WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.520 to die for us, so much to be thankful for us. 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:11.119 His tender mercies are new every morning. Oh 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.859 the fact that we can come to his throne of grace 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:18.539 and find help when we need it. It is a good day 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:21.370 to be grateful and of course you don't. we're 00:00:21.370 --> 00:00:24.370 in our series uh talking about giving there's 00:00:24.370 --> 00:00:27.789 a reason to praise that we have a reason to praise 00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:31.989 god and i you know even those who are unsaved 00:00:31.989 --> 00:00:35.109 don't know they have a reason to praise god because 00:00:35.109 --> 00:00:38.850 god is holding back time giving them opportunity 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:42.710 to come to him so everybody has reason to praise 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:45.750 god so guys i'm excited about what god wants 00:00:45.750 --> 00:00:50.210 to share with us this morning uh i've been tasked 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:54.240 with uh doing chapter five of Ephesians because 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:57.070 you know We are studying the book of Ephesians 00:00:57.070 --> 00:00:59.189 talking about being grateful to God and I was 00:00:59.189 --> 00:01:02.909 like, oh I would get 33 verses right to do but 00:01:02.909 --> 00:01:05.290 we're gonna pray and get started Heavenly father 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:07.489 we give you praise we give you honor We thank 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:10.250 you Lord God for this awesome opportunity to 00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:12.569 come and surround ourselves around your word 00:01:12.569 --> 00:01:14.989 We thank you Holy Spirit that you are present 00:01:14.989 --> 00:01:18.109 so that we have clarity understanding and enlightenment 00:01:18.109 --> 00:01:20.569 Thank you father that we are have the ability 00:01:20.569 --> 00:01:23.790 to apply the words to our lives and see the effect 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:26.400 that you do desire for it to be in our lives. 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:28.640 And we just give you the praise and the honor 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:32.980 in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, you can 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:37.459 take your seats. Thirty -three verses. Can I 00:01:37.459 --> 00:01:42.579 do it? Can I do it? Can I do it? As I was looking 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.599 over them, I'm like, oh God, okay. But I'm just 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:50.060 excited about it. You know, we've been studying 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:53.640 the book of Ephesians and it is particularly 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.060 actually written to the Gentiles and letting 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:00.280 us know the privileges that we have as a result 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.640 of coming into the kingdom and how we really 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.579 should be grateful to God that he included us. 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:10.159 I am so glad God decided to adopt us into his 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.780 family. How about you? Aren't you glad that God 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:16.680 talked about at one time we were without him, 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:19.460 that we didn't have a covenant at all with him. 00:02:19.939 --> 00:02:22.400 But now, because of Jesus Christ, we all have 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.099 the same opportunity to have a relationship with 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:28.879 God. So again, looking in the book of Ephesians, 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.020 starting at chapter five, let me just give you 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:32.860 a little bit of background concerning the Church 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:37.129 of Ephesus. Ephesus was a center of commerce 00:02:37.129 --> 00:02:40.770 and a lot of pagan worship was going on there. 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:44.169 And it challenged the Ephesians as to how they 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:46.669 were carrying out their lives because of all 00:02:46.669 --> 00:02:50.050 the things that were surrounding them. And so 00:02:50.050 --> 00:02:53.310 Paul wanted to warn them and talk to them about 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:56.110 Christian conduct, because somebody say Christian 00:02:56.110 --> 00:03:00.090 conduct. uh because he didn't want them to be 00:03:00.090 --> 00:03:02.789 deceived and confused and then he didn't want 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:06.229 them to accept the things that did not actually 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:09.830 line up with their new regenerated life and so 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:12.629 he he starts to write and i always would want 00:03:12.629 --> 00:03:16.629 to remind you that this paul wrote letters the 00:03:16.629 --> 00:03:21.509 this is part of a letter six chapters, we say, 00:03:21.650 --> 00:03:24.030 of a letter. So it was a very long letter that 00:03:24.030 --> 00:03:26.729 he was writing to the Church of Ephesus, but 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:28.870 he was trying to get them to see some things 00:03:28.870 --> 00:03:31.030 and understand some things. And, you know, he 00:03:31.030 --> 00:03:33.669 was just addressing things to make life go better 00:03:33.669 --> 00:03:38.150 for them. So again, they were being pressured 00:03:38.150 --> 00:03:40.550 because of everything going on around them, pretty 00:03:40.550 --> 00:03:43.590 much like today. Pretty much like today, you 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:47.460 know. Culture is trying to dictate to everyone 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:49.560 how they should live their lives what god has 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:51.740 called us to live a different life And he don't 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:54.360 want us under that pressure or feel like that. 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:58.449 We need to act like the world And so therefore, 00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:02.090 God is telling us that just because society agrees 00:04:02.090 --> 00:04:04.150 with it does not necessarily mean that a Christian 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:06.409 should agree with what's going on. Just because 00:04:06.409 --> 00:04:08.610 the majority are doing it does not mean that 00:04:08.610 --> 00:04:11.229 a Christian should participate. And although 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:14.069 he says that we can do anything, he says, but 00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:17.149 everything is not good for us. So therefore, 00:04:17.189 --> 00:04:21.009 he's called us to a higher standard of thinking. 00:04:21.629 --> 00:04:25.649 look at somebody say a higher standard of thinking. 00:04:26.370 --> 00:04:28.730 So God is asking us to think on another level. 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:31.589 He's talking about having your thoughts to agree 00:04:31.589 --> 00:04:35.930 with who you now have become. So in starting 00:04:35.930 --> 00:04:40.899 in verse one of chapter five, it says in the 00:04:40.899 --> 00:04:44.980 esv therefore be imitators of god as beloved 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:48.720 children he's telling us i want you to look like 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.079 me i want you to resemble me now he's not talking 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.720 about perfection because of course not any of 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.420 us are perfect but he is talking about how we 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:00.579 think how we measure things how we look at things 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:04.920 so he's telling us again um We live our lives 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.879 based upon the finished works of Jesus. There's 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:10.920 things that happen in our lives or things that 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:13.240 come to us that come to the world, but we know 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:15.959 that God has finished some things for us, so 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:18.259 therefore we don't have the same type of an attitude. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.480 We don't have the same type of, we don't look 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:23.480 at things the way the world looks at things. 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:25.639 They may look at something as a disaster, but 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:29.420 we can talk to God and see it as he sees it. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:31.899 See it as more than a conqueror. See, I'm going 00:05:31.899 --> 00:05:36.230 to get through this. see it as devastation. During 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:39.410 hurricane season, you all know, just let the 00:05:39.410 --> 00:05:44.129 wind stir a little bit. Man, it's going to tear 00:05:44.129 --> 00:05:49.029 up everything. We've already plotted the path. 00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:51.110 It's coming straight here. You need to get yourself 00:05:51.110 --> 00:05:53.589 together. Everybody panics. Everybody run out. 00:05:53.610 --> 00:05:55.829 You get all your hurricane things, and it ain't 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:59.990 even close. and it's how many how many you know 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:04.470 it changes so many times before it actually but 00:06:04.470 --> 00:06:08.670 the world is his training people to be at unrest 00:06:08.670 --> 00:06:12.089 to be uneasy to be in panic mode to think you 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.550 know i'm going to lose everything but the believer 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:17.170 knows even if i lose everything god is able to 00:06:17.170 --> 00:06:20.350 give it back to me so we don't have the same 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:23.189 type of attitude so god has said you need to 00:06:23.189 --> 00:06:27.430 imitate me You don't fall to the culture of this 00:06:27.430 --> 00:06:29.709 world. And he's talking about this connection 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:33.089 with God with us is inseparable, that God is 00:06:33.089 --> 00:06:36.470 always with us. He's never apart from us. Our 00:06:36.470 --> 00:06:40.709 status with Jesus is completely set. So again, 00:06:40.769 --> 00:06:43.870 he tells us to follow God's example. And then 00:06:43.870 --> 00:06:48.019 he tells us, and walk in the way of love. walk 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:52.519 in the way of love. Let love, let the love of 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:55.500 Christ be our life. That everything we do is 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.819 foundation in his love and he will never abandon 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:03.670 us. He's always with us. And he's telling us 00:07:03.670 --> 00:07:07.110 that this love that jesus christ had for us He 00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:10.550 said it's supposed to be something that's contagious 00:07:10.550 --> 00:07:13.310 In the fact that god says that I put my love 00:07:13.310 --> 00:07:15.889 on the inside of you. So it's a supernatural 00:07:15.889 --> 00:07:18.610 love It's an agape love. He's telling them he 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:21.550 says these are foundational things for you as 00:07:21.550 --> 00:07:23.790 a believer This is how I want you to think in 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:26.750 the culture. That's trying to pressure you into 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:31.870 self You know what's in it for me? I'm not going 00:07:31.870 --> 00:07:35.790 to invest unless I see the prophet in it. Well, 00:07:36.050 --> 00:07:38.649 God did see the prophet in Jesus coming, but 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:41.509 all of it was sacrificial. That's the type of 00:07:41.509 --> 00:07:43.329 love that he's telling us we should have for 00:07:43.329 --> 00:07:47.110 one another. He said, be like Jesus, be like 00:07:47.110 --> 00:07:51.529 I am. Our love is not conditional. Our love for 00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:55.370 each other is a part of who we are. Therefore, 00:07:55.529 --> 00:07:59.180 we conduct our lives based upon the agape love 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:04.259 of God, the unconditional love of God. It's a 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:06.860 deep type of love. It's an extravagant love. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:10.240 It's a sacrificial love, but it pleases God. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.720 And he says, I want you to have that same type 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:16.740 of love for one another. And he's telling us 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:19.860 that we can do this because of what happened 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.540 on the cross. He said, you can do this because 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:26.800 of what Jesus Christ has done. I mean, there's 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.500 some people I know for me that I didn't particularly 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:32.399 care about, but because of the love of God, I 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:35.460 don't have a hate or disdain towards them. You 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:38.360 all understand? But the world will do that. They 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.820 will cut you off and, you know, just I'm not 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:43.899 going to have anything else to do with you. I'm 00:08:43.899 --> 00:08:46.769 not. But then God says that. The love that I 00:08:46.769 --> 00:08:48.730 put on the inside of you He said i'm telling 00:08:48.730 --> 00:08:51.330 you to imitate and this is the thing he says 00:08:51.330 --> 00:08:54.450 because you can't do it See, there's nothing 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:57.230 that god asks us to do. We can't do he may have 00:08:57.230 --> 00:09:01.210 to work with us But he says i'm all the while 00:09:01.210 --> 00:09:05.809 at work in you To make you want to do What I 00:09:05.809 --> 00:09:10.309 want you to do See, I I like that about god he 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:12.789 said you may not want to now, but I have a way 00:09:12.970 --> 00:09:16.389 of getting you to want to do with you don't want 00:09:16.389 --> 00:09:19.870 to do. See, that's what I'm saying. He's saying 00:09:19.870 --> 00:09:23.950 that, you know, you need to imitate me. And so 00:09:23.950 --> 00:09:26.889 all the flaws that we see in ourselves, God says, 00:09:26.889 --> 00:09:28.570 I'm working on it. Look at somebody and say, 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:32.470 he's working on it. Look at him and say, because 00:09:32.470 --> 00:09:35.889 you're going to want to do what you don't want 00:09:35.889 --> 00:09:42.379 to do. I know some of us thought we would never 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.700 get over some things, but now it's like, ah, 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.759 I don't even care. Ah, don't even bother me no 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:51.799 more. Oh, you don't deserve me no more. I'm not 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:55.159 allowing you, I like how my woman of God says 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.360 it, Pastor Taffy, I'm not allowing you to rent 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:03.899 space in my mind anymore. The lease is over. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:08.299 It's done. No more rental of space in my mind. 00:10:11.470 --> 00:10:15.750 glory to God. But he says in verse three, but 00:10:15.750 --> 00:10:19.350 among you, there must not be even a hint. Okay. 00:10:19.429 --> 00:10:21.509 So now he's starting to talk about, listen, guys, 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:24.389 this is what's happening out there, but this 00:10:24.389 --> 00:10:27.210 is not what we want to be happening here. He 00:10:27.210 --> 00:10:29.429 tells, he says, but among you, there must not 00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:33.809 even be a hint of sexual immorality. See going 00:10:33.809 --> 00:10:36.360 on there, they had temples where they had temple 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.019 prostitutes. I mean it was all out in the open 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:41.100 and people just doing whatever it is they wanted 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:46.820 to orgies and he was like ho ho hold it that's 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:50.840 not you look at somebody say that's not me anymore 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:58.179 look at the person on the other side and say 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:02.299 that's not me anymore listen the thing of it 00:11:02.299 --> 00:11:07.919 is God called us to a new God called us to a 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.899 new nature He put a new nature on the inside 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:14.799 of us and God sees it as a finished work And 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:17.340 he's forgiven us for seeing his past present 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:20.200 and future And he's saying that sometimes it 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:22.639 take a little bit for you to catch up with your 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.220 new nature So even though you may be participating 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:29.419 you got to tell yourself. That's not me anymore 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:32.080 And then you know understand that God is gonna 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:35.710 help you through this process But the new you, 00:11:35.970 --> 00:11:39.490 that's not, that's not you anymore. Okay. How 00:11:39.490 --> 00:11:41.710 many of you know that sometimes when people, 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:45.950 when people die, they said that more sometimes 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:49.029 that they are dead, but sometimes while they're 00:11:49.029 --> 00:11:52.370 on the table, they'll twitch a little bit. There's 00:11:52.370 --> 00:11:55.649 no life there, but the movement is kind of still 00:11:55.649 --> 00:11:59.490 there. Y 'all getting what I'm saying? Praise 00:11:59.490 --> 00:12:02.809 God. He says, but among you, there must not be 00:12:02.809 --> 00:12:07.110 even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:11.769 of impurity or greed because these are improper 00:12:11.769 --> 00:12:14.789 for God's holy people. You probably wonder what 00:12:14.789 --> 00:12:17.450 I'm in NIV. I apologize. I see that. There we 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:22.090 go. He says, nor should there be obscenity, foolish 00:12:22.090 --> 00:12:26.090 talk, of course, joking, which are out of place, 00:12:26.350 --> 00:12:29.070 but rather Thanksgiving. So he's talking about 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:32.940 Our born -again experience should also impact 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:38.799 our communication, how we talk to people. He's 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:41.759 telling us that love has nothing in common with 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.399 lust and immoral acts or greed It is not it should 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:48.000 be not maimed among us He said these are things 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.559 that we should not indulge in just because the 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.940 world says it's okay Does not mean that god says 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:55.799 is okay just because you see a lot of it happening 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.620 Doesn't mean that you allow yourself to be dulled 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:00.940 your senses to be dulled. You know, that's what 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:04.539 happens The world likes to sometimes feed us 00:13:04.539 --> 00:13:07.480 little bits and pieces of stuff and help you 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.639 to or have you to it become a normal thing for 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:16.539 you. And so they don't do it. Do I go there? 00:13:17.860 --> 00:13:25.399 Okay. The gay agenda didn't start yesterday. 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.919 It started over 40 years ago. And so they had 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:36.779 a plan to help people or to get people to accept 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:39.919 what was happening. And so they did it little 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.960 by little. And they also knew that there would 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.000 be challenges that come against it, but it didn't 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.860 stop them. They actually took a pattern from, 00:13:49.659 --> 00:13:54.259 what do you call it? A pattern from the black 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:58.230 people in our emancipation. So that's what I'm 00:13:58.230 --> 00:14:00.809 saying. They will feed you little things society 00:14:00.809 --> 00:14:04.669 will feed you things little by little now again 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.789 I'm not standing up here saying God hates gay 00:14:07.789 --> 00:14:11.450 people, but I'm just saying they Wanted people 00:14:11.450 --> 00:14:14.750 to accept the lifestyle so they began to test 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:18.169 it out Little by little and it was a 40 -year 00:14:18.169 --> 00:14:20.710 plan and they actually did an article on it and 00:14:20.710 --> 00:14:24.309 put it in a magazine and talked about how they 00:14:24.309 --> 00:14:27.629 did it. So the world will feed you, culture will 00:14:27.629 --> 00:14:31.730 feed you things little by little. And so till 00:14:31.730 --> 00:14:34.289 you get used to it, till you get used to seeing 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:37.210 it, till it become common. And then what we do 00:14:37.210 --> 00:14:40.090 is we just, we start to say, oh, that's acceptable 00:14:40.090 --> 00:14:46.669 or that's okay. You know, again, not saying that 00:14:46.669 --> 00:14:50.210 we are or hate or God even hate people who live 00:14:50.210 --> 00:14:53.919 an alternative lifestyle. As far as God is concerned, 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:55.919 what he doesn't like, he doesn't like whether 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:59.899 you stealing, killing. It's like, I don't like 00:14:59.899 --> 00:15:02.139 your behavior. It's not like that God don't like 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:05.539 you or love you. He does. It's not like they're 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:07.740 not gay people who are born again and saved. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.340 It's just like you born again and saved and you 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:12.539 still may be stealing from your company. I don't 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:22.419 know, you understand what I'm saying? You all 00:15:22.419 --> 00:15:24.879 understand what I'm saying? So we don't sit around 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:27.220 judging people's position with Christ. That's 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:35.860 not our thing. Glory to God. Oh, amen. He says, 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:39.440 for this you can be sure, and I need to clear 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.960 this up, no immoral, impure, or greedy person 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.820 such as a person is an idolater has any inheritance 00:15:46.820 --> 00:15:50.379 in the kingdom of God, a kingdom of Christ. and 00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:52.519 of God. Now, when you first look at that, you 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:54.740 think, man, if I'm doing, I did some of that. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.580 What? I don't have an inheritance. Did I lose 00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:59.679 my salvation? No. Paul is just saying that when 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:02.419 you practice these things, he said, you're not 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:04.440 acting like you have an inheritance in the kingdom 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:07.679 of God. He said those people that act like that. 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:10.570 that are prone to that those people who don't 00:16:10.570 --> 00:16:13.990 have a renewed mind those people who don't have 00:16:13.990 --> 00:16:16.029 not even a renewed mind those people who don't 00:16:16.029 --> 00:16:18.950 have a new nature they don't have an inheritance 00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:23.529 but you do people who are not born again don't 00:16:23.529 --> 00:16:25.509 have an inheritance and these are the things 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:28.870 they practice but you have an inheritance and 00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.169 you got to understand that your inheritance comes 00:16:31.169 --> 00:16:34.409 from god so we don't practice what people do 00:16:34.409 --> 00:16:42.539 who don't have an inheritance to God. So, you 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:46.360 know. If you messed up last night or messed up 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:48.720 this morning, it don't mean that God has thrown 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:50.519 you away or anything like that. He's just saying, 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:52.679 I want you to compare. Paul says, I want you 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:55.000 to look at what's going on. I want to teach you 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:58.039 how to walk through this life. And because you're 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:00.500 born again and because you're saved, but you 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:03.419 still have exposure to the world, I'm going to 00:17:03.419 --> 00:17:05.539 tell you how you are to be separate from the 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:07.960 world. You got to think differently. I have a 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:12.519 different idea in my mind for you. Amen. He's 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:14.539 not telling you, losing your salvation. He's 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:17.359 just talking about, that's them. Look at somebody 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:20.559 say, that's them. See, because a lot of stuff 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.799 we have to, we have to start looking at it that 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:24.980 way. Just because it's happening doesn't mean 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:32.359 I participate. And there's some things you've 00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:36.900 got to say, that's them. Remember Pastor Brian 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:41.329 taught us, he's about that when... We're trying 00:17:41.329 --> 00:17:44.210 to minister to people who are not born again, 00:17:44.289 --> 00:17:47.329 how they don't even understand what you're talking 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:50.490 about. They don't get it. You're trying to tell 00:17:50.490 --> 00:17:52.750 them about the blessings of God. They don't have 00:17:52.750 --> 00:17:56.430 the ability to even comprehend what it is that 00:17:56.430 --> 00:18:01.779 you are saying. Because We have now been connected 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:04.619 and joined with Jesus Christ and God. We can 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:07.380 understand those good things that God has given 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.359 to us. We understand that I don't have to do 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:13.660 what you do in order to be happy. I don't have 00:18:13.660 --> 00:18:18.400 to go over there. I don't have to sedate myself. 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:23.779 I don't have to be, the word says, be intoxicated. 00:18:25.889 --> 00:18:29.269 And it doesn't just mean alcohol, it means intoxicated. 00:18:29.789 --> 00:18:34.069 Your thinking is not clear. You think that the 00:18:34.069 --> 00:18:35.930 thing that they're saying will bring you joy 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:37.930 is the thing that will bring you joy. He said, 00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:39.609 you've been drinking the Kool -Aid, that ain't 00:18:39.609 --> 00:18:45.309 gonna bring you joy. It may bring you a temporary 00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:50.049 distraction. But it's not going to be a joy that 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:53.609 flows like a river So again Paul is having to 00:18:53.609 --> 00:18:56.670 address these issues and not not as condemnation 00:18:56.670 --> 00:18:58.769 But he's trying to get people to see there's 00:18:58.769 --> 00:19:01.289 a difference in you now. There should be a difference 00:19:01.289 --> 00:19:03.289 in you now You should be thinking different. 00:19:03.430 --> 00:19:05.849 I know I know it's happening and it looked like 00:19:05.849 --> 00:19:07.920 they having a ball It looked like everything 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.359 is just going great. It just looked like they're 00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.779 on top of the world But what's happening on the 00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:15.740 inside of them and they do not have everlasting 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:18.599 life They do not have eternal life how God says 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:22.099 and he said they are in the world without me 00:19:22.099 --> 00:19:26.519 Yeah, they're in the world without me He said 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:30.339 let no one deceive you with empty words and what 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:32.759 he means by that Don't let anybody start telling 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:37.569 you what I said is not true telling you it's 00:19:37.569 --> 00:19:40.089 okay. Have you ever had someone to tell you it's 00:19:40.089 --> 00:19:41.890 okay to do something wrong when you knew it was 00:19:41.890 --> 00:19:47.650 right? It'll be okay. It'll be all right. It 00:19:47.650 --> 00:19:57.309 won't hurt anybody. He said, let no one deceive 00:19:57.309 --> 00:20:00.069 you with empty words, for because of such things, 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:03.289 God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 00:20:03.509 --> 00:20:06.170 He's talking about not disobedient in that we're 00:20:06.170 --> 00:20:08.109 sinning. He's talking about those who are not 00:20:08.109 --> 00:20:11.349 born again. He said, my wrath is upon those people 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:14.410 who've not accepted Jesus as Lord of their life. 00:20:14.769 --> 00:20:17.369 He's telling, again, he's saying that don't act 00:20:17.369 --> 00:20:28.289 like that. Help us, Jesus. He says in verse seven, 00:20:28.609 --> 00:20:32.670 therefore do not be partners with them. Don't 00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:36.490 be partners with them. And you know, all of us 00:20:36.490 --> 00:20:40.539 are being transformed. All of us are getting 00:20:40.539 --> 00:20:43.200 new ideals and new attitudes as we read the word 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.160 of God. God is all the while at work in us to 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.660 do of his good pleasure. So what God may be working 00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:51.299 on me with may not be what he's working on you 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:54.160 with. So therefore we cannot measure one another 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:56.200 and determine what someone else ought not to 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.079 be doing because God is convicting you of what 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.059 you are not to be doing. He's talking to you. 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.009 Look at somebody said this is personalized. This 00:21:06.009 --> 00:21:08.250 is personalized and I wanted to say that because 00:21:08.250 --> 00:21:11.930 I want to give you this example When I work for 00:21:11.930 --> 00:21:13.990 General Motors, they often went out I think it's 00:21:13.990 --> 00:21:15.990 like every Tuesday night after work they went 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:18.930 to a lounge somewhere to drink and I would never 00:21:18.930 --> 00:21:21.990 go and So they kept saying well, why don't you 00:21:21.990 --> 00:21:24.710 go? I said, well, I don't want to go there was 00:21:24.710 --> 00:21:28.089 like well, you'll be an antisocial My mind I'm 00:21:28.089 --> 00:21:30.150 thinking I was hired to do a job. I wasn't hired 00:21:30.150 --> 00:21:34.269 to go with you after but at any rate If you work 00:21:34.269 --> 00:21:37.250 in an office setting, they want everybody to 00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:42.250 be team building. The team building situation. 00:21:42.690 --> 00:21:45.410 Deborah, you can just come. You don't even have 00:21:45.410 --> 00:21:51.190 to actually drink. But God had another road for 00:21:51.190 --> 00:21:55.869 me to travel. He wanted me to be a pastor. And 00:21:55.869 --> 00:21:58.349 so, therefore, I'm talking to people about Jesus. 00:21:58.430 --> 00:22:02.470 I can't be doing things that... God is convicting 00:22:02.470 --> 00:22:08.309 me of. Me of. And so therefore, you know, how 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:10.769 can I stand in front of people and tell them 00:22:10.769 --> 00:22:13.609 what God is telling me to tell them if I'm participating? 00:22:16.829 --> 00:22:20.289 Somebody say happy hour. I don't know if they 00:22:20.289 --> 00:22:22.769 were happy or not, but whatever it was. But I'm 00:22:22.769 --> 00:22:25.319 just telling you, God... Oh, I love it because 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:28.680 God is such a individual God. I like it when 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:31.079 Pastor Brian says that we're no longer shopping 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:34.900 off the rack, but it's like God is tailoring 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:38.900 us for the mission that he has for us. So, you 00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:40.940 know, I can pray for you, you can pray for me, 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.019 but I can't judge you and what you're doing. 00:22:44.509 --> 00:22:46.950 I mean, unless it's blaming you or really stealing, 00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:48.990 and then, of course, if you're not born again, 00:22:49.049 --> 00:22:50.789 I really can't get on you about stealing because, 00:22:50.789 --> 00:22:52.670 you know, you're subject to steal. But if you 00:22:52.670 --> 00:22:54.630 were born again, I have a right to say, you know 00:22:54.630 --> 00:22:58.789 what? You're acting out of character. If you're 00:22:58.789 --> 00:23:00.470 stealing, you're acting out of character. Look 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:05.329 at somebody say, sometimes we act out of character. 00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:08.609 And so, Paul is saying, listen here, this is 00:23:08.609 --> 00:23:12.180 who you really are. Because you're born again 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:14.940 because you are a child of the most high God 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:17.839 because you're supposed to be Imitating me. I 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.259 don't want it to be a double standard going on 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:24.059 here I don't it's so blatant in the world telling 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:26.680 Church of F's it's so blatant in the world He 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:28.880 said there's got to they got to see a difference 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:34.940 somewhere There's got to be a distinction somewhere 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:38.500 don't otherwise what's the point of coming over 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:47.279 to your side? If there is not a difference. Now, 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.539 he's not talking about weird and crazy, but he 00:23:49.539 --> 00:23:51.859 is talking about being different. There should 00:23:51.859 --> 00:23:54.819 be a standard that comes from within that says, 00:23:55.259 --> 00:23:57.319 I don't participate in that anymore. I don't 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:01.319 do that anymore. Again, you may slip and fall, 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:03.880 but that's not my nature anymore. And that's 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:06.640 why it's like, that's not me anymore. And I know 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:08.839 it may sound crazy, and I'm sure you've been 00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:10.920 hearing it if you've been listening to different 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.180 messages, depending on who you listen to. Whenever 00:24:14.180 --> 00:24:17.140 someone messes up, you kind of remind yourself, 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:21.279 this is not me. And eventually, as you talk to 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:25.099 me, then eventually it kicks in, God gives you 00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.160 the assistance necessary, and you stop doing 00:24:27.160 --> 00:24:30.579 what it is that you're doing. Because God is 00:24:30.579 --> 00:24:33.119 there to help you get through he will give you 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.220 the strength. He'll give you the might He'll 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:38.839 give you the energy to do what he says to do 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:43.539 Let me let me that's not on my agenda. Let me 00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:49.619 see a few people clap them, but it's okay It's 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:58.029 okay, it's true anyway Okay Philippians chapter 00:24:58.029 --> 00:25:02.849 2 and verse 13. I'm going to read this out of 00:25:02.849 --> 00:25:06.009 the Amplified. It says, not in your own strength, 00:25:06.369 --> 00:25:09.910 for it is God who is all the while effectually 00:25:09.910 --> 00:25:13.910 at work in you, energizing and creating in you 00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:18.410 the power and desire both to will and to work 00:25:18.410 --> 00:25:22.029 for his good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. 00:25:24.109 --> 00:25:27.250 It's God who's working in you. He's gonna give 00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:29.390 you the strength. He's gonna give you the power 00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:31.730 He's gonna give you the energy. He's gonna give 00:25:31.730 --> 00:25:37.170 you the desire to do what he wants you to do 00:25:37.170 --> 00:25:44.430 That's why we don't get into the self condemnation 00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:49.009 thing we don't get into the It's kind of it's 00:25:49.009 --> 00:25:51.529 like a debauchery tearing myself down because 00:25:51.529 --> 00:25:58.000 I messed up Because God said, I'm the one who 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.359 is going to help you get through this. I'm the 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:02.920 one who's going to help you get past these things 00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:07.039 and thank God. Somebody say thank God. He will. 00:26:09.539 --> 00:26:11.900 How many of them had that happen? I was doing 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:15.279 something. I know I shouldn't do it. But I just 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:17.720 kept feeling like I kept falling, falling, every 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:20.000 time falling. And see, it's like three people 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.079 got their hands up. I know everybody in here 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:24.339 has gone through a time in your life that you 00:26:24.339 --> 00:26:26.839 were trying to stop doing something, but you 00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:30.180 just couldn't seem to stop doing it. Every time 00:26:30.180 --> 00:26:36.279 it's like, ah, man. Some people, even while they 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:37.599 were doing it, they were saying, I shouldn't 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:44.190 be doing this. I shouldn't be doing this. And 00:26:44.190 --> 00:26:47.309 God says, you're born again. You got a new nature. 00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:49.970 I'm going to work with you on that. I'm going 00:26:49.970 --> 00:26:53.950 to work with you on that. And then the taste 00:26:53.950 --> 00:26:56.529 went away, the desire to do it anyway. It was 00:26:56.529 --> 00:26:58.170 like, you know what? I don't even need that no 00:26:58.170 --> 00:27:01.410 more. I'm on a whole new high. Look at somebody 00:27:01.410 --> 00:27:05.329 say, I'm on a whole new high. That comes from 00:27:05.329 --> 00:27:09.250 Jesus Christ. I'm on a whole new high. I don't 00:27:09.250 --> 00:27:13.720 even need any of that. So again, he says don't 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:16.599 let people deceive you with empty words that 00:27:16.599 --> 00:27:19.039 is saying it's okay. It's all right It never 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:22.079 hurt anybody don't harm but listen it can hurt 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:25.019 me from the inside out if I participate in what 00:27:25.019 --> 00:27:28.559 you're talking about So he says don't be partners 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:34.299 with them For you were once darkness But now 00:27:34.299 --> 00:27:38.319 you are light in the Lord live as children of 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.529 the light for the fruit of the light consists 00:27:41.529 --> 00:27:45.289 in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. So 00:27:45.289 --> 00:27:48.849 he says, you once were like that. You once were 00:27:48.849 --> 00:27:53.250 darkness. You once could not help yourself because 00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:57.289 you didn't see wrong as wrong. You didn't see 00:27:57.289 --> 00:27:58.910 it the way God sees it. You didn't even have 00:27:58.910 --> 00:28:01.549 the ability to see it that way. He called those 00:28:01.549 --> 00:28:03.910 people, he said, those people live in the dark. 00:28:04.789 --> 00:28:07.029 He said, and you used to be like that, too. Look 00:28:07.029 --> 00:28:10.849 at somebody say, you know. you know you your 00:28:10.849 --> 00:28:14.450 stuff may not look like my stuff but you was 00:28:14.450 --> 00:28:19.170 all in the you was all in it you was all in it 00:28:19.170 --> 00:28:23.089 so he said you you used to look like that but 00:28:23.089 --> 00:28:25.190 understand that's not you anymore look at somebody 00:28:25.190 --> 00:28:29.569 say that's not you anymore that's why I talk 00:28:29.569 --> 00:28:31.930 to people you know you have to tell them that 00:28:31.930 --> 00:28:36.660 that's that's not you That's not who you are. 00:28:36.819 --> 00:28:38.960 You're a brand new creature in Christ Jesus. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:43.839 You're born again. You got a new nature. The 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.359 Bible says that God gives us the power to overcome 00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:48.259 sin. He said, you don't have to, look at somebody 00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:54.240 say, you don't have to sin. I know it's hard 00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:00.680 as that may sound, but we don't have to. because 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:03.839 we're not under that lordship anymore. I didn't 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:05.680 say that we don't, but I'm just telling you, 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:10.920 you don't have to. Glory to God. Somebody said, 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:13.000 I'm waiting for God to give me the energy and 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:20.220 the strength and the power and the might. He 00:29:20.220 --> 00:29:24.180 says, find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing 00:29:24.180 --> 00:29:27.740 to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but 00:29:27.740 --> 00:29:30.809 rather expose them. He's talking about when you 00:29:30.809 --> 00:29:34.329 walk in the light, it causes darkness to be exposed. 00:29:34.470 --> 00:29:37.089 And he's like, so you walk in the light, you 00:29:37.089 --> 00:29:39.789 stand firm in who you are. It doesn't matter 00:29:39.789 --> 00:29:42.569 what people think or what they say. Some people 00:29:42.569 --> 00:29:45.210 may depart from you, but it doesn't matter because 00:29:45.210 --> 00:29:48.450 you're right with God. You're doing it because, 00:29:48.630 --> 00:29:51.349 and listen, this is so good to me. You're doing 00:29:51.349 --> 00:29:53.930 it, guys, not because you're made to do it. I 00:29:53.930 --> 00:29:56.349 like it because God said, because you want to. 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:02.220 I want to, it's not a, it's not a, we're not 00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:04.680 under the law that says that if you do this then 00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:07.420 you're condemned to hell, but he says that a 00:30:07.420 --> 00:30:09.940 Christian who stays connected with God, a Christian 00:30:09.940 --> 00:30:12.920 who builds a relationship with God will just 00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:15.180 on their own start to put some things aside, 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:17.720 put them away. Not because somebody told them 00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:20.299 or made them to do it, but it's the spirit of 00:30:20.299 --> 00:30:22.900 God working on the inside of us. We have to understand 00:30:22.900 --> 00:30:26.099 that God put himself on the inside of us. His 00:30:26.099 --> 00:30:29.920 spirit lives on the inside of us. with us so 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:33.680 that we will do what God wants us to do. And 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.839 it's not a forced issue, so therefore we don't 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.079 have to be afraid when we mess up thinking that 00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:41.400 God has departed from us. He has not departed 00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:44.140 from us. He still is with us. He's still gonna 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:46.420 be working with you. He's still gonna be showing 00:30:46.420 --> 00:30:48.799 you why this is the best way to go. He's still 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:50.799 gonna be letting you know that the best thing 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.000 you can do is do what God says to do because 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.160 your life is going to be better. You're gonna 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:57.660 be lighter. You're gonna be full of more joy. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:00.940 be happy when other people are sad. You can rejoice 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:04.839 when other people are downtrodden. You are going 00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.640 to be a whole new creature in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. 00:31:08.819 --> 00:31:10.960 And God has said, I'm looking for my resemblance 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.160 in you. But the thing of it is, he sees it. It's 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:18.319 just that sometimes we don't see it. So God operates 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.579 according to what he sees. That's why he can 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:23.000 be good to us when we being bad. Look at somebody 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:30.279 say, he can be good when you're being bad. Hallelujah. 00:31:31.180 --> 00:31:33.559 And so Paul is trying to get them to understand 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:36.799 their new life in Christ Jesus. This is what 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:43.319 happens as a new person in Christ Jesus. I don't 00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:45.019 know why people think Christians don't have fun. 00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.160 I am so delighted to be a Christian and a believer. 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:52.480 I'm so excited about the fact that I am forgiven. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.440 I'm so excited that God is for me and not against 00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:59.980 me. I am so excited that God uses his power to 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:03.599 work with me. I'm so excited about grace, the 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:07.220 grace of God. I'm so excited that it is his righteousness 00:32:07.220 --> 00:32:09.900 that God is not looking at me and determining 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:11.759 what he's going to do and what he's not going 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.000 to do because all the promises are yes. And I 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.519 say, amen. Let it happen, God. So be it, God. 00:32:18.900 --> 00:32:22.500 Let that happen for me. Glory to God. Oh, I'm 00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:25.220 telling you. So therefore he's saying, listen, 00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:29.299 you're not going to lose out on anything. You're 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:30.960 not going to lose any peace. You're not going 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.259 to lose any joy. You're not going to lose any 00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:37.819 fun. He said, you're not going to lose out on 00:32:37.819 --> 00:32:41.640 anything as a result of following. who Christ 00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:44.880 Jesus is. He says having nothing to do with the 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.359 fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:50.900 him. It is shameful even to mention what the 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:52.759 disobedient do in secret. He said, you don't 00:32:52.759 --> 00:33:00.079 need to be talking about that all the time. You 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:03.880 know, I don't know why believers seem to be surprised 00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:08.240 about what unsaved people do. Why you acting 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:11.980 like you surprised? I can't believe they're doing 00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:17.859 this. Why can't you believe? We act like we shocked 00:33:17.859 --> 00:33:25.019 and in awe. It's like, I just, I mean, I just, 00:33:25.220 --> 00:33:27.359 can you, can you believe what that person did? 00:33:28.380 --> 00:33:32.440 They are insane. Oh yeah. They can invent evil. 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:37.190 Do you know the word of God says that? Say people, 00:33:37.529 --> 00:33:40.230 they're inventors of evil, so they always coming 00:33:40.230 --> 00:33:43.529 up with something. They always coming up with 00:33:43.529 --> 00:33:45.950 something that goes against what you know is 00:33:45.950 --> 00:33:48.970 right. So he said, you know, we don't sit around, 00:33:49.009 --> 00:33:50.890 I mean, we may mention it, but what are we gonna 00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:53.369 do about it? Are we gonna pray about it? What 00:33:53.369 --> 00:34:01.990 is the entertainment in it? Why are we so entertained 00:34:01.990 --> 00:34:05.720 by what the world is doing? God is not doing 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:07.819 anything great enough in your life that you want 00:34:07.819 --> 00:34:13.539 to celebrate that? Talk about how good that is. 00:34:15.260 --> 00:34:17.340 I know you're clapping your hands, but I do know 00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:19.179 what people do when they go home. They forget 00:34:19.179 --> 00:34:21.059 about everything said in here that they clapped 00:34:21.059 --> 00:34:29.059 about. Some of y 'all can't wait to get outside 00:34:29.059 --> 00:34:35.329 and tell somebody something. Did you know have 00:34:35.329 --> 00:34:47.769 you heard did you see I can't believe God is 00:34:47.769 --> 00:34:53.809 so good He says but everything exposed by the 00:34:53.809 --> 00:34:56.070 light becomes visible and everything that is 00:34:56.070 --> 00:35:00.530 illuminated Becomes a light. This is why it is 00:35:00.530 --> 00:35:02.969 saying he's talking about this is what the scriptures 00:35:02.969 --> 00:35:07.809 say wake up sleeper rise from the dead and christ 00:35:07.809 --> 00:35:11.769 will shine on You he's talking about us living 00:35:11.769 --> 00:35:14.869 in the light and not speaking empty words listening 00:35:14.869 --> 00:35:17.730 to what god has to say not living by deception 00:35:17.730 --> 00:35:21.119 understanding that um It's the grace of God and 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:24.519 the mercy of God that's always working with us. 00:35:24.619 --> 00:35:26.780 And then I just want to take this little pause 00:35:26.780 --> 00:35:29.360 for a moment because although we are forgiven 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:32.340 for sin, past, present and future, the Bible 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:36.159 tells us that there are consequences that come 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:39.300 with sin. The only thing concerning a believer 00:35:39.300 --> 00:35:42.679 is we face the consequences with God's grace 00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:45.219 and mercy working on our behalf. And what do 00:35:45.219 --> 00:35:48.079 I mean by that? That means that what you deserve 00:35:48.489 --> 00:35:53.090 is not as harsh as it could be. But there still 00:35:53.090 --> 00:35:55.690 are consequences. There are earthly consequences 00:35:55.690 --> 00:36:01.530 to sin. If you rob a bank, the consequence of 00:36:01.530 --> 00:36:06.590 our society say you need to go to jail. Depending 00:36:06.590 --> 00:36:09.449 on what it is, you need to spend at least this 00:36:09.449 --> 00:36:13.570 much time in jail. Grace and mercy can work with 00:36:13.570 --> 00:36:15.829 you and you may not have to spend as much time. 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:18.840 That's God's mercy and his grace working on your 00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:22.019 behalf and some people have even gotten off some 00:36:22.019 --> 00:36:24.380 things because of grace mercy and grace, but 00:36:24.380 --> 00:36:34.039 you deserved You deserve whatever Was there so 00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:37.480 then as believers we don't we don't test God's 00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.639 grace and mercy You know people say I can do 00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:43.000 whatever I want to because of the grace of God. 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:44.820 He's our own don't come with some consequences 00:36:46.059 --> 00:36:49.320 They may not be as heavy. Oh, but they're going 00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:54.619 to be some I Just want to put that in there just 00:36:54.619 --> 00:36:57.059 so that you'd understand that we don't get the 00:36:57.059 --> 00:37:00.440 liberty because of God's goodness to live Hap 00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:03.059 hazard life and then say grace is gonna take 00:37:03.059 --> 00:37:14.389 care of it Yes, and a man will move on be very 00:37:14.389 --> 00:37:17.869 careful then how you live not as unwise but as 00:37:17.869 --> 00:37:20.929 wise making the most of every opportunity because 00:37:20.929 --> 00:37:24.329 the days are evil he's like just don't just don't 00:37:24.329 --> 00:37:28.349 live don't just exist but live a life that is 00:37:28.349 --> 00:37:30.630 pointed towards something live a life that's 00:37:30.630 --> 00:37:35.190 dedicated to god live a life uh not as as i said 00:37:35.190 --> 00:37:37.809 as foolish people people who don't know anything 00:37:37.809 --> 00:37:40.250 as pastor brian said act like you learn some 00:37:40.250 --> 00:37:43.869 lessons you do know some stuff Act like you learned 00:37:43.869 --> 00:37:46.969 some lessons. He says, therefore, do not be foolish, 00:37:47.110 --> 00:37:50.849 but understand what the Lord's will is. Understand 00:37:50.849 --> 00:37:54.530 what the Lord's will is. He says, do not get 00:37:54.530 --> 00:37:57.809 drunk over wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, 00:37:58.090 --> 00:38:00.869 be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another 00:38:00.869 --> 00:38:04.179 with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. singing 00:38:04.179 --> 00:38:07.440 and making music from your heart to the Lord. 00:38:07.860 --> 00:38:11.300 Again, he's just talking about how we conduct 00:38:11.300 --> 00:38:14.639 our lives and how we understand that we're full 00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:16.980 of the Spirit of God and how we need to speak 00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:19.179 to each other, how we need to encourage one another, 00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:21.780 how we need to be undergirding one another, how 00:38:21.780 --> 00:38:24.239 we need to be stirring one another up. He said 00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:27.119 this is what we do as believers. We don't allow 00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:29.699 ourselves to get intoxicated with things where 00:38:29.699 --> 00:38:31.780 we can't think clearly about what it is that 00:38:31.780 --> 00:38:35.460 we are doing. He said, always giving thanks to 00:38:35.460 --> 00:38:38.500 God the Father for everything in the name of 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:42.079 our Lord Jesus Christ. And what he means is there's 00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:45.280 always a reason to give God praise. There's always 00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:47.780 a reason to exalt him. There's always a reason 00:38:47.780 --> 00:38:50.900 to give him glory. And then Paul turns and he 00:38:50.900 --> 00:38:52.860 says, now let me tell you what the church looks 00:38:52.860 --> 00:38:55.440 like. Let me tell you what the church looked 00:38:55.440 --> 00:38:58.340 like and so he starts in verse 21 He says submit 00:38:58.340 --> 00:39:03.920 to one another out of reverence for Christ Submit 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:05.900 to one another are the reverence for Christ because 00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:11.000 he is comparing marriage to the church and He's 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:14.500 talking about showing perfect courtesy to everyone 00:39:14.500 --> 00:39:17.019 showing courtesy to the person that you were 00:39:17.019 --> 00:39:19.400 married to showing courtesy in the church to 00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:23.800 the body of believers And it's talking about 00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:28.500 not being selfish, showing perfect courtesy to 00:39:28.500 --> 00:39:31.739 one another, just like how God loves us. It means 00:39:31.739 --> 00:39:35.099 to be supportive of one another. He's talking 00:39:35.099 --> 00:39:36.880 about marriage, but he's talking about this is 00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:38.940 how the church is supposed to be. We're supposed 00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:41.199 to be supportive of one another. We should be 00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:45.420 courteous to one another. We exhibit selflessness. 00:39:46.099 --> 00:39:49.820 Amen? Then he says, wives, submit yourselves 00:39:49.820 --> 00:39:52.980 to your own... husbands. I remember I used to 00:39:52.980 --> 00:39:54.960 read this and say it thought to myself he means 00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:59.820 slave because that's how it was taught to me 00:39:59.820 --> 00:40:05.659 just do what I'm telling you to do but he's talking 00:40:05.659 --> 00:40:08.579 about wives giving themselves fully to your husband 00:40:08.579 --> 00:40:12.760 being devoted to them being faithful being loyal 00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:16.139 being dedicated being committed because that's 00:40:16.139 --> 00:40:22.130 how God does with us he says um Respond to them 00:40:22.130 --> 00:40:26.050 as the way you will respond to God Not that they 00:40:26.050 --> 00:40:27.909 are God because we I had to clear that up with 00:40:27.909 --> 00:40:30.710 God when he told me that a that Sarah called 00:40:30.710 --> 00:40:36.050 Abraham Lord I said no Jesus is the Lord Jesus 00:40:36.050 --> 00:40:41.309 is Lord But he says you're responding to them 00:40:41.309 --> 00:40:45.409 Like you would to God in light of a light of 00:40:45.409 --> 00:40:47.869 the finished works of Jesus and he's talking 00:40:47.869 --> 00:40:53.099 about love a commitment does not fluctuate talking 00:40:53.099 --> 00:40:56.599 about a commitment does not fluctuate and so 00:40:56.599 --> 00:40:59.840 god he's he's again he's talking about that he's 00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:02.840 comparing the church and marriage and he's talking 00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:05.280 about the relationship we should have with uh 00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:08.079 the church has with one another as a husband 00:41:08.079 --> 00:41:09.920 you should be able to look at a husband and wife 00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:13.000 marriage union and see it see it happening the 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:15.760 way it happens in the body of christ he says 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:19.360 for the husband is the head of the wife You know, 00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:21.619 you have to clarify these words here. That almost 00:41:21.619 --> 00:41:25.519 sounds like servitude, right? And honestly, this 00:41:25.519 --> 00:41:29.900 is what I used to think. Even unsaved men had 00:41:29.900 --> 00:41:32.199 to nerve enough to read this scripture or somebody 00:41:32.199 --> 00:41:37.679 told them. They misunderstood it, but, you know, 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.639 saved, unsaved. No, you're supposed to do what 00:41:39.639 --> 00:41:41.719 I say do. Remember, you're supposed to submit 00:41:41.719 --> 00:41:49.940 to me. I'm like, hold up. God help me, that sounds 00:41:49.940 --> 00:41:57.500 like slavery. Oh, but he says in the same way, 00:41:57.539 --> 00:41:59.920 let me just read the full verse. He says, for 00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:02.579 a husband is the head of the wife as Christ is 00:42:02.579 --> 00:42:05.380 the head of the church, his body of which he 00:42:05.380 --> 00:42:08.780 is the savior. Now this is heavy because he says 00:42:08.780 --> 00:42:11.420 in the same way that Christ gives salvation, 00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:15.639 security, completes. to the church, that's the 00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:25.239 same way the husband should be to the wife. The 00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:33.340 husband should be all that a wife needs. You 00:42:33.340 --> 00:42:37.019 are supposed to complete them in the fact that 00:42:37.019 --> 00:42:40.860 they don't need anything else. They have need 00:42:40.860 --> 00:42:50.539 of nothing because you're there. He said, now 00:42:50.539 --> 00:42:53.380 as the church submits to Christ, so also wives, 00:42:53.380 --> 00:42:56.260 he goes back to it, so also wives should submit 00:42:56.260 --> 00:42:59.599 to their husbands in everything. Now listen, 00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:02.599 he ain't talking about you being Bunny and Clyde. 00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:22.449 You ain't submitting to stuff. He said it's like 00:43:22.449 --> 00:43:25.469 it's like the church enjoys a full advantage 00:43:25.469 --> 00:43:29.750 of being complete in christ then the wife should 00:43:29.750 --> 00:43:33.010 enjoy the full advantage of being complete to 00:43:33.010 --> 00:43:37.110 with her husband, um As they yield themselves 00:43:37.110 --> 00:43:38.929 to christ the wife yields himself to christ. 00:43:39.030 --> 00:43:41.650 He says even so the wife enjoys every benefit 00:43:41.650 --> 00:43:47.050 her husband represents in her The wife should 00:43:47.050 --> 00:43:50.469 be able to enjoy every benefit that you bring 00:43:50.639 --> 00:44:03.739 to the table and and because because then she's 00:44:03.739 --> 00:44:07.679 she's able to abandon she's able to abandon herself 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:10.579 to him because i know you're not you're gonna 00:44:10.579 --> 00:44:13.400 treat me like christ you're not gonna hurt me 00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:15.599 you're not gonna harm me you're you're not gonna 00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:18.800 do things that to And the husband is saying I 00:44:18.800 --> 00:44:21.420 complete you in this way therefore the wife can 00:44:21.420 --> 00:44:27.059 in abandonment just flow with it be devoted He 00:44:27.059 --> 00:44:29.659 says because that's the way christ is you you 00:44:29.659 --> 00:44:31.900 shouldn't we're not afraid of christ and what 00:44:31.900 --> 00:44:33.980 he's going to do We believe that christ is going 00:44:33.980 --> 00:44:37.179 to do the best for us always have us in mind 00:44:37.179 --> 00:44:40.719 always thinking about us Therefore because you 00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:43.239 are my safety. You are my security. I can abandon 00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:45.699 myself to you. I can submit myself to you. I 00:44:45.699 --> 00:44:50.840 can feel safe with you and so he's saying that's 00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:53.400 the way that's how christ treats the church and 00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:56.840 as he says as you reflect back to me in your 00:44:56.840 --> 00:45:01.519 security in me so it's not a lordship over anybody 00:45:01.519 --> 00:45:07.960 glory to god saying the wife say amen i got any 00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:11.860 amens from god i still heard the women i don't 00:45:11.860 --> 00:45:23.460 have any What time is it? Okay. He says in verse 00:45:23.460 --> 00:45:26.320 25, husbands love your wives just as Christ loves 00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:29.739 the church and gave himself up for her to make 00:45:29.739 --> 00:45:33.139 her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water 00:45:33.139 --> 00:45:36.159 through the word. He's telling the husband to 00:45:36.159 --> 00:45:40.239 love their wives as Christ loves the church. 00:45:43.820 --> 00:45:46.219 And that's what he's saying that that's what 00:45:46.219 --> 00:45:49.000 marriage is all about. It's all about celebrating 00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:51.760 what love brings to the table, the unconditional 00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:54.960 love of God that brings to the table. And he's 00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:56.900 talking about whether the husband or the wife 00:45:56.900 --> 00:45:59.699 is about a celebration of what this union is 00:45:59.699 --> 00:46:01.920 all about and what it should look like. And he's 00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:06.300 talking about us being committed beyond the sense 00:46:06.300 --> 00:46:10.900 of duty or guilt. It's not a duty thing that 00:46:10.900 --> 00:46:13.860 I do. It's something I desire to do. It's something 00:46:13.860 --> 00:46:18.019 I want to do. It's not, I gotta do this. I don't, 00:46:18.019 --> 00:46:21.260 I don't, do I go there? Oh, let me see. Do I 00:46:21.260 --> 00:46:24.380 go there? Do I go there? When I got ready to 00:46:24.380 --> 00:46:26.639 get married, my mom came to have a talk with 00:46:26.639 --> 00:46:28.519 me and she was like, Deborah, there's some things 00:46:28.519 --> 00:46:33.099 you just gonna have to do. I'm like, what? I'm 00:46:33.099 --> 00:46:35.280 like, what are you talking about? She said, you 00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:40.039 know, cause men are men and they're just. And 00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:42.579 they gonna act this way and they gonna act that 00:46:42.579 --> 00:46:45.940 way. And I'm pretty sure men had other men or 00:46:45.940 --> 00:46:49.340 their fathers to tell them, well, you know women. 00:46:51.619 --> 00:46:54.280 And you know, what is it? Somebody say, just 00:46:54.280 --> 00:46:57.469 say okay to them, just say. All right, just I 00:46:57.469 --> 00:46:59.010 mean just to keep it there, but he's talking 00:46:59.010 --> 00:47:01.190 he's not talking about that. That's not how we 00:47:01.190 --> 00:47:03.869 treat God. That's not how we treat Jesus. That's 00:47:03.869 --> 00:47:07.190 not how Jesus treats us. It's not something that 00:47:07.190 --> 00:47:09.170 is done out of obligation, but it's something 00:47:09.170 --> 00:47:11.269 that I want to do. It's something I desire to 00:47:11.269 --> 00:47:13.489 do. I want to submit to you. The husband wants 00:47:13.489 --> 00:47:15.449 to say you know what I want to complete you. 00:47:15.469 --> 00:47:17.309 I want to supply whatever it is that you need. 00:47:17.349 --> 00:47:20.349 I want to be there. We're working as a team together 00:47:20.349 --> 00:47:25.039 and we both profit as a result of us. Respecting 00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:30.860 one another and supporting one another Glory 00:47:30.860 --> 00:47:33.300 to God didn't know this was going to be yeah, 00:47:33.300 --> 00:47:40.940 okay And it's just a picture of completely loving 00:47:40.940 --> 00:47:47.159 one another completely loving one another And 00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:50.539 this verse even talks about the husband is demonstrating 00:47:50.539 --> 00:47:57.059 the love for their wives Just like Christ does 00:47:57.059 --> 00:48:00.940 the church That's how you supposed to look at 00:48:00.940 --> 00:48:04.820 your wife like Christ loves the church and the 00:48:04.820 --> 00:48:08.219 Bible says and he gave his life For the church 00:48:08.219 --> 00:48:10.820 and he giving his life. He was like I did what 00:48:10.820 --> 00:48:16.280 was I died so that you could profit So I'm looking 00:48:16.280 --> 00:48:19.239 out for you. I'm looking at what's best for you 00:48:20.840 --> 00:48:24.219 And he says, and he's just talking about, again, 00:48:24.559 --> 00:48:29.119 looking at the relationship between the church 00:48:29.119 --> 00:48:32.860 and God, the church and Jesus Christ, you're 00:48:32.860 --> 00:48:35.360 supposed to be treating each other the same way. 00:48:39.059 --> 00:48:44.199 Mutual respect for one another. He's talking 00:48:44.199 --> 00:48:46.900 about the fact that, again, that telling the 00:48:46.900 --> 00:48:50.840 man, as Christ loved the church, And gave him 00:48:50.840 --> 00:48:53.579 life his life for it. The bible says I can't 00:48:53.579 --> 00:48:55.500 remember where it is He said you must seek how 00:48:55.500 --> 00:48:58.860 you can please one another So it's not anything 00:48:58.860 --> 00:49:01.460 that happens automatically. You have to seek 00:49:01.460 --> 00:49:09.480 the lord as how to please one another Everybody 00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:11.820 operating and doing what it is that they need 00:49:11.820 --> 00:49:14.019 to do and understanding their role, but again 00:49:14.019 --> 00:49:18.980 not forced But wanting to look at somebody and 00:49:18.980 --> 00:49:23.869 say they need to want to talking about the husband 00:49:23.869 --> 00:49:28.449 and the wife you got to you got to want to glory 00:49:28.449 --> 00:49:35.869 to god hallelujah and to resent her to himself 00:49:35.869 --> 00:49:38.889 as a radiant church without staying wrinkle or 00:49:38.889 --> 00:49:42.730 any blemish but holy and blameless in verse 28 00:49:42.730 --> 00:49:45.769 it says in this same way husbands are to love 00:49:45.769 --> 00:49:50.059 their wives as their own bodies their own bodies 00:49:50.059 --> 00:49:53.559 he who loves his wife loves himself and he's 00:49:53.559 --> 00:49:57.880 talking about you know you take care of your 00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:01.559 body you see that things are should you should 00:50:01.559 --> 00:50:03.340 be taking me and you should be taking care of 00:50:03.340 --> 00:50:05.280 your bodies and making sure everything is working 00:50:05.280 --> 00:50:10.599 well in your body he says that you should do 00:50:10.599 --> 00:50:16.409 the same thing when it comes to your wife you 00:50:16.409 --> 00:50:20.289 should be indebted to her in the same manner. 00:50:24.030 --> 00:50:26.630 And he's talking about this should be the most 00:50:26.630 --> 00:50:31.429 valuable thing in your life. This should be the 00:50:31.429 --> 00:50:33.230 thing if you are married, this should be the 00:50:33.230 --> 00:50:36.190 most valuable thing in your life. He's talking 00:50:36.190 --> 00:50:39.630 about again that you would not intentionally 00:50:39.630 --> 00:50:45.139 hurt your own self. you wouldn't intentionally 00:50:45.139 --> 00:50:50.300 abuse yourself. So therefore he's saying don't 00:50:50.300 --> 00:50:53.920 intentionally abuse, don't intentionally hurt. 00:50:54.380 --> 00:50:56.980 And I remember Grace always say, he said that 00:50:56.980 --> 00:51:00.639 God called the wife to be your help mate. If 00:51:00.639 --> 00:51:06.489 you damage your help, how can they help? They 00:51:06.489 --> 00:51:10.789 won't be able to help. If you downgrade them, 00:51:10.949 --> 00:51:12.690 if you tell them they're nothing, if you treat 00:51:12.690 --> 00:51:14.469 them like they're not important, if you treat 00:51:14.469 --> 00:51:17.710 them like they don't have a say -so, if you treat 00:51:17.710 --> 00:51:20.369 them that way, then when you need the help, you 00:51:20.369 --> 00:51:25.949 won't have the help that you need. So he says 00:51:25.949 --> 00:51:29.269 you love them as if they are a gift, you love 00:51:29.269 --> 00:51:31.570 them as if they are important, you love them 00:51:31.570 --> 00:51:34.849 as if they are precious. because they are precious 00:51:34.849 --> 00:51:39.429 to God. And likewise, the wife is able to respond 00:51:39.429 --> 00:51:42.269 because she believes that you see something in 00:51:42.269 --> 00:51:51.750 her. Hallelujah. That's why you just don't go 00:51:51.750 --> 00:51:59.429 off and marry beauty or bronze. Because they 00:51:59.429 --> 00:52:03.659 can't see your worth, ladies. They can't see 00:52:03.659 --> 00:52:11.079 your worth. And men, you don't want to get with 00:52:11.079 --> 00:52:15.639 someone who has no worth. Can't bring something. 00:52:17.380 --> 00:52:19.559 We do have the family conference coming up, so 00:52:19.559 --> 00:52:21.820 I don't have to expound on any of those things. 00:52:24.320 --> 00:52:27.280 Oh my goodness, I think I'm over my time. Oh 00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:30.800 my, three more verses, okay. For we are members 00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:33.800 of the body. For this reason, a man will leave 00:52:33.800 --> 00:52:37.000 his father and mother and be united to his wife 00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:40.400 and the two will become one flesh. He's talking 00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:43.260 about how Jesus Christ joined with us and we 00:52:43.260 --> 00:52:46.199 became one flesh with him. He lives in us, we 00:52:46.199 --> 00:52:49.719 live in him, we became one flesh. We're no longer 00:52:49.719 --> 00:52:52.079 the same people we were as individual, but now 00:52:52.079 --> 00:52:54.699 we've come together to create something totally 00:52:54.699 --> 00:52:59.119 new. Totally new. I remember when we had to realize 00:52:59.119 --> 00:53:01.000 that when our children started getting married, 00:53:01.900 --> 00:53:05.300 It was like, wait, we didn't know you did that. 00:53:05.420 --> 00:53:08.900 Well, the influence of the wife, the influence 00:53:08.900 --> 00:53:11.260 of the husband, they're becoming one new person. 00:53:15.420 --> 00:53:18.619 And so you can't treat them like this is my little 00:53:18.619 --> 00:53:24.219 Johnny. This is my little Kathy. No, they have 00:53:24.219 --> 00:53:30.059 just become. And you shouldn't have the influence 00:53:30.059 --> 00:53:35.730 that you had before. And I'm just going to say, 00:53:35.989 --> 00:53:40.550 so stay out of their business, parents. They're 00:53:40.550 --> 00:53:43.809 coming together to create oneness that God called 00:53:43.809 --> 00:53:47.530 them to be together. Single, they were someone 00:53:47.530 --> 00:54:00.190 else. But now, a man separates himself from his 00:54:00.190 --> 00:54:07.539 parents and become glued. to his wife. These 00:54:07.539 --> 00:54:10.679 used to be separate people are now one. They 00:54:10.679 --> 00:54:15.480 have a new identity. They have a new identity. 00:54:15.739 --> 00:54:19.900 So when we came with Christ and he joined with 00:54:19.900 --> 00:54:23.099 us, moved on the inside of us, we became someone 00:54:23.099 --> 00:54:26.900 new, right? Our attitudes, our thoughts, how 00:54:26.900 --> 00:54:31.460 we looked at things are different. You can't 00:54:31.460 --> 00:54:37.440 get married and still live a bachelor life. You 00:54:37.440 --> 00:54:40.719 united with somebody now. Look at somebody say, 00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:44.139 you joined together. So you have to treat it 00:54:44.139 --> 00:54:48.800 as a union, not as an individual. The message 00:54:48.800 --> 00:54:52.000 Bible says, when you get married, it is not your 00:54:52.000 --> 00:55:02.260 time to declare independence. world is saying 00:55:02.260 --> 00:55:05.079 and I was like this is crazy I've heard people 00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:07.559 saying I want to get married but I want to live 00:55:07.559 --> 00:55:12.519 in my own house y 'all hadn't heard that oh no 00:55:12.519 --> 00:55:14.719 oh yeah that's what that's what society is saying 00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:19.000 now I want my own space we can come together 00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:23.000 but then at the end of the day maybe two or three 00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:25.480 nights then I need to go home because I need 00:55:25.480 --> 00:55:29.579 to be myself why'd you get married oh no they're 00:55:29.579 --> 00:55:34.960 promoting that Society is saying that. That's 00:55:34.960 --> 00:55:37.179 why he's saying don't get adapted to the culture 00:55:37.179 --> 00:55:43.139 around you. They doing some crazy stuff. See, 00:55:43.260 --> 00:55:45.139 whereas, you know, normally, you know, I need 00:55:45.139 --> 00:55:47.619 some separation time, you go in the kitchen and 00:55:47.619 --> 00:55:49.460 I go in the living room. No, they like, no, I 00:55:49.460 --> 00:56:05.119 go to my own house. Oh, little by little. one 00:56:05.119 --> 00:56:08.820 of you also must love his wife as he loves himself 00:56:08.820 --> 00:56:12.340 and the wife must respect her husband so again 00:56:12.340 --> 00:56:15.199 he's drawing a conclusion and saying this is 00:56:15.199 --> 00:56:17.500 how the church look this is how your marriage 00:56:17.500 --> 00:56:25.579 should look also and no one has he's selling 00:56:25.579 --> 00:56:28.860 the man no one has an any no one has an excuse 00:56:28.860 --> 00:56:32.110 to love his wife less than he loves himself At 00:56:32.110 --> 00:56:35.570 the same time, every wife is now free and fully 00:56:35.570 --> 00:56:38.730 empowered to honor her husband and in the same 00:56:38.730 --> 00:56:41.969 context and devotion as the church would respond 00:56:41.969 --> 00:56:48.429 to the love initiatives of Christ. We love like 00:56:48.429 --> 00:56:54.610 Christ loves. Amen. That was verse 33. Praise 00:56:54.610 --> 00:57:01.769 God. He's telling us that we need to see ourselves 00:57:01.769 --> 00:57:05.130 in light of the new person, the new creation. 00:57:05.210 --> 00:57:07.530 We don't act like the world. And again, he was 00:57:07.530 --> 00:57:09.409 telling the Church of Ephesus, we don't act like 00:57:09.409 --> 00:57:13.769 them. We've taken on a new life. We join with 00:57:13.769 --> 00:57:16.429 Christ. And so now we think differently. We see 00:57:16.429 --> 00:57:23.059 differently. If you are confused about that, 00:57:23.139 --> 00:57:26.639 God will straighten it out for you. Amen. Heavenly 00:57:26.639 --> 00:57:28.619 Father, we give you praise. We give you honor. 00:57:28.719 --> 00:57:30.920 We thank you, Lord God, for your word. Thank 00:57:30.920 --> 00:57:35.860 you, Holy Spirit, for illuminating to us how 00:57:35.860 --> 00:57:39.380 God wants us to respond as the church. Thank 00:57:39.380 --> 00:57:42.139 you, Lord God, that we are not adapting ourselves 00:57:42.139 --> 00:57:45.980 to culture around us, but instead we're looking 00:57:45.980 --> 00:57:49.579 to see what the finished works of Jesus Christ 00:57:49.579 --> 00:57:53.329 has brought us into. We're looking to operate 00:57:53.329 --> 00:57:57.869 and to excel in what you see how you see it father 00:57:57.869 --> 00:58:01.030 We thank you that we are believers and that we 00:58:01.030 --> 00:58:03.869 Represent you here on this earth and I thank 00:58:03.869 --> 00:58:07.380 you Lord God that our light shows up darkness 00:58:07.380 --> 00:58:09.739 so others could come to the light and we just 00:58:09.739 --> 00:58:11.639 give you the praise and the honor in the name 00:58:11.639 --> 00:58:17.079 of Jesus amen amen amen amen praise god and if 00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:20.039 there's anyone today who is not born again does 00:58:20.039 --> 00:58:22.440 not have a relationship with god this is your 00:58:22.440 --> 00:58:26.280 opportunity to do so god loves you so so very 00:58:26.280 --> 00:58:29.440 much and he wants to uh he wants you to have 00:58:29.440 --> 00:58:32.860 access to him and he says that's a very easy 00:58:32.860 --> 00:58:35.219 thing to do because jesus christ has done all 00:58:35.219 --> 00:58:38.099 of the He's already done everything necessary 00:58:38.099 --> 00:58:43.019 for you to just accept him as a Lord. And so, 00:58:43.019 --> 00:58:46.139 like I said, it's just very simple. He said, 00:58:46.260 --> 00:58:49.019 just believe and accept the gift that Jesus Christ, 00:58:49.340 --> 00:58:52.440 he died for all of our sins. so that it could 00:58:52.440 --> 00:58:55.719 open the door for us to come to know God so if 00:58:55.719 --> 00:58:58.900 that is you if you will raise your hands well 00:58:58.900 --> 00:59:01.500 actually uh if it's you and you've made a decision 00:59:01.500 --> 00:59:04.739 to become born again that's what we call it a 00:59:04.739 --> 00:59:07.840 save we would love for you to do the tap on the 00:59:07.840 --> 00:59:12.139 um back of the um the chairs back of the they're 00:59:12.139 --> 00:59:15.159 not pews but yeah pew chairs if you would just 00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:18.159 tap there and let us know that you have made 00:59:18.159 --> 00:59:20.380 that decision. For those of you who are online, 00:59:20.800 --> 00:59:22.400 of course, we'd like for you to type that in 00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:24.880 the chat, and someone from my church will get 00:59:24.880 --> 00:59:27.000 in contact with you and help you to understand 00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:30.460 the wonderful and awesome decision that you have 00:59:30.460 --> 00:59:33.059 made. God does not want us to walk this journey 00:59:33.059 --> 00:59:36.380 by ourselves, so we always encourage those who 00:59:36.380 --> 00:59:38.559 are getting born again, getting saved, want to 00:59:38.559 --> 00:59:41.420 have a relationship with God. We encourage you 00:59:41.420 --> 00:59:44.300 always to join a church. It's so important that 00:59:44.300 --> 00:59:47.139 you get amongst believers because we are there 00:59:47.139 --> 00:59:49.579 to support you. We're there to help you to make 00:59:49.579 --> 00:59:52.519 spiritual progress. We are there to help stir 00:59:52.519 --> 00:59:55.500 you up and keep you connected with the father. 00:59:56.239 --> 00:59:58.980 So I am suggesting that you join Revealing Truth 00:59:58.980 --> 01:00:01.119 Ministries. It's a good place to come. It's a 01:00:01.119 --> 01:00:03.739 good place to fellowship with fellow believers. 01:00:03.780 --> 01:00:06.460 And I believe that when God puts it on your heart 01:00:06.460 --> 01:00:09.260 to join a church that there's something on the 01:00:09.260 --> 01:00:13.170 inside of you. that God has put there that is 01:00:13.170 --> 01:00:16.329 good for that group and body of people. You're 01:00:16.329 --> 01:00:20.170 going to be there as one who is important, someone 01:00:20.170 --> 01:00:24.530 who has value in that assembly. Also, I believe 01:00:24.530 --> 01:00:26.769 that the church you join is one that's going 01:00:26.769 --> 01:00:29.789 to encourage you, walk with you, be beside you, 01:00:30.130 --> 01:00:33.590 be one who helps stirs you up, keep you informed, 01:00:33.750 --> 01:00:37.090 be encouraging to you. So it's a win -win when 01:00:37.090 --> 01:00:40.900 we do what God is asking us to do, amen? amen 01:00:40.900 --> 01:00:43.659 so if you will again type that in the chat we'll 01:00:43.659 --> 01:00:46.159 get with you for those of you who are in the 01:00:46.159 --> 01:00:48.559 sanctuary if you will do the tap on the back 01:00:48.559 --> 01:00:53.340 of the pews then there will be some things that 01:00:53.340 --> 01:00:57.840 we want you to fill out concerning getting saved 01:00:57.840 --> 01:01:02.800 amen amen and now we can celebrate because it's 01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:09.519 offering time praise god i'm so glad that god 01:01:09.519 --> 01:01:12.179 says that this is something we get to participate 01:01:12.179 --> 01:01:16.260 in and have fun doing it he said he loves a cheerful 01:01:16.260 --> 01:01:19.099 giver whose heart is in his giving he said you 01:01:19.099 --> 01:01:21.300 know what this should be a celebratory time it 01:01:21.300 --> 01:01:22.840 should be a good time it should be something 01:01:22.840 --> 01:01:25.019 that you want to do it should be something that 01:01:25.019 --> 01:01:27.800 is prompted from your It's like, God, I wanna 01:01:27.800 --> 01:01:30.440 do this. How many of you like to be a blessing 01:01:30.440 --> 01:01:32.920 to other people? How many of you just, I mean, 01:01:32.920 --> 01:01:35.780 it's just like, you know what? Let me, God. I 01:01:35.780 --> 01:01:38.500 always wanted to be in that category of let me, 01:01:38.500 --> 01:01:40.900 God. Let me be able to meet the league. Let me 01:01:40.900 --> 01:01:44.679 be the one who has to give. God helped me to 01:01:44.679 --> 01:01:46.699 be able to give into, and he said, every good 01:01:46.699 --> 01:01:49.280 work and charitable donation. And you know what? 01:01:49.320 --> 01:01:51.840 God didn't have to make me do it. I just really 01:01:51.840 --> 01:01:55.260 wanted to do it. And it's just like, I like this, 01:01:55.519 --> 01:01:58.400 God. How many of you like being in a position 01:01:58.400 --> 01:02:03.139 to assist, to help, to aid? God says that, he 01:02:03.139 --> 01:02:07.940 says, I love a cheerful giver. Again, whose heart 01:02:07.940 --> 01:02:11.500 is in their giving. I'm prompted and I'm moved 01:02:11.500 --> 01:02:14.460 by God. You know, I'm not prompted to move everybody, 01:02:15.159 --> 01:02:17.699 but I'm so happy that God prompts me to move, 01:02:18.059 --> 01:02:22.590 to be a part of somebody's betterment. And I 01:02:22.590 --> 01:02:24.929 love giving to the church because I see what 01:02:24.929 --> 01:02:28.010 the church does. I see how it impacts other people's 01:02:28.010 --> 01:02:31.110 lives. Also, I learned to trust God by giving. 01:02:33.369 --> 01:02:37.550 I learned to trust God by giving. And what I 01:02:37.550 --> 01:02:39.929 mean by that, God would prompt in my heart to 01:02:39.929 --> 01:02:41.650 give something and I would be a little reluctant 01:02:41.650 --> 01:02:43.329 because guess what I was doing? I was counting 01:02:43.329 --> 01:02:49.489 the balance. I was like, hey. But then I knew 01:02:49.489 --> 01:02:52.840 it was God. Ooh, and I'm so glad God never let 01:02:52.840 --> 01:02:56.400 me down. And what I mean by that, I didn't miss 01:02:56.400 --> 01:02:59.320 anything. I did not miss a beat, because God 01:02:59.320 --> 01:03:02.460 wasn't trying to bankrupt me. You understand 01:03:02.460 --> 01:03:04.699 what I'm saying? God never asks you for what 01:03:04.699 --> 01:03:13.920 you don't have. He never does. So following God 01:03:13.920 --> 01:03:17.119 and hearing what he has to say is my great delight. 01:03:18.139 --> 01:03:21.239 It's my great delight. And so that's why God 01:03:21.239 --> 01:03:24.360 says This is the this is the kind of a private 01:03:24.360 --> 01:03:27.639 moment between me and you and no one else and 01:03:27.639 --> 01:03:32.159 so that's how we give a man Hey, man All right. 01:03:32.159 --> 01:03:34.380 I believe that's all I have for you. I don't 01:03:34.380 --> 01:03:38.050 see anything Else that's necessary. Thank you 01:03:38.050 --> 01:03:40.269 guys for hanging in there I mean after all I 01:03:40.269 --> 01:03:43.289 had 33 verses I had to go through then I had 01:03:43.289 --> 01:03:45.389 to take a few detours because y 'all ain't like 01:03:45.389 --> 01:03:47.889 I you didn't know what I was talking about, but 01:03:47.889 --> 01:03:55.449 anyways We just we just don't operate like them 01:03:55.449 --> 01:04:02.650 Although them is very loud Hey man, well if you 01:04:02.650 --> 01:04:11.739 would please stand to your feet And if you would 01:04:11.739 --> 01:04:14.840 repeat after me, now unto him.