SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Orchard family, and happy new year.
SPEAKER_00: That's just like the first service.
SPEAKER_00: There was like one person excited that it's 2026.
SPEAKER_00: That's that is it.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: That is all right.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a good year.
SPEAKER_00: If I have not uh had the privilege of meeting you yet, my name is Andrew Hendrick, and I serve the Orchard as the worship pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that this past year, if we were to just simply write out all of the ways in which God has been faithful to not only us as individuals, but to the orchard, we would be here a while.
SPEAKER_00: It would take us a while to just write all the things out because God has been faithful over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: But I know also that if if your year was like mine, if it was anything like mine, it was kind of like a roller coaster.
SPEAKER_00: It was these ups and downs and ups and downs over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: And to elaborate on that even more, I'll just get a uh a little personal with you.
SPEAKER_00: So my dad, his his name is Roy, um, just an awesome, godly dude.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, I never, as a kid, I never actually saw the guy sin.
SPEAKER_00: I know he sinned.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Romans chapter 3, all of sinned and falling short of the glory of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: I know that he sinned at some point.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my mom, who's sitting over there, can probably attest that he sinned at some point.
SPEAKER_00: But I personally, as a kid, never actually saw him sin.
SPEAKER_00: He was just like here in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: And probably because he loved Jesus that much.
SPEAKER_00: He loves Jesus that much.
SPEAKER_00: This guy, I mean, he's 50 years, one of the most solid dudes I I have ever met.
SPEAKER_00: 50 years of pastoral ministry, uh, over 50 years of pastoral ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Uh never missed a quiet time since he was in his early 20s until he really started following the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people saw Christ through him in his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the guy read countless and taught through countless amount of books.
SPEAKER_00: He is a guy who truly was walking in God's will, understanding God's will, and pursuing and responding to God's will.
SPEAKER_00: About a decade ago, a little over a decade ago, uh he was starting to experience some symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer's.
SPEAKER_00: And while it's it's hard, it's it's a it's a rough disease, but we we walked with him through it.
SPEAKER_00: And uh about five years ago, he had to, unfortunately, he had to retire because of it.
SPEAKER_00: And about three, almost three years ago, my wife and I moved them in, my parents in with us in an in-law wing on our house.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really kind of neat what God has done over these last few years because I got to hear him through this one single doorway.
SPEAKER_00: I would hear him just praying out loud in the middle of this disease.
SPEAKER_00: And I would even, what was kind of neat is I would hear him, he was thinking, he was sitting in his in this area in the house, he was thinking that he was teaching a Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_00: There wasn't anybody in the room, but he was thinking he was teaching a Sunday school class, and man, he was getting after it to the point where I actually have a video of this, to the point where he stops as he's teaching and he goes, No, no, no, no, no, we're not done yet.
SPEAKER_00: You sit down.
SPEAKER_00: We're we still got stuff to do.
SPEAKER_00: But then he would just stop and pray, pray for the people that he thought were in the room, and he would do it over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And about um about four and a half years ago, he he wrote a note that I got to read uh a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: So uh we moved him in, we had to move him into a memory care facility about three weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: And the night that we moved him in, I got to read this this note that he wrote.
SPEAKER_00: It was a personal prayer that he had written about four and a half years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And in this prayer, I mean, it was beautiful, it was sad, it was beautiful all at the same time, and he was just praising God.
SPEAKER_00: He's thank he was thankful for the disease that God gave him.
SPEAKER_00: Like, who does that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Who in the world does that?
SPEAKER_00: But he was praising God and he was asking the Lord to just care for his family.
SPEAKER_00: He was lamenting over the disease.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then at the very end of his his uh his prayer, this is what he said there's a great sadness upon my heart and my emotions, but I do trust him to stay with me all the time and to not ever leave me as to his promise.
SPEAKER_00: I will never leave you or forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: I went to bed that night, both heavy hearted and and joyful, all at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Just a mixed bag of emotions.
SPEAKER_00: The next morning, uh I was awakened to a text message from uh one of the staff that's at the memory care facility with this picture on it.
SPEAKER_00: And when you see this picture, you may not really know what's going on in this picture.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that he put in his note that I read the night before, he said, Lord, just use me as a minister, just even one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Just use me as a minister.
SPEAKER_00: What this is, is him praying, leading the prayer time for the the whole facility that morning, the next morning after we moved him in.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all, he has not been able to clearly communicate in a while.
SPEAKER_00: Yet the Lord used him that next morning just like this.
SPEAKER_00: He answered his prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's many of us who have walked through seasons like this that are heavy, that are difficult.
SPEAKER_00: But look at the example of Roy that he knew, and he knows still to this day, that God will never leave him, forsake him, or abandon him.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the year 2026 is going to look like for us.
SPEAKER_00: It might be awesome, it might be the best year you've ever experienced.
SPEAKER_00: It also may be filled with the roller coaster of emotions and circumstances, but I need you to hear me when I say this: that God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He sees you, he knows you, he cares for you, and he will never leave you, never abandon you, never forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: And let that be an example and a reminder to you that even in the midst of hard times, God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: Roy's a guy who knew his mission and his purpose, and knows his mission and his purpose still.
SPEAKER_00: And even when he can't communicate clearly, he's about 95% of his communication is gone.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, the Lord is still working.
SPEAKER_00: Still working in him, still working through him.
SPEAKER_00: This is a guy who spent his lifetime walking in God's will, trying to understand God's will, pursuing God's will and responding to God's will, and that's actually what we're gonna be talking about today.
SPEAKER_00: So if you would open your Bibles to Ephesians 5, we're gonna be starting our time together in God's Word today in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: That's Ephesians 5, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: If you would go ahead and stand as we read God's word together.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5, starting in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
SPEAKER_00: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: May God bless the reading of his word and cut us to the core with his truth.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_00: So this passage can be essentially summarized in this way.
SPEAKER_00: God has called us to carefully walk in his will.
SPEAKER_00: He's called us to soberly understand his will while abstaining from the idolatry and sin of this world, and to joyfully respond to his will in submission to Christ and to one another.
SPEAKER_00: And this is gonna lead us to spirit-led worship and obedience with great joy and deep gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: These are the concepts that we're gonna be exploring today.
SPEAKER_00: And the first concept is walking in God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been here longer than five minutes, you've if you you've probably heard all of us who have preached from this stage say, when you see a repeated word or phrase or concept in scripture, you should really, really pay attention, especially when it's repeated over and over in the same book.
SPEAKER_00: Eight times throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul talks about our spiritual walk.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about how we are to walk with Christ eight times.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, look carefully then how we walk, not as unwise, but making the best use of time, because the days are evil.
SPEAKER_00: Now, physically walking requires several different things that are related to our text.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're gonna go somewhere, you have to really know where you're going, you have to have a destination.
SPEAKER_00: To walk aimlessly will cause exhaustion, confusion, irritation, anxiety, and in reality is a complete waste of time.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if any of you have ever met my middle son Bax, he's 10 years old.
SPEAKER_00: He's sitting right over here on the front row.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, if if you've met him, you will know what I'm talking about when I say what I'm about to say.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be super harsh.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't met him, you'll probably see it today.
SPEAKER_00: So when Bax was eight months old, he started walking.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that may be a little early.
SPEAKER_00: It's not terribly early, but it's maybe a little early.
SPEAKER_00: Within two weeks, y'all, he was full out sprinting.
SPEAKER_00: He was running everywhere, all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever experienced a child that young who is able to run, but it is exhausting.
SPEAKER_00: It is aimless.
SPEAKER_00: He had no idea where and why he was running.
SPEAKER_00: He was just running everywhere, all the time, to the point where he would run, uh he would run to something, he would run into something, he would run into people, he would run around people.
SPEAKER_00: We'd be trying to catch him, and we're we're doing this motion here, like come back here, stop it.
SPEAKER_00: And he's he's he still does that to this day.
SPEAKER_00: He runs everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if the kid can truly just normally walk.
SPEAKER_00: But uh that that's the concept of walking without aim, without purpose, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in verses 15 and 16, Paul starts this passage off with how we must walk carefully with wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're to physically walk carefully and wisely, there's some parameters you're gonna have to follow.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna need to be able to see, hear, smell, feel.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna uh you're gonna have to most importantly know why and where you are walking.
SPEAKER_00: You need nothing to inhibit your ability to arrive at your destination that you have chosen.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the other part of it.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know how to get to the destination, or if you don't know how to carefully walk to the destination, what do you have to do?
SPEAKER_00: You have to ask someone for help who's already walked that path.
SPEAKER_00: You have to ask not not only somebody for help, but you have to say, Hey, why should I go to this place?
SPEAKER_00: Is this a good idea?
SPEAKER_00: That's the physical idea, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in James chapter 1, James puts it so well.
SPEAKER_00: He says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is telling his listeners here that in order to walk in a godly manner, in order to walk in a way that not only pleases God but accomplishes his purpose for you, you have to seek wisdom from the Lord, but as well as seeking wisdom from others who have already been down the path that you're going down.
SPEAKER_00: See, that requires some humility, but it also requires you being willing to lay down your will and accept the will of God for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because God's will is so much better than all of ours.
SPEAKER_00: He throws in two additional qualifiers, almost like a warning.
SPEAKER_00: He tells us to make the best use of our time.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, if you think about how many books and apps and articles and things and podcasts, all the stuff out here that are talking about time management, y'all, the market is completely flooded with it.
SPEAKER_00: There is so many time management books and stuff out there that you can get.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's from a secular perspective, and there's there's nothing wrong with wanting to be good at time management from a secular perspective.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be good at time management and your jobs.
SPEAKER_00: That that helps not get fired, right?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be good at time management with your families and and all the things that you do.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: But those are things from a secular perspective.
SPEAKER_00: There are some time management things from a Christian perspective, they're far and few between, and ones that are actually spiritually helpful and biblically accurate, those are even, those are even less.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is not talking about managing our time management of our jobs and the things that we want to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the management of time that is God's will for us.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard us say it so many times here at the orchard, is part of our job is to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You see, for those of us who are in Christ, our jobs are to glorify God with thankful hearts and through obedience to his commands, and to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to joyfully abstain from the evils of this world.
SPEAKER_00: That is what he's talking about, remembering that we don't have much time here.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling the church that in order to be truly wise, you have to be extremely careful in how you walk, not only because you have been given the commands by God Himself to follow in a very short time here on earth, but he warns you because it's so easy to fall off that path.
SPEAKER_00: If you are not focused on your destination, you will fall off that path into the snares of sin so quickly and so easily.
SPEAKER_00: We must take great care in how we walk, seeking wisdom above our own, being sober-minded without distraction, and to remember that our time is here, our time here is just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of this short life, what are people gonna say about you?
SPEAKER_00: Are they gonna say that you used the time that God had given you well and followed his will?
SPEAKER_00: Or are they gonna say that you squandered the time that God gave you and focused on all the wrong things?
SPEAKER_00: What are people gonna say about you?
SPEAKER_00: Paul then shifts to the second concept of understanding God's will.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 17, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
SPEAKER_00: Katie and I were in the car the other day talking about maybe a little bit of laughter and lamenting about this uh this mindset that some people have.
SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard it before, phrase like ignorance is bliss, or maybe even here in the south, well, what you don't know won't hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be real for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: That's a really unwise way to live.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not smart, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's the nicest way I could put that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, the the way that people get severely injured or maybe even go to meet their maker is so often through ignorance, stupidity, lack of knowledge, and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about that.
SPEAKER_00: So 90%, okay?
SPEAKER_00: 90% of snakes in the world, I know that some of you are scared of snakes and even talking about them, you're like, ugh, but 90% of snakes in the world are completely 100% harmless.
SPEAKER_00: You heard me right.
SPEAKER_00: 90% of snakes in the world are harmless.
SPEAKER_00: So why in the world are people scared of them?
SPEAKER_00: Because they don't know.
SPEAKER_00: So if 10% of snakes in the world, of the 10% of the snakes in the world that are actually harmful, that the snakes that actually have venom glands and fangs and an ability to inflict harm on you, only a few of those are actually deadly.
SPEAKER_00: So why in the world are people so scared of snakes?
SPEAKER_00: Because they don't know.
SPEAKER_00: It's unwise to be scared of all snakes when only 10% are dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also unwise and careless to think that any and every snake is able to be picked up and handled safely.
SPEAKER_00: I love this quote.
SPEAKER_00: I read this this week.
SPEAKER_00: A hundred percent of snakes are harmless if you're not stupid.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's like you see a snake over there and you don't know what it is, so don't be stupid and run over and pick it up.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Simple as that.
SPEAKER_00: But the reason you don't know whether it's dangerous or not is because you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have understanding of what it is.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know whether it's harmful or whether it's not.
SPEAKER_00: You see, even in that though, in order not to be stupid when it comes to approaching something potentially dangerous, you have to be aware of the potential danger.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to have a plan for how to avoid it.
SPEAKER_00: Going into this world with no understanding of the dangers that are in this world, with no understanding of how to avoid them, how to combat them when they surface is extremely unwise.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when it will walk down a path of destruction.
SPEAKER_00: When Paul directly tells us to understand what the will of God is, we can interpret that as an admonition for us to simply know, agree, and follow what God's commandments are.
SPEAKER_00: Again, to know, agree, and follow God's commandments throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word for will here can be translated simply to mean what God desires and commands for you to do.
SPEAKER_00: You see, anytime we start a new year, we have this mindset so often that God's will is some mystic future approach that we just basically have to play guesswork with God and going, well, maybe this is your will, maybe it's not.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is saying is God's will is to do what he desires and commands you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Well, where do you find that?
SPEAKER_00: Right here.
SPEAKER_00: It's in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: His desires, his commands for you are in his word.
SPEAKER_00: And when this book remains closed, how do you expect to have understanding of God's will?
SPEAKER_00: How do you expect to know what the dangers of this world are and how to avoid them and how to combat them?
SPEAKER_00: As believers in Christ, we cannot have this book just sitting there on our shelves closed on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: You see, that's where our problem as human beings comes in.
SPEAKER_00: We love to think and we love to say and maybe parade ourselves around saying that we are really truly focused on Jesus more than we actually are.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in order to understand something, you need to focus on it, you need to have dedication towards it.
SPEAKER_00: If we were all truly sober-minded, if all of us in here as believers in Christ were truly sober-minded, there would probably be a lot more disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There'd probably be a lot less college kids who walk away from the Lord after their first semester.
SPEAKER_00: There'd probably be a lot less adultery, which, by the way, just to give you a quick clarification, if you are living under the understanding that pornography and adultery are two separate things, then you have clearly misinterpreted, misunderstood God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus' own words, if you even look at another person with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery with them and against God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to hear me.
SPEAKER_00: If this is something that you struggle with, don't be silent about it.
SPEAKER_00: Come see me, come see one of our other elders afterwards and let us walk with you to get you freed from that addiction.
SPEAKER_00: Getting back to the sober-mindedness, if we truly soberly understood the will of God, maybe we would have less failed marriages, less abuse, less addictions to alcohol and substances, a lot less pride, and probably a lot more chairs filled in our churches.
SPEAKER_00: BC church, we might just be the most distracted and unfocused generation of believers of all time.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: We have been conditioned to need something new, that dopamine rush into our brains.
SPEAKER_00: That we we have this, we have been conditioned to need something new every three to five minutes at most.
SPEAKER_00: Which means during our time together in God's word in this sermon today, you're gonna be at minimum tempted and distracted away from this because you feel like you need something new to check your phone, check your emails, to check the weather.
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do this week?
SPEAKER_00: What do you need to do in your jobs?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna you're gonna be tempted to do that at least 10 to 15 times.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we say that we're focused on Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in this concept, it wasn't anything new to Paul 2,000 years ago when he wrote this.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't anything new.
SPEAKER_00: He saw that generations of believers were already being distracted.
SPEAKER_00: He specifically saw and outlined what people were being filled with instead of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 18, he addressed one of those specific things when he said, And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's let's take a little sidebar here for a second.
SPEAKER_00: This concept of being drunk with an alcoholic beverage.
SPEAKER_00: He's directly addressing drunkenness from abuse of alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: He's not abolishing alcoholic beverages.
SPEAKER_00: He's stating that any form of drunkenness from alcohol is specifically, strictly, and overtly prohibited all throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, scripture says it over seven.
SPEAKER_00: Times don't be drunk with alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: We should probably pay attention to that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, people ask us sometimes, well, what is the orchard's stance on alcohol?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, our stance is what's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get drunk.
SPEAKER_00: Simple as that.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, don't drink an alcoholic beverage to the point where you are no longer clearly minded.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you do, that's when you're drunk.
SPEAKER_00: It's just in the word, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: If your intake of alcohol inhibits your ability to think clearly, you are drunk and walking in sin.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think that this generation that we live in, we we oftentimes give ourselves a pass on special occasions.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was New Year's.
SPEAKER_00: It's New Year's Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I had to go be around a bunch of family at Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: If those things are causing you to get drunk, then you are walking in active sin and must repent of that sin.
SPEAKER_00: Because it is ungodly, it is not right, and it's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You see, even in that still, the grace of Christ Jesus never ends.
SPEAKER_00: His mercy has no bounds.
SPEAKER_00: And if this is something that you struggle with actively, I said it in the first service, please come see me or one of the elders afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have actually guys in our church who have walked through this addiction and come out on the other side freed from it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't stay in that church family.
SPEAKER_00: Don't stay in that.
SPEAKER_00: Be released from it.
SPEAKER_00: Confess it and move on from it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is alcohol the only thing in Scripture that God has called us to be sober from?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture is clear that we are to be sober-minded from anything that will distract us and cause us not to think clearly.
SPEAKER_00: We can be inebriated by alcohol, by drugs, by sex, pride, our jobs, families, digital devices, hobbies, you name it.
SPEAKER_00: Sober-minded is not exclusive to just alcohol, it's the very fabric of our piety towards Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Our walk has to be sober-minded and guided and filled with the Holy Spirit, not the things of this world.
SPEAKER_00: It has to have extreme sobriety away from worldly idols.
SPEAKER_00: You think about something so simple as a field sobriety test.
SPEAKER_00: Now, hopefully, now you've you've probably seen this on TV.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you haven't experienced it firsthand, but guess what?
SPEAKER_00: If you have, there is grace in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But a field sobriety test is when a law enforcement officer sees somebody that could be drunk.
SPEAKER_00: So they get them out of the car and they have them walk a straight line.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that, but that's basically part of it.
SPEAKER_00: And they ask them to walk in a straight line.
SPEAKER_00: When they can't walk in a straight line, it's perceived that they're drunk.
SPEAKER_00: If they can walk in a straight line, maybe they're not.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds so simple and elementary, right?
SPEAKER_00: But yet it's so applicable.
SPEAKER_00: How can you tell when someone is not sober-minded in their walk with Christ?
SPEAKER_00: You observe their walk.
SPEAKER_00: You observe how they walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And whether you realize it or not, I need you to hear me say this.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be pretty easy to point it out.
SPEAKER_00: How you walk with Christ, even if you try to hide it, it will come out one way or the other.
SPEAKER_00: So how then do we walk filled with the power of the Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know when we're being filled with the idolatry of this world?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know when we are soberly minded or when we are stepping off with lack of understanding God's will?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul said it so well in Galatians 5, 16 through 25.
SPEAKER_00: He said, But I say, walk by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There you see this concept of walk again.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not going to gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
SPEAKER_00: But if you are led by the spirit, in other words, filled with the Holy Spirit, you're not under the law.
SPEAKER_00: Now the works of the flesh are evident.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's where we can really start to see what the works of the flesh are.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we can start to see when someone is not soberly minded, when someone is not soberly understanding God's will, Paul is outlining what their lives will look like.
SPEAKER_00: This is what their lives will be filled with.
SPEAKER_00: He says this sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
SPEAKER_00: I warn you as I've warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Paul just dropped a bomb.
SPEAKER_00: He just said, All these people who are pursuing these things, all these people who have, this is what fills their lives, they will not inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's strong language.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just alcohol that we have to be sober from, church.
SPEAKER_00: It's all of what Paul just outlined and so much more.
SPEAKER_00: But then he said the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: He said, when somebody is walking sober-mindedly, when someone is walking with sober understanding of God's will, this is what their lives will look like.
SPEAKER_00: This is what is produced.
SPEAKER_00: For the fruit of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
SPEAKER_00: And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh along with its passions and desires.
SPEAKER_00: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I love how Paul so clearly outlined this.
SPEAKER_00: Church, when we follow our own will, it's gonna be obvious when we compare ourselves to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_00: When's the last time you honestly compared yourself, your walk with Christ, to God's word?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe even better, maybe even more sobering.
SPEAKER_00: When is the last time that you ask somebody in your life who will be honest with you how your walk with the Lord matches up to what is in Scripture?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about the yes people in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about the people who are gonna just cheer you on no matter what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the people who will look at you square in the face and say, hey brother, you are wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You are walking in sin, but God's grace is sufficient for you and you need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about those people.
SPEAKER_00: When's the last time that you ask somebody what your walk looks like?
SPEAKER_00: I know that might be scary, but if you don't have those people in your life, find them.
SPEAKER_00: If you need help finding them, please come see me or come see one of the other elders after service so that we can walk with you in that.
SPEAKER_00: Because y'all, we need each other.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us in this room needs each other to point out blind spots.
SPEAKER_00: Because a blind spot, you can't see it.
SPEAKER_00: I know it sounds simple, but it's just true.
SPEAKER_00: We need each other.
SPEAKER_00: Paul finishes this passage with the concept of responding to God's will.
SPEAKER_00: In this final concept, Paul instructs us what our response to walking in God's will, to understanding, soberly understanding God's will will naturally look like in action.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you observe a college football game, when when a team scores a touchdown, or when they win a game, or maybe a national championship, uh what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's applause, there's excitement, there's joy, there's people are freaking out, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then so often we experience something different.
SPEAKER_00: We experience music, we experience singing, an eruption of the stadium singing.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe if you're a little bit too invested in the game, you might experience tears of joy.
SPEAKER_00: We'll cover that another day.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that happens when we experience victory and joy that is a part of our DNA, our nature created by God, is singing.
SPEAKER_00: When we experience true victory and joy, our natural response is to sing.
SPEAKER_00: That's in our DNA.
SPEAKER_00: That's not forced.
SPEAKER_00: It seems to be, though, in our day and age, it's very easy for the Christian to sing everywhere else but church.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for the Christian to go to their favorite artist and hear a concert and sing.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for a Christian to go to a college sporting event and sing whatever their theme song is when they score a touchdown.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for the Christian, maybe even to sing Christmas carols.
SPEAKER_00: But why is it so often that the Christian comes into these doors and they give a big yawn when they get to their seat and the music starts and they fold their arms like this and they just sit there with their mouths closed the whole time?
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Church, how can a believer in Christ be mute when we sing about the salvation and goodness of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How is this?
SPEAKER_00: How can someone who has been saved by grace stay silent when we sing about the grace of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: This is not the way that God has designed us to be and called us to be.
SPEAKER_00: The concept of worship is mentioned over 8,000 times in Scripture, and 400 of those times are directly related to us singing praises to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: How are the walls of this place not shaking in their foundations from the thunderous roar of the believers in Christ Jesus singing with all their heart because of the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: You can blame circumstances, you can blame preferences, maybe you can blame abilities.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know some of us in this room sing and some of us make joyful noise.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Because not only have we been called and commanded by God, the same kind of command that God told us not to sin and not to do these things, he also gave us a commandment to sing praises to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is it a commandment, but maybe even more so, y'all, we get to sing to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just an obligation, it is an opportunity to open our hearts and open our mouths and declare how awesome Jesus is because of what he's done for us, because of the blood of Christ Jesus on the cross shed for us.
SPEAKER_00: We should feel obligated, we should feel an opportunity to sing to him.
SPEAKER_00: But why our church is so quiet?
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much to this that we could just take hours unpacking.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna keep it just simple and sweet.
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing here?
SPEAKER_00: What's the point when we when we come to this building, when we come to this place?
SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we here?
SPEAKER_00: Is it to give yourself a good grade at the end of the week that you've been a good person this week by attending a church service?
SPEAKER_00: Is it to make yourself feel better about some habitual dark sin that you won't release and confess and tell anyone about?
SPEAKER_00: Is it for social hour?
SPEAKER_00: Is it because we have free coffee and donuts?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we do have free coffee and donuts, and I I've liked a lot too many donuts.
SPEAKER_00: What's it for?
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing here?
SPEAKER_00: When we come to church, we are coming to encounter the living God, to worship him in his splendor, and to address one another with singing.
SPEAKER_00: To put it in another way, we're not here to play church.
SPEAKER_00: We are here to be the church.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: We are not here to play church, we are here to be the church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We got to start taking it seriously, church.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we give thanks to the Lord for all he's done in this Trinitarian worship, filled with the Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: We must open our mouths and sing.
SPEAKER_00: When our hearts are truly filled with the Holy Spirit and with gratitude, our voices will follow suit.
SPEAKER_00: When our hearts are filled with idolatry and sin of this world, our voices will remain mute.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says that from the mouth the heart speaks.
SPEAKER_00: You know what else is true?
SPEAKER_00: With the voice, the heart sings.
SPEAKER_00: So what is it that your voice is singing?
SPEAKER_00: When we gather here on Sundays, church family, if we are truly filled with the Spirit, we will sing together to the Lord and to one another about the Lord with gratitude and joy.
SPEAKER_00: This is the product of walking carefully in God's will, understanding God's will, and responding to God's will.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned earlier, my dad, Roy, you want to know how you can see a lifelong product of pursuing the will of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: This is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: This was taken a few months ago.
SPEAKER_00: Right over here.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't know what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: He's lost about 95% of his ability to communicate and understand anything that's told to him.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, his heart and his life are still being poured out to the Lord every single day.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter in times of little, it doesn't matter in times of plenty.
SPEAKER_00: Our job doesn't change.
SPEAKER_00: One of the crazy and kind of the beautiful things about dementia and Alzheimer's is music is often the last thing to go.
SPEAKER_00: This is a man who's used to singing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what.
SPEAKER_00: When we pursue and submit to the will of Christ above our own, our response will be filled with gratitude, with joy, with reverence, with submission to one another.
SPEAKER_00: As we walk alongside each other, pursuing Christ as one church, one body, one voice, one heart, making melodies to Christ in our hearts and with our mouths.
SPEAKER_00: Is it fear?
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, what do you need to do to begin to understand God's will?
SPEAKER_00: Does your Bible sit closed at home?
SPEAKER_00: Are you unwilling to go ask someone for wisdom to help you understand?
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, what is your response today to God's will?
SPEAKER_00: Is God calling you to walk with him?
SPEAKER_00: Is God calling you to take your next step in your faith, whatever that may be?
SPEAKER_00: Do you come here on Sundays with your mouth closed and your heart like a brick?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you come here soft hearted with your mouth open, ready to sing praises to the Lord Jesus Christ?