How Shall We Then Live - Paul

HOW SHOULD WE NOW LIVE  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  38:56
0 ratings
· 4 views
Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →
Intro
We are living in a time when this is the question of the day, especially for Christians
The challenges we face sem to be insurmountable when we start looking around instead of looking up.
How many of you this week saw a red wave turn into a red ripple and you ask how did that happen.
Are we that far-gone.
I was reminded of a scripture in Jonah
Jonah 4:11 (NASB95)
11 “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, ...”
We have a generation that does not know the difference between right and wrong, good or evil a deception has blanketed the nation
I head we had an actress Jane Hathaway who was on the view ( that should tell you something and said that abortion actually is mercy. - It is a mercy killing.
We have people who cannot tell you what a women is. We are at a point where we don’t know the difference.
We don’t know what truth is compared to a lie. It becomes all relative not absolute.
Could you imagine driving through a city - if we thought all the traffic lights were relative. In other words I feel today that I am going to see every red light as green.
What would you get - Chaos -
We are headed towards a global crash - which the Bible calls the end times
We are farther along than most think.
Today we are going to talk about Paul and what he has to say for a moment.
Paul Who was he?
Born as Saul in Tarsus (on the southern coast of modern-day Turkey). Schooled as a Pharisee under the Jerusalem religious leader Gamaliel.•
Became a traveling missionary and preacher for the early church; renamed Paul.•
Worked as an artisan who made tents.•
Was imprisoned multiple times by the Roman authorities for his religious agitation.• Died sometime between AD 62–64; Paul may have been martyred in Rome.
Converted on the road to Damascus.
That is where we are going to start.
Acts 9 talks about Pauls Conversion
I will paraphrase it for you
Saul was a persecutor of Christians ( He hated them) he was an accessory to the murder of Stephen. He gets permission to go around and beat up people just because of what they believed.
Jesus slams Saul to the ground on the road to Damascus and has one on one with him. Not only that but Saul goes blind and he is forced to rethink what he is doing. Then a really stressed out Christian named Annanias has to go lay hands and pray for him so he could regain his sight. ( How would you like to be that guy?) Paul finally figures it out that Jesus is the Messiah and God shows him that He is now going to suffer for the Gospel.
How could I feel so right about my actions but be so wrong.
We need a paradigm shift in our thinking.
We need to get the mind of Christ because ours is off.
Psalm 81:11–14 ESV
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. 13 Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
2. Walk worthy of your calling?
Ephesians 4:1–6 (ESV)
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Humility - assess yourself accurately in light of your sinfulness -
Gentleness - mild - even tempered
Patience - endurance , being steadfast
Bearing with one another - especially difficult people
Unity - Oneness - Not allowed to bash each other
A walk without Christ is meaningless
Ephesians 4:17 NLT
17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused.
another translation says meaningless
No eternal understanding - Life is a drama with no answers
Results of a hard heart
It becomes a lifestyle that is callous, angry and “who cares” and just do it.
It is
3. Christians need to be like Christ
He says in Ephesians we are alive in Christ Jesus
We realize that we have a former life - a life not worth going back to AMEN
We have been raised up with Him , seated with him in heavenly places (meaning your position has changed) and made alive in Him
Ephesians 5:1–10 ESV
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Be imitators - Copy the behavior of Jesus - What was he like, what did he do, what did he say? (Easiest way is to read the Gospels)
Conclusion
In order to live it - You have to start somewhere.
Paul starts in the letter to the Ephesians
Ephesians 1:3–13 (NASB95)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him
11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more