In Light Of All This: Making The Most

Well, I'm going to open up completely selfish this morning, and I want you to respond however you feel to respond.

You can respond in kind, which is my favorite, and that is Merry Christmas.

I love Christmas.

And I love to hear that.

And I've this this past Christmas, this season, I've kind of taken it on to where it catches me weird when people just go, Happy holidays.

That's just kind of the politically correct way to greet one another, I guess.

And and I'm not trying to make a statement, I'm not trying to engage, I'm not trying to communicate.

I'm just, it just comes out.

And it came out a couple times, and now it's my norm.

When somebody goes, Happy holidays, I'm like, Merry Christmas.

And I said, Oh, what what what holiday are you celebrating?

And I'm not trying to pick or anything.

I just I just want to know.

And you know what's really cool?

I expected people to go, well, it's just holidays, it's just holidays, and I expected them to be a little bit put off or whatever, but you know what I found is I I bet about 90% plus of the time people are like, I'm like, and what holiday are you are you celebrating?

They're like, Merry Christmas.

And I'm like, it it's not illegal, okay?

It's it's okay.

It's the birth of God as a human being.

It's okay to celebrate that.

And and I just I love this holiday, and I and I love this this season, and I've had such a great time these last couple weeks.

Uh, Justin has been so gracious to let me share.

And I love doing the kind of uh verse by verse passage type teaching because today I gotta warn you though.

One, we're in uh Ephesians chapter five, but I gotta warn you two warnings.

Number one, today, like a time no more than I've can ever remember.

This is more like a therapy session for me, and I'm just gonna do it out loud, and you're welcome to join in, okay?

Because this is this is where I'm living.

The second warning is this that today will not be a resolution of here's some truth, you take it, okay, got it, oh, life's better.

Okay, this is this is one of those where God is saying that if you want to have a life of complete meaning, and I think he uses the term in here, making the most of every moment, today are the lessons to do that.

It's the in-depth part of if you have a decision to make, here's how.

If you have a frustration you're going through, here's the way to get through it.

It is simple, but it is not easy.

It is a process that we're gonna look at.

And one of the best ways I can really describe it is one of the uh engagements I have right now.

I'm actually helping coach a girls' basketball team right now.

My daughter, who's in ninth grade, goes to a little school.

They decided that she decided this year, I want to play basketball.

She's she played when she was nine.

That was the last time she played one season of Upward, which is kind of like sort of basketball.

It's it's it's learning the basics, but she hasn't played.

And and this small school, the they didn't have any coach.

So they this wonderful lady stepped up and said, I'll coach, but she's never coached before.

She's a great athlete, never coached.

And so they said, Hey, you've coached for like over a decade and a half.

Well, you just assist.

So it is a new role for me to sit on a bench and just kind of uh coach a coach, and and and I've never coached girls, okay?

Girls are different in a lot of ways.

And my wife, this is a perfect example.

First game, she sat on the other side watching.

She said, I laughed at you the whole time.

And I'm like, why did you laugh?

She goes, Well, I've seen you coach, but never be the assistant.

I've never seen you on the bench.

And she said, Every time a girl would come over, they'd come and sit right next to you, and they'd just be talking, and you'd be, you'd have this just confused look on your face.

And I said, Well, it just I don't think I did badly, but I'm just sitting here going, I'm not used to this.

It's it's a game.

You watch the game, and and and girls would be like, Coach, can I ask you a question?

I'm like, sure.

And the game's gone, so I've kind of got it split uh attention, and they're like, Coach, I'm I feel like I'm in the right place, but I'm not sure.

And I just feel like I'm not missing something.

And I'm like, okay, okay, stop feeling, all right?

There's there's no feeling.

You're either in the right place or you're not, but I didn't say that.

I'm just I'm trying, okay, feel, okay.

Well, you you don't have to worry about feeling because you're in the right place.

Just run what we're supposed to run.

And and this this last game was just one of those where it just it just I realized we're young and we're inexperienced, which is a bad combination, but I've just set my uh my expectations corrected, and and I this last game is so funny because the girl comes and I'm on the verge of tears.

And I'm just like, Well, what's wrong?

She was like, She pushed me, she just pushed me for no reason.

I'm just like, okay, that that's gonna happen.

All right, this is basketball, it's a contact sport.

Uh, that's gonna go there.

And then the other one of her friends comes over, frustrated, not in tears, but frustrated.

I'm like, what's wrong?

And she's just like, I mean, I'm standing in my spot, I'm in my position.

And then and then she just comes and pushes, she leans into me telling them under the basket and I can't do anything.

And she goes, What do I do?

And I'm like, lean back, okay?

Just push back, that's part of it.

And I realize that we've got to learn that this, it's there's a difference, and here's where I'm going with this.

There's a difference between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it.

There's a difference.

And we've practiced and we went through practice, and we're like, I know the plays.

Yay, we're all a team, we're running the plays, I know where to be, I know what to do.

And then we get in a game, and the game is different.

And I literally heard this a couple times, and I'm like, okay, are you not running the place?

She's like, She is in my way.

And I'm like, that's gonna happen every game.

They're gonna get in your way, and they're gonna do against what you're trying to do.

If I could quote the great theologian Mike Tyson, I would put it this way: he said, Everybody has a plan until you get hit, and then what's gonna happen?

Can I tell you that today is that where when life hits us?

These are the lessons.

These are the lessons to not only learn, but to embody and embrace.

Because when we embrace these, we literally make the most.

If we want to make the most in life, find the abundant life, find life to the fullest significance, understanding, we have to learn these lessons.

And there's four of them in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

And it starts in verse 15.

And the first couple verses, the first one is we have to be wise.

We have to choose to be wise.

We have to learn this lesson of becoming wise.

It says this be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

So, how do we become wise?

I have to first decide, I'm ready for that lesson.

Because I need to get to the point where I'm like, okay, Lord, I want to be wise.

What do I need to do in order to be wise?

Well, I can look at it in this way.

It says uh at the end of that, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Well, what is the Lord's will?

What is God's will?

Well, Paul writes it in 1 Thessalonians 5, uh, 16 through 18, I think it is, where he says, he says, um, let me let me get it perfect.

He says, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in every circumstance give thanks.

Rejoice, pray, and give thanks.

He says, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Notice the tense of this passage.

Rejoice always.

Pray continually, give thanks in every circumstance.

It's ongoing.

Wisdom is discerned and accepted ongoing.

It's not just something we get once we have it, it's it's in the midst of our trials.

And he says it this way what is what is wisdom in James chapter 3, verse 17.

James 3:17

It says, but wisdom that comes from heaven, and here's a list, uh a grid, if you will, if you're making a decision today, pray through this one verse, James 3, 17.

And just think, okay, Lord, I want to be wise, ask him for wisdom, and pray through this in the decision.

It says this.

But wisdom that comes from God is first all pure.

Are my motives pure?

Then peace-loving.

Considerate.

Am I considering all the sides?

Submissive.

Submissive to what?

Well, submissive to the truth, submissive to those involved, full of mercy.

Am I really caring about what the effect of this decision is?

And good fruit.

Well, what does he mean by good fruit?

Well, we can go to another part of scripture in Galatians chapter 5, verse 23.

Galatians 5:23

It says, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of his wisdom is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Am I embodying all those in my decision?

And then he says, he goes on in James to say, wisdom from God is impartial.

True wisdom is impartial.

It's not my side and their side, it's impartial and sincere.

In the core of my heart, am I being sincere in this and genuine?

That's what wisdom is.

Now, that's not a quick, easy check it off the list, go make the decision.

That's a pondering, that's an ongoing piece that we have to do if we want to experience wisdom.

So, where does wisdom happen?

How do I be wisdom?

Be wise.

How can I become that?

I've discovered in my life that it is in those times and those areas that are well frustrating or out of the norm that cause me to have to shift, that I'm most attentive.

I'm either gonna get frustrated and blame or I'm going to be wise.

And to be wise, I have to make a choice and say, God, I didn't pick this, I don't want this, but what do I do?

And I seek his truth.

Let me give you a real life example to illustrate this.

How many of you love, I mean, just love taking cold showers every day?

Okay, you're sick.

I'm sorry, that's not normal.

Um, how many of you just on a cold day, you come inside, love to just bask in a warm, hot shower bath?

Okay, these are the normal people.

I'm sorry, okay.

Um, I love a hot shower.

So two days ago, I go to, I just was in that mode.

I've been outside, I've been going, I'm like, I just want to get clean, I want a hot shower.

I turn on the shower, and it is not warm.

And I keep tapping it, keep waiting and keep waiting.

It doesn't, I'm like, oh, I gotta get clean.

So I jump in, I take a shower.

I'm like, I'm frustrated because I like hot showers.

And then I start going into blame mode.

Who is the one who took all the hot water?

And I'm thinking, is it Graham, my oldest, because he came to dinner one night and said, Dad, I love it.

I said, You look happy.

He goes, Yeah, I took a snap.

I'm like, what's a snap?

And he says, Well, you know, the shower downstairs, and I designed it this way, it's huge.

He says, You know what?

You can lay down in the shower on the floor.

He says, I just turn it on as hot as I can stand, and then I take a nap.

A snap.

And then I had to explain to him how that affects the rest of the household.

And so I realized he hadn't been home, so it wasn't him.

And then I thought my youngest son, who's 13, he's taking longer showers, but I'm like, he doesn't take showers until we tell him to, and we didn't tell him to.

So and then I thought my daughter, she just got back.

I wonder if it was her, but she really didn't take long showers.

So I get out of the shower and I'm still trying to warm up, and she's a she she's in her room, and I'm like, hey, did you take a nice long hot shower?

She goes, No, I didn't have any hot water.

I'm like, really?

Me neither.

Well, then that indicates to me something's wrong.

Now I can keep complaining and grumbling, but I want to be wise.

In this situation, I want hot water.

I want that to change.

So I thought, what do I need to do?

Well, I need to go to the source, I need to go to the water heater.

And I said, the first service, I said the hot water heater, and a couple plumbers came up and said, you know, there's no such thing as a hot water heater.

It's a water heater.

The water's already hot, you don't need to heat it.

And I was like, okay, thanks.

You heat hot water, it's a hotter water heater, you know, and I'm like, got it.

So I go downstairs to our water heater, and of course, now this is the way life happens.

I'm like, let me get to the water heater, see what's wrong.

Well, of course, my wife has got tubs of clothes stacked all around it, so now I can't even get to it.

I gotta get to it, pull all that out, and it's gotta get down to it, and I'm just like, I'm listening and I don't hear anything, and I know how to listen for a flame, and I'm like, there's nothing there.

The flame's not going, it's not heating.

What do I do?

And I made a decision.

Now I could start just messing with it and pushing and pulling and whatever, but I don't want to do.

I don't know what to do.

So I I literally I get the manual.

I figure that those who built the water heater know more about it than I do.

And I'm so glad I did.

Because I before I got to the instructions and the troubleshooting, it said read the cautions.

And it's like listening, you know, smell for a gas, because you don't want to be flipping off matches and blow up the house.

And I'm like, that's a good point.

So I made sure everything was set, and then I got to the troubleshooting part, and I'm reading through it, and it had diagrams and it showed me, hey, if the pilot light's off, and I'm like, well, how?

I can't hear it.

What do I do?

And it says, open the door, the outer door, but do not try to open the inner door.

It does not open.

And I'm telling you, had I not read that, I'd have been with a screwdriver just jamming that thing, trying to get it open.

And and it said, Don't open that one.

That's just a window, and it walked me through it.

I'm like, okay, push this, push this.

If that doesn't work, repeat the steps again.

If that doesn't work, do this.

I'm like, wow.

And then sure enough, after about 20 minutes, I did one of the combinations and I hear this and I look through the little window and there's the flame.

I'm like, yes.

But wisdom comes from going to the Creator and reading the manual.

That's where wisdom comes from.

And if I have a decision and I literally want to be wise, not unwise, well, what does he say?

He says, rejoice always, pray continually, in everything give thanks.

And the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of joy, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

And I go to the word and I start in that process.

Once I'm at that point of I want to be wise and I'm seeking the truth, comes the second lesson.

And I know a lot of people that give the first one but completely discard the second one.

And it's in the next verse.

It's in verse 18 of chapter 5.

It says, and I love this is one of the greatest illustrations in all of Scripture.

In one simple verse.

It says, Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery.

We're not going to go into debauchery.

It says, but instead be filled with the Spirit.

The second lesson we have to learn is being filled with the Spirit.

Now I love this example, and I'm going to go ahead and give a disclaimer on the side.

It says, do not be drunk with wine.

This is not a verse about condemning drinking, okay?

I mean, Jesus' first miracle turned water into wine, and it was not, and I've heard denominations go, it was just scrape juice.

It was scrape juice.

He just turned it into grape juice.

And when they say that, I said, well, then please flip over here where Paul says, do not get drunk with grape juice.

Explain that one to me, okay?

It was alcohol.

But it says very clearly multiple times in scripture, don't get drunk with it.

Don't get drunk, for that's dissipation, that's debauchery.

It leads to all kinds of negatives.

But here's the deal.

I want you to look at the way he described that and why he used that.

Because being drunk is like an instant loss of control.

And he he does the comparison there beautifully.

And let me put it this way I don't know if you've been around somebody who's drunk before.

All right.

Now it's it's frustrating because you know they're not who they really are, but they are, but they're being irresponsible.

Here's what I've discovered.

Those that I see around me, they say it feels great for a moment.

And then they say things that they are not going to remember.

And they think things that they think they can do things they cannot do.

Example, dance, sing, approach attractive women.

Okay?

Those are just a few.

Just a few.

The result is regret physically, mentally, and relationally.

It's regret.

I've never met one person that's got just drunk that didn't have one of those or all of those as a result.

Here's the deal: being filled with the spirit.

Literally, it is a lesson to learn.

And here's what it looks like in the time it would take to drain a 12-ounce can.

Literally, in that amount of time, it says, be filled with the spirit.

It is a choice of ours.

What happens there?

It may feel awkward for a moment to stop in the middle of whatever it is and say, Lord, I'm frustrated.

And it doesn't seem natural.

It seems like we should be doing more or something or be frustrated or just let go.

But here's the deal: we're that awkward.

Then we start remembering and speaking truth beyond what we are capable of.

And not only that, we're able to accomplish what we could not accomplish on our own.

And we can't sustain wisdom and insight beyond our experience and knowledge starts to come to mind and in the situation.

And the result, wisdom, peace, significance, and accomplishment beyond our imagination.

If we'll stop to be filled.

And when I mean be filled by the Spirit, let me make this very clear.

If you have accepted God into your life, accepted His forgiveness, if you believed in your heart that Jesus the Lord confessed that God raised him from the dead, and that is your heart of heart, sincerely, God's Spirit is in you.

It's in our very soul.

But our awareness of it and our activation of that level is only when we choose to be filled.

It's there, but it's our awareness to fill that and say, God help.

My favorite prayer of all time is God help.

It's engaging Him and His truth.

And it's learning to do that in the midst of our sorrows, in the midst of our frustrations, when that awareness is heightened.

So be wise, be filled.

And then in verse 19, it gives us a different level.

And it's more than just singing.

Look at this.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual and songs from the Spirit.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.

It's more than just singing songs, it's engaging emotionally, mentally, spiritually, in literal worship towards God.

And there's four components.

A friend of mine, uh Scott Longyear, he's a pastor out in Indiana, wrote a book called Soul Coma.

And he talks about awakening our soul and awakening our awareness of the Holy Spirit in us.

And he talks about one of those is really worship, meaningful, intentional, intense worship.

And he shares this incredible, I'll share it in a very abbreviated way.

In Isaiah chapter 6, he uses this passage just to share kind of the components of meaningful, intentional worship.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

It's Isaiah's revelation.

The first step is simply to see God for who he is in verse 3.

And they were calling the angels holy, holy, holy is the Lord all almighty.

The whole earth is filled with his glory.

It's seeing who God is.

The first song we sang today, that all of heaven and earth rejoice to the glory and the wonders of his love.

We're literally seeing God for who he is.

Secondly, in verse 5, it says, Woe to me, I cried, I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips.

Tell me that didn't describe our world and our society.

A world that confesses that which is opposite of what God is, and that which is not clean and not pure.

And Lord, I'm in the middle of that, and I am guilty of it, and I am ruined because of it.

It's so it's not only seeing God for who he is, it's seeing ourselves for who we really are.

But then there's this confession in verses six through seven.

Then one of the angels, the seraphims, flew over me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

With it he touched my mouth and said, See, this has touched your lips.

Your guilt is taken away, and your sins are atoned for.

See God for who he is, me and my state, confession and forgiveness.

That third step where he touches us and he says, You are forgiven.

And then the final part of worship, intentional worship, is what he does in verse 8.

He says, Then I heard a voice of the Lord saying, Who shall I send and who will go for us?

And I said, Here am I, send me.

Say yes.

Whatever God lays on our hearts in the midst of that time, when we're connecting with the Spirit in His Word, worshiping intentionally, He will put a word on our heart, He will give us a step to take, a choice to make, and the the step we Take is to say the lesson to learn is I will, I am.

The final lesson that is is way below the surface.

Again, it is simple, but it's not easy.

We saw it in 1 Thessalonians.

That's easy for you to say.

1 Thessalonians 5, 16, it rejoice always.

Pray continually.

In everything, give thanks.

It's here again in verse 20.

Always giving thanks to God, the Father, for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, God, thank you for this.

Now I want to draw some real clear, uh clear clarity.

That's the best I could come up with.

Be very, very clear here.

It's not being thankful for every circumstance, it's being thankful in every circumstance.

I did not sit before God and say, God, thank you so much that my daughter had cancer.

That's not it.

It's not being so spiritual to stand in the middle of a rainstorm going, it's not raining and I'm not wet.

It's not a denial of reality.

Here's the key principle to it that's insanity.

What God longs for us to experience is in the midst of this.

It's not ignoring the circumstances, rather, it's acknowledging his presence.

And I'm going to put up a list of verses here.

I want to encourage you, if you have a phone, grab it and take a picture of them.

Because when you go through it, if you're like, you know what, Lord, I want to learn this love and lesson of giving thanks.

It's more than being thankful, it's rejoicing.

It's rejoicing in it, not because of the circumstances, but because of who he is.

In John 16, 33, he says, In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I've overcome this world.

In Romans 8.28, it says, We know this, that God, because we love him and are called according to his purpose, he will work everything for our good.

Not that everything is good, but he is working it for our good.

And he's chosen to do that.

And I love the way David writes it.

He's actually talking to his own soul in Psalm 43.5.

He says, Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

He says, Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

God is going to save me from this, whether it's here or eternally, either way, God's got this.

And he goes on in James 1, verses 2 through 4.

James 1:2–4

He says, Consider it pure joy.

Be thankful that it's pure joy when you encounter various trials, because we know that trials produce perseverance.

And let perseverance have its complete work, so that we may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

It's part of the process.

It's not pain without a purpose.

God had that in mind in Romans 5, verses 3 through 5.

Romans 5:3–5

He says that this is, he says, but we also rejoice in our trials because we know that trials produce perseverance.

Perseverance, character, and character hope.

And hope does not disappoint.

Because God has poured out his love into us by his spirit.

See how these lessons work together.

And he puts it in Romans 8:11.

Romans 8:11

He says, but if the power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you, and when we accept him, he does.

He says, then that power that raised Christ from the dead will and literally give life to your mortal bodies.

He's like, I'm with you.

Don't be thankful for the circumstances.

He says, be thankful in them that you have the power to overcome them and that there's a purpose in the midst of them.

Again, I can't reiterate enough.

Today is a therapy session for me.

I literally woke up this morning around four o'clock and I couldn't get back to sleep.

And as I wrestled, and I love the way God's timing is.

He's like, Ken, and I and I literally prayed, God, which lesson?

Which lesson do I need to learn?

There's been some overwhelming pieces that are out of my control, and that frustrates me, especially when it's out of my control and I'm still responsible for it.

That really frustrates me.

And I just began to pray.

And I want you and I to take just one minute and ask God, God, which lesson do I need to learn today?

And if we will firmly get a grasp on what we're frustrated with going through circumstances, whatever it is, He's here, willing and able.

So go ahead and bow your heads and close your eyes just to avoid distractions.

If you want to leave your eyes open, that's fine.

But Father, I just want to pray in this moment that you would guide us and direct us clearly to what lesson you would long to teach us today.

If we're facing a decision, I pray that you would give wisdom, your wisdom, that wisdom that you describe in James 3.17 that comes from above, which is pure and peace-loving, that is full of mercy, that is considerate, and just all that you describe there.

I pray that we would embrace that and learn that lesson.

I pray that we would be filled with your spirit, Lord, and the time it takes to drink a can of soft drink or beer or whatever, we could literally engage you, and your spirit is already there, willing and longing to give us wisdom beyond our days, to make a way where there seems to be no way.

But help us be attentive, help us be filled with that by simply sitting in your presence.

We are filled.

And Father, I pray that we would.

We would worship intentionally.

We would see you for who you are.

We would see us for who we are in the ruined state, that we would confess that, that ruinnedness, but confess your greatness, and we would literally, whatever you show us, we would say yes.

Because that's how we learn the lesson.

And Father, I pray that we would be thankful.

Thankful and rejoice in whatever circumstance we're in, not because we're we're lavishing and enjoying the details of the situation, but because you are in it with us.

Lord, thank you for that.

And it's only through the gift of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

I want to leave you with one psalm.

And I shared this afore several months ago, but Psalm 23 became one of my favorite psalms.

And in the in one of the greatest trials of my life, being told I was not supposed to be alive, I read it and God showed me something I'd never seen before.

And if you know Psalm 23, if you've heard it, it goes like this The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He leads me and He takes me to green pastures and He leads me beside still waters.

He refreshes and restores my soul.

And then it changes.

Listen to the pronoun, He, God, Shepherd, He, He.

And it says, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

And watch where it changes.

He says, Because you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

It changes everything.

When we're going through it, he's like, here's the lesson to learn.

We go from knowing about him to knowing how to get through life and live life to the full.

Christmas is coming, and I want to end in this way because I love that with is one of my favorite words.

And Emmanuel, a word that was created at Christmas.

And if you don't know the definition, is God with us.

God with me.

God with me, Emmanuel.

I'm going to say Merry Christmas, and I want you to say Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas.