Today will begin at the bottom. Verse 7 mentions a "sound mind." The Greek word means a "right mind" or a "sane mind." If you want to be in your right mind, you will need deal with fear, power and love. I'm not suggesting that you are crazy, but that if you want to have a sound mind as far as the Bible is concerned, you need to deal with these three things.
I. Fear: Do not be afraid. A. The word carries the idea of being cowardly. B. ....of being timid. C. Of being controlled by fear. 1. Fear is not always bad. There are things that should make us afraid, the problem with many people is that they are controlled by their fears. 2. Two illustrations: (1) An acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real (2) Charlie Brown: "I've developed a new philosophy, I will only dread one day at a time.....Terrible way to live! II. Power: Use the power that God has made available to you. A. It is the power of the Holy Spirit. 1. If you are saved, you have Holy Spirit power in you to help you live unafraid and in your right mind. 2. Think of it: It is the power of God in your heart - your inner sefl. B. It is the power of the faith in Christ, who saved you. Jesus said that if you have faith the size of the tiny mustard seed, you can move mountains. C. You are in your right mind if you are living with the realization of the power that God has given you to live. III. Love: Practice God's love. A. The Greek word is Agape (ahgahpay) which is the word used in John 3:16, 1Corinthians 13, etc. B. It is God's kind of love as shown in the life of Jesus Christ: 1. Sincere 2. Sacrificial 3. Selfless C. We need to practice this love even in a hostile environment...... Based on these three points, are you in your right mind?
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All of us have basic needs - physical, emotional, social, etc. But our greatest needs are spiritual. Psalm 34:1-7 tells us some creative ways to meet our spiritual needs.
I. Vss. 1-3 - We need to offer up praise A. Vs. 1 - Pray continually. B. Vs. 2 - Boast in the Lord. C. Vs, 3 - Magnify, or exalt, the Lord. II. Vss. 4-5 - We need to seek the Lord in our problems. A. Vs. 4. David sought the Lord, God heard him and delivered him. B. Vs. 5 - "Lighened" means that they had a "glow about them....." Their lights are shining as Jesus demanded..... C. Vs. 5b - They were not ashamed.... III. Vs. 6 - We need to overcome by seeking God. A. He cried...... B. He was heard. C. He was delivered. IV. Vs. 7 - We need to know that God has our backs - so to speak. A. God sends His "ministering spirits," angels to minister to us. B. He has sent more than we have seen... C. Our spiritual needs can be met through the ministry of angels. God wants to meet your spiritual needs and He has given us a good reminder of how He can do this in Psalm 34:1-7 We see the reverse of this rule: "Do unto others before they do unto you." or "You got the gold, you make the rules." These are the world's answers, which are opposite of what Jesus said. He wants us to live by the Golden Rule.
I. Its Content A. It is broad: "in all things" in NIV: "so in everything..." 1. But what if they hurt us or one of our family? 2. But what if they get on our nerves? 3. But what if they obviously don't like us? B. It is clear and plain. 1. There is no escape clause or "except" or "unless...." 2. We have to love as Jesus loved, and practice grace as Jesus did. 3. Look at Luke 6:27-31 and see how to live out the Golden Rule. C. It is practical and useful. 1. If we all lived by this rule this would be a better world....better families.... better churches. 2. It would keep us from getting bitter. II. Its Challenge A. Its difficulties: 1. It is not the way Satan's world system works. 2. It awakens ourr weaknesses and makes us feel used and abused without the practice of God's grace in our lives. B. Its benefits: 1. Practicing it would make us more like Jesus. 2. It would keep others from determining our reactions. 3. It would keep us from embarassing ourselves by bad reactions. C. Only the Lord can help us meet the challenges of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is not given as a suggestion. Living by it will make us better people and better witnesses. Paul usually closed his letters with some good advice about living the Christian life. Our text is a case in point. I call it a "Recipe for an Effective Christian LIfe." Here is the recipe:
I. Vs. 1 - Stand fast A. Stand fast on the word - the Bible. B. Stand fast on the issues. Not every political issue is a Christian issue, but abortion and same sex marriage, for example, are moral issues that are not just politics. C. Stand fast on the church. II. Vss. 2-3 - Quit fussing A. Two powerful women who had been good workers, were evidently fussing and people were evidently taking sides. B. Paul advised them to help the women I think that this meant they were not to take sides, which is what keeps fussing going. C. This is an ongoing problem in churches and needs to be dealt with. III. Vs. 4 - Rejoice A. Sometimes its hard to tell whether we are at a celebration of Jesus' resurrection or his funeral. B. People are attracted to joyful people, and that is what we are supposed to be. C. Do you rejoice, or do you have an attitude of rejoicing? IV. Vss. 5-7 - Pray A. Some say "when all else fails, pray". It should be "before all else fails, pray." B. Instead of being careful and anxious we need to take all things to the Lord. C. Look at the great promise of what prayer will do in your life and make it more effective for the Lord. V. Vs. 8 - Think right A. Look at this list of virtues. We should seek all of them. B. This verse describes an effective Christian life. You can take John 3:16 and tell people how to be saved and this verse and tell them how to live the Christian life. C. These are what we should show the world. Based on these are you really attempting to live and effective Christian life? I think youu will agree that this is a good recipe for an effective Christian life. Last week we dealt with the "vain walk," or as Paul put it, "the you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk." (You can look at last week's outline to see what that was.) I continued with more on this subject beginning with verse 25. The point was that they were "new people" and should not go go back to old ways, which he deals with in the ensuing verses.
I. Verses 25-26 - Put away lying and excessive anger. A. Verse 25- Put away lying. Christians owe it to each other to be be truthful with each other. We should be mindful always that "we are members of each other." B. Verse 26 - Deal with anger like Christians. 1. "Be angry and sin not..." Anger itself is not a sin, but it can become sin. 2. "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." (Get over it.) 3. "Neither give place to the devil." Don't let the devil have the victory. C. It is important that we remember this. (I went lightly over verses 28-30. You might want to develop those as well. I went to verse 31.) II. Verses 31-32 - The importance of getting over anger. A. Verse 31 - Anger can become all of these and lead to defeat in Christian living. 1. "Bitterness" is anger held in and nurtured. Hebrews tells us to not get "a root of bitterness." 2. "Wrath" Anger becomes rage and becomes destructive. 3. "Anger and clamour" mean that anger leads to brawling. 4. "Evil speaking" is angrily "bad mouthing" people. 5. "Put away....malice." This is anger held in until it means harm either vocal or physical. B. Verse 32 - What we should do rather hold anger in 1. "Be kind to one another..." Opposite of malice. 2. "Tenderhearted..." Compassionate as Christ was. 3. "Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." a. Forgiving is the fulfillment of overcoming anger. b. If God has forgiven our sins, He expects us to be forgiving as well. C. It is important for us to deal with anger like Christians. These are things that we need in churches today, both for the sake of fellowship and for the sake of our witness to the world. Let us heed it. (This is the second sermon on the Christian walk in Ephesians)
Last week we looked at "the walk of the past" in Ephesians 2:2, and "the working walk" in ephesians 2:8-10. Tonight we turn to Ephesians 4:1-3 where we find "the worthy walk." I. Verse 1 - We are encouraged to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." A. "Vocation" means that we have all been called to work, or works, for the Lord. B. There are things that we are supposed to be doing in the church and in the community. II. Verse 2 - We are told how we are to take this worthy walk. A. "With all lowliness." As in all things we are serve humbly before God and people. B. "(with all) meekness. Meekness is not weakness. It is controlled strength, like a broken horse, for example. C. "with longsuffering" This literally means to suffer long, to serve in spite of what we have to overcome. D. "forbearing one another in love." In love we overlook the personallity differences, etc. and get along for the sake of Christ and of the work that He has called us to do together. III. Verse 3 - Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. A. "Endeavering" means to work at it. B. "to keep the unity of the Spirit." This means that if we stick with verses 1 and 2, we will keep unity in spite of differences, and will disagree like Christians not heathens. C. "in the bond of peace" This speaks for itself. There will be peace if we work together humbly in a spirit of peace. Is your walk with Jesus a "worthy walk"? It is important for it to be. A "certain" lawyer came to Jesus and asked Him about how he could have eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law said and he answered correctly in verse 27. The lawyer then wanted to know who his neighbor was. Jesus gave him the "Parable of the Good Samaritan"in verses 30-37. He revealed how different people look at life in their relaltions with people. (Bottom line: Our neighbor can be anyone.)
I. Verse 30 - There are people who not only do not care, they mean harm. These theives were selfish, cruel, unfeeling and had no heart for other people. II. Verses 31-32 - People who are casually indifferent. A. If we aren't careful we will be llike this. (We might pass people by that God intends for us to help.) B. These men represent religious practice without heart. 1. Priests and Levites served in the temple at Jerusalem. They had religious duties to perform, and had probably done that before this encounter. 2. Their religion didn't help them to help the helpless man. Keep in mind: Religion is something we do. Faith is something God does in us. Religion is something we practice. Faith in Jesus is what we are and how we act. C. This is the sin of omission. III. Verses 31-35 - Someone who cares and acts on it. A. The Samaritan became involved in this helpless man's life. Who does the Lord want you to become involved with? B. The text will show us what it took for the Samaritan to care. 1. Courage - He didn't know where the thieves were. 2. Time 3. Money C. In verese 35 the Samaritan continued to care. Where do you come down. Remember, the key word here is compassion. Do you have compassion for people? Titus was serving on the island of Crete, which was famous for courrupt living. The moral conditions in which they lived was not very different from our own. This is a timely text for today. In times of great immoratlity it is imperative for Christians to live distinctive Christian lives, and not let the old ways intrude into the new ways. Let's look at the old and the new.
I. Verse 3 - The old way of life A. We were foolish, senseless and disobedient in regard to God and people. Like many today their lives were their business and what they did was their business, not God's. B. We were enslaved to lust and pleasures. Much like today, pleasure had become an idol, and "if it feels good do it" was the prevailiing philosophy. C. We were malicious, holding grudges against people and intent on doing them harm. The Christian aim should be to do good to people and not say or do things that would do them harm. II. Verses 4-8 - The new way of life A. Vss. 4-7 - Something happened that changed our lives and gave us a new perspective on life. These verses will tell us why we are not the same....... B. Vs. 8 - Our new lives should be characterized by good works. This means that we are to witness to other people, live a life that shows how different Christ can make life, and we should minister to people in the name of Jesus. C. It should be our goal to hate the old way of life and love the new way of life. The devil will certainly try to bring the pleasures of the past life back into our minds and hearts. This will demand staying in the Bible and in prayer. Each of us should ask: "Am I living the new life to the fullest extent? Am I making a difference where I am?" If everybody in the church lived like us, what kind of church would it be? We need to ask ourselves if we are making a difference? There is a fork in the road with two options: One is joyful, guilt-free, etc. The other is rife with potholes and pitfalls. Though the world does not seem to think so today, there is a right way and a wrong way. The psalmist contrasted the right way and the wrong way in such a way that the difference is plain.
I. Vss. 1-4 - The Wrong Way A. Vs. 1 - Those in the wrong way do not fear God. B. Vs. 2 - Those in the wrong way deceive themselves. 1. Vs. 2a - They are flattered by their own sinfulness - proud of deviant lifestyles. 2. Vs. 2b - They will not see their own sinfulness. They see sin as harmless. C. Vs. 3 - Those in the wrong way deceive others. D. Vs. 4 - Those in the wrong way are sold out to sin. 1. They plot evil in their sleep. 2. They are committed to a "sinful course." 3. They do not abhor evil, rather, they love evil and and reject what is right. II. Vss. 5-9 - The Right way A. Vss. 5-7a - The right way is the right way because of God/Jesus. 1. Vss. 5a & 7a - His love and mercy are on the right way. 2. Vs. 5b - His faithfulness is on the right way. 3. Vs. 6a - His righteousness is on the right way. 4. Vs. 6b - His justice is on the right way. B. Vss, 7-9 - The people of the right way. 1. They trust God and they trust in God. 2. Vs. 8 - They feast on the riches of God. Some of these riches are: grace, peace, joy, service, etc. 3. Vs. 9a - They drink from the fountain of life. 4. Vs. 9b - They live in the light of God. C. Don't you want to walk in the right way. In vss. 10-12 we observe that the people who live in God's way continue, but the peopel who live the wrong way will ultimately fall. Surely you want to be in the right way!!!!! Samuel vowed to continue to pray for Israel, then he said that he would "teach the good and right way." Verse 24 tells is what "the good and right way is...."
I. "Only fear you the Lord..." A. Note in the Pilgrim Bible: "The fear of the Lord is the attitude of the heart that the children of God have toward their Heavenly Father. While perfectly at home in His presence, and trusting Him reverently, they realize His greatness and stand in awe of Him. Such fear produces a hatred of evil as well as a love of God." B. Proverbs 19:23 - "The fear of the tends to life: and he that has it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited by evil." C. Psalm 111:10a - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." II. "Serve Him with all your heart.." A. "Serve Him in truth." 1. In accordance with God's word. 2. From a faith relationship with Jesus. B. "With all your heart..." 1. Don't just give lipservice. 2. Don't just serve Him from a sense of duty. 3. Serve from your heart - all of it. C. This is how all of His great servants served Him: Moses, David, Peter, Paul III. "For consider how great things He has done for you..." A. Look at what God had done for Israel: chose them as His people, delivered them from Egypt, etc. B. Look at all He has done for us: He sent Jesus to save us, He gave us fellow- ship with each other, peace, joy, etc. C. If you can't see what great things Jesus has done in your life, you really need examine your heart. What is the "good and right way"? Fear the Lord. Serve the Lord with all of your heart and consider the great things that He has done for you. These will not lead us astray. |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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