Speaker:
Well, this year one of my
daughters started to learn how
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to write for the first time.
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And when she began learning how to
write, she started with those, just
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trace tracing, trace those dots.
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And when she began, it
kind of looked like this.
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It was kind of all over the place.
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And then as she continued to practice, she
slowly and more carefully traced the lines
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and it became closer to the original.
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Well, after that, she learned to move.
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She moved on from there,
from tracing to copy work.
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And copy work is like, you have
a sentence up here, and then just
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right underneath you put the same
word, same, same letter down below.
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And she's doing a decent job.
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but at one, at some point, she is
not going to need to trace anymore.
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She's not gonna need to copy anymore.
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She is going to figure out
how to write all on her own.
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She'll think of her own words
and she'll write them down.
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But for us as Christians, we
will never outgrow our need to
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have a pattern for our lives.
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And that pattern is
the pattern that Jesus.
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Us, left for us, laid out for us.
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So if we do not get this, this morning
or this afternoon, we are going to end
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up drifting and not stay closely on
this pattern that Jesus laid out for us,
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so we might drift or even worse.
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We might begin, we might show
ourselves to have never been on
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those tracing lines to begin with.
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So this morning the Apostle Paul is going
to address this topic of tracing our
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lives according to the pattern of Jesus.
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So if you have your Bibles, please open
up with me to the Book of Ephesians.
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We'll be in chapter five
verses one through 14.
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Okay, we're gonna start by reading
this whole text together and see
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what the Apostle Paul has to say for
us in regards to tracing our lives.
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After Jesus, he starts with a,
therefore be imitators of God as beloved
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children and walk in love as Christ
loved us and gave Himself up for us a
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fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
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But sexual immorality and all impurity
or covetousness must not even be named
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among you, as is proper among saints.
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Let there be no filthiness
nor foolish talk nor crude
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joking, which are out of place.
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But instead let there be thanksgiving for
you may be sure of this, that everyone
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who is sexually immoral or impure, or
who is covetous, that is an idolater.
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Has no inheritance in the Kingdom
of Christ and God let no one deceive
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you with empty words for because
of these things, the wrath of God
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comes upon the sons of disobedience.
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Therefore, do not become
partners with them.
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For at one time you were
darkness, but now you are.
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Light in the Lord.
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Walk as children of light.
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For the fruit of light is found in all
that is good and right and true, and try
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to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
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Take no part in the unfruitful works
of darkness, but instead expose them
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for it is shameful even to speak of
the things that they do in secret.
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But when anything is exposed by the
light, it becomes visible for anything
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that becomes visible is light.
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Therefore, it says Awake, oh,
sleeper and rise from the dead.
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And Christ will shine on you.
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So here Paul starts out
with two commands for us.
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The first command is to be an
imitator of God as beloved children,
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and he begins with that word,
therefore, which we know points us
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back to where we've already been.
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So chapter four verse 32, we
are told to forgive one another.
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That's the end of this part.
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Forgive one another as Christ
as God in Christ forgave you.
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Therefore, in light of that, be
imitators of God as beloved children.
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We can only be beloved children if
we know and have experienced this
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forgiveness that comes from God.
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So as a result of this forgiveness,
we are to be imitators, and that
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is our first point for the morning
is to be an imitator of God.
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You can write it down like this.
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We don't have a PowerPoint.
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Point one is, trace your life after
Jesus trace your life after Jesus.
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Well, how are we to trace
our lives after Jesus?
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Paul tells us in verse two, he
says that we are to walk in love.
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That is the second command walk in love.
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And how do we do that?
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Well, we do it as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us a fragrant
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offering and sacrifice to God.
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God's behavior toward us becomes the
measure of our behavior toward others.
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We are called to walk in this pattern
of love, and we can only do that
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because we are children of God.
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And if you think about children, what
you can easily identify is that they
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just pick up on everything you do.
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They imitate their parents for
good or for bad, unfortunately.
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And God tells us that we are to follow
this pattern that He has laid out for
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us and especially in the area of love.
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And that's what Paul is gonna address
for the rest of this section, is the way
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we imitate him is the way we love, the
way we love him, the way we love others.
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So we are called to walk in love.
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Now we need to know what
Jesus' love looks like.
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In order to imitate, well, first of all,
we know that it is a forgiving love.
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Back to that chapter four,
verse 32, forgive one another.
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How as God in Christ forgave you.
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If you have experienced his
forgiveness, then you will be able
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to have that same forgiving love.
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And Jesus speaks about this in
Luke chapter seven, where he is
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meeting at the home of a Pharisee
and he's talking to Peter.
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And a woman, an adulterer comes in and she
has this, this expensive flask of perfume,
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and she continues to pour it on Jesus's
feet and wipe his feet with her hair.
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She and, and then Jesus, he has this
conversation with His Peter and with
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Peter, and he tells him the story of this
money lender and these two debtors, one
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owed five denar and the other owed 50.
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And he says to Peter.
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These debts were forgiven.
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Who do you think Will will love
their, the guy who, what is that word?
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The debtor, more, you
know what I'm saying?
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And he said, well, of course the
one who had the greater debt.
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And so Jesus points to this woman
and says, Peter, she loves much
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because she has been forgiven much.
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She knows.
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How much she has been forgiven
by God and for us to love God.
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For us to live out this pattern of
forgiving love, we must first understand
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how much we have been forgiven.
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If we understand that, then we
can love the way Christ love.
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We can forgive whatever somebody
has committed against us.
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We are fellow sinners, so our first.
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The first way we can walk in love.
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we need to understand that
Jesus' love is a forgiving love.
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You can write that down for sub point.
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A Jesus's love is a forgiving love.
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Paul has already told us and made
clear what we owe God, who we
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once were back in chapter two.
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He's made clear we were dead in our sin.
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We were enemies of God.
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We were under his condemnation, his wrath.
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And yet Jesus sacrificed, sacrificed
himself canceling that record
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of debt that we owed to God.
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We have been extended more grace than we
can comprehend, so we have no excuses to
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not extend grace toward other sinners.
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Well, the next kind of love
we see in verse two is that
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Jesus' love is a giving love.
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You can write that down for point B.
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Jesus' love is a giving love.
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Walk in love.
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How do we do that?
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As Christ loved us and
gave himself for us.
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His love is not a selfish love.
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His love is a sacrificial and
a giving love, and we should
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have that same kind of love.
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You may have heard this phrase, pastor
PJ has mentioned it before, and that is.
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Go the extra mile, spend the
extra dollar, stay the extra hour.
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I think that is a great example of what
a sacrificial and giving love looks like,
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because if we are gonna love like Jesus,
our love is going to cost us something.
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Love is costly.
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Biblical love will cost.
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It might cost you your time.
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It might cost you your resources.
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And just this morning, what we
read in Acts chapter four, you
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see the early church and how
they're selling all that they have.
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And they're giving to the apostles
to take care of the church.
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They are making sacrifices
to show the love of Christ.
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How can you show that
sacrificial love more?
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Maybe you need to give up more of
your precious time or give people
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more of your focused attention.
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Maybe you need to use your
resources to serve others.
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Maybe you need to.
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Miss that lunch after church.
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'cause you're choosing to stay and
help with tear down, shameless plug.
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Or maybe you're gonna give up a
week of your summer to serve in
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VBS, whatever, however you need to
serve in a more sacrificial way.
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You need to think about that
because biblical love will cross you
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something or it's not a sacrifice.
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And Jesus sacrificed his own life.
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He sacrificed so much his
eternal glory in heaven.
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He sacrificed shame and taking
on our guilt, our sin, so that
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our sins could be forgiven.
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Well, if we are gonna trace our lives
after the pattern of Jesus, we need
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to have a forgiving and a giving love.
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But wherever God establishes truth,
the enemy establishes a counterfeit.
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And that's where Paul goes next
because instead of giving love, we are
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gonna see a different kind of love,
a selfish and a taking kind of love.
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Just a little context, the book
of Ephesians, the Church of
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Ephesus was a Roman city in.
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Asia minor and people would come from
all over the world to see a temple.
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The temple of Artemis and Artemis was a
Greek goddess and people would come and
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worship her, and there was temple occult,
prostitution going on all the time.
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This was a daily reality.
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Daily reality for the Ephesians and
some of these Ephesian Christians
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even came out of this lifestyle.
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So Paul is going to address
these sexual sins and tell them.
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To not go back to that place.
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He's going to give the Ephesians
a warning, and he's also gonna
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give us a warning this morning.
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So verse three, he tells us,
here's the contrast to this giving
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love, but sexual immorality, which
carries the weight of prostitution,
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but he doesn't just stay there.
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And all impurity.
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So that's anything that is contrary to
God's design and God's design for sex is.
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Jesus makes clear in Matthew 19 that
it is between one husband, one wife,
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in the context of marriage, period.
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That's it.
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He points back to the created
order to prove that point.
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Well, he says, but sexual immorality in
all purity, all impurity or covetousness.
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Covetousness is desire for something.
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And this consciousness
is not just a general.
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Coveting anything you're desiring.
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Whatever it is, it's connected to
sexual immorality and impurity.
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So it's coveting, coveting sexual
sin, coveting something that
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is not a part of God's design.
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And he says that it must not even be
named among you as is proper among saints.
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So does that mean we don't
talk about it at all?
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We don't ever mention it.
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Clearly not.
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'cause Paul mentions it in, mentions it
in other places in scripture as well.
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but in Israel it was customary for
the, for the man to name the child.
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The husband would name the child, sorry,
you don't get to name your kids ladies.
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That was his job, and it was to
prove the legitimacy of that child.
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It was to prove I am the
father of this child.
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Well, for us to not even name
these things is to show us that
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there shouldn't even be a hint of
sexual sin among you in the church.
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That is not proper, as
it says among the saints.
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So Paul is gonna speak to this and then
he talks about how not to, he talks
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more about how not to talk about it.
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We're gonna skip really quick to, to
verse five, where we get the warning.
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So God gives us warnings in
scripture and in verse five he
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says, you can be sure of this.
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That everyone who is sexually
immoral or impure, or who is
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covetous, that is an idolater.
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So now he's clarifying
for us what the sin is.
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If we are coveting sexual sin, something
that God says is out of bounds,
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then he says, you are an idolater.
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You are proving that is your God.
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And so instead of being a beloved child
of God, he says that you are a child.
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Of disobedience.
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You're a son of disobedience and
you'll have no inheritance in
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the Kingdom of Christ and God.
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And he says, let no one deceive
you with empty words for because of
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these things, the wrath of God is
coming upon the sons of disobedience.
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So the point here is that
we can be deceived if we are
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living a life of sexual sin.
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And that goes beyond just.
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Adultery.
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It's not just physical
actions, but it's our thoughts.
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It's our intentions.
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Then we might prove who our true
God is, and that's what he is
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warning these ephe Ephesians.
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If you are living a life of sexual
immorality, then maybe you are.
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You are never on these tracing
lines to begin with, but not only
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does God use these warnings to show
you maybe where you're really at.
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He also uses them to help us stay
on the tracing lines of Christ.
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So for point number two, you can write
down, let God's warning motivate you to
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trace the clear lines of sexual ethics.
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Let God's warning motivate
you to trace the clear lines.
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Of sexual ethics.
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I wish there were more
warnings in my city.
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I don't know if you've ever been down
glendenning in Salina, but when you
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do, you get to this railroad track,
this train track, and the first
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time I drove down that road with my
little minivan and all my kids in
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the car, we got some serious air.
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There is no warning that there is a
massive drop off on the other side, or
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that the whole road is uneven everywhere.
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And if I did have that warning, if there
was a sign somewhere, I would've said,
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okay, I need to drive more cautiously.
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I need to look and see where I'm going.
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I need to see if the road is, even
if there are potholes anywhere.
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But there was none.
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My heart jumped outta my chest.
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Thankfully everything was fine.
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The car was fine.
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But thankfully for us in the
Christian life, God does give us
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these warnings because he wants
us to stay on the right road.
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He wants us to go in the right direction.
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He wants us to stay on those lines that
Christ has clearly laid out for us.
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So let these warnings motivate you
or let these warnings expose you.
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Alright.
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There are many types of sexual sin talked
about in God's word, not just adultery.
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As I said, there's fornication,
homosexuality, incent, incest, bestiality,
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lust, and then Proverbs five through seven
talks all about sexual temptation and
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not even getting anywhere close to that.
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Well, unfortunately we do see this in
the church and there is adultery in the
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church, but it doesn't begin with that.
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It begins with little compromises.
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It begins with entertaining
thoughts and not cutting them off.
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It begins with looking at things
we shouldn't look at or listening.
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To things that fuel our mind and cause
us to go to places we should not go.
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Maybe it's reading a romance novel for you
that fuels your mind, makes you wander.
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Maybe it's fantasizing about something,
a different life with somebody else.
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Maybe it's pornography, which those
images, by the way, most of them are
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a result of human sex trafficking.
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Or maybe it's masturbation.
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We don't talk about this one much, but.
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It is not God's design.
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It is not giving love.
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It's taking love, it's self-serving.
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It's a lack of self-control,
even in the context of marriage.
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If you're having sex with the idea
of I just want what I can get out of
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it, a child or pleasure for myself,
then you are not walking in this
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selfless love this giving love.
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And there's so much more sexual sin that
we could talk about in the world, but God
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wants us to stay on His path, on his road,
not the kind of love that the enemy that
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points us to, that we see in the world.
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Okay?
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God wants us to long for him.
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Over the good gifts he gives.
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So he calls this sin idolatry.
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It is idolatry.
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And the most common form of idolatry
in the Christian life is that we take
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the good gifts of God that he has
given us in their proper context,
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and we turn it into something that we
are greedy for and end up worshiping,
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but God wants us to long for him.
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I love the words of Psalm
63, 1 through three.
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Oh God, you are my God and earnestly
I seek you, my soul thirsts for you.
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My flesh faints for you as in a dry
and weary land where there is no water.
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So I have looked upon
you in the sanctuary.
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Behold your power and glory
because your steadfast love.
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Your love is better than life.
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My lips will praise you.
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God's love is better than anything
we could chase in this life.
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God wants us to thirst for him.
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So now Paul moves on to verse four,
where he talks about how we should
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speak about these things because it's
not just the actions or the thoughts.
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There's a way that we should and
should not talk about sexual sin.
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He says in verse four, let there be
no filthiness nor foolish talk, nor
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crude joking, which are out of place.
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So this is.
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Inappropriate jokes.
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This is gossip.
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This is being brash.
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This is making light of sexual immorality.
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God does not want that for us as
Christians, they are out of place.
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God calls us to a higher
standard for how we speak,
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and then he kind of gives
us, he gives us a solution.
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Oh, first, okay, sub point
A, you can write down.
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Break up with bad associations.
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Thank you for keeping me on track.
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Break up with bad associations if
we are gonna stay on these defined
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lines that Christ has laid out for us.
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When it comes to sexual morality,
we need to break up with things that
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cause us to go astray, and that's
gonna be different for everyone.
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Some people are tempted with one thing
while others doesn't affect them at all.
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It doesn't bother them at all.
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You know what you are tempted with.
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So break up with those things and
then we need to replace those things.
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So Paul says that we are to, let me
find out where I am in the text here.
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But instead, verse four, instead of
these things, let there be Thanksgiving.
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Instead, God wants us to be thankful.
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Well, how is this a solution?
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How is this a solution to the sexual
sin and the way we speak about it?
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And coveting these things.
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Well, when we covet, we are fixing our
eyes on the things that we don't have
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or the things that somebody else has.
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But when we are thankful, we're focused
on what God has given us, what we do have,
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and so we need to practice being thankful.
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Did I tell you that point?
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I probably didn't tell you that.
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Point.
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Sub point B, replace sinful habits
with the habit of Thanksgiving.
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Replace sinful, replace sinful habits
with the habit of Thanksgiving.
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There is a lot of research about
being thankful and what that
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looks like and what that does for
us, even in the secular world.
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The American Brain Foundation says
this about gratitude, says that
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gratitude is a positive emotional
response that we experience when we
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feel appreciation for or from others.
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But it's also more than that.
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Gratitude actually triggers the brain's
reward system releasing hormones and
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neurotransmitters that have tangible,
physical and mental health benefits.
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Taking the time to focus on gratitude
every day helps to improve our
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ability to manage stress, and it
helps us develop a more positive
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perspective on life by restructuring
neural neural signaling pathways.
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Well, maybe that's why God told us
already in one Thessalonians five 18
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to give thanks in all circumstances
for this is his will for you.
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It is God's will for us to be thankful
no matter what season you're in, no
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matter what relationship you might have
with sex or the temptations to give in.
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God wants us to focus on what
we do have to be thankful for.
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So maybe you're struggling.
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With coveting being married or wanting
a different spouse, or desperately
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wanting what sex can give you in
the form of children, take the
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time to write down or to express
to God what you are thankful for.
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What you do have to be
thankful for in this season.
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Now Paul is gonna move into a
section about why we should not
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partner with these people whose life
is characterized by these things.
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but not just people.
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Why we should not partner
with, we could say.
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Whatever media or whatever we're looking
at or reading or listening to, that
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is causing us to be tempted to sexual
immorality and this counterfeit love.
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So in verse eight he says, for at
one time you were darkness, but
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now you are light in the Lord.
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So walk as children of light.
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For the fruit of light is found in all
that is good and right and true, and try
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to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
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Most mornings I take a prayer walk and
if I've gotten up early enough, the
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sun is just starting to rise, and so
as I walk, I see shadows everywhere and
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I'm not sure if I should be threatened
by those shadows or not, but as I
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keep walking, the sun keeps rising.
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And then the sun shines on everything
and makes clear what is in front of me.
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It exposes the darkness for what it is,
and that is what God does in our lives.
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He exposes the darkness.
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He helps us see those areas that
are not on track, that are not
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following Christ the way we should.
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And so.
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When the light of God, the truth that is
found in his word, penetrates our hearts.
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It brings that exposure.
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Things that might have seen
like a shadow become more clear.
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God wants us to discern what is good
and right and true so that we can
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walk more closely on the defined
lines that Jesus has laid out for us.
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And so he tells us that we
need to discern these things.
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So for point number three, you can
write down, evaluate whether you
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are living in the light, evaluate
whether you are living in the light.
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How do you know what is
pleasing to the Lord?
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How do you discern what is good, right?
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:
And true?
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Well, it is God's word.
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There is no other standard for
what is good and right and true.
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We've been in Psalm one 19.
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Speaking of Psalm 1 19, 1 0 5
tells us that your word is a lamp
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to my feet and a light to my path.
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The word lights up our direction.
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It illuminates and
makes clear the shadows.
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Psalm 1 19, 1 30 also tells us that the
unfolding of your words gives light.
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It gives understanding to the simple,
the unfolding implies time and effort.
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:
It's not a Read my Bible once,
read my Bible all the way
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through once, and then I know it.
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:
I'm done.
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:
No, the world is constantly changing.
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New ideas of morality are coming to light.
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Our circumstances are never the same.
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We're always going from one
season to the next season, and
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we need to keep discerning.
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What is now true and right and
good in this situation, in this
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circumstance, in this part of my life.
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So not only does God want us to
discern what is good and right and
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true, God also wants us to expose
the darkness not only in our own
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lives, but in the lives of others.
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And that's the last section
that we're gonna go into now.
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Verses 11 through 14, we
are given three commands.
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Verse 11, Paul says, take no part
in the unfruitful works of darkness,
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but instead expose them for it
is shameful even to speak of the
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things that they do in secret.
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And a lot of these sexual sins, they
are done in secret, in literal darkness.
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But when anything is exposed.
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By the light, it becomes visible for
anything that becomes visible is light.
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:
Therefore, it says Waco sleeper
and rise from the dead and
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Christ will shine on you.
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So our first command is to
take no part in these things.
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They are unfruitful, they are darkness.
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We, if you are a Christian,
you are no longer in darkness.
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:
So what does God want us
to do with these things?
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He doesn't want us to participate,
he doesn't want us to speak in
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:
these ways, that these people
speak about these things.
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:
Well, he says he wants us to expose them,
to expose them because they are shameful.
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God wants them, us to bring them to light.
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:
I think of the recent Epstein scandal.
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And how horrific that was.
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It's kind of funny, not funny, but
when that came out, it was like on the
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:
same timeline, the government was like,
oh, look over here, there's aliens.
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:
It's like, hello, this big thing
over here that just came to light.
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:
Why are we focusing now on aliens as
if the enemy does not want us to bring
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:
exposure to the sinful deeds of darkness?
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:
But that is not what call,
what God calls us to do.
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Love exposes.
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:
The darkness.
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:
Bless you.
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God doesn't want us to be quiet about sin.
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To ignore evil is to encourage it.
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:
To keep quiet about it is to promote it.
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We must confront sin with intolerance in
our own lives and in the lives of others,
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your love.
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:
Okay, so the best way for us to do this.
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:
' cause we don't have big platforms.
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:
We can't just expose all these
hidden government conspiracy sin.
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:
But what we can do and what Paul
commands us to do in verse 14,
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:
this quote here says, awake.
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That's a command, Waco sleeper
and rise from the dead and
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:
Christ will shine on you.
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:
This is a command to preach the gospel,
to call people, to come out of the
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:
darkness and to come into the light.
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:
We want Christ to expose the sin in
their lives that they might become
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:
light, because when the light of the
gospel shines, it exposes darkness.
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:
So how are you doing in this area
of sharing the gospel of calling
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:
people to come to the light?
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:
If we are gonna trace our lives
after the pattern of Jesus, we
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:
must be committed to exposing sin
by calling people to the light.
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:
And that's first point.
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Four.
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Expose sin by calling people to the light.
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:
Expose sin by calling people to the light.
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That's what Jesus did in his ministry.
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:
Mark one 14, he said, the
kingdom of God is at hand.
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Repent and believe the gospel.
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:
One of the first things.
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:
He said in his earthly ministry, and we
are called in one Corinthians five 20 to
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:
be those ambassadors who implore people to
come to Christ and be reconciled to God.
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:
So how are you doing with your
neighbors, with your family members,
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:
with the people on the baseball
team, with the salesman that God's
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:
sovereignly brings to your door?
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:
I would encourage you, if you have
no soliciting sign, take it off.
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:
You'll be surprised how many people
you get to share the gospel with.
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:
Well, my daughter has come a
long way with her writing skills.
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:
This year.
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She's tracing far more carefully
staying on those lines.
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:
And my prayer for all of us this morning
is that as a result of this message,
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we will think carefully about what it
looks like in our lives right now, and we
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:
will be able to trace Christ's pattern.
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:
More clearly every day
for the rest of our lives.
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:
Let's pray.
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:
Heavenly Father, God, we thank
you so much for your word.
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:
There is so much more we could say about,
about a love that that follows you, being
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:
imitators of you by living a life of love.
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:
God, we ask that your spirit would bring
conviction that your spirit would bring
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:
understanding that your spirit would
connect the dots that I did not connect.
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:
God, we know that you want us to follow
you, and we all know that we fall short
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:
in so many ways and we pray God, that
you would help us to see that your
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:
spirit would make clear where we need to
grow, how we need to trace more closely.
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:
Our savior and Lord, if there are
some people in this room who are not
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:
following and tracing the pattern of
Jesus for their lives, I pray God that
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:
you would make clear to them that they
would not be deceived because they set
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:
a prayer once or they've been to church
their whole lives or or whatever the
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:
situation, Lord, but that they would see
that they mean Jesus for the first time.
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:
That they need to submit their
lives to you, that they must come
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:
to understand your forgiving love
that will bring them into a place of
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:
becoming a child of God as they repent
of their sin and trust in Jesus.
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:
We thank you, Lord for your perfect
example that you laid out for us.
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:
We thank you, Lord, that you have
given us your word to help us see
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:
and you've given us your spirit.
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:
Please lead us and guide us
in our time of discussion.
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:
We pray that it would be fruitful
and that you would be honored and
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:
glorified with our time together.
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:
And in all that comes as a result
of hearing from your word today.
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We pray this all in Jesus' name.
