2 Kinds of People // Ephesians 5:3-20

Welcome to the Movement Church podcast. We want you to know that God is

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All right, all right, all right, good morning, Movement Church.

How are we doing this morning? Y'all? Good boy, you sounded great

this morning and worship. Thank you. Maya appreciate that. This morning we

have a very special guest sharing with us the scripture of the Word of God.

And that is my oldest boy and whom I'm well pleased justice fight.

Will you give him a round of applause? Yes? He he got up

and did his hair and everything. Okay, uh. And so this morning

we're reading out of Ephesians chapter five three through twenty. Here we go.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or convention is okay, that's covetousness. That's

now. Do you want to start over? Yes? Okay, a minute

okay, but sexual morality and impure at all, impurity or it could say

covetousness. It's a weird word, is it? Or Okay, this would

be a good time to tell you that at one point, when Justice was

sixteen years old, and I didn't do this on purpose, but this is

a great moment for me, I told Justice that my miner in college was

in and he said, that's a stupid minder it is, he goes,

he goes. I'm sixteen years old and I've already mastered the English language.

Yeah, so what's that? What's that word again? Okay, let's keep

going. Okay, covetousness must not must not even be names among you,

and is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk,

nor crude joking, which are out of place. But instead let there

be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually

immoral or impute, or who is covetous, that is an idolator, has

no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God led no one deceive you with

empty words, For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon

the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For

at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in

all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is

pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,

but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things

that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light,

it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible in light, therefore it says,

awake of sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine

on you. Look careful, carefully, then, how you walk, not

as unwise, but as wise, making the best to use in what the

will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for

this 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. This is the word of the

Lord. Amen. Thank you Justice, good job, buddy, They're clapping

because you made it through son. Way to go. Boy, those college

dollars are really coming in handy, aren't they. So I had an uncle

back in the day who you know. Anytime I'd ask him for advice,

he'd always start his advice by saying, let me tell you something, there's

two kinds of people in this world. He'd always started with that. That's

how he'd start every piece of advice. And so you know, things like

he would say, there's people who see the glass as half empty and people

who see the glass as half full. So let's just take a poll in

the room. How many people in the room see the glass as half empty?

Who are Okay, you're willing, Bill Agerman is willing to admit this

class is half empty. No matter what you say about it, it's half

empty. How many are optimists? You say it's half full, we just

haven't filled it up yet. How many of those hands in the air are

just absolute liars and just are not being honest with themselves? Okay, how

about this. There are people who simplify and there are people who complicate.

Okay, now, how many husbands would like to say about their wife.

I'm not going to complete that sentence. How about this. There are people

that this is directly from Ed Gonzalez. There are people who believe that they

can and people who believe that they can't. This is important. If you

wake up in the morning and you're the kind of person that goes, I

have a can do attitude. I believe that I can get through today,

then you will. And if you're the kind of person that believes that you

can't, then maybe you won't. As a tennis player, I wrestle with

this conundrum all the time. People that hate to lose versus people that love

to win. Which are you? How many people would say that you're hyper

competitive? Who in the room is hyper competitive? Who in the room is

married to someone that is hyper competitive? Okay, all right now, So

here's the question. Do they hate to win or do they love or do

they hate to lose? Say it wrong? Do they hate to lose or

do they love to win? Back in the day, I would say that

I was the kind of person that would hate to lose. I would go

home from losing a tennis match. It rarely happens, but when it happens,

I would I literally couldn't sleep. I'd be thinking about the points I

missed and the reason that I hit that shot, and next time I won't

do it that way I had. I literally have notes on my phone,

like on my notes app of how to beat the guy the next time I

play him, like I hate to lose. The way to think about this,

to visualize it is Michael Jordan hates to lose and Lebron James loves to

win. Let's be honest, okay, And so you know this is the

difference. This guy still in his sixties is miser and I think Lebron James

the rest of his life is going to be a happy guy. He's fine.

He just loves to win. This guy is probably going to win more

in life than the other guy. But who cares. One of them loves

to win, one of them hates to lose. End of sermon. Okay,

So dear Abbey said this. She said, there are two kinds of

people in the world. Those who walk into a room and say, there

you are, and people who walk into the room and say, here I

am, which are you? Mark Twain said this. He said, there's

basically two kinds of people, people who accomplish things and people who claim to

have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded, Mark Twain, Ladies

and gentlemen. One friend of mine said from my grandfather there were two kinds

of people in the world, those who agreed with him and those who hadn't

yet agreed with him. Right, I think this one's true for you,

justice. There are three kinds of people in the world who know math and

those who don't. That one's a thinker, Okay, that one's a thinker.

In the nineteen thirties, a guy named Robert Benchley famously wrote a book

and it was about two kinds of people, and this was the premise of

his book. He said this, there are two kinds of people in the

world. People who think that there are two kinds of people in the world,

and people who don't. And his point was that there's all kinds of

people in the world, all kinds of people. So my uncle is wrong.

All of these comments are wrong. But as we saw in this scripture,

and I'm going to try to extrapolate this for us out of Ephesians five,

Paul is trying to say to us that there are two kinds of people

in regards to all of these topics that he's covering. For us in Ephesians

five, and so we're going to cover that today, two kinds of people.

And with each category, I'm going to ask you. The Holy Spirit's

going to ask you which kind you Okay, are you ready ready to get

into this? Let's go. So let's look at this again Ephesians five,

and the hard word that justice didn't want to try to pronounce for us,

but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness. We know what covetousness is.

It's when you want what you don't have, right, it's when you're coveting

what everybody else has. That attitude, that spirit must not even be named

among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or

foolish talk, no crude joking, which are out of place. But instead

let there be thanksgiving. Now this is important. Listen to this, for

you may be sure of this that everyone who is who is sexually immoral,

or is impure, or is covetous that is an idolator, has no inheritance

in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Now, last week I made some

comments. I talked about the idea that the Gospel it requires two things it

requires faith and repentance, that's all it requires. But what it produces in

us is obedience that when we come to understand who and what Jesus is,

what he did for us, what he accomplished for us on the christ I'm

sorry on the cross, that what that does for us is it makes us

want to live life differently. And we said last week that our job as

Christians is to live a life that displays who won the trade. We won

the trade, and so our life should look like it. The problem is,

and we talked about this last week, that the trade, the reason

why we won the trade is because we traded our mess for his best.

We traded, you know, just like the low you know, the fifth

round draft pick for a first round draft pick. We gave the worst.

He gave us his best. But very often we want to take back the

things that we traded to him. Very often. You've heard this before.

The problem with a living sacrifice is that that living sacrifice wants to crawl itself

off the altar. Very often, very often, those things that we trade

it in in order to get all the things that Jesus gave to us,

we kind of want to just take those things back for a moment. I

just want to have a moment where I can just engage my sin, just

for a moment. I just want to have a moment where I can go

back to that way of life that I enjoyed, even though I know it's

not going to do any good for me, I just want to go back

to it for a moment. I'm living in the same twenty twenty three that

you guys are. I know, I'm a pastor, I'm like a professional

Christian, that's like my job. But I'm living in the same twenty twenty

three that you are. You know, I'm living in the same world where

we're all kind of enslaved to the almighty dollar. You know, we live

in this fast paced culture. We live in a world where we're all connected

to technology and we all have to drive on I twenty five and it tests

our faith every day. Right Like, I'm living in the same world that

all of us are, that you are, and so I know that,

just like me, every day, you're coming face to face with your mortality.

You're coming face to face with your humanity. You're coming face to face

with that desire to take back those things that you traded in and that's what

Paul's talking about. He's saying that there is a delineation between acts of disobedience

and a lifestyle of idolatry. He's saying, look at it again. I

love the way the NLT puts this. He says, you can be sure

that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of Christ

and of God. And here's why. A greedy person is an idolator worshiping

the things of this world. And so that's the question, isn't it.

The question that we have to wrestle with is who or what are you worshiping?

Paul saying, there's two kinds of people in this world. There's stumblers

and there's idolators. There's people that find themselves kind of going I just want

to have that moment back, just every now and then, I just want

to have that thing I traded in. I just want it back for a

moment. And then you come to a place where you go, oh,

I did it again, Lord, I'm so sorry. I repent. I

just want to give it back. I know that I didn't. I'm so

sorry. All of us do that. Every Christian does that when Jesus gave

his life away for you and me. When he gave his death for your

life, it wasn't just for the sins that you confess to him up until

the moment that you became a Christian. It's for all the sins that you're

going to commit up until the moment that you die. Right, And so

every sin stumbler that you commit between now and the moment that you see him

face to face is covered. But we have to keep a short account of

those things. And so there's two kinds of people. People that are going

to worship at the altar of this world and people that are going to just

keep fighting to stumble and to keep making forward progress in that work to display

who won the trade. That's the idea that Paul's trying to say here.

People who worship Jesus are human, and humans are sinful. I know that's

not a newsflash. I know you know that. But what I also know

is that a lot of people come to know Christ and they totally misunderstand the

gospel. I can't tell you how many people I have met and talked with

who have come to faith in Jesus. Maybe it was at a summer camp

maybe it was at some concert or some big emotional high, or they go,

yes, I want to accept Jesus and everything's going to be different for

me. And then Monday morning they wake up with the same sinful attitude,

the same sinful desires, the same hunger for all the wrong things, and

they go, well, I guess it didn't work. I guess that old

Jesus thing is for somebody else. I guess it wasn't for me. I

guess I did it wrong. Maybe I did it wrong. Did I do

it wrong? Right? There So many people have that experience. That's why

I honestly my favorite verse in the whole Bible is Galatians five sixteen. We

read about it this week in our men's group on Thursday morning. I love

this verse. Galatians five sixteen says, if you live by the spirit,

you will not fulfill fill the lust of the flesh. If you live by

the spirit, connected with the spirit, step by step, connected to the

spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Let me tell

you why I love this First, here's what it doesn't say. If you

live by the spirit, you will no longer have fleshly desire. It's not

what it says, Praise God, I'm not weird. Thank God, that

sinful desire that I have in me on Tuesday morning, I'm not strange.

I'm not weird. I'm human. It means I'm doing it right. Does

that make sense? It means I'm doing it right. That that that Thursday

afternoon, the goy cut me off in traffic and I want to boy,

I'm about to just unleash a finger, right, Okay. That means I'm

doing it right. That means that sinful desire. It means that that sinful

desire is real. It means I'm living in accordance to the Bible. Now

here's the thing. Just because it's there doesn't mean that I need to fulfill

it. And that's the idea. And what Paul's saying is there are people

who are living in total idolatry to that sinful desire, and then there are

people that are wrestling with it and fighting against it. And he's saying,

stumbling, keep fighting against it up until the moment that you see Jesus face

to face. That's what sanctification is all about. That's what working out your

salvation. Bless your flesh is built for lust. That's what it's built for,

and it's never not going to be built for that. But here's some

good news. Your spirit is also built for worship, and it's never not

going to be built for worship. You know that moment where Moses is up

and he's meeting with God in the Old Testament, and he's communing with God

and he's writing the Ten Commandments on these tablets. What are God's people doing

down at the base of the mountain. I don't know if you know that

story, but they're trading in all of their earrings and their bracelets and their

necklaces, and they're building for themselves a golden calf. It was the original

Chick fil A. They're building for themselves a golden calf. Why because their

hearts told them there needs to be something for us to worship. There needs

this worship that's in us. It's got to go somewhere. This worship that's

in me has to find a place to be given. And that's the truth

for us. Who or what you worship is who you really are, and

who or what you worship is who's you really are. So think about that.

Think about who you worship with your life. Paul is saying that they're

two kinds of people, stumblers and idolators. Which are you you? Let's

keep reading, he says, Let no one deceive you with empty words,

for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of

disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. Listen to this phrase,

for at one time you were darkness, but now you're light and the

Lord walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in

all that is good and right and true. We're getting closer and closer to

Christmas. Who in the room, and I'm not going to ask you,

I'm going to ask you to point at the person who you know is a

Christmas freak. Who is the room? Point at a person who is a

Christmas freak? Point at the person? Go ahead, Okay, Okay,

it's me, by the way, Justice is pointing at me. I'm already

I've been listening to my Christmas playlist for three weeks already. Okay, this

is who I am. I love Christmas. As we get closer, who's

put your Christmas tree up already? Who in the room is? Are?

Okay? The rudders? Okay, I see you? Back there way to

go, and nobody else. I said, just a few Okay, all

right, Belanie, huh okay, okay, that's fun. That's fun.

Okay, okay, well the fights have our Christmas tree up. Okay,

this is who your pastor is, all right. As we get closer to

Christmas, you're gonna hear this phrase a lot more and more as we get

to Christmas. The Light of the world. And the reason we hear this

a lot at Christmas is because of the passage in John where John is delineating

the difference between John the Baptist and Jesus. I want to show you this.

John says that God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell

about the Light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. He says,

John himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell

about the light. John the Baptist was a great dude. He was an

incredible preacher, great communicator. People were drawn to him. He was not

the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to

everyone, was into the world. And so what John is telling us is

that at Christmas time we need to remember that Jesus is the light. Of

the world. Amen, Praise God. We love that right. But I

want you to notice what he said because I love this phrase. The one

who is the true light, who also gives light to everyone, was coming

into the world. And that's important because Jesus not only was the light,

but he gave light away. So Jesus is the light. Jesus gives the

light. Think about how crazy it must have been to these knucklehead teenagers that

were called the Disciples of Jesus Christ, the guys that built the church that

we're still standing on. Think about how crazy it was for them to see

this guy Jesus, who spoke like no one they'd ever heard, for him

to say to them, hey, guys, you are the light of the

world. And they were like, excuse me, just one question. Don't

you mean you're the light Jesus? No, no, no, no,

you you guys, you are the light of the world. Like a city

on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then

puts it under a basket. Instead of light is placed on a stand where

it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let

your good deeds shine out for all to sea. So that everyone will praise

your heavenly Father. So Jesus is the light. Jesus gives the light,

and then Jesus calls the light out of us, out of people like you

and me. Look at the person next to you and tell them you are

the light of the world. Come on, tell them. Now, tell

the person you didn't want to talk to. You're not shine and bright enough.

Tell him, tell them you're not shine and bright enough. Here's what

I think is fascinating. Here's what I think is fascinating. All throughout the

Bible, God uses this analogy of light and darkness. In fact, in

the very beginning of the Bible, this analogy of light and darkness is central

to the concept of creation. Look at this in Genesis. It says,

in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without

form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. So

before anything, before there was anything, all there was was darkness, And

the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God

said this incredible phrase, let there be light. Let there be light.

Now. Literalists of the Bible would say that's the moment that the sun was

born. That the closest star in our galaxy, the Sun, was born.

Let there be light. Boom the sun nova. Bang. Here it

is and there was light. But I want you to compare this moment to

what we just heard in Ephesians five eight. For at one time you were

darkness. Here's what it doesn't say. At one time you were shrouded in

darkness. At one time you were blinded by darkness. At one time you

couldn't see because of all the darkness. No, at one time you were

darkness. But now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light.

And I think that what Paul is telling us really, really clearly is

that there's two kinds of people, the dark and the light, the dark

and the light. And I'm not talking about our skin tone. I'm talking

about people that are walking in darkness. They're walking around and they are literal

epitomes of darkness. And that's what we were before we knew Jesus. That's

how we lived. We lived as darkness. And Jesus and God says this

incredible phrase. He says, let there be light. Let there be light,

and so he sends Jesus, and Jesus is the light and Jesus gives

the light, and then he says to us, let there be light,

and he says, you are the light. And what if when Jesus says

let there be light, he's talking about us. What if he says,

let there be life that penetrates death. Let there be hope that penetrates despair.

Let there be peace that penetrates anxiety. Let there be joy that penetrates

sorrow. Let there be light, and let it be us. Paul says,

you once were dark, and now you are light. Let there be

light in the world. There's two kinds of people in the world, the

dark and the light. Which one are you? So I would ask you

in the way that you walk in this world? Do you bring light everywhere

you go? Do you bring life everywhere you go? When you walk into

a room, are people excited that you're walking into that room? Man,

if you're a follower of Jesus, you ought to light up the room that

you walk into. You should not walk into the room like ere okay.

You should not walk into the room and bring a black flag of chaos with

you. When you walk into a room, people should be like, oh,

man, BRIT's here, Oh dude, ed just showed up. Oh

man, I'm so excited Presley's here. Like, I'm so pumped. That's

how it ought to be. Okay, let there be light. Which one

are you all right? Let's keep going. I told you last week my

favorite verse in the whole Bible to quote half of it is from a peasans

four, be angry. Love it my favorite. Just quote only that first

two words. That's my favorite thing to quote. I receive it, Thank

you Lord, I received that. Jesus be angry. I know, don't

send that part too, but I just like to quote the first part,

be angry. I receive it. And I just want to tell you.

And I mentioned this last week, and this has happened to me now because

I've driven now to Denver three times in the last week, and it's happened

to me three times now in the last week. And I just want to

make because I have the pulpit up here, I have a microphone, and

I have people here, so I feel like it's okay for me to use

this opportunity as a public service announcement that it's time to put an end to

rubbernecking. Okay, it's time to put a total end. I have righteous

anger towards and if you're a rubbernecker, I have righteous anger towards you.

Okay, I'm angry with you, specifically if you are the kind of person

that slows everybody down. Just so you can see why this person is changing

their tire, I'll tell you why their tire is flat. Keep driving,

Okay, it's not your business. It's not your business. You are impeding

all of us that are behind you because you are a rubbernecker, and I

need you to stop. And this has scriptural evidence. Okay, I'm going

to show you. I'm going to show you in the scripture why this matters.

First, I want to just show you. This is an incredible picture.

I blew this up. I want you to see this. Look at

all this traffic. I know it's a grainy picture, but look at all

this traffic behind here. This one car has now zoomed on, And look

at all of these people who are looking at this one car on the side.

Look at all of this drama behind us. There's nothing happening with this

car. It's an empty car. Move on. Please stop doing it,

okay, Please, for the love of all things holy, please stop being

a rubbernecker. Okay, anyway, here's the definition of a rubbernecker, and

this is from Oxford's dictionary. A person who looks at something in a stupid

way, especially a driver who drives more slowly to look at an accident.

With that in mind, i'd like for you to read this scripture Ephesians five.

It says this, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

It's not rubbernecking. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,

but instead expose them. Now this is the part, for it is shameful

even to speak of the things that they do in secret. When anything is

exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is

light. Now, I'm gonna give you this point, and then I'm gonna

unpack it. I promise you this is not heresy. Okay, there's two

kinds of people in this world, self inspectors and rubber neckers. Okay,

self inspectors and rubber neckers. Now here's what Paul's saying. First, he

says, try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. So what he

says first is mind your own business. It's a little thing called Nunya.

You ever heard of it? It's a little thing called nunya. Hey,

what's going on with all these people over here? Right? Can you just

please concentrate on what is pleasing to the Lord in your own life? Can

you please just worry about your own heart and your own spirit, because that's

what matters. And here's a question that I think all spiritual rubberneckers need to

wrestle with, And it's this question right here? Do you doubt the sovereign

leadership of God? Do you doubt the sovereign leadership of God? I don't.

In my life, I don't. I have seen enough in my life

as a forty seven year old man, I've seen enough people who have mocked

God in private, who have then been publicly shamed. I've seen enough leaders

who thought they could get away with things that they were doing behind the scenes

that the Lord said, that's enough, haven't you? Haven't we seen enough

of this? And why is it that we Christians take such delight in watching

documentaries about Christians who've made mistakes? What's our deal like? When the Hill

Song documentary came out earlier this year, and it was one of the highest

rated documentaries on Hulu this year. Why is that? And you know who

watched it? It wasn't the non Christians. It was the Christian that we're

watching it. What's our deal? Why are we so consumed with what other

people are doing wrong? Why are we so consumed with rubber necking? Paul

says, stop doing it. Don't be a rubber necker. Pay close,

intentional, honest attention to the rumblings and stumblings of your own heart. And

no one in the room is saying amen, But you need to keep a

short account of your sin. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord?

And if you use that, by the way, if that scripture right

there, man, you talk about a bumper sticker scripture, you talk about

a refrigerator scripture, you talk about a I'm going to read this scripture before

I leave the house scripture. I'm going to look at this every day for

twenty twenty four scripture, this one right here, Try to discern what is

pleasing to the Lord? What if you did that? What if you lived

your life that way? What if you chose to make every decision in your

life based on what you believed would be pleased to the Lord, It would

be a massive game changer for you. You've heard me say before, and

I believe that this scripturally is one hundred percent true. That our God is

complete. He's the Alpha and the Omega before one day was he knew them

all to be. He doesn't need anything from any of us, right,

He doesn't need you. He only wants good things for you. So if

that's true, and you decide to make every decision in your life based on

what is pleasing to him, that it's going to produce a life for you

and not from you. And it's going to be a very very good life,

a life that God wants for you. That's the point. There's two

kinds of people in this world, self inspectors and rubberneckers. And I would

just encourage you. Don't concern yourself with what anybody else is doing with their

life. Concern yourself with what the Lord is speaking to you about you.

I would love it if you said, amen, this is what it's about.

Okay, let's keep reading. Look at verse fifteen. It says 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,

don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. John

Wember famously said this. I'm sure you've heard this quote before. If you

show me where you spend your time, your money, and your energy,

I'll tell you what you worship. I'll tell you what matters to you.

Right. I bet that at some point in twenty twenty three you have said

this statement, I just wish I had more time. Right. I bet

at some point this year you've said this comment, I just wish I had

more time. And the truth is, and we hate to hear it because

it's one of those like convicting phrases, but the truth is that we have

time for the things that we make time for. Right. This is the

truth of us. Paul's telling us that there's two kinds of people in this

world, time wasters and time investors. Which one are you? Time wasters

and time investors? I love this quote. This is from the book True

North by Bill George. He said, the hardest person in the world you'll

ever lead is your self, because no one makes more excuses for you than

you, no one lies to you more than you do to yourself. I

don't know if Bill has ever heard of satan or the devil, because the

devil lies to you more than you do. But I agree with this sentiment,

this idea that the hardest person you will ever lead is your self.

And that's the point. Are you a time waster or a time investor?

And I think what Paul's saying is that we need to take stock of how

we invest our time and to use that word invest. I was listening to

a guy talk about youth ministry a couple weeks ago and he made this comment.

He said that the average youth pastor here he is, this is what

the average youth pastor apparently looks like. If he were to spend three hours

a week with your student for seven years, so middle school to high school,

three hours a week for seven years, that is one thousand hours that

your youth pastor could spend with your student. That's significant, right, one

thousand hours. But the average mom and dad has thirty five hours a week

for more than seven hout seven years. But let's just talk about the teenage

years. Thirty five hours a week for seven years, that equates to twelve

thousand, seven hundred and forty hours that mom and dad can spend investing into

their kids. We've been using the language as we've been taught the idea that

mom and dad have to be the prime disciple makers in the home, and

that the church's job is to come alongside mom and dad and to help them

by equipping them to be the primary disciple maker in the home. It means

that the youth pastor cannot be the only place that your kid hears about Jesus.

Somebody say, amen, right. It means that we, mom and

dad have to be thinking about how we're going to prepare our children to know

about Jesus when they leave our home. Look carefully, then, how you

walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of

the time, because the days are evil. Don't be foolish, but understand

what the will of the Lord is. We say this every week, and

our spoken word that we say at the end of our services, the forward.

It says, this life is a vapor. Each breath is a gift

you've chosen to call us, You've called us to live. This life is

a vapor. It's gone like that quick, so quick, so precious,

so important. And on a week like this where we're heading into Thanksgiving,

where we're going to be surrounded by family and people that we care about.

Man, you're going to look into the eyes of the people that matter the

most to you, and I just want you to remember. I want you

to be thinking about where you invest your time, where you invest your heart,

where you invest the best of who you are? Where do you give

the best of you? Two kinds of people in this world, time wasters

and time investors. Which one are you? Okay? And so now I'm

really grateful because Paul's going to go from preaching to meddling. Okay, we're

going to get all up in your business now. In verse eighteen, you're

ready? Who you ready? You sure? Okay? Verse eighteen. Do

not get drunk with wine. Don't throw anything at me. Okay, I

didn't write this. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

But be filled with the spirit. Do not get drunk with wine,

but be filled with the spirit. I love that juxtaposition. I love that

tension. I love that comparison. Don't get drunk with wine, be filled

with the spirit. Because I think what he's trying to do for us is

he's trying to tell us there's something that you're pursuing with this whole drunkenness thing.

There's something that you're seeking to find that you can only find in the

Holy Spirit. Stop doing that. Stop doing it. And of course we

know that the danger with alcohol is drunkenness. I want you to hear me

as your pastor. There's nothing in your Bible that tells you that to drink

is to sin. I can't believe nobody said amen to that. I've really

thought somebody in the back was gonna go amen and raise a glass, right,

But there's nothing in your Bible that says that to drink is to sin.

Now, to drink to the point of drunkenness is to sin. Now.

Let me also say this, if you have people in your life who

are former alcoholics or practicing non alcoholics, people who are sensitive to people who

drink, maybe it would be appropriate for you not to drink around them for

their sake. Maybe you should be sensitive prefer one another. Maybe you should

be careful around them, loving towards them by not drinking. That's not an

issue of sin, that's just an issue of love. Amen, you with

me. And so the issue with drinking is not drinking. The issue is

drunkenness. Okay, So he's talking about drunkenness, and anytime you read the

Bible, I think you always start with the literal definition first. But I

want to go a little deeper because I don't think he's just talking about drunkenness.

I think he's talking about this idea of what is it that we are

filling ourselves with. Drunkenness is just one example of what Paul is juxtaposing.

So I'm going to give you the point, then let's talk about it.

I think what he's saying is that there's two kinds of people. There's whole

fillers and then there's the spirit filled. There's whole fillers and there's the spirit

filled. There's this chasm inside of the human spirit, inside of the human

heart that in one way or another, every single person tries to do something

to fill it up, something that you just reach for. Maybe this will

make me feel complete. Maybe I'll go shopping and that'll make me feel complete.

Maybe I'll eat and that'll make me feel complete. Maybe if I have

enough friends, maybe if I have enough followers. Maybe if I have enough

fame, enough money, enough success, enough power, I'll feel complete.

Whatever it is that you're trying to fill the hole with Paul saying, man,

stop getting drunk on that stuff and decide to be filled with the Holy

Spirit. The only thing in this life, on this side of eternity that's

going to satiate you, satisfy you feel you is the Holy Spirit of God.

That's the only answer to the problem of the human condition is the Holy

Spirit of God. Do not get drunk with wine. That's debauchery. Be

filled with the Holy Spirit. And I listen, there are not gradations of

filledness with the Holy Spirit. I think we can get in some really really

bad theology where people can start saying to you, well, are you filled

with the Holy Spirit? And you say, I think so. I accepted

Jesus as my savior. I got the Holy Spirit with the deal right,

Yes you did. But are you filled with the Holy Spirit? I don't

know, am I yes you are. As a songwriter, I always correct

worship leaders and songwriters when they try to write songs that say the following phrase,

Holy Spirit come, Holy Spirit, be here, Holy Spirit be present.

The Holy Spirit is here. The Holy Spirit has not left. The

Holy Spirit is in this place. The Holy Spirit is right here in my

spirit. He's right here in your spirit. He hasn't gone anywhere. What

happens is we become desensitized to his presence. We've become so sensitized to the

world that we become desensitized to him. So the right prayer, one of

my favorite ways that anyone's ever said. It is in the song Holy Spirit,

which is I love that. That's the name of the song. It

says, let us become more aware of your presence, let us experience the

fullness of your glory or something like that. Right, I love that phrase,

let us become more aware. Why you're not the problem. I'm the

problem. It's me. I got too much noise. It's me. I'm

seeking the wrong things. It's me. I haven't read my Bible, I

haven't prayed, I haven't listened to worship music. I've been listening to all

the wrong things. All the sources that I've filled the whole with are clouding

out my ability to sense the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense? And

so I would just say to you, man, be filled with the Holy

Spirit. What's he saying, Get rid of everything that's not the Holy Spirit.

Whatever you're trying to fill yourself with, get rid of it. Man,

be filled with the Holy Spirit. There's two kinds of people in this

world, whole fillers and the spirit filled. And I would ask you which

one are you? Which one are you? All right? Last one,

he says, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. I think that's important

too, by the way, because we're heading into Thanksgiving and a lot of

us are going to be filled with some complex carbohydrates. And so let's try

to be filled with the Holy Spirit this week instead addressing one another in psalms

and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your

heart, giving, thanks giving, thanks giving, thanks when always and for

what forever thing to God, the Father and the name of our Lord,

Jesus Christ. There's two kinds of people in this world. There's complainers and

there's praisers. Which one is the person sitting next to you, don't answer

that question. Come on, there's two kinds of people in this world,

complainers and praisers. Listen. I bet that there are people in the room

who have folks that are coming to your house this week that you are somewhat

nervous about them being in your home this week. A crazy uncle, a

grandmother, a wild card person in your family, whatever it is, because

Thanksgiving kind of brings out the nutty and all of us I am. I

personally love Thanksgiving and I am just the older I get. I've become more

and more cliche. I don't know what's happened to me, but I do

this thing. The kids hate it. I think Dana hates it. I

don't care. I am the law and so before we eat, I make

everyone at the table say one thing that they're thankful for. And this year

I have raised the anti. I saw this on Instagram. This is called

the graticube, the Gratitube. Okay. Now on each of these graticubes,

what you do is you roll this little dice. Okay, so you roll

this thing. I found this on Instagram, and I'm so pumped about using

this on Thursday. Every person is gonna have to roll this graticube and whichever

category it is, so like, this one says let's see something you've accomplished.

This one says something that makes you smile. This one says someone that

you helped. So it's all these cool little categories. So like, this

one's for you, Melissa, check this one out. Melissa was telling me

that she's got someone that's coming this week for Thanksgiving and she's gonna need some

extra gratitude. So you know, this is an idea look through that.

But we're gonna check this graticube out. Justice, I can't wait to hear

your answers for this thing. Yeah. Oh, it's gonna be great because

Justice Fike is a complainer. Okay, I can answer the question for you.

So here's some questions for you. What do you have to be thankful

for? What has God done for you? Come on? What has God

done for you? Obviously all of us in this room who have accepted Jesus

Christ, our Lord and Savior start with that. How about can we do

that? But what else? What has God done for you? I mean

even in this calendar year? What are some things that you would say that

you would recount that God has done for you? Are you practicing gratitude?

Are you practicing gratitude? What has you rescued you from? Where would you

be if it wasn't for him? Come on, somebody, that is a

question that you should be asking of yourself. What has God done for you

that only He could do for you? There's two kinds of people in this

world, complainers and praisers. Now, I think that Robert Benchley is right.

I think he's right that there are there's a lot more than two kinds

of peace people in this world, even in this room. There's a lot

more than two kinds of people in this world. But I would be remiss

if I didn't end this sermon by telling you that at the end of it

all, there's going to be a day, at the end of it all,

when there will only be two kinds of people. It says in our

Bible that there's going to be a moment where church people are going to be

shocked. They're going to be absolutely shocked, where they come before God,

they come before Jesus and they say, hey, it's me. It's me,

Jesus. Don't you remember me. I did all these things in your

name. I prayed in your name, I cast out demons in your name.

I did all of these incredible things. And Jesus is going to separate

the sheep from the goats, and he's going to say to the goats,

which are church people, he's going to say, hey, depart from me.

I never knew you. That's a tough moment. That's the two kinds

of people moment. There's a moment in Revelation where it says that the people

who have their name written in the Lamb's Book of Life are going to be

in eternity with Jesus forever and ever, and the people whose name are not

written in the Lamb's Book of Life simply will not experience the fullness of eternity

with heaven. Instead, they'll experience darkness for eternity. So there are two

kinds of people at the end of it all, people whose name is written

in the Lamb's Book of Life and people whose name does not appear in that

book. And I've got some really good news for you. If you've never

heard this before, it's really really simple to get your name put in the

Lamb's Book of Life. I'm going to be in heaven with Jesus, and

I would love to see you there. All you have to do in order

to be there with me and a lot of the people in this room is

just to simply confess with your mouth, just to say out loud, I

believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and to believe in your heart that

he's not just the Lord of it all, but he's the Lord of your

all that He's the Lord of your life. If you will confess with your

mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, then you will be

saved. Somebody say Amen, at the end of it all, there's two

kinds of people, and I would just ask you which one are you?

And I would pray that you would be the kind that would put your faith

in your hope in Jesus Christ. Amen. So what's God leading you to

do next? And how can we help? Would you send us an email

to info at Movementchurch dot co and tell us how we can pray for you

and help you take the next step in your spiritual journey. If you like

to contribute financially to our ministry, text the amount you like to give to

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God is for you and so are we.