Imitate God | Ephesians 5:1-21 | May 13, 2018

[Music] all right let's let's read the word together Ephesians chapter five and just to lay out the next couple of weeks we are in verses 1 to 21 tonight we will finish ephesians next Sunday night we have a worship night the following Sunday night and then our summer series with the barbecue starts the Sunday night after that all right so so lock and load sons and daughters of the Living God it's gonna be a great summer alright I'm gonna I'm gonna start by reading verses 1 to 7 then we're gonna pray let's all stand together therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not even be named among you as is fitting for Saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks for this you know that no fornicator unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolatrous interesting let me reread that for this you know that no fornicator unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience therefore do not be partakers with them father thank you for these strong words in your word and and it is true every word in your word is strong but these are these are encouraging and exhorting verses and father we pray tonight that you would illuminate our understanding God we confess that sin is deceitful and sometimes we allow that deceitfulness into very heart so much so that we can't even see it ourselves and so tonight we pray that's your word which is living and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword your word which is like a lamp a light which shine upon our hearts under the under the illumination of the Holy Spirit and God you would help us to see tonight God we we want to be corrected by you God we want to be encouraged by you father we want to be strengthened by you and so Lord God we pray that you would do that tonight that we would be able to be bright shining lights for your glory and your glory alone god bless your people we ask in Jesus name Amen you can have a seat I'm gonna start with a couple of quotes here and and when I read these you'll you'll kind of get where I'm going so quote number one you become like what you worship when you gaze in awe admiration and wonder at something or someone you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship that was empty right drawing from GK Chesterton or how about this one what people revere little is put this is put a little more simply what people revere they resemble either for ruin or for restoration that's by greg bo let me say it again what people revere they resemble either for ruin or for restoration and in the book of psalms psalm 115 eight god is dealing with the issue of idolatry and he's addressing idols and he says this they have ears but they do not hear noses they have but they do not smell they have hands but they do not handle feet they have but they do not walk nor do they mutter through their throat those listen those who make them are like them so is everyone who trusts in them so this is this is the biblical principle that is you know being expressed in a different way by these quotes that I just gave to you you I'm super simply tonight you will become like what you worship you will become like what you worship and for those of us who are sons and daughters of the Living God as we worship Him he molds us and shapes us and causes us to be more like him I'm not saying that we become God obviously that's not the case but as we devote ourselves more and more to the worship of God and - like I said last Wednesday night to be holding the the beauty of his attributes so much so that we're more and more devoted to them we take those attributes on and I think this is exactly what the Apostle Paul means when he begins chapter 5 not that he under the inspiration of the Spirit linked the pin and said chapter 5 but verse 1 says therefore be imitators of God as dear children and remember imitation is the most sincere form of flattery he's just wrapped up the previous chapter with strong exhortation remember as we look at the book and we break it down into sections or compartments or we outline it there are basically three different sections to this particular epistle and chapters 1 2 3 remember is the wealth of the Christian chapter 4 and 5 are you with me can you kid can you guys do this okay let me go back chapters 1 and 3 is the well then they're all w's I've made it easy for you chapters 4 and 5 are the the walk of the Christian in chapter 6 is the warfare of the Christian not that hey this section over here did pretty good you guys need some work okay I'll be teaching this way tonight so you know he he is like right in the middle II is in the core of dealing with the walk of the Christian so hey theology is is good but theology without application means absolutely nothing he's been dealing with the odd the theology now he's gonna deal practically how do we apply these things to our lives and he had been talking about how we relate with one another and how we are to be forgiving just as God in Christ has forgiven us and so kind of in that that stream of thought he is now going to talk about those of us who are sons and daughters of God patterning our life after him and if you're taking notes tonight this section this evening can be broken down into three different sections so verses 1 to 21 it is very clear as you work through these verses you're going to see three things tonight do you want a pattern your life after God you love God you worship God do you want to be like him in in by that I mean emulating who he is demonstrating his qualities and an attributes and characteristics well there are three things tonight number one is this God is love so walk in love number two God is light so walk as a child of light number three God is wisdom and so walk in the wisdom of God this is the angle that the Apostle Paul is taking and it's really important for me to say this before we begin tonight what I'm gonna say to you the excitations that come from the Word of God are oriented this way you don't live like this as we go through these twenty-one verses and there are three different ways that you emulate God you don't live like this to become Saints and he's going to call the believer Saints here in these verses you don't live like this to become Saints you live like this because you are Saints so Paul could have also said it like this and and he is gonna kind of say it like this in a way hey you are Christians you are born again saved spirit-filled people now act like it okay and it's important to say that be cause we don't operate from the alternative paradigm we're not working our way to become sons and daughters of the Living God we are sons and daughters of the Living God therefore we work out what God is working in us does that make sense to you guys tonight okay so number one walk in love the Bible says in verse 1 therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love this is how you conduct your your life this is your life style we're talking agape love the the highest form of love the love that finds this root and source and God and in God alone and and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us in offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma so first of all he says emulate God be imitators of God and you can you can you can imitate God by being a person whose lifestyle is a lifestyle of love the Bible says in 1st John chapter 4 verse 8 he who does not love does not know God for god is love hey that's heavy right and and and John in his epistle is dealing with all sorts of people who are claiming that they know God and so he just you know it just breaks it down to the brass tacks okay hey you say you know you love God well is there love in your life because if there's not real love in your life you can't know God because God is love the first thing he points us to is I think one of the greatest attributes of God and certainly this is really the message of the New Testament and the gospel of Jesus Christ God is love how did God love God loved us by delivering his son how did the son love he loved by presenting himself as an offering and as a sacrifice a sweet-smelling aroma to the Father so there are two components of the love of God or the love of Christ number one he loved the father and he was committed to the glory of the Father and so he surrendered to the will of the Father it was of course the divine counsel father's son in whole the spirit that created the gospel and and and ultimately the redemption of humanity but the son submitting himself always doing those things that pleased the father yielded to the will of the Father and gave himself as a as an offering you know we're drawn back to the Book of Leviticus chapters 1 2 chapter 3 where there are all of these offerings for different sin issues whether it's a trespass or whether it's just a everyday ordinary run-of-the-mill sin or it's a sin of ignorance and then you have the burnt offering and you have the wave offering you have all these offerings they are all consummated they all come together and are in fact exceeded by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross so he loved the father listen he loved you he loved you do you know that you're loved by Christ tonight that God loves you you know I can't say this enough I remember years ago sitting down with this guy and he was really struggling with the love of God he was a lawyer and I'm not sure if there's a connection there but it's a possibility and and I said to him I said hey God loves you and he's like yeah I know I'm like no God loves you he's like yeah I know I'm like no God loves you we were at a Panera and he's like yeah I know it got a little awkward I have to tell you and he's like yeah I know I'm like no God loves you and he just brought like the sixth time I said it to him he broke down weeping groan man in the midst of a Panera Bread just weeping because it took saying it over and over and over again and the love of God in that public place melted his heart and so I just I want to say it over your lives tonight maybe you don't feel loved maybe you feel marginalized maybe you feel rejected maybe you feel mocked and scorned maybe you feel abandoned maybe the truth is this you have been abandoned and those who mean most in your life have walked away from you and you feel alone and deserted and there's no one left but you I want to say to you tonight that that's not true that God is with you and God loves you and even if everybody else in the world abandons you the Bible says for the child of God God will never leave you nor forsake you you are loved by your heavenly father received that tonight you see that listen this is this is what we do we emulate our life after the love of Christ he is our example and so when we talk about love of course we're not just talking about something that is just purely emotional we're not talking about something that is just conditional which is how most of our love works right I love you as long as as you're nice to me I love you as long as you know you do what I want I love you as long as you fulfill my expectations you know some of you run your your marriages like that it's all conditional and the minute your spouse breaks the expectation you withhold you retract your love guess what that was then never God's loved in the first place for you and somebody say amen to that are you with me Hamas and this comes to bear in difficult circumstances and situations you know we are to love like Christ loved us which means sacrificially for the glory of God and he says to this church walk in love now remember this church is living in a culture that was a lot like the city of Las Vegas sex saturated culture and the the unbelieving secular culture around them had a very perverted view of love and he's got to deal with that so verse 3 says this but fornication the Greek word there is pornea it's a very broad word for any type it really does it is a banner word over any type of sexual immorality so you know experiencing the sexual relationship in any way that is outside of the parameters or the boundaries that God has set the prescription that God has set because God you know created sex for one man and one woman who are married forever but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness not even be named among you as is fitting for Saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking or and coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks so look he says on the one hand you have the love of God on the other hand you have you have unloving behavior what is unloving behavior fornication is unloving behavior uncleanness this is another word that really is most likely dealing with any type of sexual immorality he says covetousness so desiring or wanting those things that God has not given to you now listen these three things are worshipped by the world that we live in I just described 90% of the movies that are out there you know that you could you can go to the movie theater and watch like these are the story lines this is what people build their lives around and God says this this is not loving in my eyes in fact this is the exact opposite later on he's going to say that consciousness is actually idolatry and he says these things these things should not even be named among you no not even once because it is not fitting for us as the sons and daughters of the Living God all right someone's telephone is ringing answer it let us know who it is because because we are children of God we're Kingdom citizens are you guys with me tonight look I think there's a lot of accommodation in the church and thank God for His forgiveness can somebody say amen to that thank God that God is a forgiving God and God just wants us to own our sin and and thank God that when you and I stumble and struggle and fall and we do the wrong thing and we turn our hearts back to God not with worldly sorrow but genuine repentance you know that produces transformation and change in our lives that God is willing you know it's not 12 steps to get yourself realigned with God it's one step back to the foot of the cross and God embraces and God restores and I want to encourage you tonight you know because you can read these verses go man I might as well I might as well just write the whole thing off and I want you to say to you no absolutely not if you're a child of God that's not the plan of God for your life turn your heart back to your heavenly father and this is what you'll find you will find forgiveness Paul just said it in the previous chapter be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you this I wish in so many ways I wish in so many ways that when I gave my life to Jesus Christ there was no struggle with the old nature like out I'd sign up for that right now but the reality is this there's gonna be a struggle for the rest of our lives this side of heaven and the battle against the flash is one thing that proves you're a child of God if you're fighting against it that's not a bad sign that's a good sign the bad sign is when you yield and give in and then there's no conviction when there's no resistance when it becomes a practice in your life when it is just as it's always been as you go with the flow of the flesh then that blood brothers and sisters is not a good sign in that moment as we evaluate our lives if there's been no change we have to ask ourselves why there's been no change if there's been no change probably that's because there's really been no change I hate to be so rhetorical about it but what I'm saying is this when you and I put our trust and faith in Christ and we're born again from above and filled with the Spirit we begin the process of sanctification and over the course of time this is what God does God changes us and transforms us so the standard for the church the standard for the church is this let not even fornication uncleanness or covetousness be named among you now that's the doing that's the doing but he doesn't just address the doing he addresses the talking as well he says neither filthiness foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks so he doesn't just reduce this to the physical behavior or the actual act he also takes it to the words of our mouth because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so he says make sure there's sanctification not only in your behavior what you put your hands to but make sure there's sanctification even in the way you speak you know there's so much there's so much that's sad whether it's in the workplace like I said you know in a movie in a sitcom I got to confess to you okay and I know like a lot of my friends make fun of me for this I haven't watched a sitcom in like decades I don't I'm not even I'm not even really connected to sitcoms but I I know that the substance of most of them is really not good and this is this is the question what do you find yourself laughing at what what do you what do you find entertaining because because this is really where the issue is at if you and I can look at things that God hates and find ourselves entertained by them then there's there's a heart issue that we need to deal with because we should find ourselves as sons and daughters of God loving those things that he loves and hating those things that he hates he says look if you're gonna spend your time talking about anything give thanks to God the most valuable use of your time is simply to give God thanks and then this is sobering he says in verse 6 well let me go back to verse 5 for this you know that no fornicator unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience therefore do not be partakers with them so the Apostle Paul he says this there's two camps there are two camps you have the camp of the people who practice this thing these things it's their lifestyle and you have the camp of the Saints those who've been regenerated by God who have been brought up out of this darkness and remember Gnosticism was a big deal during Paul's time and Gnosticism taught what you do when your flesh doesn't really matter because because there's a separation between the flesh and the spirit so they taught hey you can do whatever you want you can sin as much as you want you can have sex as much as you want with whoever you want and at the end it doesn't matter because what's done in your physical body has no impact on your spiritual life and Paul says if there are people who are saying that to you those are empty words and the wrath of God is coming upon those people who practice those things so separate separate yourself from that type of behavior and activity walk in love you know I just want to encourage you tonight maybe you're single and you know dumb you know you're you're in the dating process and and maybe you're dating somebody and they're like look I love you but I really feel like because of our love we need to we need to show each other and and I think the best way to show our love for each other is to sleep with each other and have sex and you know the truth is this we don't want to really go down the road of marriage unless we find ourselves compatible physically so so probably the best thing that we could do is have sex now and the reality is this is love anyway it's love anyway and it's not love that's not love the most unloving thing a person can do if you're dating is to take something from you that should be devoted to God and if somebody is saying I don't know why I'm saying this tonight but if someone's dropped that line on you sisters and it's not just sisters but brothers too but especially sisters because we're protective of the gals in the church if some guy is dropping that line on you run as quickly as you can in the other direction but pastor I'm getting old or I want to get married no I had a profile I had this idea but now I'm just looking for a beating heart no you're gonna get yourself in trouble is what you're gonna do wait for the man that God has for you and don't don't settle for anything less so walk in love verse eight for you what you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth notice there's triplets here right so fornication uncleanness covetousness filthiness foolish talking coarse jesting and now alternatively he says goodness righteousness and truth so this is the other side finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them so the second thing that Paul encourages us to do you know as we're as we're being honest with ourselves and we're really genuinely considering what it is that God desires in our lives God is the one that we worship we want to emulate our life after him we want to be more like him and so Paul says this walk in the light you were once this is a heavy thing to say you were once darkness he does not say there was once darkness in you he says you were once darkness Ephesians chapter 2 we talked about that how we were sons and daughters of disobedience we were children of Wrath we were under the Prince of the power of the air hate hate to blow your bubble tonight maybe maybe you didn't view your BC that badly well the Bible says here you were darkness this was your life you were a slave to unrighteousness and apart from God there was literally nothing that you could do about it but God touched your life and you emerged as a child of light out of that darkness isn't that an awesome miracle aren't you thankful for that like some of your lives were so dark some of your lives were so dark you were so deeply entrenched in things that that were displeasing to God and I get this sometimes people come in they're sitting in the seat and they're like man I don't I think I think that like my presence could actually cause the ceiling to fall down pastor I'm so evil ah does I've I've had people say you don't want me coming to church because if I come to church the whole place will fall down like that's how bad my life is and you feel unworthy to be even sitting in a church you know Rachel and I were talking years ago to a girl she was she was dancing in one of the clubs and she just she said she received Christ that night as the gospel was preached but she was just honest and she said you know I I just felt so unworthy my life was filled with so much sin but I knew that when the gospel was being shared I needed to respond to the love of God and so let me let me just say this tonight there is no pit that's so deep that God can't pull you out of there is no sin that is so scarlet and it has stained you so deeply that God can't cleanse he will take that scarless sin and cause you to be as white as snow there is no darkness that your life has become so deeply entrenched in that God can't miraculously pick you up and pull you out of it and cause you to come forth and emerge out of that darkness as a child of light you know the bible does not say a child of the light is his child of light we're talking radical transformation you were once in the kingdom of darkness and the Bible says in the book of Colossians chapter one you've been conveyed out of that into the kingdom of the son who is the object of the Father's love and all of this because like John said in 1st John 1:5 this is the message which we've heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and all of this is a work of the Spirit of God in your life and so he says allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be brought forth in your life in all goodness we're talking about moral goodness in all righteousness those things that are right and pleasing to God and truth as it's conveyed from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:20 1 and then he says in verse 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord in other words this is one of the reasons why you and I dig into the word and we're on this journey of discovery I want to know you want to know you're a child of God and so this is what you want to know God what pleases you what's acceptable to you I lived my life my own way I was the master of my own destiny the captain of my own ship and I ran to the ground to the rocky shoals of sin I was headed to hell and God you you resurrected me you transform me you brought me forth out of darkness through the power of the resurrection of Christ and now God my life is yielded and submitted to you that I'm talking about real discipleship here my life is yielded and submitted to you I want to know what pleases you and what is acceptable to you and I want to pattern my life after that he says have no fellowship have no Koinonia okay most people like we we used to call Koinonia Koinonia but no one knew what Koinonia meant so we stop calling it Koinonia now we call it summer barbecue which people get Koinonia means commonality it means oneness in ancient Greek you had a dick Creek and the formal Greek and you had Koine Greek which was the common Greek everybody spoke it and it was it was calm and everybody had it in common he's saying have no fellowship don't don't have this in common with other people that you walk in darkness as opposed to that what should be happening is that your life should expose those things verse 12 for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret so we don't joke about it we don't joke about it because Christ died on the cross for it like how sobering is that but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest his light therefore he says awake you who is he talking to him yeah who's the us me me us we okay yeah that's true Christians right therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light so so he's saying this as a child of God you're the influence of your life is to expose darkness not to walk in it this happens naturally you don't need to be in the workplace calling out every sin that you see okay and by the way if that's the way you think you should role you're not doing God any favors the very fact that you're there the very fact that you bring the presence of Christ the very way you live your life exposes you guys have had this before people you know they maybe maybe they use foul language all the time and then when you're around they're like oh hey I'm sorry you know I mean I know you're a Christian and and and I want to modify my words and why did they do that because you're living is a life for the Lord your your very presence is a testimony don't be ashamed of that don't be ashamed that you are that you are a living light for Jesus Christ if anything Paul says this church you're sleeping wake up hey it's a bad thing when the church is sleeping in a sinful culture if the church who is supposed to be the light of God is asleep then where is the light that's going to lead people to Jesus Christ their needs there needs to be an awareness what happens when the church and can we just be super honest here tonight maybe uncomfortably so what happens when the church is the thing that's walking in darkness what happens when the church is losing its testimony and like I said none of us are perfect to thank God for His forgiveness but man it's sobering there have been so many significant church leaders that have morally failed in the last six months and listen for me personally I don't I'm not sitting in judgment of those people I'm like dear God help me dear God help me I don't want that to be me I don't want that to be my family I don't want that to be our church but you know that when that happens people who are so significant and the unbelieving world is looking for justification to not believe in the gospel you know you want a motivation you want a motivation to make the right choices you want a motivation to to stay on track in your relationship with God the salvation of people around you may depend on it I'm not saying that when people get to heaven they're gonna be able to legitimately say hey you know God I rejected you because so-and-so did this as a Christian and it just turned me off no they're still gonna be responsible for responding to the gospel but we never want to give people a reason to be unbelieving so the exhortation is simple in a city that's as dark as Las Vegas you know we are brighter than the light of the Luxor okay you know what I'm talking about like if you can see in the spiritual realm everyone's like oh look it's a pyramid and there's a light shooting up and it's just amazing and if you could sit back and see from the churches of the Living God the light not just going to the top of the jet stream but all the way through our atmosphere through the universe and to the very throne of God now that's powerful light and if you can see beyond the spiritual veil this is what you would see let's walk his light the third and final thing tonight as we wrap this up is walk in wisdom see then that you walk circumspectly I know it's a big big word not as fool's but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil man isn't that true so the third simple exhortation for us tonight and it's a strong one I won't encourage you to receive it this evening is to walk circumspectly that simply means to walk in wisdom you know this word was used when people were walking in dangerous situations and they had to be very careful about where they place their feet so so if I took three bottles broke them on the ground and said take your shoes off and walk through where I just broke those bottles look you you would be very careful where you place your feet you would be watching very carefully because obviously you don't want to cut your feet with glass and this is the this is the image that the Apostle Paul is trying to convey in this world as the days are evil you and I need to be that much wiser we need to be that much more aware like we need to be that careful when we turn the television on when we're surfing the internet when we're driving down the road as we're making decisions in our business and our relationships we need to remember like as time is being wrapped up the devil is going to try to leverage every possible moment that he can and so this is why the Bible says redeem the time let's not act or live our lives as foolish people who don't understand that God is wrapping things up that the rapture of the church is coming that the tribulation is right around the corner hey listen tomorrow's a big day in Israel and I want to encourage you to be praying for pray for the state pray for the people you know as as the 70th anniversary of the UN granting statehood is tomorrow and and in Gaza in Syria Hezbollah and Lebanon all of these people that are anti-israel are planning things planning their own anti celebration Palestinians in Israel call it knock bah they call it the catastrophe and all of its coming to a head and the embassy the US Embassy is being moved to Jerusalem there is just a lot happening prophetically and you and I are not foolish like we see these things and we know God's wrapping it up if God is wrapping it up and buy back every possible minute that you can if you genuinely believe in the rapture of the church that it could happen then you must also at the same time believe God is giving you divine appointments you're gonna have them this week hey this may be the last week you have to share the gospel with the people in the circle of your influence because Jesus Christ is coming back and you're gonna hear the Trump of God and the voice of an archangel and bam you're gonna be gone you're gonna be taken up snatched up raptured and there are going to be all sorts of people left behind so I believe this is what he's saying he's he's saying don't live your life like a foolish person wise wise up redeem the time and understand the will of the Lord verse 17 therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation or destruction or vanity or emptiness but be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving things just gets better giving thanks full always when for mm you should circle that giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord so be a wise person understand what God's will is by back every moment and he says he says don't be drunk with wine in which is destruction now Ephesus was a city where the god Bacchus was worshiped and he was the god of the vineyard and I'm not going to go into the historical component of this but it was bad like their parties were bad drunkenness and orgies and all sorts of crazy madness and he says don't let this be you don't live your life under the influence of alcohol can I exhort you with that tonight you know for me I was I was an alcoholic and I'm so thankful you know when I gave my life to Christ he took that away from me completely for some of you you know that maybe your past and it's a struggle and sometimes your flesh calls for that and you know it's such a it is such a false remedy and there's triggers triggers in your life and you're thinking man I just I just want to escape I just need a break I just need to numb myself and you know you can start to think that walking down that road is going to produce something good in your life and I want to remind you tonight it produces nothing good the only thing that comes from it is destruction and Paul gives you the turn ative he doesn't just say don't do that he says instead of doing that be under the influence of the Holy Spirit be being filled this is an interesting verb and it's in the imperative which means it's a command it's not a suggestion it's in the passive passive imperative and so it means every moment of your life be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit filled to overflowing looking to the Holy Spirit relying on the Holy Spirit trusting in the Holy Spirit being under the influence the guidance in the direction of the Holy Spirit and when you are four things will happen number one you will worship God publicly verse 19 says this speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs so there there's a lot of food of the Holy Spirit and it's not comprehensive tonight but there are four things you will see in your life if you are a spirit-filled person number one is this the the language the way that you speak to your your friends your brothers and sisters is going to radically change the content of what you say it's gonna change to Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs so there's public worship and then they're speaking in a way where other brothers and sisters are lifted up they're not torn down there is private worship he says singing and making melody where where where where come on in your heart to the Lord so so they're singing doesn't just happen here for some of us you know when it comes to worship and and singing to God like it's all confined to 40 minutes on Sunday night or Sunday morning or once a night or Saturday night and that's about really being spirit filled when you and I are spirit filled there's going to be this constant flow of spiritual songs that we're gonna lift up to God we're going to be making melody in our heart to him because listen we understand the purpose for our creation is to worship the Lord and when the Spirit of God is dwelling richly in your heart and you're yielded and submitted to him this is what's gonna flow forth from your heart to the heart of God if you're struggling tonight if you're discouraged tonight if circumstances are wearing you down tonight I think that the greatest remedy look take two songs of worship and call me in the morning all right that that's what dr. pastor prescribes for you tonight I think worship is the greatest remedy for the struggling heart the third thing is thankfulness if your spirit filled you will be giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ so there's just a heart of gratitude there's a recognition that God is sovereign that goddess is faithfully ruling over every detail of your life and and even in the midst of the struggle in the midst of this difficulty you know that this is true God is always good and God always has a plan and God will not fail you ultimately in the end he works all things together for good for those who love him and are the called according to his purpose and therefore because of that look I'm not talking just I'm not talking about arbitrary optimism I'm not talking about just being an optimistic person I'm talking about being a person whose life is built on the foundation of the Word of God and because of that you know what God is doing you know that things are not just just a happenstance in your life but God is in control he's on the throne and guess what he's not worried his hands aren't sweating over the the circumstance or the situation that you're in and because he's on his throne and because he's faithful and because he loves you you can have a heart that's filled with gratitude at all times and for all things and the final thing here tonight if you're a person who is really spirit filled it means that there will be humility submitting to one another in the fear of God the fourth and final thing tonight as we wrap this up is that if the Spirit of God is dwelling richly in your heart that you're baptized you're you are being filled constantly there will be a humility in your life by that I mean this there will be a mutual submission we will be submitting to honoring one another honoring the truth that comes forth from a brother or sisters mouth you know this is important when there are people in your life the Bible says the kisses of an enemy or deceit deceitful but faithful are the wounds of a friend you know we need each other we we need each other we need to hold each other accountable we need to encourage each other with the Word of God when you have a brother and sister who loves you enough to tell you the truth even though you may not want to hear it if you have a brother or sister who loves you enough to do that don't resist it don't fight against it take it to the Lord in prayer let God search your heart and if it's true yield to it submit to it this is one way I believe that God accelerates our growth so so God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble all right walk in love walk in light and walk in wisdom father thank you for your word God we pray that that she would use your word to grow us up and to mature us and and God we can fast sometimes navigating this dark world around us can be challenging and and our old nature the flash God we humble ourselves and confess sometimes it longs it longs for sin but father help us under the power of your Holy Spirit to put our flash in its place and God that we would choose to worship you and that we would walk in your love your light in your wisdom tonight as our eyes are closed as our heads are bowed you know maybe you've never put your trust in faith in Jesus Christ maybe you've never received the love of God I said that to you tonight God loves you and you know you're not a Christian you've never you never have taken that step of faith and looked to Christ to deliver you maybe you have just felt totally unworthy and you know you've thought something like this how could how could God love a person like me and I want to tell you tonight that he does love you he loves you because he is loved and he demonstrated that love he sent His only Son to die on the cross to pay a penalty for your sin a penalty that you and I deserve to pay for all of eternity but God sent his own son his only begotten Son Jesus who died in our place took the wrath and the fury that we deserve for our sins he was a sacrifice and an offering a sweet-smelling aroma as the Bible says and he rose victoriously from the dead on the third day and tonight God beckons you God invites you to come God extends to you a gift of salvation by His grace and all that's left for you to do is to take it and to believe to say yes to God to allow God to work in your life that you would emerge from the darkness by the work of His Holy Spirit as a child of light adopted into his family look you may feel so far gone that not even God can save you but that is not true God's arm is not too short his ear is not deaf in other words God will hear you God will hear you when you cry out to him God will touch you he will cleanse you he will lift the guilt and the shame he will heal the wound of your heart he will take the the burden of darkness and depression and fill you with hope he will cause you to be a child of light he will change your destiny eternally you'll live with God forever look he is the thing your heart has been longing for nothing this city has to offer is ever gonna meet that need no drunkenness no fornication no experience that this world says is gonna satisfy you we'll ever meet that need you've been created by God to trust in Jesus Christ and so tonight God is working in your life he's speaking to you now you have a choice to respond and tonight if you want to respond and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ I want to pray for you tonight I want to pray that God would give you the strength to take the step of faith and so if this is you as our eyes are closed our heads are bowed would you raise your hand tonight you want to take that step of faith and look to Christ God bless you over here on my left awesome thank you for raising your hand in the back on my right anybody else just stretch your hand up high tonight let me see who you are right here in the center thank you sir awesome I got so good I see you here in the back thank you for raising your yen anybody else you know God met me over 20 years ago 25 years ago and my life was a disaster and he embraced me with his love and changed my life and he'll do the same thing for you there's anybody else I want you to stretch that hand up high tonight if you're a Christian you know it's not it's not that you're not a child of God but but you know as I just have shared honestly from the word tonight that your baby your life is aligned has been aligned with things that you see now are not pleasing to God and you know there's a new work that needs to happen in your life there's a renewal the spiritual renewal there is the need for you to stop moving in the direction that you've been going to humble yourself to turn your heart towards God and to walk and those things that please him tonight is the night God is speaking to you and you need to rededicate your life to Jesus Christ if this is you tonight I want you to raise your hand I want to pray for you tonight I see your hands awesome anybody else father thank you God we bless your name for these precious precious Souls we we ask God give them strength tonight tonight as her eyes are closed our heads are bowed right where you guys are sitting I want to lead you in a very simple prayer and this a very simple prayer of repentance and faith in Christ and and heat God is present God is gonna here tonight and he's gonna do a mighty work in your life so right where you're sitting I want you to follow me in this prayer and make this your prayer to God God tonight I give you my life god I confess I've sinned against you I'm leaving this sin and I'm looking to Jesus I believe he died for me and he rose again that through him you have forgiven me and cleansed me and made me your child God thank you for the gift of eternal life in Jesus name Amen hey listen if you followed in prayer we want to welcome you to the family of God this is what I want to do if you did follow in prayer you raised your hand I want you guys just to stand up real quick if this is you I don't want to embarrass you but look you can do this if you follow in prayer just stand up so we can say praise God awesome right on right on okay Scott god bless you guys praise God hey listen we have some of our pastors in the front tonight I want to encourage you guys before the service is over make your way up to the front we have a Bible for you I'll be standing in the back I'd love to hear what God has done in your life let's all stand together this evening god bless you guys have an awesome week were

Channel: Calvary Chapel Las Vegas, Nevada

Views: 3,982

Rating: 4.9024391 out of 5

Keywords: God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, truth, salvation, Bible, church, Ephesians, Christianity, Calvary, Calvary Chapel Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, Pastor Derek Neider, Gospel, Peace, Love, Joy, Imitate

Id: hcypouL3bnU

Length: 52min 38sec (3158 seconds)

Published: Mon May 14 2018