why are you looking at me? Why do

I feel guilty all of a sudden? It's a good thing. But as you have professed, there was a point in time in your life where it had become a bad thing.

It depends on how things... You either own an object or the object owns you.

You either own an activity or that activity owns you. We come out of this section in chapter 5, verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.

There are activities, there are things that we can take of. And it says here, make the best use of your time because the days are evil.

The days are not evil. That is not what he's saying here.

But the propensity for wasting days in ways that are totally against what we should be doing, that's wrong.

So he's telling us to be careful. Proverbs 13, do you have that, Rod? Yes. The soul of the sluggard craves against nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.

The individual that finds no purpose, no drive, no reason to be taking the effort, well, they really don't care.

And they don't really care because they can just waste the day away and be perfectly happy.

There is an approach to the Christian life that is called

Christian disciplines. What do I mean by Christian disciplines? What it might sound like.

It's the things that you would, how you would expect a Christian to discipline himself with regard to his walk in Christ.

Give me some examples then. Being here on Wednesday at noon. Okay. Being here

Sunday mornings. Being in prayer. I was just looking at that verse that we're coming up to.

It said, speak to one in the, I know you're going to get to it, but sing or make music in your heart.

Sing songs and hymns. Always giving thanks. Wouldn't it be cool if we could just do that always?

That's, there's, okay, Christian disciplines has two aspects to it. I mean, you hit on both of them.

Christian disciplines can be a list of those things that are appropriate for the Christian to do to be growing.

Spending time in the Word. Spending time in prayer and meditating. Spending time praising

God for who he is. Do you realize that the Lord said this is how you should pray. He didn't say these are the words you should pray.

And how does he start out? Worship God. And then how does he go? Submit to God.

Thy will be done. And eventually he gets into then bring your prayers and supplications. So the disciplines that we're told to do are for our benefit because they give us an understanding of who our father is.

But the other half of discipline, I know that there are some military people here.

And as you would be in boot camp or whatever else, the repetition of things.

To gain the strength. To gain the muscle memory. To gain the proficiency when maybe you would rather be not doing that.

Discipline requires willing to put in the time. And then discipline also involves being reprimanded and corrected for deviations that are off the path.

These are all definitions of Christian discipline. We are told to make the best use of our time because according to what

Rod said, somebody who really doesn't care, he doesn't get anything because he doesn't want anything. And that's a waste of it and there are opportunities that are lost.

Galatians 6 -9 is going to say for that individual who is desiring to do the thing, we're going to be honest, the battle gets tiring after a while.

What does it say there? Let us not grow weary of doing good. In due season we will reap if we do not give up.

Absolutely. There are times where you do these disciplines, you actually partake in these things and it just seems like it's not going anywhere.

You have a loved one, a neighbor, a close friend that you've been praying for and it just doesn't seem like anything is happening anywhere.

Don't give up. Sounds like gardening, doesn't it? Weeding. It does.

Yes, it does. There are so many good analogies to my front lawn. If I have a good, lush grass...

My next -door neighbor when we moved in, he was forever putzing out in his front yard and not the corn, but the next one down.

That was the most beautiful lawn in the neighborhood. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, John passed away and his wife was not a putzer outside.

Within one year it was a weed garden. One weed comes and then they call their friends.

We say, we've got a good place here. Don't grow weary in it. I didn't continue to walk the walk in Philippians 3.

Am I Carl? I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which

God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. We have a goal. As believers, we have a goal.

Just keep pressing on, keep pressing on. Anybody ever here run a road race? Anybody loves to run?

Yes, you do? What's the farthest you ever ran? 26 miles.

Oh, you did a marathon? I actually just ran it to do a marathon, but then

I ran a race. They say in a marathon there's actually two races.

There's the 20 miles and then there's the 6 .2. Because after 20 miles you just want to stop.

You've hit the wall. Absolutely. There was a lady by the name of Rosie Ruiz back in the early 80s.

She started and finished the New York City Marathon and took a subway in between.

Wow. She came in first. So for the next 10 years in Wisconsin they had the annual

Rosie Ruiz Marathon. It was 265 yards. We are told, set your eye on the goal and continue and continue.

There has been statements. I just don't have enough time to do it. I just don't have enough time to do it.

Who in this room does not get from the Lord 24 hours in every day? It's not the amount of time we have.

It's how we use the time that we have. Be disciplined.

Give me verse 17 please. And while we're there, Galatians 1. John, you're going to get Galatians 1 .10 ready.

And James 1 .2 if you would. Sue, right? Okay. James 1 .5

and 6. I'll talk to the others. Give me 17 please. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the

Lord is. How do you ever know what the will of the

Lord is? That's a dangling part. Anyway. How can we know what is the will?

I think there's twofold answers to that. One is the fact that we know what the word of God says.

And to follow in his commands and what he's doing. To follow in his footsteps.

It's one thing to look at the life of Christ lived. And practice that at God by love. And the other thing is to step back.

And when things happen in our lives that were unexpected, like you talked earlier, is to go back to 1

Thessalonians 5. And recognize that we pray all ways. We rejoice all ways. And in every circumstance give thanks.

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So some things come in and we can just get that place where we're thankful in the circumstance.

Knowing again we're obeying God's word. Because it's his will that we're going through. Absolutely. Another way to say that is what

I preach on Sunday. The secret will and the revealed will. The circumstances and the providences of God are part of the secret will which he has planned.

The revealed will is as in here what we live by. Which is what's in the Bible and the precepts that we're commanded to live by.

I find there are times when I pray, Holy Spirit help me know what to do. Because I'm not sure what to say to this person or how to approach him or whatever.

And before I know it, I'm not initiating the move or the words. So I know it's

God. Because I'm suddenly doing it and the things pour out without me even planning it.

So it has to be God. You basically have taught the first point of what

I wanted to say. In this verse, if you read this verse, it actually says that as a believer, you are given the ability to discern the will of God.

As a believer, you are gifted with that opportunity to know what the will is.

Because it says here, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of God.

That to me says that if you're not understanding the will of God, you're a fool. And as a new creation,

I'm not a fool. I may do foolish things, but it basically says here to me that that is available to you.

Now here's some clues that we can use to get down that path that you were just talking about.

In Psalm 37, it says delight yourself in the Lord. As you experience life and you see

God, delight yourself in Him and you will see more of Him.

So have a desire, have an attitude that says, I actually want to see

God. I'm not burdened by the fact that God's gonna tell me to do something, tell me not to do something.

I want to see God because He is the author and creator of all things. Yeah, Richard. Delight yourself in the

Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Does not mean you'll get what you want, but He will put His desires in you.

There you go. There you go. That is absolutely true. That is absolutely true. Galatians 1.

Rich, Galatians 1, 10. Galatians 1.

Yeah, verse 10. Come right there. So by the way,

I'm gonna have five things for you to think about on how do we not be foolish. The first one is delight yourself in the

Lord. That's the first one, delight yourself. Go ahead. Galatians 1. Verse 10.

Verse 10. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God, or am

I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Seek to please God. In your walk, have your walk designed in a way that you are knowing that God is there and you would desire to please

God because walking in a, I was doing, refereeing a basketball game and there was a coach that was actually an authority over me because he owned the organization that I was part of, a referee group.

And he was also a coach. And he was one of those coaches that would work you for every call.

And if you made a call that didn't go to his way, you've seen those coaches. They complain about it and they complain about it and they complain about it.

And this one time I was doing, it was just a springtime game, it meant nothing. And he was on my case from the first tap and he just wouldn't let it go.

At halftime, I realized I was now refereeing that game to not be yelled at by this coach.

And it totally bothered me. It worked for him. Huh? It worked for him then. We started the second half, he started it up again and I was so overwhelmed by the fact that I had lost my integrity,

I took my whistle off, I put it on the table and I left. I was not pleasing what was true and honest, the integrity of the game,

I was trying to please this individual. Your life is going to be pushed by a neighbor, it's going to be encouraged by a son or a daughter.

We have friends whose son went off to a quote -unquote Christian college and have introduced wokeism into the family.

We all know that, we all know that happens. The pressure of intimidation is in the culture. Seek to please

God, that's my second key for you. Psalm 109, Thy word is a lamp to my feet, a guide to my path.

Get into the word. Get into the word. Living and active, sharper than any tortured sword.

It's profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. All of these things we know, the next one is to spend time here because this is where God is going to instruct you.

And James 1, Sue? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, and that reproach, and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, with nothing doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

So we are told to do what? How? Believing.

Have this heart that, first of all, acknowledges that God has got the answer for me. I am not going to turn this on my own.

God's got the answer. I lack wisdom. I'm going to go to God, but I have to go to God in faith, not wavering.

And he will give you. You were concerned about how you were going to deal, and it's like bingo, I really doubt.

Now, maybe he had read this somewhere before, but did Philip really plan to say, would you help couch a ride for a million dollars?

It was effective. Yeah, he learned that actually from Ray Comfort. He'd give the credit to Living Waters.

But the Lord brought it to mind. But you don't know what the next question is going to be because you don't know what the response is going to be.

He's faithful. He'll give you the words to say when you should seek God, seek him in faith.

Proverbs 15 then has another one of these gems, and it's seek out the advice of one another.

God has established us as a community of believers, and to be attempting to go it on your own without help from a brother, from a sister, is lacking one of these tools that God gives us.

He tells us to seek out the advice of others. Don't go it on your own. If I'm willing to sit with Jeff, and I know

I'm having trouble with something, bouncing things off and stuff like that, the power of one another is...

Plans fail for lack of counsel. Yes. Mr. Jatoli.

And you know, John, sometimes God just makes his will very plain.

Do not get drunk means do not get drunk with me. I'll give you counsel on that one.

Absolutely. And in fact, that's going to be the next verse. And Bob, you're going to get

Proverbs 23 ready, and Sandy, are you okay to read? Okay.

I know she was a little on the tired side. 1 Peter 5. You'll get that ready. Give me verse 18 again. Me. Yes.

Do not get drunk with wine, John. Now, by the way, that doesn't mean that if you choose whiskey, that's all right.

For that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. We are going...

There's the whiskey. Huh? There's the whiskey. The Spirit? Yeah. No. The Spirit.

I don't think if you go into the Greek, it will bear that one. See, the

Holy Spirit guides us. And to the extent that... Okay, question.

Is there anything you can do to have more of the Holy Spirit within you?

Everything we're talking about right here. There's nothing you can do to get more of the Holy Spirit within you. He fully indwells you at the point of salvation.

What this really means here is, but completely submit yourself to the

Holy Spirit. Okay, so that his guide, his counsel, his instructions are what you're filling your conscious thoughts with.

That choice thing that Jeff was talking about earlier in the week, that we still have choices, even though the omnipotence of God can't argue about it.

We do not buy into the thoughts that there are gradient levels of indwelling of the

Holy Spirit. You become a believer, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells within you.

We can choose to grieve the Holy Spirit, and we can choose to not listen to the

Holy Spirit. This is really telling you to consciously allow your path to be illuminated by the

Holy Spirit. How significant and important it is for believers to sit back and remember what

Paul said. Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? When you look at the temple that God had built with the

Jews, and God came in his presence, and you look at how he filled the temple and how important it was, and then to sit back and say that my body is a temple of the

Holy Spirit should shake us to the point of wanting to live a life for Christ.

And so it's a good reminder every day to remember that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

And what's seen, so that you will know me by my birth. I believe the word temple in that passage is naos, which means holy.

The nation of Israel was under siege but could not be defeated because the

Shekinah Glory was in the Holy of Holies until the nation went so bad that God removed the

Shekinah Glory and then they were vulnerable to be attacked and defeated.

You have, and if I go into John 16, 13, he says, I will send another and he will be dwelling within you.

Maybe that's my paraphrase of it. But he promised that if I go, I will send another and he will be with you.

That's what we have and that's the promise that we have. He will guide you in all things.

You do not have to improve upon that promise. That promise is given.

Now we choose some rather unfortunate paths. Did I give you?

Proverbs? Yeah.

Praise God. Praise God. By the way,

I'm going to interrupt you once in a while. This is not saying that white wine is not a problem.

What it's saying is that enticement and just, it's got me in its grip.

Go ahead. When it goes down smoothly, in the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

Your eyes will see strange sights. Oh yeah. And your mind imagine confusing things.

With the influence of alcohol, when it gets to the point of taking control of your body, your ability to see and perceive truth is gone.

That's what it's teaching there. 1

Thessalonians 5 is going to say stay alert, be sober. And it's going to say those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

And we know that so many times scripture uses that metaphor of night and darkness as the venue that evil people use to hide their sin under the shroud of darkness.

But it's that person who allows the red wine to just, it's just, you almost can hear that serpent saying, you know, it goes down smooth, but it bites and it bites.

1 Peter 5, Sandy. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

He is always prowling is the emphasis of that passage. He is always prowling, always looking for who he can devour.

Now, if you have bowed the knee to the Lord and if you have accepted he cannot take you away from the family of God.

Your passport has been changed. It says child of God. There's nothing he can do to take that away from you.

But what he can do is he can lose your effectiveness. He can impact your ability to have close fellowship with the

Father. He can change your experience. All these blessings that God does have in store for you, he can rob you of those things.

He can't take you away from the Father, but he sure, he can make us see strange things.

He can make us see and believe strange things. I'm glad you went there.

This is an exhortation and it specifically is in here about intoxicating beverages and debauchery.

But I don't think it's a far stretch to say that you're either going to be filled with the

Spirit or you're not going to be filled with the Spirit. I don't think it's a far stretch to say that. And there are other ways that we become filled outside of the

Spirit. And they can even be things like believing a false doctrine that encourages you,

I should be so concerned about social justice and inequities and all the, and you just get wrapped up in this, losing your attention on the pure Word of God.

This talks specifically about the red wine, but I don't think it's limited to that in its application.

We got one choice. Clarity of mind is a blessing from God and it can only come from him and only he can let you see true truth.

Everything else that the evil one has prowling around is going to divert you away from that.

1 Thessalonians 4, I'm going to ask you to get that if you would please,

Ivan. And 5 John D, if you would get that. And Ephesians 4, coming back over here to Rod, give me verse 19 please.

Ephesians 19? It's Ephesians, I'm sorry, 429. Ephesians 19 is a different Bible.

Give me verse 19. That's you, 19.

Oh, 419. Yes. No, 519. Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart. This is just, now this is the uplifting side of it. It's just have this experience in your life that what you're feeling in your heart is just so, you can't help but speak out in joy in psalms and in spiritual songs and making melody that comes from the heart.

You just can't help it because God has gotten, He has gotten a hold of you so much that you just can't help it.

There's an example that's given. I've used it.

God gave me knees that lasted for a long time. I don't have your basketball prowess, but I could go out on the court or play tennis and the young men that were trying to court my daughters,

I would take them out on the athletic venue. One of them thought he was a very, very good athlete, which he is, but I was a better tennis player than he was and I found his weakness and I just picked at it all afternoon.

Another guy thought he was an athlete, so I took him out onto the basketball court with some guys that I played with because I knew they had the

Kevin McHale elbows. You know the Kevin McHale elbow where you throw it in and it's sharp and pointed?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You learn what's inside a guy when you put him on the athletic venue and you shake the glass and you see what comes out.

And if dirty water comes out, you know what's inside, but if clean water comes out, you know what's inside.

If we can speak, because God has just so filled our hearts with joy that we can speak that way in circumstances.

If I had run, remember Irving? I told you about Irving? Okay. The identity theft.

Yeah, the identity theft. If I ran across him, would my heart be so filled with the

Holy Spirit that I would be singing in hymns and songs or would I be wanting a pound of flesh in revenge?

That is exactly the right answer, Rich. It's what's in my heart.

Making melody to the Lord with your heart. Jeremiah 31 is going to teach us that God is going to put

His law on our heart. We are going to be filled with truth.

God is going to do that for us. And then Psalm 103 has a proclamation by the psalmist and he says,

I desire to bless the Lord with all of my soul. I want to be so involved and so defined by Him that I'm blessing

Him with all of my soul. 1 Thessalonians 4.

Who did I give that to? Yeah. It says, Therefore encourage one another with these words. These things that God has put into your heart and this total fulfilling of your soul that you're going to be blessing the

Lord. These are the words that we are supposed to give other people. We are supposed to be willing and desiring and participating and encouraging one another with these words.

Now take it out of context. I get there's a context there. But that's a truth -ism.

And in fact, it's repeated in the next chapter, 511. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

That reminds me, all of this reminds me of in this building, on Sunday, for the service, in between the services, that's just going on.

It's overflowing. So we are doing it, but we need to carry it out the front door, right, with us for the rest of the week and everyone else will be coming to contact.

Absolutely. It's that guiding that just bugs you. Okay, now let's put this into context.

We're talking about here, it says, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and songs.

And so you could challenge me and say, is this talking about believers with believers? And I can take that challenge.

But I don't think that it's inappropriate to say that this is a mindset that we should have with all the brotherhood of man.

We should have that. Did you hear that, Rod? Did you hear that? What? Ephesians 4, who's got that?

Rod, you got that? I'll read 29 instead of 19. Please, thank you. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Absolutely. Some of the movies, you have scenes that come in and they're just great sermon illustrations.

You've got mail. Meg Ryan is this sweet young lady and Tom Hanks is the son of a guy who owns large bookstores.

And Tom Hanks is Joe, I can't remember his last name. Huh? Fox.

Joe Fox, yeah. They're going to be putting Meg Ryan out of business. F -O -X, yes.

And she is communicating, she doesn't know who she's communicating with, but it's like, if I could only think of that nasty comment

I could have made to that person at the time, I wish I could have thought of that. And then one time she does.

And it's like, what did I just do? It may have felt good when I say it, but I don't feel good for having said it.

Don't let anything nasty come out of your mouth because it might feel good when you say it.

Sometimes you've got that one retort that that person just flat out deserves.

He's got to hear this thing. And when you do it, it's later on. There was a young lady that was a lifeguard at the

Y. My wife and I would swim there. And she was becoming a bit aggressive in shutting lap lanes down before they had to be shut down so that lanes could be available for the water aquatics exercise.

And we would be having to share lanes because this young lady was shutting that lanes down.

One time I let her know. I thought that that was very inappropriate. She showed up outside when we were doing church.

And she saw me. Don't let the corrupt word go out of your mouth.

Don't let it go out. Only things that are good for building up. We are encouraged to build up with words that come out of a heart of worship.

Give me verse 20. Psalm 86. John, I'm going to ask you to get that. And Philippians 4.

Bob, I'm going to ask you to get that. Give me verse 20, please. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love this. Giving thanks. It involves three things.

One, it involves being prepared to give thanks. Being willing to give thanks. Being aware of what's going on so that you can give thanks.

And then when all that happens, actually responding to the stimulus and actually giving the thanks.

What a beautiful heart of attitude. Talk about being on a good path.

A path that sees it, is prepared, recognizes it, and it acknowledges it. It says give thanks to everything to God in the name.

Psalm 86. John, you got that? Teach me your way,

O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to feel your name. I give thanks to you,

O Lord, my God, with my whole heart. And I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me.

You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. What an awesome attitude to have.

Starts out by the way that God is going to give you this ability anyway. Teach me. This is coming from Him, but again, with that Holy Spirit thing, we're going to walk in His path and we're not going to walk in His path, but to have this way that says

I'm going to give thanks to God for what He's given me. Jonathan Mack gave such an amazing testimony at his mother's memorial service.

Wasn't that a heart that had every reason to be distraught and even angry,

God, why did you take my mom? She's still young. All of these thoughts could have been there.

Where did his testimony go to? It went to God, to the glory of God.

It says in Proverbs 3, 5, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding.

All your ways? Wait a minute. Are you serious? All your ways? Yeah, this doesn't say when that individual finally came up.

This is an all -way type of thing, and Psalm 4, 6 is one of the beautiful passages.

Go ahead. Yeah, this, along with many other things, was written for me. Oh. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Absolutely. By the way, one of the keys to that is with thanksgiving. Can you be thankful for everything?

Can you be thankful for everything? He will give your heart peace. Where is that?

Philippians 4, 6. Oh, my gosh. One of the great, great verses. Great verses.

I'm going to just take two of the passages in the next section, 1 Peter 4. Rich, I'm going to ask you to get your finger in that already, in 1

Peter 4, Hebrews 10. Bob, I'm going to ask you to do that. Give me verse 21. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Have you ever heard of the yeah, but I syndrome? Somebody shares an experience that they had, a decision they had made.

Yeah, but I. I've had a better one. I've got one just as good as that.

The yeah, but I syndrome. I want my recognition. I mean, I'm not satisfied with the fact that my brother just shared something out of his heart and we all should be blessed by it because I want to be part of that.

I want to be part of that too. The yeah, but I syndrome. It's an insidious one.

Please. I was just thinking about Pastor when you said something about Stanley and reading the verses.

Yeah, but pushing aside also. Yeah, when you brought that up,

Amy Stanley. Oh, right, right. Yep. Last week. Yep. Just sort of marginalize the word of God.

So he could talk about what he believes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Philippians 2, 3 tells us that we should not have empty conceit, but we should consider one another as more important than ourselves.

Philippians 3, 7 says, whatever things are gained for me, those I count as loss even for the sake of Christ.

Having this attitude of just submitting myself to Christ and to others because quite frankly, the yeah, but I syndrome doesn't really work.

Romans 14 tells us to pursue those things which make for peace and build each other up.

So you get tempted with this yeah, but I syndrome and turn that into a question to build that other person up and to let the spotlight shine on somebody else.

1 Peter 4, 10, I gave you that, Rich? Yeah. As each of you has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace.

This is an important concept I want us all to take away too. God has given every single person in this room, every single person in his family has been given a gift.

Unique to that person, but you may not be the only one to have it. But he has given you a gift and that gift has a purpose and it is to build up and to be used in the service of one another.

It is a sad thing for a person to believe they are a gifted preacher and to become a very famous orator that everybody flocks to.

It's a beautiful thing when you have a gifted preacher and everybody wants to come because in the presence of that person,

I'm seeing God. What a difference. There's no yeah, but I syndrome in God's kingdom.

Romans 12 tells us to have a unity of mind towards one another. Don't be haughty.

Have a humility of mind. And then Hebrews 10 is going to tell us how this all works to the beauty of God's kingdom.

We'll be getting into the rest of Hebrews 5 next week because the passages that follow here are really cool.

But you want 24, right? 1024. And Hebrews 10, 24.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Spurring each other on so that we all grow closer. We're on a path that's chosen by God.

Did you know that? We are on a path that is chosen by God. We're with one another. Our goal, then, is to be self -surrendered, building each other up, seeking

His Holy Spirit, being filled with Him, surrendering ourselves and giving glory to God.

Do you want to quote us in prayer? Absolutely. So, Father, this is our prayer, Lord, that You would fill us with Your Holy Spirit.

Help us to surrender to Your control, that we would be led by You, and that You would work through us.

Lord, we want to walk worthy, and we pray that You would help us. Going forth, having been in Your Word, we pray now,

Lord, that we would go out and live and walk according to it. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor Jeff insists that he gets to teach next week.