In this special series of teaching we are doing for the holiday season, Pastor Landis Fisher is taking a slight detour from our study through the entire book of Romans, to deliver a sequence of topical messages to escalate us into a deeper understanding of how to handle more things at the Spiritual level, even during peak stressful times such as the holiday season in general. Listen as we continue to this installment with a new topic from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the 5th chapter which he has titled: “Co-Operating With A Redeemed Mind”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Psalms 1:1 – 6 (KJV)
Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psa 1:4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Psa 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Psa 1:6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
New Testament Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:1 – 16 (KJV)
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Eph 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Eph 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Transforming Power Statements:
1) Psalms 1, (Gateway to the Psalter) presents to us the realm of the spiritual, and how the ones who trust in the living God must train themselves via constant meditation on the things of God contained in His WORD, rather than following the deadly advice of the fallen world of rejecters whose mindsets are against the truth!
2) Paul teaches us in Ephesians that since Christ Jesus our perfect Savior, has done all that the Father requires on our behalf to secure God’s blessing and His foreign righteousness, that we , like the Psalmist, must devote ourselves to becoming “Imitators of God” from where ever we are in life, and to learn to walk in opposition to our fallen nature, thus attaining actual victory over sin of every stripe.
3) The stern warning in Ephesians 5:13 – 16 let’s us know that the ones who are truly changed through their relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus the Christ, must practice making the best usage of their time in the on-going pursuit of ‘actual righteousness’, knowing that time is winding up, and the fallen world is only getting more and more worse than ever.
