ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT
God is all-powerful. He spoke all things into being, and all things— every cell, every breath, every thought—are sustained by Him. Nothing is too difficult for Him.
Jeremiah 32:17-18 & 26-27
Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. 18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty,
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Praise the Omnipotent God
He created every living thing from nothing. He sustains everything by his power. He never grows tired. He has broken the curse of sin and death. He has the power to create a new heaven and earth and one day he will reveal his new creation.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Pray for unchurched friends. Ask God to give you opportunities to have gospel conversations with those who do not know Him.
- Our fall concert is tonight at River at 7pm. Pray that we would enjoy time together and that any guests would feel welcomed.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Ephesians 4:17-5:21 Christian Standard Bible
Living the New Life
17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ, 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity. 28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
5 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. 3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. 4 Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. 5 For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Light versus Darkness
6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
Consistency in the Christian Life
15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
In this passage Paul is not giving us a sort of New Testament law to obey. Certainly, we are to obey these truths but to make this list the point is to miss the point. The point is that we are to live “being filled with the Spirit.” As we do then we will more consistently “put off” what needs to be put off and “put on” what needs to be put on. There are way too many possible situations where we would need to know what it looks like to please God and love people to make a list. So, Paul gives examples but then he hones in on this… “Don’t be drunk with wine…be filled with the Spirit.” In this example he gives a key principle… Living under the control of alcohol ruins you and living under the control of the Spirit empowers you. This is not primarily about one more example of what to avoid, in this case…drunkenness. This is about comparing and contrasting. Don’t live under the control of anything except the Holy Spirit. Live in the realm of His will for your life and you will live in the realm of his power for your life. We are leaky buckets. We must have this treasured spring of living water flowing continuously in our lives. If we move, intentionally, or inadvertently (by not paying attention) outside of God’s will then our buckets will soon be empty and will often start looking for foolish means to quench our thirst. “Keep on being filled with the Spirit” is what Paul literally wrote. This is ongoing. It may seem like a burden but it is actually a demonstration about how much God desires relationship with us. He wants us to have to pay attention to him in order to stay plugged into his power. This should not be a surprise. You would never consider a relationship with someone healthy if they never paid attention to you. Paying attention is essential for love and relationship. God wants us to learn to pay attention to him.