The Armor of God - The Voices in Our Heads

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The Voices in Our Heads

Intro –[Anniversary stuff (looking back AND looking forward…Armor Recap…This week is TRANSPARENCY, specifically, being honest with ourselves about our thoughts and intentions. So today will be a bit more conversational, and we will make our way through the text bit by bit and listen for God to speak to us all through His word. So if you want to follow along, we will be reading from , beginning in verse 17, but before that, let’s pray together church.
[pray]
Ephesians 4:17 ESV
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
Focusing on Futility of the mind [what does that mean?] [explain briefly about the uselessness of the thoughts we have in our heads]
- “There was this woman once who struggled with that type of thing. You see, she had given her life to help others…” [be very general about struggles and thoughts of quitting]
[picofsocialstress]
I am sure we can all relate to those thoughts and those feelings. Sure they might not look exactly the same, but we all, at some point wrestle with the stories that are going on in our heads.
- When someone doesn’t talk to you at school, or at work, you assume they don’t like you or are mad.
- When your spouse is out late and hasn’t called.
- When you see suffering, or are praying for something and it just doesn’t seem to happen.
That is what this futility of the mind is all about! Those stories we play out in our heads. The lies we tell ourselves. Those narratives – when they are left unchecked in our hearts, they tend to spread out from those moments and into other parts of our lives! And before you know it, we become stained by them.
Ephesians 4:19 ESV
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Paul puts it another way…[read]
- Dog commercials [brief]
b. …that is what hard heartedness does! And let’s not just take my word for it, Just look one verse earlier when Paul talks about this very thing!
…that is what those stories in our heads, that hard heartedness does! And let’s not just take my word for it, Just look one verse earlier when Paul talks about this very thing!
Ephesians 4:18 ESV
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Our lack of knowledge isn’t the problem! All creation, Paul says in Romans, speaks to the God’s power and glory. It is plain to them, so that all are without excuse!”
- No it isn’t our lack of knowledge, it is the condition of our hearts…
- Church our narratives, our excuses, our stories, the lies we tell ourselves, they all serve to harden our hearts to the world around us. And when that happens to us, we begin to live a life alienated from God! We become bitter and uncaring. We offer reason after reason, for our crass language or uncaring behavior. We look past momentary acts of unkindness. And what is worse that all of that, when we keep hardening our hearts we push God further out of our lives, and ultimately, we alienate both ourselves, AND others – those around our lives – from God!
Ephesians 4:20 ESV
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
BUT THAT IS NOT THE WAY YOU LEARNED CHRIST!
II. ***vs20 – BUT THAT IS NOT THE WAY YOU LEARNED CHRIST!
II. ***vs20 – BUT THAT IS NOT THE WAY YOU LEARNED CHRIST!
- Language of a child, specifically language we use with children.
- Idea is both declaration and affirmation. Looking behind and looking ahead.
- That isn’t what I told you to do! You’re better than that!
- And whether we hear that from parents, say it to our children, or hear it from God’s word, the intent is the same! That phrase is intended to make us understand that this is a moment when transparency is needed! A moment when we need to honestly assess the situation, and instead of finding excuses or assigning blame or whatever, we need to understand that we know better than to think and act that way!
- And if we would just admit it, we would be able to move on from it.
[picofmothertheresa]
Mother Theresa story close
a. We must be honest with ourselves so that we can be honest with God. Because when we are honest with God, He will soften our hearts and help us to live the life and do the things he needs us to do.
Ephesians 4:21–25 ESV
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
you see that idea play out in our text, verses 21-25 tell us [read]
IV. ***you see that idea play out in our text, verses 21-25 tell us [read]
- JUST TELL THE TRUTH, AT LEAST TO YOURSELF! BECAUSE IF YOU DO THAT, GOD WILL GIVE YOU NEW LIFE. HE WILL RENEW YOUR MIND.
- Listen we all mess up. If we would just step up and admit it, we would find that God, like every parent, cares more about intentions than actions.
John 7:53–8:11 ESV
They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Recap story of woman caught in adultery.
John 7:53-8
V. ***[womeninadultery] Recap story of woman caught in adultery.
- Church, who is more disappointing to God here? Perhaps that is too judgmental of a question. Who is going to be able to be renewed in their minds, able to better live a life that God has for them, after this moment?
- Transparency can and will soften our hearts, and church, had these men had soft hearts to this woman, or to Jesus, there would have been no accusations, no hurt, no lie, no attempted murder. There would only be Grace.
[picofjesusandwoman]
At the very least, there would only be a new start.
- Church, in between looking back, and looking ahead lies a single moment. A single, often over looked, part of our lives. In between where we have come from and where we are going, lies only Grace. And in that grace, church, we are given a chance to drown out those voices that tell those stories in our heads. To ignore the voices of anger, and bitterness, and deceit! To ignore the dishonest voices of hate that fill our minds and our ears, and to silence the voices that would corrupt and harden our hearts, and the hearts of those around us! We have that chance in that moment – in this very moment – because in Grace is only the voice of God! The voice of truth! THEY VOICE THAT SAYS BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER! BE TENDERHEARTED! FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER WITHOUT CONDITIONS! JUST AS CHRIST FORGAVE YOU WITHOUT THEM! DID NO ONE CONDEMN YOU? JESUS CRIES TO US. THEN I DON’T CONDEMN YOU EITHER! SO FROM NOW ON, CHURCH, THERE IS NO NEED TO BE BLINDED BY OUR HARD HEARTS, OR ANGER OR THOSE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES! THERE IS ONLY THIS MOMENT WE ARE IN – A MOMENT FILLED WITH GRACE – AND WE MUST BE HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND ALLOW THAT GRACE SOME ROOM TO WORK IN OUR SOULS IF WE ARE GOING TO MOVE FORWARD AND LIVE A LIFE WITH GOD!
Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
II. ***5:1-2
And we do that, church, because there is no other way that we can ever truly do the work of God – and be true followers of God – until we are transparent with God. Only then can become imitators of God.
a. And we do that, church, because there is no other way that we can ever truly do the work of God – and be true followers of God – until we are transparent with God. Only then can become imitators of God.
- And that is what this church is all about. A family of believers who for 13 years have tried to drown out the voices that pull them away from God’s life for them. A family that, from now on, moves forward in Grace, ready to walk in love, and imitate God’s Son as best we can. Church, the only way to change what you hear in this life is to change what you are listening to. Stop listening to the lies, and the stories - those voices in our heads - and today, choose to listen to Grace – the voice of truth in your life.
[Invitation]
III. Invitation
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