But you got to take the truth of God's word, apply it to your life so you can live under the blessing of God being pleased. That's the goal. You ought to live wanting God to be happy. That's the goal. I want to serve a God who is pleased with me.
Do you want to please God? Without faith, you can't get the job done. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. You know, faith is not just a belief or an assurance, it's an action.
By faith Noah built an ark. By faith, Abel gave God a better offering than his brother Cain. Today, you'll see what a lifestyle of obedience looks like as well as the blessed life that comes when you choose to live that way. Remember to visit pastorpaul.net to listen to Destined for Victory on Demand. That's pastorpaul.net.
You may also want to subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Today's Destined for Victory message is called Living as Children of Light, and it starts right now. All right, let's jump back into our study. This is more a Bible study than it is a sermon series. As we're looking at what the Holy Spirit has to say to us through the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus.
And we're now in Ephesians 5. We're answering the question: what does it mean to live as children of light? And in the past, two messages. We began answering that question looking at verse three, which says, But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. And we made the first point Children of light must forsake sexual sin, impurity.
and greed. And I hope that you Understand that greed was something we covered in the last message. It's just as important to stay away from as the other stuff. Church folks sometimes get hung up on certain sins and they don't worry about others. But the Bible said not just sexual sin, not just impurity, but greed.
And we covered that last time. I hope you were with us. and are experiencing freedom from greed. And if you're not, you need to get free because God wants to bless you and you don't have room to be greedy in the will of God. Amen.
Now we're going to continue on by looking at verse 4 as we continue to answer this question: what does it mean to live as children of light? Look at verse 4. Nor should there be obscenity Foolish talk. or coarse joking. which are out of place.
But rather Thanksgiving. All right, children of light not only must forsake sexual sin, impurity, and greed, but here's the second thing: children of light. Must avoid obscene Foolish and out of place talk. Children of light must avoid obscene, foolish, and out of place. Talk.
Paul says, in effect, since we are called to walk worthy of the vocation, we saw that early in Ephesians, walk worthy of your vocation. You're called with a high calling. We're called to reflect the glory of God. And since we're called to walk worthy of our calling, he is saying that we shouldn't talk like people who don't know God. Yeah, it's gonna get quiet, but that's all right.
I brought my amen with me. This is a teaching series. This isn't a shouting series. This isn't a get you happy series. Nobody's gonna run around the church today.
But you got to take the truth of God's word, apply it to your life so you can live under the blessing of God being pleased. That's the goal. You ought to live wanting God to be happy. That's the goal. I want to serve a God who is pleased with me.
And so here's what Paul says: He says, Since we're called with a high calling, we have no business using gutter language. Cold high, talking low, something wrong with that.
So he says, I want you to bring your language, your talk up. To the level of your calling. Just like there are improper actions, we saw in verse 3, now he's saying in verse 4: there are improper words.
So we saw there are some things we have no business doing.
Now he's saying there are some things we have no business saying.
So I want you to know that God's wanting us here to not cross the line in to language which is improper. But I don't want you to get under false condemnation. He's talking about obscenity.
Some of you old folks know there were things that could not appear on TV when we were coming along. Come on, y'all, help me out. Because younger people have never seen those. There were things you would never think to see on television. They didn't allow it.
But now that's censorship I need to be able to say whatever I want. And so now, if you turn on the wrong station, God only knows what you're going to see and hear. Stuff that used to be obscenity is now freedom of speech. And I'm here to tell you, according to the word of God, God says, my kids have no business talking like that.
Now, come on, y'all. I need the older generations to ride with me the whole time. There were things you couldn't say in your house. And your parents didn't want to hear that you said it in the street. And we weren't saved yet.
We just growing up. But the fact that your parents said, I'm raising decent children here. I'm not raising heathens.
So, in this house, there are certain things you don't say. Do y'all remember we couldn't say certain words that sound like we were trying to curse? Oh uh It wasn't the curse word. But they felt like sound like you trying to go there Oh, I remember that. I remember growing up.
If I said dag the wrong way. My mom said, What'd you say? I said, no, no, I didn't say the other D word. He said, yeah, but that don't sound. That sounds like you're on your way.
You need to get off that road. That's not the road we want to travel. Darn! He like, oh no, that's just a that's just a letter removed. Come on, somebody.
I made my daddy real happy. I was running for junior high school president of my class. And we had to give speeches. All the three of us that were running for junior high president that particular year were up on the stage and had assembly, and so we all had to give a short. Statement, and I was writing mine at home.
I told my father, I said, I think I'm gonna say this. And it was really to impress him. But I said it in the speech. I remember to this day, here I am in my 60s, and I remember during the speech, I said, and by the way, fellow students, we need to clean up our language because there was all kinds of cussing going on in my junior high school. I mean, cussing to beat the band and all the rest.
I said, by the way, why don't we clean up our language while we're cleaning up the grounds and all like that? And I said, God's last name is not damn. I remember saying that. Junior high. I got that from my daddy.
Yeah. I won. I didn't know if that was going to make me lose. But I said I'm gonna put it on out there And I won. And I remember the two girls I was running against were cheating because they came with hot pants on the day of the.
I ain't telling y'all no lie. At Roosevelt Junior High School, they showed up the day of the speech, and I said, You know, y'all are wrong. This is so wrong. That's all right. My speech won the day.
We got to learn there are ways to speak appropriately. Just like there are improper actions, we saw in verse 3, there are improper words, Paul says in verse 4. Clean up your language. Have you noticed that decorum and decency have all but gone out of the world? That's all it used to be is just decency.
It really wasn't even a Christian thing per se. You remember that? It was just proper behavior. That's all it was.
Some of the folk who didn't know the Lord, they still believed in proper behavior. There were things as proper and improper. And today, unless we, as people of God, get it out the word, we will see all kinds of things happening all around us. because people no longer care about decency. or decorum.
What is decorum? It's behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety. Just some things are in good taste. And by contrast, some things are in poor taste. Like, ooh, you know, well, see, it's hard because you used to say, you know how some clothing is in poor taste?
How are you going to say that anymore? Do you see what these folk have on now? Like, really? You came out of your house with that? Really?
You went on the stage like that? Really? You got in front of the world? Like that? And the answer is yep.
And what you got to say about it. That's the world we live in.
So here's the thing to do. Spend your time trying to police other people. Just set the right example. And that's all you can do. Stay with us.
The rest of today's Destin for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. In John chapter 8, verse 32, Jesus said that if we abide in His Word, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. That's why Destined for Victory is here, to share that truth and to continue the ministry that Pastor Paul started over a decade ago. You can help make that happen and be a great blessing by sending a generous gift today. Visit our website, pastorpaul.net, to make a safe and secure donation online.
That's pastorpaul.net or call 855-339-5500. When you're walking in obedience to God, you're not only blessing your own life, you're setting an example for the next generation.
Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: living as children of the light. Not only improper Words, but decorum means I believe we have to teach, especially now when it's gone all but gone out of the world, we've got to teach households of faith and especially our children that there are things that used to be just good manners.
Now we need to make it a hard, fast rule in our family. Y'all remember an adult couldn't hand you something and you just look at them and take it? You had to say thank you. You had to say thank you if you didn't want it. I know I was the pastor's child.
I got a mini a thing I did not want. But I knew I had to acknowledge it. Oh, thank you. And then I'd go look at it, and sometimes it was closed, and then they, you know, they wanted the pastor's son to heaven, and it looked goofy, and I'd just. And I would go home and say, Mom, do I have to put that on?
She said, Well, wear it one time so they can see you in it. Oh, God, I need some of y'all to walk with me. Just wait one time so she can see you in it. I had to go to church looking goofy the next Sunday.
So that and she just smiling. Couldn't wait to get home and take that mess off. Teach our young people. There are words that are important. Please.
Come on, come on. It's important. Thank you. It's important. Excuse me.
Do you hear the groans and moans? People, when's the last time you heard somebody say they bumped into you, stepped on your foot, whatever it is? Just. We had to say, excuse me. If you were interrupting a conversation.
You had to find the right little entry point. You can just bus up in there. Come on, I need some help. Couldn't just bust up in there. You had to wait.
Fine. It's a little bit like playing double Dutch. You had to wait. You had to get in at the right time. Excuse me.
Because you know, the real old-fashioned people they kind of didn't want to hear from kids anyway.
Now, come on, see, at least I was raised in a household. They would let me speak. But some of y'all know your grandparents' generations, they were like, children are to be seen and not heard. Y'all know how that used to be. And my father and mother let us, we could say something, but you had to double-dutch.
You had to get in at the right time. Yeah. Jump in and you say, excuse me. And then you went on to say what it was you needed to say. Teach your younger people when you're talking to somebody considerably older than you, that's not your peer.
That's not John to you. That's Mr. John. If you know his last name, then you put the last name with it. Just because you heard me call him John, that he John to me.
And Mr. Williams to you, whoever it is. And you have to use those. We call them handles. Put a handle on that.
Yeah. Mr. Mrs. Sir, ma'am. Those were handles.
Sam looking for a handle. And you had to come with something. And I realize it's a little some of it's kind of cultural, but that's fine. But um in in at least in the culture I was raised in, you just didn't call when you were a young person, you didn't call considerably older people by their first name only. Even if they were a pretend uncle or something, you had to put some hand on the uncle, auntie, something.
You just bust up in there tell me yo Bob Bob? Doesn't work like that. And I'm trying to tell you, manners and politeness mean something.
So not only must we avoid improper language, Teach your children there's a proper way to say it. Say it and say it right. I don't know the right words. Look it up. You got a whole internet now.
You can find anything you need. On there. I don't know how to say that. Just go on there and find it. When we were kids, it wasn't the internet, but there was an encyclopedia.
So between Webster's dictionary and the encyclopedia, that's how you tried to find out what you needed to say. Y'all remember them encyclopedia, the whole set sitting up there, all the All these books When you were cleaning, when it was your day to clean, you had to clean them off, pull them off and clean, put it back in there, pull them all out, wipe the shelves. Oh, I'm talking about stuff y'all never even thought about. Wipe the shell, then put them back in there.
So anybody comes and needs L through M, they just grab it. And now you got the internet. You don't even have books. You just go right on there.
So find out how to speak appropriately. We are children of light. We have no business talking in the gutter. Paul says. Bring your language up.
You're called to walk in light, you're called to talk in light. All right, now I want you to look at verses 5 through 14. I'll just read that whole passage, just make a few comments about it. Ephesians 5, beginning of verse 5. For of this, you can be sure.
No, he's just wrapping up what he just said. No immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person, is an idolater. When you're greedy, he said you're an idolater. You have idolized the wrong things. He says, such a person has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Meaning it matters. To God. Therefore, do not be partners with them, people who walk in darkness. Don't be partners with them.
For you were once darkness, see you don't become a Pharisee. Either. Don't walk with them, but don't act like you're better than somebody. He says, You were once darkness, and now you're light in the Lord.
So here's what we're called to do: live as children of light. For the fruit of the life consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. and find out what pleases the Lord. Verse 11: Have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Pause.
Expose them in your life. Don't expose them in other people's lives. He's talking about you were once darkness. You find out what pleases the Lord. And you have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness.
You. You see that? You see the you-ness of it? Don't go around snitching on other folk. That's not what he's telling you to do.
He is saying you set the example because you're the child of light. When you are a child of light, all you got to do is live in light. You'll stand out. Because everybody around you is in darkness. You don't have to call out what's going on in them.
You're going to hell. That's not your job. He says, You find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness. Expose them.
Make sure they're not part of your life. Verse 12: It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible. And everything that is illuminated becomes a light. That is why it is said, Wake up, sleeper.
Rise from the dead. and Christ will shine on you. That's what we want to do. We want to be people who live in such a way that Christ shines on us and He shines through us.
So other people are impacted by the light. In us. And God is the one who gets all the glory for that.
Now, so I want you to know when he says no such person has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, I want to make sure you don't fall into false theology and false holiness. See, because I spend a lot of time around pseudo-holy people. And they act like you're going to hell as soon as you do something wrong. You ever met the kind of folk you gotta get saved pretty much every week if you do something? They practice eternal insecurity.
Soon as you do something right, ah. And now you got to go back to the altar. You can't get saved over and over. Any more than you can be born over and over. That's poor theology.
You better go somewhere and get saved again. How are you going to get saved again? We were born naturally one time. You're not coming back. The Bible doesn't teach reincarnation.
You're not coming back. I used to be, you know, hear these people. Oh, I now have my consciousness. I was here in the 15th century. And have you ever noticed all them who came from the 15th century and had their memories jogged, and they used to live in a castle or something?
Have you ever noticed these people? None of them said, No, I was poor, I was broke. No, I lived in a castle, I was a royalty. No, baby, you you were here in the 15th century. Fact of the matter is we only get one shot at birth.
You come, you live, you die. After that to judgment. Not the reincarnation. Yeah. As Pastor Paul has said many times before, God did not ask us to look at the world and curse the darkness.
He asked us to go into the world and turn on the light. Thanks so much for being here for today's Destined for Victory message: Living as Children of the Light. Today's message, as well as any of our recent messages, are available online on demand at pastorpaul.net. You know, Destined for Victory got its start largely because of friends and partners like you. Your faithful prayers and financial support helped us launch this media ministry, and you're needed now to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people all over the world.
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Again, that's Keep Moving Forward, our thank you gift for your generous donation to Destined for Victory today. You can give that gift by phone by calling 855-339-5500. Again, 855-339-5500. Or by visiting pastor Paul dot net and making a safe and secure donation online. And you can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.
Psalm 34:17 says that when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
So, if you need prayer today, our ministry team would be happy to join you. Use the contact feature at the top of our homepage, pastorpaul.net, and share your prayer request with us. That's pastorpaul.net. Oh no, I need somebody to think back on the worst time in your life. Anybody have God run to catch you, run to grab you, run to hug you, run to squeeze you, run to give you more money, run to give you shoes for your bare feet, run to give you a robe to cover up your nakedness.
That's the God you serve. He's a running God. That's next time in our continuing message, Living as Children of the Light. And I hope you'll join us. Until then, remember: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
