Walking In Wisdom In An Evil World

He is worthy. Go ahead and have a seat and grab your Bibles. And thanks for being here. Early morning for you. Probably a little bit tired. Lost an hour of sleep. That’s ok. We’re fired up about the Word of God today. Amen? Go ahead and grab your Bibles and open to Ephesians chapter 5. And we have been on this journey for ten weeks in the series called “ONE- United in Christ.” And we’ve been looking at what it looks like to imitate God on the earth, to have a walk that is worthy of our calling. You’ve been chosen to be chosen and blameless on the earth and therefore your walk should reflect your wealth in Christ.

And so for ten weeks we saw the imperatives that Paul is giving to us in order to walk in a manner worthy of our call. We should remove falsehood from our midst and speak the truth. We don’t sinfully get angry or steal. Were called to not grieve the Holy Spirit with corrupting talk or unkindness. We don’t even have a hint of sexual sin among us as believers in Christ as we walk as children of light, not as children of darkness in the world. And all of these sum up in part what it looks like to actually walk like a child of God on the earth and not just say you are one.

The old has gone; the new has come. And if you are in Christ you are a new creation. And so we live a life that is pleasing to God, that is reflecting of the holiness of God on the earth. And if you’re struggling to live a life that models what Ephesians is calling us to model then you are living in the futility of your mind. This is not the way that you learned Christ, right? We learned Christ by surrendering and submitting to Him, bringing our sin into the light that we might walk in righteousness.

And so your only hope of doing this is not in your own strength. It’s not in your own power. You’re not going to wake up every day because you know the message of the gospel and live a holy life. And so the big idea that I want to give to you today is this. The Holy Spirit is your only hope of walking in wisdom in an evil world. The Holy Spirit is your only hope of walking in wisdom in an evil world. The days that we live in, these are the last days as we wait for Christ’s return, and they are known as evil days. We’ll talk about it today.

But I want to turn your attention to God’s Word and let’s allow His holy Word to speak to us as we enter into this time of worship together today. The Holy Spirit is your only hope for walking in wisdom in an evil world. Ephesians chapter 5 starting in verse 15.

It says this: 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 our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-21)

So this is God’s Word for us today and it’s a great end to a ten-week section. And the first point that I want to give to you today is this: Satan has no problem filling your idle time. Satan has no problem filling your idle time.

And if you look in verse 15 it says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

So this is what we’ve been looking at in the book of Ephesians, how we walk carefully in the world, how we walk carefully as we imitate God and have a walk that’s reflecting our wealth in Christ. It made me think of a slackline. Have you ever seen somebody walk on a slackline? It’s like a ratchet strap or a mountain climbing strap. You tie it to like both ends of the trees. It’s got a lot of bounce. And people walk on this kind of thing, right? Like it sounds crazy.

But I remember being at the Freel’s house, a family in our church, for a picnic a couple of years ago. And they had a slackline. And I thought to myself, “I’m a pretty agile guy. I’m going to walk on the slack rope.” Ok? So I got up there. And I’ll tell you what. I didn’t look careful at all. I mean my legs were going back and forth and the line was waving. And I tried to gracefully put one foot in front of the other. And I didn’t look careful. I looked like an absolute fool. And then I was on the ground in an instant. And I thought, “That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I can’t walk on a slackline.”

And their son Evan, he took off his shoes and from the ground he jumped up onto the slack line and he just looked so agile. And he starts walking forward and he’s walking backwards and he’s doing tricks and all this. And I’m like, “That’s amazing!” And what I noticed about Evan as he was walking on the slackline is he never was looking down at his feet. He was never looking down at where he was carefully walking on this line. He was looking straight ahead at the tree. He had his eyes locked on the destination, where he was trying to go. And he told me that’s the key to walking on a slackline. He made the destination his center or his focal point or his stabilizer.

And as I started to think about the slack line and as I started to think about this message and this text for this week, I thought that’s exactly what it means to walk carefully in a broken world. My walk reflecting my wealth is dependent on my eyes remaining on the prize. If you get your eyes off of the prize, then you get off of the line. You get your eyes off of the prize, then you get off of the path that you are called to walk. And this path is narrow but it leads to life.

Now the text wants to help us see that walking carefully looks like wisdom versus folly. This is massive in the Bible. Last week we saw the metaphor of light and darkness. Well today we’re seeing wisdom versus folly. There’s an entire book dedicated to wisdom in the Bible. Let me show you some of them from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 2:6 on the screen says this: For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. So if the Lord is giving something, then I want what He’s giving. Right? I want to apply that to my life.

Proverbs 16:16: How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

So if I have wisdom I’m rich! I’m wealthy. And wisdom tends to be tied with understanding.

Proverbs 10:8: The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

The wise at heart receives the things of God’s Word, receives the things that God tells us to walk in and obeys them. But the babbling fool comes to ruin.

Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

If you have humility, if you think of yourself less, if you lower yourself so that you could exalt Jesus Christ, you have wisdom.

And Proverbs 4:7: The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost you all that you have, get understanding. You might have to give everything up. You might have to lose your life. But if you can get wisdom, you can get the mercies and the insight to the God of glory.

And so you’re probably asking, “How do I get wisdom in this evil world?” How does a person get wisdom in a foolish world? And I want you to see today that if you are in Christ Jesus, you’ve been given all that you need. If you are in Christ Jesus, He’s already extended the mercy to you through the wisdom that He’s given to you.

Look at Ephesians 1:7-9. It’s on the screen. When you were saved, you got the wisdom of God. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.

When you were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, you were given insight to the things of God. You were given wisdom that comes from God alone. And every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is able to make you holy and blameless here on the earth. But too often Christians fail to tap into the power of God that has been given to them from on high. You have all that you need.

Remember it’s like having the keys to Buckingham Palace and yet you never go in and you never explore what you have. You’ve been given everything that heaven has to offer as a believer in Christ Jesus and so take advantage of it. Ask the Lord for it. Open your eyes to it. Begin to obey and walk in a manner worthy of your calling.

And this God-given wisdom and insight is a guarantee of walking in that manner, guaranteed. If you follow the Word of God, if you follow what God has said, then you will look like Christ on the earth. You will have wisdom rather than folly. But Proverbs 12:15 says, The way of the fool is right in his eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. And the advice that the Bible gives us is in verse 16 of Ephesians chapter 5. Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Satan has no problem filling your idle time. In fact, he’s prowling around waiting for you to let your guard down. Satan and the forces of this world are waiting for you to get your eyes off the prize. Even the slightest steps toward the things of this world are an opportunity for the flesh, as sin is constantly knocking at your door. So Scripture says look carefully, believer. Look carefully those of you who are in Christ, how you walk because the days are evil.

So when the Bible says that the days are evil, what it is saying is the days that we live in, the days that you wake up in every day, the days that your kids wake up in every day, they’re not neutral and you choose good or you choose bad. They are evil. They are wicked. They are morally reprehensible. The days that we live in are bringing trouble. They are wicked.

I want you to consider what Don Whitney says from Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I think our senior adults are going through this book, and you can buy it in the lobby. But it says this: “Our days are days of active evil. There are great thieves of time that are minions of the world, the flesh and the devil. They may range in form from high tech, socially acceptable preoccupations to simple idle talk or ungoverned thoughts. But the natural course of our minds, our bodies, our world and our days lead us toward evil, not toward Christlikeness.

So the idea here is that you will not drift toward spiritual things. You will not drift toward holiness. You will not drift toward a walk that is worthy of your wealth in Christ. You will not drift toward naturally putting off sin and putting on Christlikeness. You have to intentionally do it every single day just like you put your clothes on every single day. You will not drift toward imitating God because the days are evil. And if you let your guard down or even become stagnant in your faith, the only drifting you will get caught up in is following the course of this world.

And you remember that’s where we all once lived, right? Ephesians chapter 2. We once lived in the passions of our flesh following the course or the system of this world. And guess who is the prince? Guess who is ruling the system of this world? Satan himself, the devil. He’s a liar. He’s a thief. He seeks to kill and destroy your life. And if you are not intentional to run after Chrsit every single day, you will get caught up in the course of this world.

It’s like a boat on an ocean or on a lake or on a river with no rower. It’s not just going to stand still. It’s certainly not going to go upstream. You’re just going to get swept away with the current, and it’s evil. The current is evil. And the current of this world will gladly pick you up. Satan will gladly pick you up on his train.

That’s why every moment of everyday is an opportunity to claim for the glory of God. Every decision that you make is an opportunity for the glory of God. and Paul tells us to redeem the time, to redeem the time.

Look again at what Don Whitely says from the book. “Thoughts must be disciplined, otherwise like water they tend to flow downhill or stand stagnant.” That’s why in Colossians 3:2 we’re commanded, “Set your mind on things that are above.” That’s the center of the slackline. “Without this conscious, active, disciplined setting of the direction of our thoughts, they will be unproductive at best and evil at worst.”

If you don’t take every thought captive, you will be unproductive at best, but you will be evil at worst. Without self-control you will naturally serve evil rather than God. That statement should terrify every person in the room. The wickedness of your own heart should terrify every person in the room. The pain caused by the evil of this world should be your motivation to walk carefully in wisdom every day if you are a believer in Christ, and the people who profess to be believers but who lead you into sin and evil may be nothing more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. And this is evil.

And redeeming the time looks like discerning your relationships, your thoughts, your motives and your moves. Verse 17 of the text says, Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what is the will of the Lord. Everyone in the room has probably asked at someone point, “What is God’s will for my life?” And often when we think of the will of the Lord we’re thinking about, “Where am I supposed to work? Where am I supposed to live? Where am I supposed to move?” But the will of the Lord is so much more than that. The will of the Lord described in Ephesians chapter 5 is God’s revealed will. It’s His decree. For us it is the Word of God. It is the imperatives that He has been commanding us to follow and to live in and to operate in day in and day out.

What does the Word of God tell you to pursue? What does the Word of God tell you to put off? This is the Word, the will of God. And Romans 8:29 says this: For those who he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

So what’s the will of the Lord for your life? That you would look like Jesus, that you would talk like Jesus, that you would love like Jesus, that you would resist temptation like Jesus, that you would fight off temptation like Jesus did. He used the Word of God.

And some people might say, “That’s just a bunch of rules. I don’t need a faith that tells me how to live my life. I don’t need to follow all these rules that are in the world.” And I want to remind you what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus said this: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

As Christ redeems your life, changes your life, grace of God reveals the mercy of God. It should cause you to obey the law of God as you walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Satan has no problem filling your idle time. So don’t become slothful. Don’t become lazy. Don’t wake up thinking you’re going to drift toward holiness or drift toward spiritual things. Run after it! And we’ll see how as we continue in this text.

Point number two is this this morning. The Holy Spirit wants to fill you with Christ-adoring power. That’s good news. Satan has no problem filling your idle time, but the Holy Spirit wants to fill you with Christ-adoring power.

Now look in verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

Why do you think that Pual moves from walking in wisdom to this exhortation to not be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly consistent, right, with what Paul has been doing. He gives us a thing to put off. He gives us something that we should put on. And it’s all attached to a theological position. And we’ll see that it’s attached to our Body life. It’s attached to growing up in love. It’s attached to our worship of Jesus Christ.

So what does he call us to do? He says put off drunkenness and put on being filled with the Holy Spirit. But I also think as he’s talking about walking in wisdom, obviously alcohol was probably as big of a problem in their day as it is in our day. You understand that alcohol is a destructive thing. Alcohol is something that has destroyed a lot of lives. The Bible talks a lot about alcohol, and often it’s tied to caution. It is tied to abstinence in the Old Testament for Levites and for priests and for even kings who are in duty and those who are doing the work of the Lord. Alcohol in the Bible is often referred to as a snake or an adder. So you don’t know when it’s going to attack. You feel like you’re doing better than you are. But all of a sudden you just got bit by the snake. That’s what the Bible describes alcohol like often.

Proverbs 20:1 says this: Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

I don’t hang out with a lot of mockers. I don’t hang out with a lot of brawlers. But I’m guessing if you do, you’ve experienced how you can get led astray by mockers and brawlers.

Proverbs 23:31 says, Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

And so you can just picture the wine culture and all of that. And do I get caught up in it? Is that my main hobby? Is that the thing that I get into? Being led astray by alcohol is for sure unwise, it is for sure foolish, but Paul goes a little further. He says it’s debauchery, which sounds just like a dirty word as he says it, right? It’s kind of like got some power to it.

So the Greek for that word means it’s incurable. It’s often tied to dissipation, to gluttony or to indiscipline. In the King James version, it says, “Do not be drunk with wine, for that is chambering.”

And so being drunk with wine is often gratifying the lusts of the flesh and chambering often leads to sexual immorality. And I’ve seen this time and time again. I’ve had dear friends fall into this exact trap where drunkenness has taken a hold of their life and they’ve fallen into sexual immorality in their life. There is enough power in Ephesians 5:18 and plenty of commands for you to never be drunk this side of heaven, for you to never get drunk again in your life.

So let’s talk about what being drunk is for a minute. I was going to give you a whole message on alcohol and just be straight with you on my thoughts. But I can probably be a little legalistic on this. And so I’ll just give you what the Word of God says and where we’re at in our culture, all right?

So what is being drunk? Signs of being drunk include loss of coordination or balance, poor judgment, slurred speech or vision changes. So I found this helpful chart from Notre Dame University actually. So any college students here, I got you this morning. So Notre Dame put out this really helpful article. The title of it is “Blood Alcohol Level Chart: Let’s Put it All on the Table.” Creative. And it says in there, “.08%-.10% BAC is when you are legally drunk.” Ok? So 180 pound man the chart shows you (I’ll send it to you if you want it). One hundred eighty pound man, three to four beers in one hour gets you to .08 or .10 or maybe you’ve built up a stamina on that and you probably shouldn’t have done that.

But here’s the thing. If at .08 BAC, this is what the chart says, you believe you are functioning better than you actually are. And I want you to think about this. Do you know what’s happening as you drink alcohol before you reach the blood alcohol level of .08/.10%? What’s happening? Your blood alcohol rate is going up slowly. .01, .02, .03…And as you fill yourself with more alcohol you get more and more under its influence. And before long you need it instead of just the Holy Spirit. And before long you use it to cope with your anxiety rather than just allow prayer to help you center yourself on the Word of God.

Sometimes alcohol helps you cope with your problems faster than honesty and accountability. And before long, you believe you are functioning better than you actually are. And then you’re not walking in wisdom. Then you’re not redeeming the time at all.

And Paul says, “Hey Christians! Instead of filling yourself up with that, like that, like getting drunk on wine, fill yourself up with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has all that you need for life and for godliness. He’s able to lead you. And so press into the Spirit of God. Fill yourself up with the Spirit of God. Drink in the Spirit. Get more and more under the influence of the Holy Spirit because you have more power than you know over sin and over darkness. But your ability to live in it reveals whether or not you are being filled with the Spirit of God.”

And it’s funny. The more alcohol you drink, the more foolish you become. But the more Holy Spirit that fills your life, the more you are able to walk in wisdom in an evil world. And so the phrase, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit,” it’s unique in Ephesians chapter 5. It feels quiet in here today. I just blew all y’all’s minds with that maybe. I don’t know.

We’ve seen believers filled with the Spirit in Acts chapter 2, so it’s unique. In Acts chapter 2 the Spirit of God came and indwelled unbeliever’s lives. And so whenever you give your life to Christ, whenever Christ redeems you, the Spirit of God indwells you. That’s often called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is a one time filling of the Spirit of God, one time baptism where He takes up residence in your heart. And this is your seal for eternity.

But in Ephesians chapter 5, we see a different type of filling. It’s an ongoing filling. The Spirit of God will continue to fill your life up as you submit to Him and as you obey His Word. So be filled. In Ephesians 5:18, let me give you an English lesson. It’s in the present tense, so it’s an ongoing reality, your being filled. It’s in the imperative mood, so it’s a command that every believer should take heed to. I need to be filled with this ongoing reality of the Holy Spirit. And then finally, it’s in the passive voice. So we don’t fill ourselves, but we receive the Spirit’s fullness to be filled with Him. You could say it like this: “Be being filled with the Spirit of God.” Keep on being filled with the Spirit of God. All day, every day be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

And for the believer who has the Holy Spirit living within them, this should be our hunger and our thirst every day. And it’s redeeming the time because the days are evil. And it’s not some magical hoop that you have to jump through each and every day. It’s a mission and surrender to the will of the Lord. You can keep being filled if you genuinely ask God to fill you every day. Christ before me. Christ beside me. Christ behind me. Christ within me.

SPLIT POINT

Holy Spirit, fill me as I go into this conversation. Holy Spirit, fill me as I walk into this meeting. Holy Spirit, fill me as I go into this moment of confrontation. Holy Spirit, fill me as I drive home to love my family tonight. Holy Spirit, fill me as I unplug to go on this date with my wife. Holy Spirit, fill me as I walk into my high school today. These are prayers that we can pray. But understand this. Most importantly, the Word of God is the fire hose of filling in the life of the believer. The Word of God is illuminated by the Spirit of God.

And so if you have the Spirit of God in you, these are not just words on some ancient book. But you have been given wisdom and insight through the Spirit of God to be able to understand. And it’s sharper than a two-edged sword. And it’s able to pierce your heart. And it’s able to teach you and rebuke you and correct you and train you for righteousness because of the Spirit of God within you.

And so as the Spirit of God fills you up you run to the Word of God. And the Word of God and understanding continues to fill you with the Spirit of God. It’s the fire hose of filing in the life of the believer.

Look at the results as it goes on in chapter 19. If you will not be drunk with wine, but like that, you’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit. You’ll begin to address one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. And you’ll give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You want to have a joy-filled, Christ-adoring, sin-crushing, worshiping life? The Holy Spirit wants to give it to you. Satan wants to fill your idle time, but if you fill yourself with the Holy Spirit of God, your life can reflect the wealth and the glory of Christ. So be being filled. Keep on being filled. Don’t become complacent. Don’t become slothful. Don’t become lazy. But be filled with the Spirit of God in an evil world.

That leads perfectly to point number three. Those filled with the Spirit walk in wisdom and find the joy of a healthy Body. Those filled with the Spirit walk in wisdom and find the joy of a healthy Body. So we started the series in a rather positive place, looking at what it looks like to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. And then we saw the beauty of a healthy church. That’s where Paul went. Hey, if you’ve been chosen, if you’ve been redeemed, if you’ve been sealed with the Spirit of God, walk in a manner worthy of your call. And this is the result, a healthy church.

We said this in week two. A healthy church is every member mutually ministering to each other through a diversity of gifts as we collectively grow in maturity toward Christ who is our head. Healthy things grow. Healthy things grow up.

So a healthy Body is a result of wise choices. It’s a result of sustenance. It’s why we feed on the Word. It’s not just milk, but we want the meat of the Word. A healthy Body identifies infections so that it can heal or be cut out. It can’t grow properly when sin lingers and festers within. And that’s why after telling us what a healthy church looks like, Paul went to the way that we keep it healthy, and it’s the putting off and the putting on.

And when you put off sin and put on righteousness you begin to address one another in psalms. That’s the Word of God, the song book of God. You begin to sing hymns to one another. These are songs that help us understand the magnitude of God. They’re filled with doctrine and theology. And you’ll sing spiritual songs. When the Holy Spirit fills us up together, we will have fresh expressions from the heart flowing out. It’s just like you want to stand up and you want to testify. You want to give praise. Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me. And you’ll begin giving thanks to God always for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thankfulness is a weapon of our warfare for fighting off sin. And when we get thankful together, God gets to work in our midst and builds us up in love. And look at the results in verse 21. We will be submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. If you’ll walk in wisdom in an evil world and if you’ll be filled with the Spirit of God and be a worshiper of Jesus Christ then you will be able to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

This is Christian Body life. I don’t want to sin against my brother because I revere the holiness of Christ. I don’t want to hide sin and live a double life because I fear the holiness of Christ and understand what Jesus Christ gave His life up for. I don’t want to sin against my sister because I’m in awe of Christ’s power and His mercy. And ultimately, the joy of the healthy Body is only a result of the gospel of Jesus Christ, only a result of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Everything that we’ve looked at over the last ten weeks, walking in a manner worthy of our calling, it’s a result of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Us being a healthy Body, a family that builds itself up in love, it’s a result of the gospel of Jesus Chirst. The fact that God is holy and righteous and perfect and I am sinful, man is sinful and wretched and broken.

But Jesus Christ died on a cross in my sinful wretched place. He took my place for my sin on a tree that He didn’t deserve. And He died the death that I deserve. And He went and laid in a grave, and He rose again from the dead so that I could repent and believe, so that I could respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that I could leave the old behind and so that I could walk fresh and anew in what He has laid out for me.

And He’s given me His Word and He’s filled me with His Spirit. And He calls us to put off the old and put on the new and to walk in righteousness on the earth. This is walking in love. This is walking in light. This is walking in wisdom. And you say, “I’m trying. I’m doing the best that I can.” And maybe it feels sometimes like you’re failing. But I want to tell you this. The best prayer that I could pray for you is what Paul prayed in Ephesians chapter 3. “Now to him who is able.” God is able to keep you from stumbling today. God is able to resurrect your broken life. God is able to save you from your deep, dark sin. So bring your sin into the light. The Word of God does the work of God. No sin is safe. And so bring it into the light. Call upon the name of Jesus. He died on a cross in your place so that you could cry out to Him, so that you could follow Him, so that you could worship Him with your life.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask for think, according to the power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Amen church. Come on, stand to your feet with me. We’re going to go out responding to the majesty, the glory of God. And let’s pray together. Lord, we come and Lord w’ere in desperate need of you. We thank You for Your Word that helps us to walk in wisdom. And Lord, I pray for each person here today that we would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, that we would keep our eyes fixed on the prize, God that we would keep our eyes locked and loaded on you, our master. And Lord, that You would help us to redeem these days that are evil.

Satan and his army, they want to lead us astray. They want to wipe us away. But Satan has now power over the blood-bought believer if we are being filled with the Spirit of God and if we are trusting in You and if we are running after you. Help us to not become idle. Help us not to become lazy. Help us not to become complacent or stagnant in our faith. But Lord, help us to run to the cross. Help us to run to the resurrection. Help us to know that you make dry bones come to life. And so we give you glory and honor and praise and majesty, for You richly deserve it. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

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 our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.