Final Study Eph
Notes
Transcript
Introductions:
Introductions:
Well, it’s good to see you guys, my name is Zach Honnen. I am the student and young adult Director here at The River grand Blanc.
As always, I am grateful and excited to be able to open up God’s word with you tonight…
The layout for tonight is pretty straightforward, I’m gonna give a few announcements. We’re gonna get into our message and then we will break up into discussion groups.
Our goal is to grow in relationship with one another, and in God’s word that’s why we call a growth community
So tonight before after group, I want to encourage you connect with each other their games in the lobby other things to do just feel free to spend time with one another and learn about each other’s lives
But like I said, there’s a few announcements that we’re going to get into tonight…
Announcements:
Announcements:
Connected (Summer schedule) (Last growth community)
First Thursday This Thursday
Summer nights (Every other Thursday in June through August) (James)
Intro:
Intro:
Well, as we get into our text tonight, go ahead turn to Ephesians chapter 5. We’re gonna look at verses 15 through 21.
But while you turn there I wanted to ask you a question:
“what is the most valuable thing in your life outside of God outside of Jesus what is one of the most valuable things you have?”
When I boil everything down the answer that I come to is time…
Time with friends, family, and others is the most valuable thing in the world
How many of us feel like the last 5-10 years flew by?
When I think back… I really think it was yesterday that I was in high school but that was about six years ago
It feels like just yesterday I didn’t have stress or anxiety about finances or decisions or future
It feels like just a moment ago I was in the backyard hanging out with my siblings playing on the trampoline
But time goes quick… Time moves fast… Benjamin Franklin put it this way
“Lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin
Every moment has a value in your life every minute every second is one that you will wish one day you could get back…
Google photos will pop up memories from a couple years ago and as time goes on, it goes from like five years ago now eight years ago 10 years ago…
And when I look at those photos at those memories there are times there are moments where I wish I could just go back for a day
Enjoy those moments better realize how important those moments were…
If any of you have watched the office, Andrew Bernard at the end of the show says
“I wish you knew that you were in the good old days before the good old days were gone”
Tonight in our passage, we’re gonna talk about making the best use of our time… Because the days are evil…
And I hope this serves as a wake up call for each and every one of us as we enter into the summer season
As we enter in to whatever our lives will look like over this summer I hope and pray that we will see the opportunity that’s laid before us
I hope and pray that we will see how to make the best use of our time
But with all of that said, let’s go ahead and pray…
Text:
Text:
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
Look:
Look:
What is the very first word in our passage?
“LOOK”
Look carefully in other words, pay attention don’t be distracted, actually discern how you live…
How many of us in this room are good with money By Raise of hands?
How many of us are bad with money?
What are some things that you need to do to be good with money?
You have to pay attention to it… Before you can budget before you can manage, you must pay attention to what’s coming in and what’s going out
Pay attention to how much you receive and how much you spend how much you use well and how much you waste
You must look at it carefully…
So we’re looking carefully at how we live how we walk the pattern of life That we have…
How much of our life is unwise and how much of our life is wise?
Look carefully then how you walk not as unwise, but as wise
So step one is to look at our lives… And not just look at our live lives, but look at how we use our time…
Pick up in verse 16…
16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Time is talked about all over the Bible the way we use it and the way it is structured for us
And Ecclesiastes it talks about how there is a time and a place for everything time is structured by God… But it is not controlled by us
In Ecclesiastes Solomon says that God has placed eternity into man’s heart
And what that means is that we enjoy time, but we also feel it slipping because we’re made for eternity
We are designed to go forever so as time slips by we wonder why
And in the psalms we were told to manage our time well
12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
To number our days to budget our time to realize we are not guaranteed tomorrow helps us to act and live wisely today
If I told you that you would not wake up tomorrow, how would you live differently today?
And I’m not talking about being unwise burning bridges telling people what you really think of them and doing all these evil things
But what grudges would you let go? Who would you go to and spend your time with? Who would you apologize to?
Who would you share the gospel with?
The days are evil means that time is short it is slipping away. No one is guaranteed a moment.
In James, it talks about not making plans saying any year from now. I’ll make a profit. I’ll do this. I’ll do that. Do not be arrogant…
Understand that nothing is guaranteed… At any moment, any number of things could happen and that’s it it’s over for you or for someone else in your life
So are we making the best use of our time?
And thankfully, Paul tries to outline what that looks like and what that does not look like…
He picks up verse 17 saying this…
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Another way to put this is, don’t be stupid… Don’t be foolish With your time
Again, if you receive a paycheck and it’s gone before you even have a chance to decide what to do with it you’ve wasted it. You’ve been foolish. You’ve been stupid.
And I say that as someone who has been foolish and is stupid a lot of the time…
Don’t be impulsive, but understand and discern what God’s will is…
And God’s will is for us not to do certain things
Verse 18
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Do not do this, but instead do this…
Do not numb yourself do not pour out a drink to forget all your problems. Do not overdrink. Do not do drugs. Do not get high. Do not do these things.
But instead be in the presence of the Holy Spirit being filled by the Holy Spirit…
This is a personal intimate relationship with the father through the Holy Spirit
This is a closeness that we can experience through God…And Paul outlines what it looks like when we’re filled with the spirit
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
To be filled with the spirit is to be intimately connected to God…
To overflow with the knowledge of his goodness… To overflow with the knowledge that he is with you…
And when we are so filled with his word with his truth with his spirit, we begin to pour out everywhere…
If I began to pull water into a cup, it would be as if it was a fire hose in the cup just kept overflowing…
In my life, it often begins with a cold and distant prayer. God’s not cold. God’s not distant, but my own soul is.
Recognizing that I am struggling…That I am falling apart… I’m anxious and I need him…
And I have to begin to warm up. It’s like rubbing two sticks together until there’s a spark until they smoke until There is fire….
Through prayer through reading of God’s word and me, meditating and sitting with him, not distracted… But surrendered… And eventually, it brings a spark
And that spark will burn up into overflow of worship, pouring out my heart to the Lord
And that can happen within the fellowship of the body of Christ, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs together to God
And when we choose to make this effort…
When we choose to draw near to God and do the work to warm up our own soul to be ready to receive his love…
That is when we find we no longer need the distractions… We no longer need the quick dopamine heads. We only need him.
So I remind you do not allow distraction or sin to keep you from fellowship with God
This can be drugs. This can be alcohol. This can be pornography. This can be raunchy “”Romance books””
Don’t allow meaningless things or sinful things to keep you from God…
The Bible says all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful… It may not be unlawful to drink, but it might not be helpful to drink
It may not be unlawful to have social media or unlawful to have Netflix, but it is not helpful…
So we enter this place of worship of connection being filled with the spirit and this leads to Thanksgiving
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
When we step out of distraction and step into his presence, we realize how grateful we should be for every moment…
We realize how much of a gift this life is…
And I know there are seasons of pain, suffering, depression, and their seasons of joy and excitement… And I want to see whether we’re in a good season or a bad season…
A joyful season or a painful season
We are to make the best use of our time for the days are evil… And the only way to be able to do that is to be grateful for the time that we have
As a kid, I would miss out on so many good moments because I was ungrateful for what I already had
In order to manage time, we must look at it and be grateful for it…
And We must not spend this time, fighting or squabbling with one another, but being submissive and kind To one another…
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Submission is to voluntarily ranked oneself under another
Another way to put it is three others as more significant than yourselves
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
We don’t do this out of our own strength, but we do this with the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us…
This is out of reverence for Christ… This isn’t if someone deserves us to be kind will be kind
This isn’t saying if Pastor Chuck deserves us to be submissive will be submissive…
This is saying because of what Christ has done and who he is to us, we treat others with respect and honor
So tonight as we break up into our discussion groups, I want you to think about how you will manage your time…
When was the last time you even looked at your time management?
When was the last time you considered how you spend your time? (When was the last time you looked at your Screen Time?)
I looked at mine recently and discovered that last night I left My Weather app open for over five hours while I was sleeping…
Have you budgeted your time?
Be wise, not unwise…
Tonight I want you to be open tonight I want you to be honest I want you to be real…
If you’re wearing a mask putting on a façade, please take that off. We like you as you are.
For there to be growth, there has to be vulnerability…
A seed is very well protected and insulated in its shell by in order for it to grow and what it’s meant to be it has to break out and become exposed to the rest of the world
Tonight, I hope that you will open up to other people tonight. I hope that you will break out of your Shell…
And before we close, I wanted to share a verse from Romans…
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
Jesus is coming soon…
12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand.
And I will remind you that night is darkest just before the dawn…
So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
The moments will continue to fly by… Look at how you walk is it in the light or is it in the darkness?
Not as unwise, but as wise…
And finally, I want to encourage you if you’re in this room and you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, please talk to me.
Talk to anyone in this room. We’d love to encourage you. We’d love to help. You know what it looks like to have a relationship with God.
There is a real heaven, and there is a real hell
We all deserve hell, but with Christ, we have heaven
All we have to do is repent and believe
the bible says
…. if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
And if you don’t know the Lord, I promise you no matter if you live a “good” life or a “bad” life your time has been wasted if you don’t know the Lord is your savior
This life is just a blip on the radar compared to eternity
But with that said…
Let’s pray…
Let’s pray…
