Have you ever found yourself stuck in attention to where on one hand, you feel
like you don't have enough time, and then on the other hand, you also feel like
you're wasting too much time? You know what I'm talking about? Like you're
feeling overwhelmed and stressed because of your to do list and your
responsibilities. And so you typically, when you feel overwhelmed or stressed,
you turn to something, right? And, and maybe it's scrolling, maybe it's uh you,
you deep dive into sports or politics or social media or knitting, I don't know
what, like whatever it is, and then you find yourself, and then you even have
some people who like stress clean. You know what I mean? And then you have
people, uh, who, like myself, stress, watch people clean, and, uh, you know what
I mean? Like there's, and they usually marry each other, right? And so, um, and
we go through and what happens is like you can't control this thing, and so then
you try to just, I'm gonna do this and, and we all have our different ways of
managing stress. But at the end of the day, it just feels like the clock keeps
ticking, right? Well, the clocks in our lives don't just keep ticking, they
actually keep talking. Because as much as we say things like time management,
uh, you really can't manage time. Right? Like, it, um, a commentator talking
about people on the Titanic, um, it didn't matter if you spent those final
moments on the Titanic hugging somebody or mugging somebody, the boat was going
down. And so whether you were super productive with your day this yesterday, or
you wasted it, it just kind of keeps moving, doesn't it? And so as, have you
ever had like a really good day, like, man, I nailed it. Like I was organized, I
worked out, I ate healthy. I, I didn't scream at my children, uh, that much, and
then um I go through and like you're really good, but what happens? It's the
next day, and you gotta start again, and again, and it's like, oh my goodness,
like life just pause for a moment, right? So how do we handle that? Well,
today's message is entitled uh Walking in Wisdom, and we wanna talk about what
it means to make the most of the moment that you're in. See, we're in a series
entitled Walking with Jesus, and we shared that when Jesus rose from the dead
there on Easter Sunday, one of the first things he did was he came alongside and
he walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And so Jesus naturally walks
with people, where they are. But then we also learned from 1 John chapter 2,
when it says that if you believe in Jesus, those who believe in Jesus should
walk as Jesus walked. And so if we're called to walk with Jesus and to walk like
Jesus, what does that look like? And so then we've been uh diving into Ephesians
chapter 5 and chapter 6, where faith gets really practical. And so we talked
about what does it mean to walk in love. That love is not a feeling to follow,
but a pattern of practice. And then lastly, we talked about what it means to
walk in light and how Jesus is light and that we are called then to reflect that
light to the world. So if we're walking in love, we're walking in light. Today,
we're gonna talk about what does it mean to walk in wisdom, but I don't want you
just to take my word for it. Let's jump into the word together. So we're in
Ephesians chapter 5, picking things up in verse 15. Look carefully then how you
walk. Not as unwise, but as wise. Making the best use of the time because the
days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is, and 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 and
for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. So, what we see here is
really this truth. What fills you forms you. So choose wisely. What this passage
says right in the middle of everything, is gonna say to be filled with the Holy
Spirit. What fills you forms you, so choose wisely, that you have to look where
you walk. I. It's easy to run into stuff if you're not paying attention. OK?
Anyone ever walked into a screen door or walked into a window by accident? I,
I'm telling you, we have some really clean windows out front. And I'm out front
in between services, and more than one person has gone through that what's not
the door. And, and I see it and I feel it. And, and you're like, do I feel bad?
Do I laugh? Do I do both, right? And so now we've actually moved like a little
table and we have a little set up there, so we don't want people to walk into
it. I mean, kudos to our cleaning team, right? It's so clean, they don't even
see it, everybody's walking through. But if you're not paying attention, we walk
into stuff. That's, that's just human, OK? But what if it's not simply where
we're walking, but it's what we're filling our lives with? What are we filling
our minds? What are we filling our hearts? What are we fill in our lives like?
Because what fills you forms you. Our theme this year is to transform as a
church, that we are transitioning into a new season of church ministry and that
we wanna become more Christ-like um in our lives, and that it says in Romans
12:2, that do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind. Right? And so as we are transformed, we
wanna learn what it means to walk in love, to walk in light, and to walk in
wisdom. And so, we're, what we're gonna see here is that you need the Holy
Spirit in your life to then lead to the overflow into how you speak and how you
live and how you treat others. But let's walk through this passage together.
We're gonna see a few notes, OK? First thing here we see in verse 15, it says
that that we are called to walk wisely. Walk wisely. That should tell us then
that if we can walk wisely, we can also walk foolishly. Uh, it's not just walk,
it's how you walk. Um, there is a just ridiculous group, um, back in the day,
British comedians called Monty Python, right? And if you're laughing, we can be
friends. And if you don't get it, it's OK. Don't go there. It's just, it's just
healthier if you don't, but, uh, there's a, there is a whole skit about silly
walks, right? And how you walk it cause how you walk matters. And it was
somebody walking around and they were like doing this and it just looked kind of
crazy. Um, and because how you walk matters. Well, how you walk as a believer
matters. That you are called to walk wisely. OK, well, what does that mean?
Well, it, it means in here init initially, it talks about walking aware. In
other words, you walk looking around. And then you walk precisely, OK. You walk,
looking around and you walk precisely. Uh, uh, uh, 22 ideas pop into my head for
this. First, when it comes to walk, looking around, I think about all the summer
camps where, uh, one of the activities with the kids is playing paintball. Have
you ever played paintball? Uh, it's a lot of fun. Um, and so, uh, you go, and I
remember one time, uh, we're at the church in Florida, and there was a girl who
just, friends convinced her to play paintball, but she had no idea what
paintball meant. And she wasn't paying attention during the instructions. And
she didn't have long sleeves, she was in shorts and a t-shirt. And you're
playing, and they said, if you get, if you get hit with a paintball, you raise
your gun, right, I'm, I'm out and you got, and no one can shoot the paintball at
you, and then you gotta leave the field, right? And so we go out and it's a
large group, and this might be shocking, but the guys were excited that this was
a coed experience, OK? And so, all of a sudden in the middle of the field, I see
this girl, I'm like, oh no, she's is not gonna go well. And she, uh the paint
goes boom. She goes, ow. That's it. Doesn't say anything, so the other words,
ow. Oh, and so she starts going and I'm like, raise, raise the gun, raise, like,
get out, and so I was, I was like, you're, you're on the paintball field, like
this is not like we're not making bracelets, OK? Like this is, that's a
different activity, you know. It was almost like she didn't realize what
paintball was. OK. Now fast forward to this last summer, it was fun. We were
playing paintball up at summer camp, and one of our leaders, uh, was, and my
brother-in-law is military, and, uh, and the boys were getting cocky. And so
that was actually really fun to watch one of our leaders to single-handedly take
out all the entire high school boys group in one setting, and it felt very
rewarding as leaders, uh, to train up a child in the way they go, OK, anyway.
When you're playing paintball, OK, you understand that you're in a battle. Like
you're walking, looking around, paying attention, trying not to get hit, but
also be active. I, I wanna, I wanna say this in love, that I think as
Christians, many of us don't understand that we are actually in a battle. That
when you leave these doors, this building, you're gonna walk out, not into
easiness, just. Kumbaya, like you are walking into a battlefield. And so it's
important for us to understand that as believers, we are called to walk wisely.
In other words, walk looking around, cause Satan wants to take you down. But
here's the thing in our culture, Satan doesn't have to destroy you. He just
simply has to distract you. He doesn't want you to share your faith. He doesn't
want you to lead your marriage and to lead your kids and to serve and love
others the way that he did. He wants you to leave, he wants you to live
selfishly, to live it for worldly passions to bring you down. And so if we are
not walking in a way that looks around, that we will miss it. But then also it
says to walk precisely, OK. And here I think about having young kids after they
just got done playing Legos, right? Have you ever tried to walk through a room
where it's filled with Legos? You will walk, you will watch where you step,
right? Because 11 little pointy thing up in your foot and you will just question
your faith for a moment. But, but you will take every step like watching where
you go. Why? Because you don't wanna get hurt, OK? I'm saying here, you have to
walk, looking around. Wisdom is not just intelligence, but it's information with
application. What are you doing with the information that you have? How are you
applying it in your life? Cause what I've learned is this, is that you don't
drift into wisdom, you decide it. You don't drift into wisdom, you decide it.
Uh, I love those little flat escalators at the airport, you know, and I realized
it's not an escalator cause escalators are stairs. So, fun fact, not part of the
sermon, but maybe, you know, do you know those, you know those things they're
called travulators? You can look it up, Travelator. That's the name of the
moving walkway at the airport. There you go. You're welcome. Um, try to use
Travelator somewhere in the conversation this week. Um, I love the Travelator
because when you step on it, you don't have to do anything and you're just
going, right? Unless you go towards the wrong gate. And then you step on it and
now like, oh wait, I was supposed to go that way and like you're just like going
away. Here's the thing, life as we have it here does not include travelators.
Like we think the Christian life, if I just step on this belt, and they're like,
oh, I'm going. OK? No, the world wants you to drift. By default, you will drift.
By default, you will fall short. How do I know that? Because anything in life
that has health involves like intentionality, you have to decide it, right?
You're not binge eating healthy. You are not like, like binge learning other
languages and learning all these things, like, no, it's, it's, it's streaming,
it's scrolling, it's filling, it's distracting, it's numbing, it's escaping,
right? You will not drift into wisdom, you have to decide it, right? Understand
that you're in a battle. And walk looking around. To walk wisely But then it
doesn't stop there. He goes to the next verse. And I love this phrase here, to
redeem, we are called as Christians to redeem your time. Now normally I'm
preaching out of the ESV, uh, or I like that, it's kind of a combo of between
thought for thought and word for word, kind of in the middle there. Uh, but for
any, uh, King James people out there, I'm, I'm gonna give King James the nod on
this one cause check out how they word, uh, verse 15 and 16. I just love this
phrase here. It says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as
wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time, OK? What
does that mean? Well, earlier this spring, we studied Exodus and we shared how
God used Moses to bring about the people from underneath the slavery and rule of
Pharaoh and the Egyptians and how God used that word redeemed to buy back his
people or to buy back what is rightfully his. And that really was a setup for
when Jesus came, that he offers redemption for those who place their faith in
him because Jesus paid the penalty on the cross. And in other words, that when
Jesus died on the cross, he paid the, the, the wrath or whatever, took on the
wrath of God, of what was needed because of our sin. So Jesus bought back what
was rightfully his. OK? So there's a redemption piece to redeem, just to buy
back. What does it say about time? Well, time here is not used in the word
chronos, which is where we get chronology, right? You get a clock, you get
calendar, right? You think schedule that it says redeem your Kairos. and I love
the definition of Kairos because Kairos is God's appointed moment, time or
season. So, so what he's saying here, walk as wise, walk looking around, redeem
the season, buy back God's divine appointed time or season right now. Why?
Because the days are evil. Cause by default, we live in a culture that wants to
distract and pull you away from him. The reason I love this phrase to buy back
your um your devoted time here or season is because you're not actually out of
time. You might just be out of focus, right? You're not out of time, you're out
of focus. I think too often as believers, we think that God's appointed time.
It's all happy giggles and bubbles, right? Like, I'm a Christian, God's good,
yay, this is great. We're gonna be on clouds playing harps and it's awesome. But
it doesn't say that. It says in Romans 8:28 that God, for those who love God, he
will work for good, all things. He doesn't say all things are good, but rather,
he will use those things and work in those times for his good. For his glory.
And the reason this should be encouraging for you and me is that the question is
not how can we be good in these times, but the question is how can we redeem the
season that we're in? Let me ask you, what season are you in right now? Are you
in a grieving season? Are you in a hurting season? Are you in a waiting season?
See, God speaks through suffering. God speaks into our grief. God speaks through
those difficult times. Maybe you're battling addiction. Maybe you just got a
diagnosis that you weren't expecting. Maybe you have a sudden loss, and so now
you're in this darkness, in this valley, and I wanna let you know that faith is
just as real now as the day before that thing happened. And if anything, your
faith is gonna become more real than ever, because you need it more than ever.
The Bible does not say that everything in your life is good at all times. The
only thing that is good at all times is God. And in the brokenness and the
frailty of this life, we understand that we are vulnerable to our lives
completely being upended in a moment. But God is bigger than that. We'll meet
you in that moment so that you have the opportunity to redeem. The time of the
season you're in. That means that God has called you to redeem the grief, that
God has called you to redeem the weight, that God has called you to redeem the
suffering, because do you know who suffered, who waited, who struggled, who had
battles, who experienced loss and betrayal and hurt the most out of anybody in
all history? Jesus. So you are not outside of the will of God when you struggle,
but rather, there's a chance to redeem the time. But it takes the right focus.
There is nothing that shapes your priorities when tragedy strikes, is it? Last
Sunday night, uh, I was in an unusual church moment. I say that because it was a
church service at a BMX track. OK. And we lost a local community member. This
last week. And, and so his friends gathered to honor him at the BMX track and to
say that the cast of characters was a little bit unique from your typical church
is an understatement, but I loved it. Because here at sunset, at a bike track,
the sun going down was a couple 100 people were story after story after story.
was about how a man loved God and loved people. So there, honoring his legacy in
his life, was he perfect? No. Was he messy? 100%. Was he allowed in everything
100%. But story after story after story was how he loved God and loved people,
so that there we're having church service on a BMX track on a Sunday night at
sunset. Right? It's redeeming the time. It's redeeming the season you're in. If
you're hurting, then you understand how real God is. If you're struggling, you
understand how real God is. If, if you're used to going out and having friends
and a social life, and now you're at home with little ones and changing diapers
and dealing with um crying babies and going through, understand that God's with
you in that moment. That whatever season you're in, God can work through and
redeem for his glory. What it takes is intention and attention. What it's
getting your attention and what is getting your attention. I, I share this with
couples, uh, when I'm doing premarital counseling, is that there was a season in
my life where church was everything. Right, Church, ah, like I'm just there
like, how much can I be at church all the time, going to church, church, church,
church. Um, and so I was, uh, having a conversation with my wife and she asked
the question and she was like, hey, uh, hey, what do we have coming up next week
or next month for church? And it's like, oh, we got this retreat, we got this
trip, we got this thing, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I rattle off. I'm like,
yeah, God. It's awesome. Um, when's our next date night? And I was like, I love
you. When's our next family trip? See, it wasn't that I didn't love my wife, it
wasn't that I didn't love my kids, but my calendar didn't have my family in
focus. It wasn't that ministry was bad. It was just I wasn't giving attention
and intention to my greatest ministry in this life, which is my spouse and my
kids. So I had to make some changes and adjust priorities in those moments and
understand that things like trips and regular date nights and, and conversations
and one with kids, all those things matter. And guess what? The more I leaned
into that, the more effective I actually got in ministry as well. Right.
Understand that it's not, it doesn't have to be like work or family. That when
you live out your calling and understand who gets your attention, who gets your
intention, that you can live with purpose, you can redeem the season and time of
life and moment that you're in right now. And God will do it for His glory, OK?
So we're called to walk wisely. We're called to redeem your time. Third, we're
called to know God's will, to know God's will. It says in there, therefore, do
not be foolish, but understand what is the will of the Lord. This means that
foolishness is not ignorance, it's carelessness. It's carelessness. It it's not
being intentional with how that is. And I think too often we get so focused on
the hidden will of God that we forget the value of the revealed will of God.
Here's what I mean. You'll be processing a decision, like, oh, I have 3 paths
that I could walk down or 3 jobs. So I take this job or this job or this job.
But we never stop and actually ask God, not just what am I supposed to do.
Instead, a better question is, God, who am I supposed to be? Because more than
where God's gonna take you, God's gonna shape who you're gonna be in the
process. Do you know the will of God? Do you know the character of God? Do you
know the heart of God? Because that's gonna shape how you walk and how you live
on a daily basis. Back to that theme verse for the year for us. Do not be
conformed any longer into the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the
renewal. of your mind. How are you going to live in whatever the decision is you
make along the way? Does your life ref reflect the fruit of the Spirit? Are you
becoming a little more like Jesus? Because as you do that, he will guide you in
wisdom. But you have to know the will of God. Here's what I know to be true,
that clarity comes on the other side of obedience. Clarity comes on the other
side of obedience. You don't have to understand your situation fully to obey
immediately. Time and time and time again, God in the Bible tells somebody to do
something and follows it up with, trust me. Sometimes it's to build a boat,
sometimes it's to leave, sometimes it's a challenge, sometimes it's to share,
sometimes it's to serve. But if you want to know the will of God, start by
obeying the word of God, and you trust Him in the process and he's going to lead
you to a deeper connection, OK? Called to walk wisely. We're called to redeem
our time. We're called to know the will of God, but then 4th, it says to be
filled with the Spirit. To be filled with the spirit, says don't get drunk with
wine, but be filled. In Egypt, there was a goddess of wine. That people would
worship by drinking. Repeatedly, OK. And I understand that he said, no, no,
don't get drunk. With that spirit, OK. See what I did there? See, OK. Be filled
with the Spirit of God. Because what fills you forms you. But can we be honest,
it's not just alcohol that people turn to to be filled, right? Anything in this
life that we turn to for the purpose of escape is used as a distraction to
something God has called us to greater. Could be an addiction, could be a
scroll, could be buying stuff. Could be productivity for the sake of
affirmation, right? Performative addiction there. What are you filling your life
with that's that's distracting you from a deeper relationship with God? You
gotta be filled with something. And here's the problem too, by the way, is that
we think the world is filled with, don't sin, don't sin, don't sin, but we never
put the good stuff in its place. And we end up feeling empty. I, uh, I took my
kids to a fast food place. And I ordered and my kids don't like any of the
toppings on the burgers. And so I said I want a kid's meal with a cheeseburger.
Uh, uh, and have you ever had a worker where you don't feel like they're getting
your order? You say it, and they nod, but you're like, I don't trust you right
now. You know what I'm talking about? OK, I had one of those workers. Uh, we're
all made in the image of God. Some require more grace than others. Um, and so I
said, I want a kid's meal, and I want the burger plain. I want nothing on it. So
I got it. I was like, So you got it. So, cheeseburger, plain, nothing. I don't
want, I don't want anything, cheeseburger, plain, nothing. You're good? Yup.
Wasn't confident, but I paid and sat down. Definitely double-checked the receipt
to make sure I was charged the correct amount. But I go back and sit down, they
call, order, we go up and get our food, my child takes a bite, um. Dad, Look at
this, he opens it up. There was nothing on the inside. They literally wrapped a
bun. And so I said, I want a cheeseburger plain with nothing. The worker took
that as nothing and literally wrapped a bun and said, I know what this person
wants. And now I have to go confront the person and show the button with it. OK,
why do I share that? OK. Some of you are trying to live the Christian life with
just a bun. OK. You got nothing on the inside and you're like, why does this not
taste right? Like, you need God in your life. It's not just, OK, I'm gonna take
out the bad things of the world. No, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit
to be transformed from the inside out, that you're not gonna be able to walk
wisely. You're not gonna be able to uh redeem your time, and you're not gonna be
able to know the will of God if you don't have the Spirit of God living inside
of you, guiding you along the way. This is the key. Because the Spirit of God
and the Word of God and the people of God are gonna transform, shape you from
the inside out, so that you can walk out, head out of these doors and understand
that you're walking into a spiritual battle, but you can walk looking around,
that you can redeem the time, even how it doesn't matter how difficult the
season is, that God's got a plan for you in that season. It will give you the
strength and the power and the peace that goes beyond understanding to get
through that moment and to get and overcome whatever the world throws your way.
It'll, it'll spill into every area of your life. You know, on Sunday, if I have
in here, it's either water or coffee or maybe something else, I don't know.
Yeah, OK, don't, don't nod like directly like, oh, we know what's in there. Um,
it's coffee or water, calm down. If I spill, in this case, coffee. Now, it, it's
gonna, coffee's gonna spill out because it's what's in my cup. And that sounds
really silly and obvious, OK? But whatever's inside of you is gonna spill out
into your life. And so if you're like going along and all of a sudden, blah
burst of anger. You ever thought, well, where did that come from? OK, what, what
have you been putting in the cup though? Cause if you've been putting selfish
desires and sinful desires and worldly things, and the stress from the world and
everything that's out there, and you haven't been putting in the Spirit of God,
the Word of God, the people of God, the things in your life, what do you think's
gonna spill out around you? Cause here's what I know to be true, that if you
don't have anything in your life, if you're that bun with nothing in the middle,
OK, empty people make emotional decisions. Empty people make emotional
decisions. How do I know that? Because even if you've never prayed in your life,
if that car gas tank is on E, all of a sudden now we become spiritual, don't we?
God, I know the gas tank says I got 5 miles and I gotta drive 8, but if you
could just help me out. Right. You need more than what we're doing right now to
sustain you. You need more than an hour at church once a month or once a week.
You need daily power, time, prayer, connection in his word, people in your life,
to fill in your life so that you can Make healthy and wise decisions. Jordan
Rayner, who wrote the book Redeem Your Time, actually said this, he said, the
goal of productivity is not to get more done, but to get the right things done
for the glory of God and the good of others. Isn't that good? We always think
more, more, more, more, more. But what if we thought it's not just about getting
more things done, but what if we think about getting the right things done for
the glory of God and the good of others? Well, how do we do that? Well, we have
to understand that what fills you forms you. So choose wisely. What fills you
for you to choose wisely. And what it continues to do then is to share what a
filled life looks like. Next week, we're gonna talk about what is a spirit-
filled marriage look like? And there's no controversial statements in next
week's passage at all. It's one that everyone agrees with. There's no, OK, if
you read it ahead, you, you know what I'm talking about. But we're gonna have
fun next week, OK? So make sure you come back next week. We'll talk about
healthy relationships. But where it starts actually, and right in our passage
today, it gives us three results of a spirit-filled life. Things that spill out
naturally, just as coffee would spill out of this cup right now. It would spill
out of your life because spirit is in your life. Number one is joyful worship.
Joyful worship It says addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs and singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. I love that
because it is both corporate and personal. It says sing to one another. Why?
Because you need it. We need each other. I'm a sports junkie. I love it. And
it's so fun to be at a game when you're the home team, right? And you're
cheering like, ah, right? And you're and and and you're cheering your team on.
Look, you need it, everyone needs a cheering section. And when we sing worship,
we are singing to God. But it says in here, we're also singing to each other,
because we are reminding each other that Jesus is the center of this church.
That hey, I don't know what you're walking through right now, but I want you to
know that God is a firm foundation. That he is all knowing and all powerful. And
whatever you're walking through right now, God's got you. We need to remind each
other of this every single week. That's why psalms are scripture-based songs,
hymns, theological declarations, spiritual songs are spontaneous expressions
that we can encourage one another that God is here, God is real, and God is
good. But not only are we singing to each other, we are singing to God, an
audience of one that we are making declaration in our hearts that it is both
corporate and personal, that God, we love you. God, you are real. And that even
in the darkest times we can sing, God, I'm glad this is temporary. This is why
you came. This is why you saved. The second result of a spirit-filled life. is a
grateful heart. Verse 20 it says, giving thanks always and for everything to God
the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes you're thanking God
for what was. If you're grieving, you're grieving the loss because of the life
and the impact that person had. Sometimes, you're being thankful for the saving
from ahead of time. God, I'm glad I didn't go down this way. God, I'm glad that
you met me here. Glad I'm, uh, God, I'm grateful that even in the darkest time
you're with me in these moments. That we can be grateful, not because all things
are good, but that God is good in the midst of all things. We don't mourn like
the world mourns. We don't weep like the world weeps. We don't struggle like the
world struggles. Why? Because Jesus Himself is our peace. We have joyful
worship, humble our grateful heart. The last thing then is humble relationships.
Notice there, it says submit to one another, collectively. Guys and girls,
brothers and sisters in Christ. As the body Because if you are spirit filled, if
you're walking wisely, if you are making the most and redeeming the season of
life that you're in, and you study and know the will of God, filled with the
Holy Spirit, you think you're gonna bring arrogance into your relationship? No
Like, wow, God is changing me from the inside out. How can I love and serve you?
Because you need that too. Is an overflow from the spirit in your life? Is it
messy? 100%. Do we mess up all the time? Yes. Are we broken people? Yes. And yet
God still uses us and meets us here. So let me ask you, in closing. What's
filling your life right now? What's filling your life? Because what fills you
forms you. And I can tell you, if you don't fill it with the word of God, the
Spirit of God, the people of God, the worship of God. You're gonna drift. You're
gonna get depressed, you're gonna struggle. But can I tell you this though too?
Even with the word of God, even with the Spirit of God, even all things, can I
tell you something that you don't tend to hear at church a lot, you will still
struggle. But that's OK, cause that's what God's using to shape you and mold
you, because you will not stay in the struggle. God will take you by the hand
and lead you out step by step. That's why we want to walk with him. Not all
things are good, but God is good. So let's walk in wisdom, be filled with the
spirit to be formed to be more in like his image. Will you pray with me? Dear
Heavenly Father, just thank you for who you are and what you've done. It's gotta
help us to walk looking around, knowing that we're in a spiritual battle. To
walk wisely, God help us to redeem the time, the season that we're in. The highs
and the lows, the busyness, so that whatever it is, God, I pray that we can make
the most for your glory. God, I pray that we can know your will by knowing your
word. That we can be filled with the Spirit, not filling our lives with
distractions and the things that pull us away from you, but rather fill us with
the things that make you more like you. So we can have joyful worship, a
grateful heart, and humble and lasting and meaningful relationships. Meet us in
the space today. For your glory and in your name we pray. Amen.