Sermon Tone Analysis
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ATTN
Text:
ATTN
You make 70 of these every day.
In a single year, you’ll make 25,500 of them and if you live to be 70, you’ll have made roughly 1,788,500 of them.
And while it will seem that YOU’VE made THEM, the truth is that THEY will make YOU!
What are these things?
Choices!
Whatever choice you make, makes you!
Richard Halverson challenges us with this image:
Slide - Picture - Old man
You're going to meet an old man [or woman] someday down the road—ten, thirty, fifty years from now—waiting there for you.
You'll be catching up with him [or her].
What kind of old man are you going to meet?
He may be a seasoned, soft, gracious fellow—a gentleman who has grown old gracefully, surrounded by hosts of friends, friends who call him blessed because of what his life has meant to them.
Or he may be a bitter, disillusioned, dried-up old buzzard without a good word for anyone—soured, friendless, and alone.
That old man will be you.
He'll be the composite of everything you do, say, and think—today and tomorrow.
His mind will he see in a mold you have made by your beliefs.
His heart will be turning out what you've been putting into it.
Every little thought, every deed goes into this old man.
Every day in every way you are becoming more and more like yourself.
Amazing but true.
You're beginning to look more like yourself, think more like yourself, and talk more like yourself.
You're becoming yourself more and more.
Live only in terms of what you're getting out of life and the old man gets smaller drier harder crabbier more self-centered.
Open your life to others, think in terms of what you can give, your contribution to life, and the old man grows larger, softer, kindlier, and greater.
Whatever choice you make, makes you!
NEED
And nowhere is that more true than it is at your kitchen table.
The choices you make in your home really define what your family is like.
I know that some of us feel like there are some real problems with our homes.
Some of us may look at other families and envy them.
The truth is, however, that envying others doesn’t fix our problem.
It takes something much more fundamental to make a real change in our homes.
It takes better choices.
You see, our homes are like they are, for better or for worse because of the choices we have made.
Perhaps we have chosen anger instead of forgiveness and have fractured our relationships at home.
That’s a choice.
Perhaps we have chosen sexual self-gratification over the hard job of building true intimacy with our mate and have created hard-hearted distance in our marriage.
That’s a choice.
Perhaps we’ve chosen the virtual reality of social media over investing time in knowing our kids and they have grown completely unresponsive to us.
That’s a choice.
Perhaps we’ve chosen to neglect patient discipline of our children to opt for the path of least resistance and they are increasingly out of control and angry.
That’s a choice.
Most of all, perhaps we’ve chosen to neglect spiritual education and example.
We have allowed the culture to rule our decisions and we’ve reaped a family that cares very little about God.
That’s a choice.
BACKGROUND
And the family we sit across the table from is not the family we wanted when we said “I do.”
How can that change?
Well, it will change the very same way it got like that in the first place.
It is a choice.
And the question this morning is this: If we are our choices, how can we make choices that change our families so that our families can change the world?
I think the Bible offers some insight here.
We’ve been walking through Ephesians chapter 5 over the past couple of weeks looking at some biblical principles that will help us have world-changing families.
The first week we spoke of the foundation of the world-changing home.
It is experiencing the love of Christ so deeply in our hearts that we are able to give to others without having to receive anything back from them.
Then last week we talked about the impact that our families can make in the world when we truly pursue the biblical kind of lifestyle that the Bible prescribes for Christ-following families.
Today, the rubber meets the road, you might say.
Today we look at the fundamental action that creates the opportunities God gives your family to have the kind of impact He wants us to have.
That impact comes down to some key decisions—some concrete choices you lead your family to make.
Read about these choices in : 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Ephesians 5:15-18
TRANS
These verses describe some clear decisions families make to become world-changing.
What are they?
How do families make the right choices?
Well, first, they
D1 –
Families who make the right choices UNDERSTAND THEIR URGENT PRIORITY
EXP
At their most basic level, choices reflect priorities.
We do what we consider most important.
Now notice I didn’t say we do what we want others to BELIEVE we think is important.
No, we do what we genuinely consider to BE most important and those can be two very different things.
In fact, our priorities—those things we consider to be most important—flow out of some clear inner motivations each of us has.
In , Paul describes what a disciple’s motivations ought to be.
Ephesians 5:15
In the first place, a disciple’s actions are to be motivated by GODLY WISDOM.
He says in v 15, See then that you walk circumspectly, NOT AS FOOLS BUT AS WISE.
You’ll recall from what we have already learned in previous messages that when Paul speaks of our “walk,” he is speaking of the way that we habitually live.
He is talking about the routine of our lives.
We should be motivated by GODLY WISDOM
We should be motivated by GODLY WISDOM
GODLY WISDOM
In the first place, a disciple’s actions are to be motivated by GODLY WISDOM.
He says in v 15, See then that you walk circumspectly, NOT AS FOOLS BUT AS WISE.
You’ll recall from what we have already learned in previous messages that when Paul speaks of our “walk,” he is speaking of the way that we habitually live.
He is talking about the routine of our lives.
And what he says here about our routine is very significant.
He says that the routine of our lives should be characterized by a certain attitude.
We are to “walk circumspectly.”
Now that’s not a word we use today, but it means to walk accurately, morally, and carefully.
If you take that whole phrase together, Paul is telling us that disciples live careful lives that are driven by the wisdom of God.
When I have the wisdom of God, I have insight into the true nature of God so that I understand how He would what me to live my life and what choices He would have me make.
So my priority in the decisions of my life is to have the mind of God and allow what He wants to drive what I do.
I am motivated by godly wisdom.
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