Awaken to the Times We Live In!

We’re kind of tying everything together today with the reason why we must Awaken. The world we live in is definitely nothing like the world some of us more mature people were raised in. You and I must understand that we have a role and responsibility in this current cultural landscape. What Isaiah wrote in

Isaiah 5:20–21 (AMP)

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight!

Describes the world we now live in. It’s a crazy world where people believe in some crazy things. There are conspiracy theories, AI generated facts that people believe, Identity theft, cyber crime, domestic violence, and the cost of eggs. We Christians need to be aware because we are here for such a time as this and we have a job to do! So let’s get into this Awakening to the Times We Live In!

Romans 12:1–2 (MSG)

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Renew Our Mind!

We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. This is so very important in order to fill our role as the Church, capital C, in the world we live in. Notice in the Message Version that we just read it says,

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking”

If we don’t consistently work on renewing our mind, we will fit in to the culture around us. Oh we might not ever do the things that are so common today but our attitude will become like the world. We will become know it alls, never open to learning and thinking we have the inside “scoop”with God. Notice that before we renew our mind we have to present our everyday lives as an offering, a sacrifice to God. That means we don’t act like the world patting ourselves on the back and secretly thinking we’re all that and a bag of chips. We cannot constantly renew our mind if we don’t sacrifice our lives first.

Matthew 5:13–16 (NIV)

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

We Must Be the Church Jesus is Building!

We are called to be salt and light to the world. Back in thte day, before refrigeration was invented and there was no ice, salt was the preservative used to keep things like meat and fish from spoiling. We still use salt as a preservative in certain foods. We are the preservatives of the world being the salt of the earth. We cannot afford to lose our “saltiness” cause that would cause us to be thrown out. Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are here to preserve the Gospel the to the and light up the darkness with the with God’s light in our lives so when we do good things, they will glorify our Father in heaven. God gets all the glory for the lives we preserve and light up in the world. That’s the Church Jesus is building that the gates of hell will not conquer!

Ephesians 4:11–16 (NLT)

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

The Gifts Equip Us!

The gifts that are given to the Church, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given to equip all of us to do our part in the Body of Christ to come into unity and become mature in Christ. This will make the Church solid and not going from doctrine to doctrine. You know being like a chop suey Christian. One week it’s this and the next week it’s something else. We cannot win being divided.

The Church is often compared to an army. We are the army of God. In the military, everybody does a different job. Some fight on the ground. Some run artillery. Some fight in the air. Some on the oceans. The Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, Space Force are all part of the US military and are all on the same page even though they are very different. Why are they all on the same page. Because they have leaders who equip them. The Church has these gifts to equip everyone to reach the world with with the Gospel.

James 1:22–25 (AMP)

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. 

For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; 

For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. 

But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

Commit to Be a Doer for This Time!

We are not here to “play” church. We are not here to be a social club. We have a mission to seek and save that which is lost. In order to do that, we need to constantly renew our mind, we need to become the Church that Jesus is Building, We need to accept the Gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher in order to be in unity and accomplish God’s mission, and we must commit to doing the assignment. We are only fooling ourselves if we don’t do it. We’ve all been told to do something that will help us and then not do it. We all have been told what we need to do to be more healthy. We agree but we don’t do it. We all know that if your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall, but we still spend on unnecessary things. We all know we need at least 8 hours of sleep, but we get by on less and sometimes way less. The point here is that we must commit to doing the Word and applying it in our lives. If we don’t not only will we miss out on the things God has planned, but so will all who are in our lives that need to hear this message of life in the Gospel. Let’s Awaken to the Time We Live In and make a difference!