E91: Children of Light

Today, as my wife and I may have finally put an end to our church shopping and found a new church home in Indianapolis, I wanted to share some of my notes from today's sermon at East 91st Street Christian Church, affectionately referred to as E91. The topic of the sermon was Children of Light, and the message was taken mostly from the fifth chapter of Ephesians.

• How do we live as children of light?
• -- Use time for a moral purpose -- you never get it back again.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16 [NIV]

• -- Walk in wisdom.
• -- How can I use my time more effectively?
• -- For one week, write down how you use your time -- you will be amazed at how much time you waste.
• -- Redeem the time.
• -- Ask God to give you good things to do with your time instead.
• -- Don't waste the precious time that you have.
• -- Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• -- You are filled with the Holy Spirit at the time that you accept Christ as your savior. In this context, being "filled" with the Holy Spirit means to let the Holy Spirit dominate your life.

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. John 16:20 [NIV]

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52 [NIV]

• -- Make a choice.
• -- You must make a choice to be involved.
• -- This is a daily choice, not just a one time thing.
• -- Confess and yield.
• -- Deal with the things that might prevent the Holy Spirit from dominating you.
• -- Confessing means to tell God what he already knows. He wants to hear it.
• -- God wants us to yield, but we have to make that choice.
• -- Walk by faith.
• -- Actively participate in the fact that you've surrendered to God's will.
• -- Don't sit and wait for direction. God has given His direction in the Bible. If He wants to redirect you, He will interrupt you with new directions.
• -- The goal of a Christian is not to go to church, soak things up like a sponge, then live like it doesn't matter in his/her life.
• What are the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19 [NIV]

• -- Speaking and singing.
• -- When the Holy Spirit is guiding you, you can't help but to share that in word and song.
• -- Not just words, but tangible activites: giving, being nice, doing.
• -- Giving thanks.

always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 [NIV]

or although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21 [NIV]

• -- Thank God for being in control of life regardless of the circumstances.
• -- Trust God, even when you don't get your way.
• -- We need to get past our desire to be comfortable and safe.
• -- Be submitting to all.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 [NIV]

• -- Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. treat others as if they are more important than you are/
• When I do something wrong, I want grace and mercy. When you do something wrong, I want justice. Why?
• -- Lay down your life for others and love others.
• -- Risk your life to be sure that others have a chance to know Christ.
• When the prodigal son deserved justice, his father gave him love instead.

This sermon had me thinking about what things I do to waste my time. I'm sure there are several things I do on a daily basis that don't contribute to the Kingdom of God, don't expand myself intellectually or spiritually or emotionally, or don't help my family to grow. I'm going to be working on this over the next week as I take daily inventory of my time and see where I can trim away some of the fat. I'll share details in a future article.

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Joe

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True Confessions

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Matthew 16:13-17
• O: In the days when Jesus walked this Earth among us, there was much doubt as to who he was. Was he the Son of Man, sent here by God to save us from our sins? Some thought the Son of Man was John the Baptist, Elijah, or someone else. But Simon Peter spoke up with certainty, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
• A: I was watching the news on CNN last night, and Wolf Blitzer was talking to retired basketball player Charles Barkley. Barkley was announcing his support for Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Interestingly, he said he would back Hillary Clinton if she were to become the nominee -- he just had to vote for a Democrat. And why? Because, in his words, Conservatives are "fake Christians." Barkley is pro-choice, for gay marriage, and against increasing taxes. In his opinion, today's Conservatives are fake because we "want to be judge and jury." He says we aren't forgiving. As much as liberals want to maintain "separation of church and state" -- which, by the way, is not guaranteed in the Constitution -- Religion plays a major role in politics in our country. How many times have we heard the media express their concern over Mitt Romney being a Mormon, or Mike Huckabee being a former Baptist Minister? How many times have we heard the Democratic candidates try to tell us of their religious beliefs (which, by the way, they have to tell us about because they haven't shown us by their actions). It's easy to deny Christ day by day, only to quote Him or one of His teachings when it benefits you. But what of standing strong on your beliefs like Simon Peter? What of speaking up and saying that yes, Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, who came to take away the sins of the world? What would you say if you were asked? Would you confess, or deny? And if you would deny, then how does that impact the rest of your life? Do you "swear to God?" Do you take the Lord's name in vain? Do you believe in Heaven and Hell? Think about it. Feel free to comment.
• P: Father, help me to be strong in my convictions, to show my beliefs by my actions, to confess you with my mouth. Help me to wear my heart on my sleeve. I want to shout it from the mountaintop, that Jesus Christ is King!

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