June 18, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why is it so hard for us to forgive one another?
Simple we've forgotten how much we've been forgiven.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans reminds us that the kindness we've received
from God was never meant to end with us.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
God wants what Christ did for us to be expanded
to one another.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Children naturally imitate
the adults they look up to, and spiritually the same
should be true for us today. Doctor Evans explains what
it looks like to reflect our heavenly Father and the
way we live, the way we love others, and the
(00:40):
way we make our everyday decisions. Let's join him as
he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Just as a child will often mimic the characteristics of
a parent, so God wants his children to mimic the
characteristics of our parent, and of course that's our heavenly Father,
God himself. To put it another way, God wants to
set the pattern for your life and mine. One of
(01:07):
the things today that is in great need is leadership,
people who will set the pace for which people can
pattern themselves. After God has set out the pattern that
you and I are to emulate as beloved children. Now
he gives three ways in this chapter that we are
(01:28):
to emulate, mimic.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Pattern or copy God.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are to walk in love, walk in light, and
walk in with them. Those are the three walks by
which we mimic God and walk in love. Verse two says,
just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up
for us and offering and a sacrifice to God as
(01:57):
a fragrant aroma. So here he tells us to walk
in love, or to reflect the nature of God's love
by our commitment to serve others rather.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Than merely serving ourselves.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
We live in a selfish generation where people are focused
on me, myself, and I. And while God never intends
for you to skip you, he does not intend for
you to be so focused on you that you miss
the purpose of the definition of love.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Biblical love is loved by choice, not merely loved by demand.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Jesus made the choice to come down and be our savior,
so biblical love is loved by choice. Second thing is
that it costs Jesus something to die on the cross,
so biblical love always involves sacrifice. It involves the decision
of the will that will involve automatically if it's a
(03:01):
God pay love, God's kind of love sacrifice where there
is inconvenience. If there is no inconvenience, there is no love.
So biblical love has a standard attached to it. It
is not Milky Way feelings. It is not merely emotional
or romantic love. Biblical love is tied into God because
(03:22):
it is God's love, because God is loved. Now, let
me tell you the telltale test of love where you
know you've gotten serious about love when you operate in forgiveness.
Because the whole point of the Cross was to offer
forgiveness to the sinner. So the evidence of love it's forgiveness,
(03:49):
and forgiveness means that you.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
No longer hold to a person's account the wrong done
to you.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Why is it so hard for us to forgive one another? Simple,
we've forgotten how much we've been forgiven, and God has
forgiven us all. Let me tell you how deep God's
forgiveness goes. He has already forgiven you for stuff you
haven't even done. Then he gives the flip side of it,
the aspect of this concept of walking in love by
(04:19):
dealing with that which is not love. Verse three, do
not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be
named among you, as is proper among the saints. Immorality
means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. The
impurity had to do with the whole concept of that
(04:40):
which was a putred, that which was a base, that
which was filthy.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
It was used of a rottenness, of a decaying body.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
He says, don't participate, don't be a part of that
which is putrid Before God, he says immorality, he says impurity,
and and then he says greed.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
By greed, it means you want all this for you.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You're thinking about you, give me more, give me more,
give me more. And in this context we're you talking
about immorality and impurity. You can even be greedy sexually,
you can be greedy financially because.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
You're so self focused. All you want.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
All you're thinking about is you me, give me, give me,
give me, give me, give me.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So it's a spirit of greed. So we are to
walk in love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Jesus gave this great lesson of forgiveness in John thirteen,
Verses thirty four and thirty five, when he took the towel,
and he put it around his waist and he washes
disciples feet. And then he told them, now you are
to do what I did. And he says, you are
to forgive one another, become one another's servants. And so
Jesus Christ himself had the servant's spirit. He was still
(05:52):
a leader, but he was a leader who couldn't minister
to somebody else. And so this mutual ministry of love,
so biblical love is sacrificed for the welfare of another,
and it includes the concept of forgiveness. The opposite of
it is a selfish lifestyle where you betray another for
(06:13):
your own selfish goals. He says, not only is it
to reflect your actions, that is to reflect your speech
verse four. And let that be no filthiness. That means
obscene language. In other words, talk that's going absolutely nowhere.
It's empty, it's empty headed talk. It is of no benefit.
(06:36):
And it's not only neutral, it is going nowhere, and
it is therefore regressive in nature.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And then he says, or course jesting, this was used of.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Quick witted people who could take a thought or a
comment and turn something good into something bad very quickly.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Turning things that ought to bring pain. God is not
against fun. Proverbs seventeen twenty two says a cheerful heart
is good in medicine. God is not against laughter. Laughter
makes the heart glad. Nothing wrong with that. The question
is what's causing you to laugh, and whether the thing
causing you to laugh is making God cry. You are
(07:27):
growing in your faith when God cries and you cry too.
You are stagnant in your faith when God is crying
and you're laughing. So that was the idea, of course,
just thing to turn something innocent into something bad. He says, Instead,
you are to spend your time using your mouth giving thanks.
Then the verse four says giving thanks why because the
(07:52):
gift thanks you have to be other oriented, you see,
you have to be other oriented. See to cut somebody
up with your tongue. You're being selfish oriented because you
feel better doing it. But to give facts, either to
God or to somebody else, that is to carry a
grateful attitude. It is to carry an attitude that is
(08:14):
honoring toward others. And when you're honoring toward others, that
smells sweet to God. And so what we say with
our moles and none of us does it perfectly, but
the idea is to push in this direction with our moms.
So he says, why is this important Verse five? For
(08:40):
this you know with certainty you can bank on it.
No imral employer, person, conveatious man who is an idolatry.
All of that is idolatry because it places something in
the place of God has an inheritance in the Kingdom
of Christ and God that has to do with reward.
No Christian who adopts these patterns of non Christian behavior
(09:01):
as the lifestyle is receiving reward your inheritance. You're losing
reward because we're saddening the heart of God, not bringing
joy to the heart of God. The age want to
pick them in their own heart and say, yes, I'm
kind of wicked with my jokes, and I don't just
(09:22):
joke for laughter.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I joke for cut I want to stick a.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Dagger with my jokes or this kind of thing, and
on and on any of these categories, and say, hey,
I don't want this to interview with my inheritance. So
I want to be conscious that I'm patterning in myself
after the Father and walking in love rather than in selfishness.
Let no one deceive you verse six with empty words.
For because of these things, the wrath of God comes
(09:47):
upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers
with them. Don't join in with the non Christians. Don't
let their lifestyle be your lifestyle. That joke, folks, be
your jokes. You know, and I know you can get
caught because sometimes some non Christians can come up with
some funny stuff. Right, it is funny just from a
(10:10):
human standpoint. But what God is asking is for us
to get so close to God's orientation that our whole
feelings about things change and things that maybe used to
be okay. See, the idea in drawing close to God
is not that you become sinless, but that you sin less. See,
(10:32):
you won't become sinless, but as you get close to God,
you will sin less because you will begin to feel
about sin like he feels.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
It won't be the fun it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Used to be because you're drawing closer to God, and
therefore he's rubbing off on you and you're patterning yourself
after him. So he says, don't be physically or verbally
like the non Christian world, because to do so is
to lose your reward.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But God calls us to more than imitation. He calls
us to transformation. Coming up, Doctor Evans reveals two essential
ways we reflect our heavenly Father and how we live.
Don't go away?
Speaker 4 (11:15):
What if you could unlock the mysteries of life, the universe,
and everything in between.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Genesis one to eleven is the foundation for everything.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
The Tony Evans Training Center presents a transformative course from
special guest lecturer Ken Hamm, founder CEO of Answers in Genesis.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
If you want to understand anything about the universe and
anything about life and this Earth, we have to jump
into God's word.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This course dives deep into the origins of life, the
harmony of science and scripture, and how to build a
solid biblical worldview.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Do science conflict with the Bible? No, not at all.
Observational science confirms the Bible ova and over and over again.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Equip yourself to face today's toughest cultural challenges with clarity
and confidence.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
If we're going to deal with issues in our culture,
we need to start from our found first of all,
to understand what we should believe.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Discover faith strengthening truths from Genesis, and explore more courses
to deepen your understanding of God's word At Tonyevans Training
dot org Explore the Kingdom anytime, anywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
The message we've been exploring today is part of a
powerful series from doctor Evans called Ordinary Holy, Finding God
in the Mundane. In it, he unpacks the rich truths
of Ephesians to show how God can transform even our
most routine moments into opportunities for spiritual impact. This complete,
(12:36):
two volume, sixteen part series is available as our thank
you gift when you support the work of the Alternative
with your generous contribution. But that's not all. When you
contact us right away, we'll also include Tony's book Kingdom Living,
filled with practical biblical guidance to help you grow stronger
in your faith, deepen your relationship with God, and live
(12:58):
out your identity in Christ every day. This special double
offer is only available for a limited time, so visit
us today at Tonyevans dot org to make your donation
and request the Ordinary Holy series and Kingdom Living Book, Or,
if you'd prefer, give us a call at one eight
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two and let one
(13:21):
of our resource team members help you. I'll repeat that
contact information after part two of today's message, here's doctor
Evans again picking up in Ephesians chapter five.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Secondly, he says walk in the light. He says walk
in love. That's the first way he wants you to
pattern yourself or imitate the Father. The second thing he
says is walk in the light. Now, light has one
basic function. Last time I checked, it is to shine.
(13:55):
Light has the responsibility of revealing.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
There's light. You can now see when God says that doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
According to First Peter two nine, he called us out
of darkness.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Into the light. What does that mean that you are
a child of light?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It means now, because you are a Christian, you get
to see things as they really are. When you're in
God's light, goodness ooozes out of you. That is that
which is generous to someone else. You don't mind helping,
You don't mind being of assistance if you can, because
you're a children of light and you understand reality. The
(14:37):
second characteristic of a child of life is righteousness. That
is right character before God and integrity before men. In
other words, you now have a new standard of right
and wrong, and so with this new standard you make
new choices. Thirdly, it's truth that is conformity to the
(14:58):
word and will of God. That is what you see
is what you get. You don't have to put on
a mask because you are walking in the light. You
are revealing things as they really are. He goes on
and he says in verse eleven, do not participate in
the unfruitful deeds of darkness. He says, light has fruit.
(15:21):
Darkness does not have fruit. That is, there is no
long term benefit. Now some of us have already learned
it's the hard way, because we participated in the unfruitful
deeds of darkness, and we saw where it wound up.
You know, darkness has a way if you hang around
it too long for you to get adjusted to it.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You ever gone to a dark restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
When you first walk in, it's dark, I mean dark,
but you know you're trying to be cool and everything,
and so you walk into the room and then you
sit down at your little dark table, in your little
dark corner with your little dim lamp. I ain't read
the menu, but you know you don't want to let
it be known you can't read it, so you say, oh,
(16:05):
number four, you know, so you cover your bases, you know,
lay it out there. But now after thirty minutes, forty
five minutes, after sitting in it for a while, you
have now become accustomed. So you don't have the first
feeling that you have when you first came in, because
you were coming in from the light. But if you
(16:27):
hang around the darkness long enough, it just doesn't seem
so dark anymore. And that's what happens with all of
us when we hang around unrighteous. Things that used to
shock us don't shock us anymore. Things that used to
say that's disgusting, well, no.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Not that bad. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
See, we start to go down the level here, you
know what, because we've hung around it so much, we've
absorbed so much of it, we said in it so
long that we're now used to it.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
So what did he say?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
He says, but all things become visible when they're exposed
to the light verse thirteen.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
For everything that becomes visible is light. So all you
have to do is turn the light on. That's all
you have to do.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
It will be exposed by your lifestyle and by your
words that reflect God's standard. So he quotes from early
Christian hymn verse fourteen, and he says, for this reason,
it says awake sleeper, talk about Christians who asleep and
rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
(17:27):
He's talking about sleeping Christians. You can move when you're sleep,
and you toss and turn. Some people sleep walk and
can get up and go places while they sleep. Some
people sing when they sleep. Some people talk in their sleep,
and a lot of Christians are that way. They're talking,
I love the Lord, he heard my cry. But dead
sleep they come into church, dead sleep. They sing in
(17:52):
the songs with the song leader snoring. Why because they're
not shut anywhere. If you're not shining, it's dead songs.
If you're not shining, it's dead talk. If you're not shining,
it's dead walk. It is the shining that counts, not
the mumbling. So he says, we are to expose them. First,
(18:15):
Grinthians five get a brother living in sin. They didn't
expose it, which means if you refuse repent, then you're
supposed to expose it. If you repent, you drop it
at the point that it's known. But he refused the repent.
He says, how can you do this and let this
go unaddressed? He says, wake up, Christians, don't let the
world put you to sleep.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Be alert.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So Christians ought to reflect the character of Christ by
being visible demonstrations of who He is. Get up out
of our spiritual beds, finally walking with them.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Verse fifteen.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but
as wise. The word wise means to live life skillfully,
making right choices. He says, walk carefully, not carelessly. To
put it in another way, don't live your spiritual life
(19:14):
by luck or chance, he says, live life skillfully, that is,
make wise choices, be careful. Plan be like an architect.
No architect build a building without drawing up plans, he says.
Plan Now, submit your plans to God in case he
wants to change them, he says. When you do that,
(19:38):
or how to do that is one. Make the most
of your time, stop wasting time. The concept here is
take advantage of your opportunities that God brings you. Opportunities
that come from the Lord are designed to take you
to a goal. This concept was used of a ship
(20:01):
that was taking advantage of the wind in order to
get to the harbor, like a sailboat. A sailboat what
the wind blows, and the sailboat takes advantage of the
wind gosts. It doesn't say all the wind just blew well,
nice breeze. It doesn't waste the wind. It maneuvers the
sail to catch the wind to get to the next level.
(20:22):
What opportunity does God giving you to maximize your potential?
Use it, take advantage of it. Not only that, but
the days are evil, he says. You're living in a
day when when the waters are rough and you've got
resistance out there, and in like the fact that time
is short and time is bad. Take advantage of the
(20:45):
good time. Listen, if God has given you a good day,
max it out, because tomorrow may be a bad day.
You know what, Why waste a good day and then
have a bad day tomorrow. Why waste a good month
and then have a bad month. Net if you have
a good month and nothing is wrong, take advantage of it,
maximize your potential. The day they're evil. Not only that,
(21:10):
he says, So then, do not be foolish. Do not
be foolish. But I understand what the will of the
Lord is. He's now dealing with the mind, because God's
will comes to the mind through the renewing of the mind.
Don't think foolishly, but understand.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
What the will of the Lord is.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Now you know why that support and phrase, because that
means God has a plan for you. God's plan the
will of God. You must work out your own salvation.
You must live out God's purposes for you, which are
different than His purposes for me. I can talk to
you about God's will for you, I can advise you,
and I can pray with you, but I cannot determine
it for you.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Nor can I fulfill it for you. Vice versa. You
cannot do it for me. Some times people say, well,
I don't know what God's will is. Well you don't
have to.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
If you will simply operate on what you do know,
God will lead you to what you don't know, because
God is more interested in you finding his will than
you are and looking for it. God will find you.
He is not playing hide and seek what his planned
for your life? He said, well, why don't I know it?
You know what God wants you to do. He wants
you to seek him, and when you seek him, let
(22:24):
his will get you. Understand what the will of the
Lord is by not being foolish, not making choices that
work against God revealing his will, but working in concert
with that which promotes His.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Will, Doctor Tony Evans challenging us to live with wisdom,
imitating our heavenly Father and reflecting his character. And he'll
wrap up this message with a final word when he
returns in just a moment. First, though, I want to
let you know that today's message is part of Tony's
(22:59):
powerful series called Ordinary Holy Finding God in the Mundane,
a sixteen part exploration of the Book of Ephesians that
shows how everyday life can become a stage for God's
extraordinary work. For a limited time. When you support the
Ministry of the Alternative with your donation, we'll send you
the complete two volume audio collection along with a special bonus,
(23:22):
Tony's book Kingdom Living, packed with biblical wisdom to help
you grow in your faith and purpose. Don't miss the
opportunity to get these powerful resources for your deeper study.
Visit Tonyevans dot org today or call one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two to make your request again.
(23:43):
That's Tonyevans dot org or call one eight hundred eight
hundred three two two two. You can't pour out what
hasn't been previously poured in and tomorrow, Doctor Evans will
talk about what it means to be filled with the spirit,
and now that feeling transforms our attitudes, relationships, and worship.
(24:06):
Right now though, he's back with this closing thought.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Do you know everybody has a plan for your life
and if you let them, they will get you to
myth the will of God. You can live your life
seventy years and please everybody but God, and those folks
won't have any rewards for you in eternity.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Your question is what is the will of God for me? Now?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
People are a very vital part of that, but they're
not the determining part. God has to show you that
in your own party
Why is it so hard for us to forgive one another?
Simple we've forgotten how much we've been forgiven.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans reminds us that the kindness we've received
from God was never meant to end with us.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
God wants what Christ did for us to be expanded
to one another.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Children naturally imitate
the adults they look up to, and spiritually the same
should be true for us today. Doctor Evans explains what
it looks like to reflect our heavenly Father and the
way we live, the way we love others, and the
(00:40):
way we make our everyday decisions. Let's join him as
he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Just as a child will often mimic the characteristics of
a parent, so God wants his children to mimic the
characteristics of our parent, and of course that's our heavenly Father,
God himself. To put it another way, God wants to
set the pattern for your life and mine. One of
(01:07):
the things today that is in great need is leadership,
people who will set the pace for which people can
pattern themselves. After God has set out the pattern that
you and I are to emulate as beloved children. Now
he gives three ways in this chapter that we are
(01:28):
to emulate, mimic.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Pattern or copy God.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are to walk in love, walk in light, and
walk in with them. Those are the three walks by
which we mimic God and walk in love. Verse two says,
just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up
for us and offering and a sacrifice to God as
(01:57):
a fragrant aroma. So here he tells us to walk
in love, or to reflect the nature of God's love
by our commitment to serve others rather.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Than merely serving ourselves.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
We live in a selfish generation where people are focused
on me, myself, and I. And while God never intends
for you to skip you, he does not intend for
you to be so focused on you that you miss
the purpose of the definition of love.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Biblical love is loved by choice, not merely loved by demand.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Jesus made the choice to come down and be our savior,
so biblical love is loved by choice. Second thing is
that it costs Jesus something to die on the cross,
so biblical love always involves sacrifice. It involves the decision
of the will that will involve automatically if it's a
(03:01):
God pay love, God's kind of love sacrifice where there
is inconvenience. If there is no inconvenience, there is no love.
So biblical love has a standard attached to it. It
is not Milky Way feelings. It is not merely emotional
or romantic love. Biblical love is tied into God because
(03:22):
it is God's love, because God is loved. Now, let
me tell you the telltale test of love where you
know you've gotten serious about love when you operate in forgiveness.
Because the whole point of the Cross was to offer
forgiveness to the sinner. So the evidence of love it's forgiveness,
(03:49):
and forgiveness means that you.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
No longer hold to a person's account the wrong done
to you.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Why is it so hard for us to forgive one another? Simple,
we've forgotten how much we've been forgiven, and God has
forgiven us all. Let me tell you how deep God's
forgiveness goes. He has already forgiven you for stuff you
haven't even done. Then he gives the flip side of it,
the aspect of this concept of walking in love by
(04:19):
dealing with that which is not love. Verse three, do
not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be
named among you, as is proper among the saints. Immorality
means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. The
impurity had to do with the whole concept of that
(04:40):
which was a putred, that which was a base, that
which was filthy.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
It was used of a rottenness, of a decaying body.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
He says, don't participate, don't be a part of that
which is putrid Before God, he says immorality, he says impurity,
and and then he says greed.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
By greed, it means you want all this for you.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You're thinking about you, give me more, give me more,
give me more. And in this context we're you talking
about immorality and impurity. You can even be greedy sexually,
you can be greedy financially because.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
You're so self focused. All you want.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
All you're thinking about is you me, give me, give me,
give me, give me, give me.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So it's a spirit of greed. So we are to
walk in love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Jesus gave this great lesson of forgiveness in John thirteen,
Verses thirty four and thirty five, when he took the towel,
and he put it around his waist and he washes
disciples feet. And then he told them, now you are
to do what I did. And he says, you are
to forgive one another, become one another's servants. And so
Jesus Christ himself had the servant's spirit. He was still
(05:52):
a leader, but he was a leader who couldn't minister
to somebody else. And so this mutual ministry of love,
so biblical love is sacrificed for the welfare of another,
and it includes the concept of forgiveness. The opposite of
it is a selfish lifestyle where you betray another for
(06:13):
your own selfish goals. He says, not only is it
to reflect your actions, that is to reflect your speech
verse four. And let that be no filthiness. That means
obscene language. In other words, talk that's going absolutely nowhere.
It's empty, it's empty headed talk. It is of no benefit.
(06:36):
And it's not only neutral, it is going nowhere, and
it is therefore regressive in nature.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And then he says, or course jesting, this was used of.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Quick witted people who could take a thought or a
comment and turn something good into something bad very quickly.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Turning things that ought to bring pain. God is not
against fun. Proverbs seventeen twenty two says a cheerful heart
is good in medicine. God is not against laughter. Laughter
makes the heart glad. Nothing wrong with that. The question
is what's causing you to laugh, and whether the thing
causing you to laugh is making God cry. You are
(07:27):
growing in your faith when God cries and you cry too.
You are stagnant in your faith when God is crying
and you're laughing. So that was the idea, of course,
just thing to turn something innocent into something bad. He says, Instead,
you are to spend your time using your mouth giving thanks.
Then the verse four says giving thanks why because the
(07:52):
gift thanks you have to be other oriented, you see,
you have to be other oriented. See to cut somebody
up with your tongue. You're being selfish oriented because you
feel better doing it. But to give facts, either to
God or to somebody else, that is to carry a
grateful attitude. It is to carry an attitude that is
(08:14):
honoring toward others. And when you're honoring toward others, that
smells sweet to God. And so what we say with
our moles and none of us does it perfectly, but
the idea is to push in this direction with our moms.
So he says, why is this important Verse five? For
(08:40):
this you know with certainty you can bank on it.
No imral employer, person, conveatious man who is an idolatry.
All of that is idolatry because it places something in
the place of God has an inheritance in the Kingdom
of Christ and God that has to do with reward.
No Christian who adopts these patterns of non Christian behavior
(09:01):
as the lifestyle is receiving reward your inheritance. You're losing
reward because we're saddening the heart of God, not bringing
joy to the heart of God. The age want to
pick them in their own heart and say, yes, I'm
kind of wicked with my jokes, and I don't just
(09:22):
joke for laughter.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I joke for cut I want to stick a.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Dagger with my jokes or this kind of thing, and
on and on any of these categories, and say, hey,
I don't want this to interview with my inheritance. So
I want to be conscious that I'm patterning in myself
after the Father and walking in love rather than in selfishness.
Let no one deceive you verse six with empty words.
For because of these things, the wrath of God comes
(09:47):
upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers
with them. Don't join in with the non Christians. Don't
let their lifestyle be your lifestyle. That joke, folks, be
your jokes. You know, and I know you can get
caught because sometimes some non Christians can come up with
some funny stuff. Right, it is funny just from a
(10:10):
human standpoint. But what God is asking is for us
to get so close to God's orientation that our whole
feelings about things change and things that maybe used to
be okay. See, the idea in drawing close to God
is not that you become sinless, but that you sin less. See,
(10:32):
you won't become sinless, but as you get close to God,
you will sin less because you will begin to feel
about sin like he feels.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
It won't be the fun it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Used to be because you're drawing closer to God, and
therefore he's rubbing off on you and you're patterning yourself
after him. So he says, don't be physically or verbally
like the non Christian world, because to do so is
to lose your reward.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But God calls us to more than imitation. He calls
us to transformation. Coming up, Doctor Evans reveals two essential
ways we reflect our heavenly Father and how we live.
Don't go away?
Speaker 4 (11:15):
What if you could unlock the mysteries of life, the universe,
and everything in between.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Genesis one to eleven is the foundation for everything.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
The Tony Evans Training Center presents a transformative course from
special guest lecturer Ken Hamm, founder CEO of Answers in Genesis.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
If you want to understand anything about the universe and
anything about life and this Earth, we have to jump
into God's word.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This course dives deep into the origins of life, the
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Speaker 5 (11:43):
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Speaker 4 (11:50):
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Speaker 5 (11:55):
If we're going to deal with issues in our culture,
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Speaker 4 (12:03):
Discover faith strengthening truths from Genesis, and explore more courses
to deepen your understanding of God's word At Tonyevans Training
dot org Explore the Kingdom anytime, anywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
The message we've been exploring today is part of a
powerful series from doctor Evans called Ordinary Holy, Finding God
in the Mundane. In it, he unpacks the rich truths
of Ephesians to show how God can transform even our
most routine moments into opportunities for spiritual impact. This complete,
(12:36):
two volume, sixteen part series is available as our thank
you gift when you support the work of the Alternative
with your generous contribution. But that's not all. When you
contact us right away, we'll also include Tony's book Kingdom Living,
filled with practical biblical guidance to help you grow stronger
in your faith, deepen your relationship with God, and live
(12:58):
out your identity in Christ every day. This special double
offer is only available for a limited time, so visit
us today at Tonyevans dot org to make your donation
and request the Ordinary Holy series and Kingdom Living Book, Or,
if you'd prefer, give us a call at one eight
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two and let one
(13:21):
of our resource team members help you. I'll repeat that
contact information after part two of today's message, here's doctor
Evans again picking up in Ephesians chapter five.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Secondly, he says walk in the light. He says walk
in love. That's the first way he wants you to
pattern yourself or imitate the Father. The second thing he
says is walk in the light. Now, light has one
basic function. Last time I checked, it is to shine.
(13:55):
Light has the responsibility of revealing.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
There's light. You can now see when God says that doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
According to First Peter two nine, he called us out
of darkness.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Into the light. What does that mean that you are
a child of light?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It means now, because you are a Christian, you get
to see things as they really are. When you're in
God's light, goodness ooozes out of you. That is that
which is generous to someone else. You don't mind helping,
You don't mind being of assistance if you can, because
you're a children of light and you understand reality. The
(14:37):
second characteristic of a child of life is righteousness. That
is right character before God and integrity before men. In
other words, you now have a new standard of right
and wrong, and so with this new standard you make
new choices. Thirdly, it's truth that is conformity to the
(14:58):
word and will of God. That is what you see
is what you get. You don't have to put on
a mask because you are walking in the light. You
are revealing things as they really are. He goes on
and he says in verse eleven, do not participate in
the unfruitful deeds of darkness. He says, light has fruit.
(15:21):
Darkness does not have fruit. That is, there is no
long term benefit. Now some of us have already learned
it's the hard way, because we participated in the unfruitful
deeds of darkness, and we saw where it wound up.
You know, darkness has a way if you hang around
it too long for you to get adjusted to it.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You ever gone to a dark restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
When you first walk in, it's dark, I mean dark,
but you know you're trying to be cool and everything,
and so you walk into the room and then you
sit down at your little dark table, in your little
dark corner with your little dim lamp. I ain't read
the menu, but you know you don't want to let
it be known you can't read it, so you say, oh,
(16:05):
number four, you know, so you cover your bases, you know,
lay it out there. But now after thirty minutes, forty
five minutes, after sitting in it for a while, you
have now become accustomed. So you don't have the first
feeling that you have when you first came in, because
you were coming in from the light. But if you
(16:27):
hang around the darkness long enough, it just doesn't seem
so dark anymore. And that's what happens with all of
us when we hang around unrighteous. Things that used to
shock us don't shock us anymore. Things that used to
say that's disgusting, well, no.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Not that bad. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
See, we start to go down the level here, you
know what, because we've hung around it so much, we've
absorbed so much of it, we said in it so
long that we're now used to it.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
So what did he say?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
He says, but all things become visible when they're exposed
to the light verse thirteen.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
For everything that becomes visible is light. So all you
have to do is turn the light on. That's all
you have to do.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
It will be exposed by your lifestyle and by your
words that reflect God's standard. So he quotes from early
Christian hymn verse fourteen, and he says, for this reason,
it says awake sleeper, talk about Christians who asleep and
rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
(17:27):
He's talking about sleeping Christians. You can move when you're sleep,
and you toss and turn. Some people sleep walk and
can get up and go places while they sleep. Some
people sing when they sleep. Some people talk in their sleep,
and a lot of Christians are that way. They're talking,
I love the Lord, he heard my cry. But dead
sleep they come into church, dead sleep. They sing in
(17:52):
the songs with the song leader snoring. Why because they're
not shut anywhere. If you're not shining, it's dead songs.
If you're not shining, it's dead talk. If you're not shining,
it's dead walk. It is the shining that counts, not
the mumbling. So he says, we are to expose them. First,
(18:15):
Grinthians five get a brother living in sin. They didn't
expose it, which means if you refuse repent, then you're
supposed to expose it. If you repent, you drop it
at the point that it's known. But he refused the repent.
He says, how can you do this and let this
go unaddressed? He says, wake up, Christians, don't let the
world put you to sleep.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Be alert.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So Christians ought to reflect the character of Christ by
being visible demonstrations of who He is. Get up out
of our spiritual beds, finally walking with them.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Verse fifteen.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but
as wise. The word wise means to live life skillfully,
making right choices. He says, walk carefully, not carelessly. To
put it in another way, don't live your spiritual life
(19:14):
by luck or chance, he says, live life skillfully, that is,
make wise choices, be careful. Plan be like an architect.
No architect build a building without drawing up plans, he says.
Plan Now, submit your plans to God in case he
wants to change them, he says. When you do that,
(19:38):
or how to do that is one. Make the most
of your time, stop wasting time. The concept here is
take advantage of your opportunities that God brings you. Opportunities
that come from the Lord are designed to take you
to a goal. This concept was used of a ship
(20:01):
that was taking advantage of the wind in order to
get to the harbor, like a sailboat. A sailboat what
the wind blows, and the sailboat takes advantage of the
wind gosts. It doesn't say all the wind just blew well,
nice breeze. It doesn't waste the wind. It maneuvers the
sail to catch the wind to get to the next level.
(20:22):
What opportunity does God giving you to maximize your potential?
Use it, take advantage of it. Not only that, but
the days are evil, he says. You're living in a
day when when the waters are rough and you've got
resistance out there, and in like the fact that time
is short and time is bad. Take advantage of the
(20:45):
good time. Listen, if God has given you a good day,
max it out, because tomorrow may be a bad day.
You know what, Why waste a good day and then
have a bad day tomorrow. Why waste a good month
and then have a bad month. Net if you have
a good month and nothing is wrong, take advantage of it,
maximize your potential. The day they're evil. Not only that,
(21:10):
he says, So then, do not be foolish. Do not
be foolish. But I understand what the will of the
Lord is. He's now dealing with the mind, because God's
will comes to the mind through the renewing of the mind.
Don't think foolishly, but understand.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
What the will of the Lord is.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Now you know why that support and phrase, because that
means God has a plan for you. God's plan the
will of God. You must work out your own salvation.
You must live out God's purposes for you, which are
different than His purposes for me. I can talk to
you about God's will for you, I can advise you,
and I can pray with you, but I cannot determine
it for you.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Nor can I fulfill it for you. Vice versa. You
cannot do it for me. Some times people say, well,
I don't know what God's will is. Well you don't
have to.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
If you will simply operate on what you do know,
God will lead you to what you don't know, because
God is more interested in you finding his will than
you are and looking for it. God will find you.
He is not playing hide and seek what his planned
for your life? He said, well, why don't I know it?
You know what God wants you to do. He wants
you to seek him, and when you seek him, let
(22:24):
his will get you. Understand what the will of the
Lord is by not being foolish, not making choices that
work against God revealing his will, but working in concert
with that which promotes His.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Will, Doctor Tony Evans challenging us to live with wisdom,
imitating our heavenly Father and reflecting his character. And he'll
wrap up this message with a final word when he
returns in just a moment. First, though, I want to
let you know that today's message is part of Tony's
(22:59):
powerful series called Ordinary Holy Finding God in the Mundane,
a sixteen part exploration of the Book of Ephesians that
shows how everyday life can become a stage for God's
extraordinary work. For a limited time. When you support the
Ministry of the Alternative with your donation, we'll send you
the complete two volume audio collection along with a special bonus,
(23:22):
Tony's book Kingdom Living, packed with biblical wisdom to help
you grow in your faith and purpose. Don't miss the
opportunity to get these powerful resources for your deeper study.
Visit Tonyevans dot org today or call one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two to make your request again.
(23:43):
That's Tonyevans dot org or call one eight hundred eight
hundred three two two two. You can't pour out what
hasn't been previously poured in and tomorrow, Doctor Evans will
talk about what it means to be filled with the spirit,
and now that feeling transforms our attitudes, relationships, and worship.
(24:06):
Right now though, he's back with this closing thought.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Do you know everybody has a plan for your life
and if you let them, they will get you to
myth the will of God. You can live your life
seventy years and please everybody but God, and those folks
won't have any rewards for you in eternity.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Your question is what is the will of God for me? Now?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
People are a very vital part of that, but they're
not the determining part. God has to show you that
in your own party
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