Look How You Walk

“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 ESV)

Our walks are our lifestyles, our habits, the things we think and do and say day in and day out. And they involve our attitudes, too. We need to look carefully at how we are living, the things that we are doing and watching and listening to, and the words we are speaking. And we need to pay close attention to our thought processes and our attitudes, too. And we should examine these from time to time prayerfully, making sure that we are making the best use of our time and that we are not wasting time.

And the days we live in are very evil. Evil is everywhere we look it seems. Evil is permeating so much of the church here in America with so many people believing a false gospel which is giving them carte blanche to continue in deliberate and habitual sin without conscience, and without feelings of guilt or remorse. And many of them are being told, not that they need to cease living in sin, but that they must not feel guilty about their sin, as though the sin is not wrong but the guilt is. And that is wrong.

So, we need to not be foolish by following the lies, but we need to know what the will of the Lord is. And we are not going to know that just by listening to preachers or Bible teachers, or those who speak or write devotions, for they may not all be listening to the Lord. Many of them are following after the lies. So we need to be students of the Scriptures who read the Scriptures for ourselves, but in context, for many false teachings come from Scriptures taught outside their context and made to say what the Scriptures do not teach in context.

And none of us should be living lives which are out of control, whether it be by getting drunk on strong drink, or whether the source is intoxication to sexual immorality or to romance and to having extramarital affairs, or whether the intoxication is to sports and sports figures or to politicians or to Hollywood actors and actresses, and the list goes on. Basically our lives are to be under the control of the Holy Spirit and not under the control of the flesh, and not out of control to where we are living senseless lives.

But we are to be filled with the Spirit. Now all genuine believers in Jesus are filled with the Spirit, i.e. we have the Holy Spirit living within us. But as we surrender more and more of our lives over to Jesus Christ, and we cease in doing what is of the flesh, and our lives are yielded more and more to the control of the Holy Spirit, then we are being filled more and more with the Spirit of God because we are now living more under his control and not under the control of the flesh. And that is the point of this passage.

And then we can be led of the Spirit in ministering God’s love and grace to one another, because if we are addressing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, this is not about us singing in a praise and worship service. This is about me singing a song to you that is of the Spirit and for your encouragement and you doing likewise, for my encouragement. And these do NOT have to be professional sounding songs, by human standards. Or the song can merely be read, but the purpose is that we encourage one another in our walks of faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Look How You Walk

Video Talk

February 22, 2023

https://youtu.be/Fi9KLSeLWYQ

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Follow Him  

An Original Work / February 21, 2013

Based off Luke 9:22-25

Jesus, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross.

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself and follow.

He must take up his cross daily;

Die to sin and self each day.

Father, God above,

Loved us so: gave His Son.

If you want to save your old life;

Keep on sinning, follow your ways,

You will lose your life forever;

Hope of heaven gone away.

Spirit of our God

Gives us life in God’s Son.

Nonetheless, if you die to self;

Forsake your sin; follow Jesus,

You will live with God in heaven,

And forever praise His name! 

https://vimeo.com/117316842