Ephesians 5:15-17, Walk Carefully

tonight we're gonna be looking like I said at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 and a message I'm entitle a walk carefully let's pray Heavenly Father we are so grateful like Carolyn prayed for our Savior that Lord in Jesus we have a savior we have Hope Lord even as we sang that classic Christmas hymn Lord I couldn't help but think of that the line that that says the thrill of hope a weary world rejoices and also Lord the passage that says that the soul felt it's worth that Jesus helps us understand just how valuable we are Lord if something is valuable in direct proportion to what is willing to be paid Lord we know that Jesus paid at all and Lord we know that sometimes we live in a world crushing circumstance where we think that God is punishing us and we sometimes forget that everyone suffers sometimes and that Lord you allow setbacks and suffering to make us more mature Lord we know that sometimes we believe the lie that you could never use us ever again but Lord we know that Satan loves to tell us lies because he wants us to give up and Lord we remember that he comes to rob and kill and destroy but Lord were so grateful that for those of us who are willing to come to you and submit to you and confess to you our sin that you're willing to forgive us and so Lord we pray we pray for that person who has for whatever reason believed the lie that they'll never be happy again that hope is gone lord I pray that you would remind them that there is joy and peace and hope that's still available in Christ and so again Lord we commit this time to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 15 Paul writes seethen that you walk circumspectly not as fool's but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is in this chapter Paul has exhorted the Ephesians to walk in love at the beginning of the of the chapter in verses 1 through 6 were to walk in the light in verses 7 through 14 and now Paul cautions the Ephesians to walk carefully in verses 15 through 17 in the previous chapter you'll remember that Paul told the believers look I need you to avoid living an immoral lifestyle and adopt a spiritual lifestyle we remember where to put off the old person and were to put on the new person and so there are certain things that aren't supposed to characterize our life anymore like lying in chapter 4 verse 24 uncontrolled anger in verses 26 through 27 stealing in verse 28 a corrupt desires 29 a grieving the Holy Spirit chapter chapter 4 verse 30 and so instead we're supposed to exercise truthfulness in verse 25 honest labor in verse 28 helping people in need verse 28 building up one another in verse 29 exercising kindness and compassion and verse 32 exercising forgiveness in verse 32 we follow Jesus in love chapter 5 verses 1 through 2 we avoid immorality verse 3 we refrain from corrupt communication verses 4 and 5 we make every effort to not allow people to deceive us verse 6 and 7 we walk in the light verse 8 9 11 14 we seek God's will and then we do it verse 10 and later in verse 17 we use the opportunities that God has entrusted to us to do what is good in verses 15 and 16 and that's quite a list can you imagine just for a moment that you don't know anything about the Bible at all except for chapter 4 in chapter 5 that all you knew all you knew about what it meant to be a Christian and how to act and how to live is only in those two chapters can you imagine if you just devoted the rest of your life to just simply doing that you would have your hands full five times in chapter four and five five times Paul writes walk worthy of the calling chapter four verse one no longer walk like the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind chapter four verse seventeen walk in love chapter five verse one walk as children of the light verse eight walk circumspectly verse fifteen we walk carefully in the world and remember what the Bible means when it's talking about walk it's a description of how we conduct ourselves in the very real world in which we live we consider the time verse fifteen we consider the days verse 16 we consider the truth verse 17 and so by the way in the next seven verses Paul is going to con trust and compare foolish steps and careful conduct our focus is only going to be on these three small verses and so we walk as children of the light what does that mean we walk as God's children in light of the high calling that God has called us to and what is that we've been called by God to know him to love him to serve Him and to walk with Him so again to walk as fool's means to descend from this lofty calling and then walk like mere men and women and conduct ourselves like everybody else around us and so what Paul says is consider the time he says see then that you walk circumspectly not as fool's but as wise in verse 15 what does that mean we don't use words like that anymore walk circumspectly the Greek word is akribos it means to walk with precision it it means to walk in an exact way or a careful way Thayer says accurately diligently vine says the word expresses accuracy which has the outcome of being careful the adverb appears five times in the New Testament where twice is translated diligently in Matthew 2:8 in acts 1825 so the word basically means carefully but it means way more than that years ago I was at a conference in South America and Colombia and at this Colombian conference I had the opportunity to go into the Amazon basin and the this is where the Amazon River flows and there's a deep deep trench and there was a high cliff and we were going to go into the Amazon and we were going to hunt Cocodrilo means crocodiles in the middle of the night so it's pitch black in the Amazon jungle and we're looking for crocodiles and we were told to pay close attention to where we were walking so I had this flashlight and and the guy who is my guide his name is Lucho what he says don't take the flashlight off the ground so I'm supposed to shine the light on the ground and then walk carefully step by step by step but for whatever reason I get distracted and I shined the light straight ahead and my next step is off the cliff I literally walk off the cliff now I was much younger then and my cat-like reflexes kicked in no it was desperation and adrenaline I literally twisted and I held on to a branch I mean I disappeared from sight I was gone and they go Gino boom they're stars our spanish-speaking friends know what that means where are you and I said Lucho are you the man that means help me help me and so they come and they think that I'm joking they think that this is some sort of prank I'm holding onto a branch getting ready to fall to my death and they're laughing and they've already caught one of the little baby alligators and they've wrapped its mouth and Lucho leans over and he says basically Loulou she laughed as she understands what it means it means you're gonna have to kiss the crocodile and so here's this reptile no lips all teeth he presses its face to my face and I go you know what I'm ashamed to admit to you it's not the ugliest thing I've ever kissed they pulled me up and laughed and laughed and laughed that's what it means carefully diligently that there's a reason why he's using this as an example there was another example and if you go to Mexico in other parts of Central and South America and even the Middle East you'll see walls and on the top of those walls they'll have glass that's cut and embedded in the wall some of you have seen it and I remember seeing a cat walking carefully placing its paw in between the razors and the glass as it makes its way across the wall and that's the idea that you are to step carefully purposely specifically and we're not to walk as fools it says but as wise Paul is is using a play on words in the Greek language it's not as ASSA Foy we get the words sophisticated which means or Sophists that means wise ah saw boy you put an A in the front it makes it negative and so he's basically saying not as unwise but wise the word translated fools here is unwise and so here fool doesn't mean stupid idiot it doesn't mean a person who doesn't who's who isn't thoughtful or or even careful but but the idea is that you are thoughtless and you are careless and so the unwise person is the person who's not willing to think about their life the path that they're on the direction that they're following the unwise person is the person who gives little thought to their life and and even less to their future and so the Bible repeatedly uses this metaphor of walking to describe the journey the journey that you and I call life smart people are capable of making bad decisions the psalmist in Psalm 101 verse 2 in this case happens to be david says quote I will behave wisely in a perfect way Oh when will you come to me I will walk within my house with a perfect heart did when David says that in Psalm 101 he's he's making a vow to live a holy life to live a life that's separated and so the walk that David describes as he's as he's singing and he's crying out to the Lord he understands that this this mentality begins in the home you don't have a life at church and then a life at home the life that you live at home and the life that you live here and the life that you live out there has to be consistent and so we walk wisely in our home at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 we were told walk wisely in the church now we're told walk wisely in the world or circumspectly or carefully we pay attention we watch every step why because you're in danger just like when I took my eye off the path just for a split second it only took one wrong step to put my life in danger and from a spiritual standpoint the same is true you don't have to step very far away from Jesus to get into trouble now this doesn't mean that we don't have fun we can have fun-but part of the Christian walk implies something that most of us have a tough time embracing and that's discipline discipline means the careful commitment to walk in a specific way in order to have an appropriate outcome if you want to be a musician you're gonna have to practice if you're gonna be to be an artist you're gonna have to draw there are certain things if you're gonna be an athlete you have to do what is going to be necessary in order for you to perform and so when Paul writing to the Ephesians says I need you to walk carefully and I need you to walk in wisdom and not as unwise note what he says in verse 16 that were to consider the day's redeeming the time because the days are evil how do we walk carefully and thoughtfully Paul is going to give us a suggestion in the very next verse one way is to redeem the time the expression redeeming the time is a single Greek verb exa agar is o exa means out of agar is o is the marketplace it literally was an idea of out of the marketplace or or the place where the goods and the services are bought and sold and exchanged and so it came to mean to purchase or to conduct a transaction or to literally take something off the market so that it no longer becomes available and so in a very real sense the idea of a slave being purchased from the marketplace means it's no longer available and what's interesting in the original language in the middle voice the idea is to purchase oneself with the idea that you are removing yourself from the market leaving you with the impression that you're to make the most of the time that you have left and so here it's not simply the amount of time or the but the quality of time Paul is using the expression redeeming the time in the sense of seizing every opportunity or purchasing back failed opportunity or buying back missed opportunity we don't buy time we've been given time as a gift by God we as human beings exchange our time for things of value some of you work most of you work you exchange your time for remuneration or for monetization you exchange your time for what you think is valuable some of you are fortunate and you get to use your time loving your grandchildren or loving your children or caring for people are praying for people whatever it is that you do and however it is that you do it your time reflects what you consider to be valuable so what does that mean what does it mean to redeem the time it means to use your time wisely we can live our lives as an expression of love for Jesus Christ we can witness for the Lord we can work faithfully for the Lord we can celebrate righteousness we can mourn sin because many of us me spent some of our life wasting our life but what God is basically saying is I bought you I've redeemed you and every moment that you have left you have a choice of what you're going to do with it the time let me put it in a different way have you ever had the opportunity to do what was right and you didn't Paul is saying there's still time you can still make up for missed opportunities now that doesn't mean you can't make up for every single opportunity but there is an opportunity and it exists right at this very moment and I even love that word opportunity you may not you probably know I have a fascination with words and the meaning of the word and the root of the word think about that word just for a moment oh poor tunity it comes from a Latin word which means towards the port or to sail towards the port those of you who grew up around water whether you know you're in the Mediterranean or the Atlantic or the Pacific or wherever you happen to be it meant it meant to head for the harbor it meant to go for the shore it meant to go to that place where you could be on solid ground and so it came to mean the idea of carrying a ship and all of its goods into a safe harbor because the wind is blowing in the right direction that's where we get that word it's the idea that the winds are favorable the port is beautiful you can go to the place where you can be secure and safe life is short and so we walk in love because Jesus has invited us to walk in love Ephesians 5:2 we walk in the truth 3rd John verse 3 we walk in the spirit Galatians 5:16 we walk by faith 2nd Corinthians 5:17 we walk in the newness of life Romans 6:4 we walk honestly Romans 13 13 we walk worthy of the Lord with all pleasing it says in Colossians chapter 1 verse 10 the idea being God is looking God is watching and he's pleased with the choice that you made the choice to pray the choice to read your Bible the choice to help the choice to worship the choice to serve and Paul makes mention that the days are evil it's the Greek word paneros that word is a word that seems to imply something that started off good that became corrupt it would be a word that you would use to describe fruit that's gone bad or something that's been left in your refrigerator for six months in other words it may have started its life off as something edible but it's now become something miserable disgusting maybe even harmful that's the idea because the days are paneros you know when the Bible says in Genesis it says in the beginning when God created the heavens in the earth it says he created it and he found that it was good he separated the darkness from the light the darkness he called night the light he called day remember it and he found that it was good and he creates this world with living animals and all kinds of wonderful things and he saw that it was good the world then went horribly and terribly bad we live in a world that offers a sort of smorgasbord of dainty's and so all of a sudden all of those things that were meant to be good all of a sudden became poner oz is it wrong to eat no but can you eat in such a way that you dishonor God that's called gluttony is it wrong to drink no it's not but you can drink in such a way that you dishonor God and he's going to talk about that in the very next verse in verse 18 when he says don't be drunk with wine wherein his dissipation but be filled with the spirit you can take something that is perfectly good and make it perfectly bad the Christian faces a constant battle in this world and first year on to 16 it says for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh sensuality the lust of the eyes materialism the pride of life egotism it's not of the Father but it's of the world let me ask you another question do you think our days are less evil than Paul's day probably none Paul had some real difficult situations going on in Ephesians if you turn all the way back to the beginning of the book when he says Paul the Apostle to the Saints who are in Ephesus he's writing this about 60 AD what's happening in 60 AD Nero is the Emperor of the Roman Empire by 66 the Jewish people are going to revolt against Rome by 70 the temple is going to be destroyed and the Jews are going to be dispersed from the time of 60 when he's writing this to about 66 Paul the author of this book is going to have his head chopped off and the Christians are going to be persecuted in severe ways in Paul's day Christians face great difficulty in constant persecution it shouldn't come as a shock and as a surprise to you that in a world that is increasingly hostile to the Bible to the gospel to what it says and what it means is going to be increasingly hostile to you Jesus actually said that he said don't be concerned when people hate you remember they hated me first don't be concerned when you get persecuted they persecuted me first the Christian is going to face difficulty and I think Paul is making to the evil that confronts the believer day by day and so as we think about that for just a moment even as he's writing to the Ephesians and he basically says to them redeeming the time because the days are evil he's talking about the specific confrontation that comes moment by moment as you are invited to give up to give in to fall down you're going to be constantly invited to believe lies to walk away you're going to be invited to spend your time selfishly and foolishly so evil here can can range from a mild distraction to severe temptation to even profound persecution but all of these things are meant to steer you away from the walk that God has called you to so our task is to redeem the time to cherish the opportunity to make the most of what God has given to us here's the idea because the opportunity will pass because the days are evil so when Paul wrote these words again the Roman Empire is going to embark on a deliberate and a specific and a persistent campaign of persecution so one day the opportunity to speak is going to come to an end one day the opportunity to give is going to end one day the opportunity to serve is going to end one day the opportunity to love is going to pass away the opportunity to pray is going to pass us by and so in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 29 when Paul's writing to the Corinthians earlier he says but this I say brethren the time is short so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none those who weep as though they did not weep those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice those who buy as though they did not possess those who use this world is not misusing it for the form of this world is passing away Paul and speaking to these Corinthians isn't inviting men to abandon their wives or women to leave their husbands or to or to just pretend you're not living in the world Paul isn't saying that in times of distress we give up and we give up on everything the time and the testing what Paul is saying in that particular instance should cause us to pause and give full consideration to what's going on in our life as you look around you you make a judgement about what is going to be the best way to live your life I think part of it meaning you live with a sense of urgency in what way because the opportunity is passing us we live lives Paul says that should be noted for its holiness marked by mercy with words of help and so he's giving us a framework in which to live our lives so if we're gonna live in holiness if we're gonna be marked by Mercy if we're going to speak words that are encouraging then guess what all of a sudden we have to go I need to think about where I am what I'm doing what I'm saying and so he says consider the truth in verse 17 look what it says therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is let's connect the dots again how can we walk carefully and thoughtfully like it says in verse 15 we redeemed the time we consider the days we understand the climate and the times in which were living in verse 16 and then we understand what the will of the Lord is now let's pay attention first of all to Paul's warning look what it says at the beginning therefore do not be unwise different word Athlon what does that mean it could be translated do not be senseless that word fron is the idea of thoughtful we get the word for nice from it or frenetic the idea is thoughtless or senseless the contrast of course is with what makes sense let's put it that way there are things that make sense there are things that are nonsense I think that that's part of what I would say so the contrast is what makes the most sense so Paul is going to contrast that with the will of the Lord it makes sense to do what God wants so when are we most likely to be unwise we're most likely to be unwise when we begin to think about the world's definition of what constitutes sensible so I want you to think about that for just a moment human philosophy pretends that we can think our way out of the human condition I'm not down on thinking this is not what I'm saying what I'm suggesting to you is for the person who says I can think my way out of this problem there are certain things that we can think our way out of it but one of the things we can't think our way out of is the problem sin in our life and the sin that pollutes us and corrupts us and the only way out of that is going to be through the Lord Jesus and so human philosophy pretends that we can think our way out of the human condition indulgence says we can drink our way out science says we can invent our way out in industry says that we can work our way out government says we can spend our way out the world says you can entertain your way out but Jesus is basically saying I'm the way out I am going to provide you with the best solution to the problems and the challenges that that we face so who is the wise person this is the person who understands the will of the Lord who is the unwise person this is the person who fails to understand the will of the Lord that makes sense to you doesn't it the wise person understands what does God want the unwise person says what do you think what do you want what does the world say I need what does this particular group of that particular group say that I need the person who fails to understand the will of the Lord is the unwise person you'll remember I'm thinking about Christmas already at the birth of Jesus the wise man at least one of them presented him with Frank and sense the worldly wise present us with non sense and so I want to draw your attention to that word understand therefore don't be unwise but understand Sunni my that word understand means to grasp it means to lay hold of so this word understand is an idiomatic expression which we might translate I want you to lay hold of this I want you to take it and grasp it who is the unwise person again it means to lay hold up but it but it means to lay hold of or perceive with the mind the days are full of evil so the believer wants to grasp the truth consider the truth lay hold of the truth and so the idea is you grasp or lay hold of or hold on to or grab what the Bible is saying about any given situation we want to know understand God's will so that we can confront evil why do we want to confront poner us or evil or that which is corrupt we confront it in order to defeat it in our lives to defeat it if we don't understand God's will we run the risk of acting in an unwise or foolish or senseless fashion now many of us have spent literally thousands of hours tens of thousands of dollars drinking at the well of human understanding we buy books we watch TED Talks we will go anywhere and do anything in order to get the information that we think that we need in order to help us in our fallen or broken or confused condition but we neglect the source of knowledge which is revealed in the will of God and how do we know the will of God is found in the Word of God and so knowing God's were requires careful deliberate disciplined study and so all of a sudden when you go well why why why do you teach the Bible so much see you laugh but you understand huh where else are you going to discover God's will God's principle God's understanding well why would you spend so much time in Genesis and Exodus in Leviticus and numbers in Deuteronomy I spent a year teaching the entire book of Isaiah another year teaching the entire Book of Jeremiah that's two years and you know what the theme of both of those books are judgment I practically killed our church I mean how many ways can you say please repent because Scott's judgment is coming and Jeremiah there's 52 chapters I had to figure out 52 different ways to say well you know judgment is a problem and if we refuse to obey God then we might be in trouble and it becomes very very difficult but there are people who devote their lives to understanding almost anything other than what the Bible says and what the Bible means and what the Bible provides so what is the will of God for our lives well Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you can prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God he's basically when he says and don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the room of your mind the more were transformed by the power of Christ the less we will be conformed to what the world is saying so the will of God for the Christian begins at the altar I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a holy and a living sacrifice the altar by the way is that place of personal dedication you'll remember in the Old Testament the altar is the place where you burn the sacrifice in the New Testament I'm not inviting you to burn yourself up or kill yourself but rather you present yourself the idea is to surrender and so you begin a different kind of a life not one of quaint acquaintances but you begin to live your life what the gospel is true and what Jesus says is true in our mode of his love Paul doesn't say I command you therefore brethren he doesn't say I command you he says I'm begging you I'm pleading with you I'm begging with you and I'm pleading with you because the motive is love we don't serve Jesus in order to secure his mercies but rather because His mercies have already been made available to us we present our mind we present our body we present our will we yield our bodies filled with the spirit we submit our minds renewed by the word we surrender our will how is it just where you make of this purpose you go I am going to purpose in my heart that instead of obeying the flesh and obeying the devil and obeying the world I'm going to obey God doesn't work that way I wish it did the only way that you're going to be able to surrender is to test prove and yield and to pray and to obey you see again remember what the book of Ephesians has constantly reminded us that when we put off one thing we have to put on a new thing so the writer of Ephesians says stop lying start telling the truth stop stealing start working stop saying I'm gonna do better pray yield submit obey in our world were given options many of you know that my wife was in a horrible car accident maybe you don't know Miss Mindy came and rescued her but this she was on the side and she got hit and her rear-end kind of got crumpled and the other person's car was totaled and my poor wife's car was totaled and so we had to get her a new car and because we had to get her a new car the the car said there's good there's better and there's best that's a great sales technique isn't it we've got here's what you have to choose from good better or best and I said I'll take good we have a good model we have a better model we have the best model some people obey God because they're afraid of them I'm gonna go BAE God because I don't want to go to hell I'm gonna obey God because I know what sin can do to me some people obey God because they're terrified some people obey God because they know it's good for them but some people obey God out of a deep devotion that comes from saying I know that God loves me and if I can if I can know God's will and love God's will if I can love him and then love what he loves I can experience the deepest satisfaction and so for the Christian there's good and there's better and there's best for the Christian says I'm gonna obey God because hey I don't want to get in trouble good for you I want to obey God because I know that obedience is better than disobedience good for you I want to obey God and I desperately want to know his will and I want to find satisfaction and His will in choosing between a car I might have to go with good instead of better when I really wish I could get best but when it comes to a right relationship with God if you're choosing between good better and best best doesn't cost you any more than good or better and it's going to give you a deeper sense of satisfaction so how can we be wise and understand God's will it was Thomas Aquinas who said a man's heart is right when He wills what God wills in 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 9 Peter writes the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some has counted slackness but is long-suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance the ideas we know that it's God's will that people repent of their sin we know that it's God's will that people come to know and love the Savior and so for that person who's wondering I wonder if God wants me to be saved the answer is yes he wants you to be saved he wants the darkness and the pain and the problems and the difficulty to be answered in your life and what is God's will guess what we don't have to look any further than the Bible and again like I said earlier if we confined ourselves exclusively to chapter 5 though you don't have to if you go okay I want to know what God's will is just look at chapter 5 it's God's will that you follow Jesus and love vs. wanted to avoid in morality in verse 3 abandon obscene language in verses 4 and 5 refused to be deceived by false teachers in false doctrine in verses 6 and 7 walk in the light verse 8 verses 11 through 14 seek God's will and then do it verse 10 and then in verse 17 use every opportunity to do good verses 15 and 16 later you're gonna discover don't get drunk on wine or anything else in verse 18 be filled with the spirit in verse 18 exercise gratitude in verse 20 submit to one another verse 21 you mean that's it no there's a whole lot more but if you only did those things guess what your life would improve a thousand million billion percent we walk in love and light and so here's what Paul saying I want to give you new love light spiritual eyesight insight we walk knowing that God is sovereign we know that God is sovereign and has a moral will we walk knowing God's sovereign will and moral is found in his heart of love in other words what is the will of God here's where you go you go where can I find the will of God and the Word of God and what will you find in the Word of God of God and what will you find in the heart of God that he knows what's best it's reflected by God's desires he's not willing that any should perish he wants you to be saved he wants you to be sanctified it's God who works in you not it's God who works in you to will and to work according to his good purposes it says in philippians 2:13 it sounds cliche but the will of god will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you where does God want me to go wherever that is and whatever it is he'll give you what you need to be there Bernard Ettinger put it this way quote inside the will of God there is no failure outside the will of God there is no success in other words you will find the place of greatest joy and greatest revelation when you find yourself where the heart of God is we live in a world where there's an abundance of evil and a shortness of time and feverish activity that's why it's really important to find out what the will of God is for you today and the simplest thing is if you don't have a right relationship with God it's God's will that you have a right relationship if you've never experienced the forgiveness of sin it's God's will for you to experience the forgiveness of sin if you don't know what it's like to walk in the spirit it's God's will for you to know what it's like to walk in the spirit if you've never real I spent a lot of time on the path of wisdom it's okay for you to find that path and then to walk carefully clearly and prayerfully you can find his will and follow his will and then forget foolishness and what's the biggest problem lies God's punishing me no truth is everyone suffers sometimes God sometimes allows problems so that we will love him and trust him and grow and strengthen and mature well God can't use me I've just done too many really wrong things no Satan loves to tell us that lie because he wants you to give up I talked about this on Sunday remember people are tempted to give up and Jesus says get up and go and find the resurrected Savior my favorite lie God's fed up with me it sounds so believable but God isn't a human being he doesn't hold a grudge he's different from you you see you can be fed up with each other fed up with your husband fed up with your wife fed up with your children if you're fed up with your grandchildren there's something really wrong with you and I need to see you after the service but sometimes we do get fed up but God's love is everlasting His grace is overwhelming his willingness to lift you up is amazing and so if you think that you could never be happy if you think that your hope is gone and your joy is gone and your peace is gone God can give you the power to embrace the plan of God and the will of God which is revealed in the Word of God we're gonna have communion in just a moment and again I'm reminded in Philippians 1:6 where it says being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to the completeness until the day of Christ Jesus God's begun the work he'll continue the work he will finish the work this is why we walk carefully not foolishly we're gonna have communion I'm gonna pray for you and I'm gonna have Carolyn come up we're gonna sing a song Heavenly Father we again think about the sacrifice of Jesus the love of Jesus the sacrifice of Jesus Jesus died and bled so that our sin could be forgiven and was raised from the dead Lord so that we could experience life and hope and joy and peace and so Lord when we consider the abundance of evil in the world and the shortness of time it makes perfect sense that we would want to know your will and Lord you said that it's your will for us to walk in the light and to walk carefully and to find out what your will is and to do it and so again Lord for that person who's struggling and terrified and fed up Lord I pray that your heart of love would be revealed to them Lord I pray that as we consider the sacrifice of Jesus that Lord we would know that we would find a place clearly in the center of your heart of love the Bible says you were willing not just to give your son and having given your son what what in the world would you withhold from us and so Lord as we partake of this these communion elements Lord as we remember what Jesus said about take this and eat it all of you this is my body which will be broken for you and take this and drink it all of you this is my blood which will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sin and you said do this and in remembrance of me and Lord we remember your sacrifice we remember your love we remember the promise of forgiveness we remember and Lord we pray that that in remembering remembering your love that Lord we would be able willing to lay aside those foolish things that have kept us from you and embrace those things that were meant to provide joy peace comfort and assurance in Jesus name Amen let's pertain

Channel: Calvary South Denver

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Length: 56min 47sec (3407 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 07 2017