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Good morning. If you have your Bibles Ephesians chapter 5, is where we're going to be. I encourage

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you to pull that up on your phone and your Bible. There's one in front of you. Things like that.

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I'm sure that most of you know who Bill Gates is. He's one of the richest men in the world.

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Founded in Microsoft, plus has done a bunch of other things. In an interview one time,

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Gates said that he preferred to hire lazy people to do hard jobs. Because a lazy person will find

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an easy way to do it and therefore make it more efficient. But the hardest way is not always the

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best way. It's similar to what a lot of criminals do. A lot of them are not dumb people. In fact,

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many of them are pretty genius when it comes to concocting a plan. A lot of times if they would

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have just put the amount of brain power and effort they put into committing their crime,

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they could probably have a really good job and be in prison. Shortcuts are good for a lot of things,

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but not when it comes to our relationship with God. I think that we're also, as believers,

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tempted at times to take a shortcut when we are walking with the Lord. In our quest for the

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quickest, easiest, and most expedient way to God, we're often tempted to follow the latest program

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or FAD which promises a shortcut to spirituality. But if there's one thing that we have learned

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throughout our journey of Ephesians, it's that because of the destination and because that's

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already assured for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, God leaves us here on this earth

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to experience the journey. And when we try to take shortcuts on that journey, we miss out on so

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many other experiences that God wants us to take part in. That principle is perhaps no more

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apparent and Ephesians than in the passage that we are looking at this morning. And so verse 15

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of chapter 5 begins a new section of Paul's letter and extends all the way through chapter 6 of verse

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9. Now although we're only going to focus on verses 15 through 17 this morning, it's crucial that we

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look at it in its context. And so I'm going to ask Thurston to come on up here and read verses 15

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through 21 for us. Come on up here Thurston. Whenever you're ready. Ephesians 5, 15 through 21,

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look carefully at how you walk not as unwise but as wise. Making the best use of the time because

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the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And

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do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit addressing one

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another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your

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heart. Giving thanks and always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus

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Christ. So meeting to one another out of reference for Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father God thank

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you for Thurston. Thank you for your word. I pray God that as we study that this morning that it

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will seep into our hearts that we'll something in our brains will click as to what it means. I

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pray God that you will continue to reveal your word to us. And so God we pray that as we study this

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your spirit will fill us and challenge us. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. Thank you

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Thurston. How awesome is it that we got kids that are willing to read the word. I think that's awesome.

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So Paul begins verse 15 with a command to his readers to walk carefully. This is the fifth and

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final time that Paul will command his readers to walk in a manner that is consistent with their

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new life in Christ here in Ephesians. And so although the Greek word Paul uses here literally

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means to walk or tread around it also came to describe the way that a person conducted themselves

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and lived his or her life. And there's no doubt that that is how Paul is using that word here. So

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so live is actually a very accurate translation. Paul is telling his readers that we are to walk

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accurately. This command is in its present tense which by now we all know that this is a continuing

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action. So Paul is commanding his readers. He's commanding you and I to keep on walking to keep

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on living in a manner that is consistent with their new life in Christ. The word carefully literally

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means accurately. It describes paying careful attention to a standard. It can be compared to

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walking through a minefield. And that's how we journey through life. You want to play close

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attention to where you step because stepping in the wrong place can be detrimental to your

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spiritual life. We certainly wouldn't go barging through a minefield without paying attention to

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every step that we took. Now that is certainly not a situation in which we'd want to take a

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shortcut. We might have to take the long way around. And what would be even better would be

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go would be go to through that minefield following in the steps of someone who is an expert in

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recognizing those things. That's discipleship. Following along. When Tina and I first got our

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camper several years ago it took us it took us some time to get ready to go when we were leaving

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the house or when we were leaving the campsite. We were very careful to make sure everything was

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in its place. I would I would check tire pressure. I would make sure things were locked and put away.

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I would do everything that was needed to be in place before we took off. Tina would then like

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make sure everything was secure inside that bars were up that things were locked and snapped

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together and all that stuff. And then once we knew we were secure we would hit the road. It can be

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nerve-wracking when you are starting something new. Right. You have checklists and then you go one

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by one through these checklists. As we got more comfortable with it we became more efficient and

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it didn't seem like such a chore to go on our next trip or to come back home. The problem with that

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though is you can sometimes get in a hurry and forget to do some important things. And so you're

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driving down the road and you look in your mirror and your door is fleeing open. Right. Or you're

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looking in your mirror and you're stinky slinky. For those of you that know what that is it's kind

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of bouncing bouncing on the road. And you get back in and everything's just kind of falling off

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the shelf or doors are open and things like that. You overlooked something. Right. You got in too

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big of a hurry or you failed to communicate with those you're with to make sure that everything

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got that got done. Right. And so what Paul is challenging us is to make sure that you're not

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getting in a hurry that you aren't taking shortcuts. Walk accurately carefully as you navigate life.

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You can never put your guard down when it comes to overcoming sin and staying out of sin. You have

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to be careful. You have to stay in the word. You have to communicate with the Lord. You have to walk

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in a faith community that's going to hold you accountable. There is not a pill that you can

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take to become more spiritual and have a strong relationship with the Lord. It takes carefully

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walking through the day recognizing that there are landmines all around you and you have to avoid them.

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Maybe those landmines are how you react to a tense situation. Maybe those landmines are time

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management and how you're spending your day. It could be spending time alone on your computer

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when no one else is around. It can be binging a TV show and then saying you don't have time for prayer.

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We have to recognize right. We have to avoid those landmines and in our lives that are keeping us

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from being the new creation that we are in Christ. Each one of us has different landmines.

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We have to be careful of those. How exactly are we to live that way?

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Fortunately, as Paul has done throughout his letter, he doesn't leave us wondering that,

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but rather gives us some very practical advice on how to do that. Paul writes that the first way

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that we are to live carefully and accurately is to not be unwise but to be wise. That makes

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sense right? Don't be an idiot. That's what he's saying. Then he tells us exactly what he means

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by this in this particular context. The way that we are to be wise is by making the most of every

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opportunity. The word translated there, making the most, is one Greek word and it comes from a root

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word that literally means to redeem. It means to buy up. It's a word from the marketplace.

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It's having a Costco mindset. We have a family of six and we have three boys that act like they've

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never been fed. Instead of going to the grocery store every other day, Sina, a lot of times,

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will go to Costco and she will stock up on things that we go through quickly. When you buy in bulk,

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all of you know this, hopefully, when you buy in bulk, you usually get a better price per item,

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plus it saves time because you can get a whole lot more in one trip instead of a whole bunch of others.

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Now, one of our homes in La Mesa was literally right behind a grocery store. You would think,

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oh, how convenient is that? It really wasn't. We ended up making more trips to the store because

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it was more convenient and we ended up wasting more time because instead of checking out with a

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basket full of groceries, we're just going and getting one or two things that we need to get

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through the day. The word translated time is also important here. As you might suspect, Greek

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has several different words that it uses to describe time. The first main word that you would

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probably be familiar with is chronos. It's where we get our English word chronology. It describes

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clock time, calendar time, or a secession of time. But the word Paul uses here is a word that

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describes a specific and often predetermined period of time or a season. It's kairos. Now,

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it represents the best time to do something. The moment that circumstances are most suitable.

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And so when you put those words together, it's an understanding that since I am going to the store,

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I'm going to get as much as I can to make the most of my time. Paul uses that very same word

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in other letters of his in the same context. In Colossians 4, he writes,

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walk in wisdom towards outsiders making the best use of time. In Galatians 6, he writes,

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so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are the

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household of faith. Now, I don't think any one of us would have a problem with the concept that we

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need to make the most of every opportunity. I think we'd all agree, but Paul adds an interesting

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qualifier here in this passage. He writes that we are to make the most of every opportunity

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because the days are evil. That's a clear reference to the current evil age in which we live and

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which were under the influence and dominion of the evil one. That's a clear contrast to the many

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other places where Paul is written about the coming age and the inheritance that all of

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God's children will share. Paul's approach to living in the midst of those evil days is obviously

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is for us not to join them in how they're living their lives, but it's also not meant to isolate

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us either. We're not interacting with non-believers. Instead, we are to walk carefully, accurately,

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making the most of the opportunities that come our way in the midst of these evil days.

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What he is saying here essentially is that evil days create opportunities.

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And therefore, understanding this, we must make the most of those opportunities. But unfortunately,

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many of us have a very different view of those evil days. Instead of seeing opportunities,

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we see pressures. We see obstacles. We see defeating circumstances. But there is a sense in which it

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is evil days that causes people to think about the futility of their lives and wonder if there is

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something more. It is the evil days that cause people to seek after God. It is the evil days that

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give us the opportunity to walk as light in the midst of darkness and demonstrate the abundance

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of a Christian life. But far too often, we fail to take advantage of those opportunities because

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we want to take shortcuts. We want to get this thing over. We don't want to be inconvenienced.

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We don't want to be bothered. We're not willing to move out of our comfort zone because that makes

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it weird. And so instead of making the most of these opportunities, we just let them slip by.

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That thought is particularly sobering to me as a pastor. Because remember that Paul is writing here,

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not to individuals. He's writing to the body of Christ. That's why I want to make sure that as a

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body, as a church, we don't fail to recognize those opportunities that we have. I don't want us to

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fail to buy up those times because we don't have enough vision or enough passion or enough people

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or enough resources or even worse enough faith because these opportunities are all around us.

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And as a church, as a body of believers, we need to make the most of those opportunities.

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We also need to put the puzzle together. Verse 17 says, do not be foolish but understanding what

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the will of the Lord is. It could be literally translated something like this, stop becoming ignorant.

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Stop becoming ignorant. The word translated foolish describes someone who refuses to acknowledge

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dependence on God and thus acts foolishly. Paul is warning his readers not to return

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to their former state where they were ignorant of the ways of God. They were walking in senseless

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acts in their past. Instead, they were to become understanding of the Lord's will. The word for

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understanding describes the active engagement of the mind in order to assemble individual facts

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into an organized whole. That's what the word means. In today's language, we might describe it as

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putting together the pieces of a puzzle. In our self-focused culture, there's a tendency for us

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to personalize the idea of God's will. And therefore, we begin to think of God's will.

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Now, when we think of God's will, we automatically think God's will for my life.

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We tend to think of God's will in terms of what job should I take? Where should I live?

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Who should I marry? What's God's will for these personal issues that I'm facing?

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Now, while there are some places in Scripture that describe God's specific

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will for a specific person in a specific situation, the Bible much more frequently

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pictures the will of God as his overall plan. Now, Paul certainly takes that approach in the

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first three chapters of Ephesians. In particular, I'm going to read chapter one for you, verses four

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through ten, where Paul describes God's will. He says, even as he chose us in him before the

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foundation of the world, that we should be wholly and blameless before him, in love, he predestined

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us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

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to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us and the beloved.

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In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the

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riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us

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the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the

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fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on the earth.

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God's will, as Paul describes it, is his overall plan for redeeming people for himself,

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for bringing his creation, and brings all things together in Jesus Christ. That's God's will.

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And I'm convinced that that is what Paul is referring to here in chapter five.

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Now, as Paul pointed out in chapter one, God has already revealed his will to all of us who were

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followers of Jesus Christ, but it's up to us to move beyond just an intellectual understanding,

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like we know it, and come to a point where we start putting the pieces together and grasp

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the significance and the magnitude. Everything that Paul has written up at this point in this letter

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is an attempt to help his readers do just that. Have you ever heard someone say, or maybe you've

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even said yourself, I don't know what God is trying to do in this situation. I don't know what he's

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trying to teach me. I had a conversation this week along those lines. They tell me, I don't know why

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God spared my life, but he did. I don't know the specific reason either, but I know God has a plan

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in it. He is going to use that person to unite all things to Christ. He's a piece of the puzzle.

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Now, my wife likes to do puzzles. I don't understand it, but she does. She will stay up late at night

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to finish one. Now, when she opens a box, she'll pour it on a table, and there's all these fragments

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of a picture that is yet to be completed. She knows what it's supposed to look like, because

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that's what the box is. But until every piece is in place, the puzzle is not done. Isn't it the worst

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when you are working on a puzzle, and you come to find out there's one or two pieces missing?

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I haven't met anyone yet who opens a puzzle and counts the pieces before they put it together,

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right? Instead, they started and realized towards the end that there's a piece missing.

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It almost, at least for me, it almost feels like a waste if you're unable to complete the puzzle.

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Now, two years ago, we began, my family and I began making plans to move to Iowa. We took a leap

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of faith on Cornerstone, and you took a leap of faith on us. Now, I have to remind myself of that

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often, because when things get hard, it's easy to begin to think, well, this was a mistake.

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When we miss being close to family, we have to remind ourselves that for whatever reason,

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God called us here to fulfill His plan. I'm just a small piece to what God is doing all over the

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world, and so are you. But if we don't realize that we are a piece of a much bigger puzzle that

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God has put in together, we can begin to feel that our life is a waste, that we have no purpose.

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God has you in your workplace, in your home, in your school, on that team to fulfill a piece

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of the puzzle. Now, as believers, we know what the puzzle is supposed to look like. We know what the

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big picture is. It's Satan defeated. It's believers reigning and ruling with Him. It's every knee

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bowing before Him forever. That's what the puzzle looks like. That's the completed picture.

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But we have to understand that for that puzzle to be completed, God is using you to complete that

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picture. You are a piece of it. We need to keep God's overall will in mind. We need to recognize

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that the difficulties and trials and problems that come into our lives are just part of God's

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grand plan, not just for us individually, but for us as His creation. Peter makes that clear in

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1 Peter 4. He writes, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial that you were

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suffering as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in the

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sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. So then those who

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suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue

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to do good. Finally, don't bypass spiritual growth. Don't bypass spiritual growth. We can't

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control most of the circumstances that impact our lives, but we can control how we respond to them.

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When the trials and the pains come, we can complain and look for a shortcut in order to try to

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remove ourselves from that situation, or we can seek out God and ask Him to show us how those

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circumstances, how those trials fit into His overall plan and will, and then we can join Him.

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We can be a part of it, join Him in His work. Again, that's not something we just do individually.

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That's something that we do as a body of believers. We need to accurately, wisely, carefully walk

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through the dangers of a minefield together. God's will is that men, women, and children

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will come to know Him, and maybe that's in your workplace, maybe it's in your school, maybe it's

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in your home. Maybe He spares your life so that you can tell the story of how good and awesome

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and powerful He is. Maybe He saves your marriage so that you can declare how good and loving and

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powerful He is. Maybe He helps you overcome sin so that you can show it's not my strength, but it's

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Him that lives in me. Whatever trials you're facing, whatever circumstances you're facing, don't bypass

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the spiritual growth. He's trying to teach you something in it. He's trying to walk with you

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through it. And I think every one of us that have gone through the desert, so to speak,

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gone through the wilderness where we feel like we're just all on our own. I feel like every

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single one of us that has walked through those times could say that we're better off and closer

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to the Lord because of it. And so let's walk accurately as we navigate this life, as we navigate

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this journey. Let's pray. Father God, I pray that you will, that you will reveal to us where we're

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not walking accurately, that you will reveal to us the opportunities that we have missed.

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I pray God that you open our eyes. Open our eyes to make the most of those times. We are surrounded

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by evil every single day. We are surrounded by minefields every single day. And God, I pray that

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you give us the boldness and the wisdom to open our eyes and to walk carefully, not just as individuals

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but as cornerstone Baptist church. Help us understand that your will is to unite all things

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into yourselves and we get to be a part of that. And so Father, as we get ready to take communion,

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as we begin to prepare our hearts to receive this bread and this juice,

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I pray Father that we will lay our sins before you, that we will confess our sins before you

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and walk out of your hole. And so God, I pray that you move during this time. It's your name,

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I pray. Amen.