Ephesians 5:8-14 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Pastor Obie finished the first path [Walk in Love] by explaining that covetousness is truly human greed and idolatry. Colossians 3:4-6 proclaims, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” The tenth Commandment in God’s eternal Moral Law is found in both Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21 declaring, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” The Greek word of covetousness is “pleonexia”, meaning extremely greedy desire to have more; avarice. Webster’s dictionary defines the word as: A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing some supposed good or gain; usually in a bad sense, and applied to an inordinate desire of wealth or avarice. It is discontentment and dissatisfaction based on the greedy desire for more, which is idolatry. Let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints [a person sanctified; a holy or godly person; one eminent for piety and virtue] – a true Believer.
Imitators of God are intimate with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The child of God imitates their heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ as they walk in the Spirit. They do not gratify the sinful desires of the fallen, sinful flesh, but cultivate an attitude of gratitude and they walk in the path of light, with truth and righteousness. John 3:21 declares, “he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” Count your many blessings every day. Do not be deceived; deceptions, distractions, temptations and lies are both untrue and wrong for the Christian walk. Fool me once, shame on you tricky devil. But, know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, godly and ungodly then choose to be an obedient disciple of Christ, child of God and citizen of the kingdom of Heaven, never lacking reverence, honor and respect of God and His holy Word.
Psalm 89:14-16 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.”
Compare everything you hear and see to the Word of God, the righteous Standard of life. Jesus said in John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Receive the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Pursue goodness, righteousness and truth. 1 John 1:6-7 decrees, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Let's continue Pastor Obie's three part message in the next post.
Walk in light, in Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment