October 11, 2026 | Be Imitators Of God

Just giving you a heads up.

I'm sick.

That's why I wasn't well, I'm not usually bubbly ever, but I don't know what I'm trying to say.

I'm just I'm sick.

All right.

I see a lot of new people here.

I'd love to meet you, but I'm probably contagious.

I'm going to preach by God's grace.

I just I'm just so grateful I can stand for a moment.

Um let's pray.

Lord, we need your word.

And I just want to preach your word today.

I ask you to help me regardless what's going on.

And I know there's other people in here that are like, they're not feeling so good either for a variety of reasons.

And I just ask you to speak your word to me and to them for your glory.

Jesus' name.

Amen.

Here's a general rule of humans that we like to protect ourselves, whether we're poor or whether we're rich.

I heard about something yesterday I've never heard before.

It's called uh apocalypse insurance.

That people will buy some type of uh insurance to protect them, I guess if the world comes into a big apocalypse.

Some of the rich guys you can see in Silicon Valley actually have some pretty sweet bunkers.

Uh, most of you cannot afford apocalypse insurance, nor do you need it because we know we're good.

But there's a lot of ways that you try to protect yourselves.

And uh, in other ways, and I'm gonna kind of set you up, I'm gonna show you, I never show videos, I'm gonna show a short video of how to protect yourself during an earthquake.

That's real, by the way.

And you think, is that real?

That is real.

That's real.

I like the part where there's snacks and water there for you.

That's the best.

But it but if you can look around, there are a variety of things like that.

There are actually things that you can have for uh tsunami, same kind of concept, but you float.

Um, we in Arkansas have our concrete shelters or from tornadoes.

And uh, but what do you do for people?

Well, for people, we have gates and guns.

That's just how we roll here in Arkansas, you know.

Don't mess with us.

But but here's the question I really have, and this is what I want to hone in this morning.

Okay, we could be we could try to protect ourselves from natural disasters, we try to protect ourselves from people, but how do you protect yourself from people you love?

You're like, can I just have a shelter of some sort?

Can I uh disappear?

Uh what can we do to protect from people that we love?

And I understand in our in our culture and even in the Christian world, we talk about boundaries, and it's very appropriate.

If if people are hurting you and harming you to a certain extent, there's there is appropriate uh boundaries you need to take.

But how do you protect yourself from people that you love and how can they protect yourselves from you?

And that's what we're gonna talk about this morning.

If you want to look at Ephesians 5, verse 1, look at the book, Ephesians 5.1.

Ephesians 5:1

Ephesians 5.1 says, Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.

Not admire him, imitate him.

You're like, well, I can't be like God.

Well, there's that's true.

You can't be like him in his incommunicable attributes, like his omnipotence, or he's everywhere, you can't do that, you can't know all things.

But you can imitate God in his character.

The whole point of the sermon today is like, here's how the father is be like the father, and the way the father treats you, treat other people the same way.

I mean, it's gonna be so specific.

It's gonna say, okay, this is the way you treat one another in your kitchen, in the lobby, on the golf course, when you're driving.

This is how you treat people because of the way the father treats you.

Now, this is not a sermon about being nice.

Just be nice.

Because if if it's all about being nice, then why did Jesus die?

Jesus didn't die to make us nice.

Jesus died to make us new.

We're to be new creations that act a different way in the world because our father treats us a certain way, and we are to imitate him.

Now, we talked about two, three weeks ago, this concept of putting off sin and putting on something good.

Like we always like to say, stop sinning, and then we leave it there.

But if you stop sinning, you put off sin and you don't put something good against place, you'll go right back to your sin, right?

So we said, put off sin and put on righteousness because you are a new creation in Jesus Christ.

And so this morning we're gonna hit five things that you're to put off, and five things that you're to put on, and don't just look at this as like do's and don'ts, like some little nice little morals for your little kids that we teach them when adults.

We just say, forget that.

These are serious things.

So let's do it.

Ephesians 4, verse 25.

Ephesians 4:25

Look at it.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Are you a liar?

And the lies we tell the people usually not just to strangers.

We're talking about people that are across the table, people we see in church.

People may want to look, make themselves look better than they are.

They'll say, I'm fine, or I'm almost done with it, I didn't see your text.

A lot of times we just lie to keep the peace.

And Paul's like, we're we're members of one body.

We're not just here to lie to keep the peace.

We are members of one another.

We want to speak the truth.

And so I want you to think about this.

If you have a habit of lying, shading the truth, or whatever you want to call it, why at the core do we lie?

And I I think this is I think this is it.

I don't usually talk like this.

I know this is a very crass way to say it, but I want you to know this.

We lie to cover our butts.

That's just what we do.

We want to protect ourselves, we want to cover ourselves, we want to dodge the fallout, the argument, the consequence, the look on someone else's face.

Basically, what we're doing is that we have something that we don't want to share about ourselves, maybe something at the core.

We allow to cover our butts.

It reminds me of something maybe you're familiar with in the 70s, 80s, 90s, this concept of bondo that you put on the rusty parts of your car.

Just put that stuff on there and paint it up, shine it like, man, it's fixed until it's not because that rust is kind of maybe still there, still eating away.

A lot of times we kind of we're like bondo people.

We look good.

We even lie to look good, but we don't serve a God who just bondos us.

He's a God that doesn't give us bondo, right, to cut to cover us.

He gives us his blood to cover us and to forgive us.

And we, who God knows everything about us, the worst about us, and he's forgiven us.

And he's saying, now I want you to speak that truth to one another.

Don't bondo your life, don't cover up rust, don't cover up your issues, don't cover your butt.

You've been covered by the blood of Jesus.

You can now speak the truth to one another.

So if you're married, do not walk in here, try to fake us out.

If you have some serious issues you're not dealing with, how's everything going?

Fine, how's your marriage going?

Oh, it's great.

If that's not the case, it's okay.

Let's talk about that, let's deal with that.

We're not gonna bondo that.

Let's bring it to the Lord.

And I feel like we can deal with that with our whole lives.

I've and I know some of you, you have some secret addictions, whatever they may be being like, I don't want to talk about that.

Let's let's kind of bondo that.

No, let's deal with that.

No more falsehood.

Let's just bring stuff to the surface, speak the truth to one another, and heal and grow in Jesus.

I mean, our Father wants us to be truthful.

And not only that, but look at verse 26 of chapter four.

Be angry and do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

And you're like, finally, a command I can obey.

Be angry.

That's not what it means.

It means that you're gonna get angry.

Ever we all do.

You're like, yeah, but my anger is righteous anger.

Sure, sure.

It says, be angry and do not sin.

This last week was not a good week for me.

Uh I I I woke up early on, I think it was Tuesday morning, and I'm I was praying specific prayers to God, four of them.

Four specific prayers to God.

And I am not kidding.

Within these are they were big prayers too.

Within 24 hours, God answered three of my four prayers.

And you know what?

I I can't I threw a fit about the one he didn't answer.

I'm serious.

I mean, he specifically answered these huge, and then one he didn't, I was like, I was I was in my car, I was quoting scripture.

I said, God, you said ask, seek knock, and you didn't give it to me.

God, I was like throwing a big fit.

But what did God do?

I was the one getting angry, he's the one should be angry by the way I was acting.

But God is slow to anger.

He's patient with me.

And that's the way he wants us to act with other people, and yet sometimes when people let us down, don't do what we want, we just strike.

I mean, they could someone could actually do three or four things that we ask, and the one they don't do, we just pounce.

That's not the way God treats us.

He is slow to anger with you.

And the reason why we are to not be angry in the sense of sinning against one another is because when we do that, guess what happens?

The devil.

Look at the verse again, 27.

It says, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Hmm.

So the idea is, I mean, I just kind of just take it left.

Let's just really like to pick on husbands and wives today.

Like maybe there's a lot of issues in here.

Um, like when husband and wives go to bed, totally angry each other, one's facing one way, one's facing the other, and right in the middle is the devil sleeping right there.

That's the picture.

So you saying that we have to work out all our issues before we go to bed?

No, probably not.

You'll be up all night.

But you can say, you know what?

We have a disagreement here, we're not functioning well.

I love you, you love me, we'll work this out tomorrow, but let's not go to bed angry at one another.

When we let anger fester, it presents an opportunity for the devil to just grab a hold of our lives and fracture relationships even further.

In your anger, do not sin.

God is slow to anger.

Look at the next one.

Verse 28.

He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

I mean, I think my guess is most of you in here don't currently steal stuff.

You might, but generally you don't.

Maybe you you do in some weird way, I don't know about, but most of you don't.

And so you think you may think to yourself, I am totally good.

Not so fast.

Because here's what you did during your working days, you had a number that you were reaching to until you hit retirement, and you maybe you hit your goal, some of you didn't hit your goal.

But I do wonder this how many of you have a number you don't want to drop below now that you are retired?

Because you think if I drop below it, who's gonna take care of me if I live to be like 102 or something?

And I just want to tell you this if that is your fear, I haven't talked to the elders about this, but I just want to tell you, if you live to be 102, we as a church will help take care of you.

I I'm just telling you.

So you you may be 72 right now, you'll probably forget I said this when you're 102, but I just want you to know we got you covered, we'll help you.

You see what happens when we steal things, we say, I don't have enough, I gotta take care of myself.

And so that the idea is I gotta get.

But when you don't give, and you say, I can't drop below this number, you're limited by fear.

And I know that is a real fear for many of you.

You're like, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it, I'm not sure I think it'll run out.

And so what you end up doing is holding on to it.

And specifically, the verse says, You are to use it to share with those in need.

And you go, well, well, how's that stealing?

Well, but you're not helping other people, you're holding on to it in a sense, you're hoarding it.

And then you say, Well, you're not driven by greed, I'm driven by fear.

Regardless of what you're driven by, we are called to be generous people.

And you go, yeah, but is God gonna take care of me?

I'm telling you, most of you are old, and he's taking care of you for a long time.

He's not gonna give up now.

So we can give.

And you go, what if I become poor?

Well, we can be like Jesus.

Jesus became poor so that we can become rich.

Rich in him so that we can give.

And now to one of my favorite ones, this is this point, this one, this one, this point is is gold.

I hope you can pay attention here.

I hope you're not sleeping yet.

But look at verse 29.

This is gold here.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Now, the idea of unwholesome is the word kind of like rotten fruit or spoiled fish coming from your mouth.

It's unwholesome.

And you say, Well, I'm not, I'm not being unwholesome, I'm just I'm just being honest to people.

No, you're not just being honest, you're just being a jerk.

That's unwholesome words coming out of your mouth, and the people that are the brunt of it are not really the people at church, sometimes they are, but the people that are at home, people that are close to you.

And Jesus says, you know what?

What comes out your mouth is in your yeah, that's right.

What proceeds from the mouth starts right here, it's what's there.

So the question is, why do we talk like that?

And I just want to tell you, the reason why we talk like that is because it feels good.

It really feels good to complain.

It feels good to gossip, it feels good to criticize.

And though I haven't tried it on for a while, it used to feel good to cuss, right?

It just feels good, like, but just for a little bit.

I there's something that happens to me before I get sick, and I don't know if this is true for anybody here, so I may be just making this up, but this is for me.

Right before I realize that I'm sick, I have a feeling of euphoria.

Is there anybody else that feels that?

Anybody?

Okay, it's just me.

All right.

But I feel like, man, I feel great.

This is awesome.

And then I just tank.

It's almost like every time it happens to me.

That's kind of how with the words that come out of our mouth, they feel good temporarily, but they leave that lasting sickness and devastation.

So sure it feels good temporarily.

But look what it's supposed to be instead.

Instead, it says in verse 29, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

So our words are to be full of grace, they are to encourage people, they are to build people up.

And then Paul ties in the Holy Spirit.

Look at verse 30.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Did Paul just swap the subject?

No, he's still talking about our words.

You see, when rotten words come out of our mouths, we grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

And the Holy Spirit is God.

You're not grieving a force, you're grieving someone who loves you.

He is grieved.

And so you may wonder, does the Holy Spirit leave when he's grieved?

And the answer is no, because he stays, because you were sealed.

And a seal is this mark of ownership that God has put on you.

He's moved in.

We have a relationship with him.

But even though he doesn't depart from you, you can still grieve him.

So here's the here's the the gold part.

All that's gold.

And I'm going to give you this these simple things that helped me many years ago.

This old man, godly man, he said, before you say anything, I want you to ask these questions.

I'm I'm telling you, this is some of the best stuff I can give you.

So before you say anything, here are five questions to ask yourself.

You you can give these to your kids, you can give these to your grandkids, but you better give them to yourself first.

Ready?

Here we go.

Question number one Will it help?

What you're about to say is it gonna be helpful?

Number two, is it designed to hurt?

What you're saying or about to say to someone, is it really gonna hurt them, even though you think you're being helpful?

Is it designed to hurt?

Number three.

How would I feel if someone said that to me?

What am I about to say to this other person?

How would I feel if they or someone else said the exact same thing to me?

Number four.

Would I say that if that person was here?

That's really good because that's all about gossip.

What I'm about to say about someone else, would I say that if that person was right here?

Hello, people online.

And the last one is this is it self-serving?

What am I about to say?

Is it all about me?

Is it all about to make me look big?

How awesome I am.

And my brothers and sisters, these aren't manners, these are are these are how you keep from grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

These are how you love and encourage other people.

And now we move to the last one.

Look at verse 31.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God and Christ also has forgiven you.

All these words here that compound all the things you're supposed to put off are like words of hostility.

The first one there is bitterness.

And you go, like if I said to you, can you define bitterness?

You're like, no, I can't define it, but I know what it is.

I know what I feel it.

I know when I see someone else uh has it.

But here's bit bitterness is basically this.

It's it's keeping a ledger, right?

It's like you're keeping a ledger.

You can't remember what you had for lunch, but what someone said to you in 1987, you got it.

Because you are keeping a ledger of what's been said to you, what's been done to you, and that creates bitterness.

And you said, I'll you and when you were younger, you said, I'm never gonna be that old bitter woman.

I'm never gonna be that old bitter man.

Do any old bitter people live in the village?

I'm just asking.

He continues on, he talks about wrath and anger.

That's the agitation, the clamor.

That means like shouting matches and explosion.

Talks about slander using words to tear others down and malice.

It's just plain wickedness and ill will you have toward others.

And you know, it's just these long ledgers that we keep, and it's not really against strangers, it's people that we love or once loved or that were close to us in the past.

It's a ledger, and it feels safe.

But instead, look what verse 32 says be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

You are to forgive other people for what they have done to you, for what they have said to you.

And I know that sounds impossible.

And I know you may say, aha, I can't forgive them because they didn't say sorry.

That's the way forgiveness works.

If they don't ask for forgiveness, I can't give forgiveness, so I can't forgive them because they didn't say sorry, because that's the way it works.

Have you ever read the Bible?

You're saying, Pastor, that's the way God forgives us.

We ask for forgiveness, he gives it to us.

But with other people, if they don't ask for it, I'm not giving it.

Jesus is on the cross.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing.

I don't think they were asking for forgiveness.

Stephen is being stoned with rocks in the book of Acts, and he cries out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

People aren't sorry.

No one's asking for forgiveness.

Now, reconciliation is different.

I mean, reconciliation takes two, and the relationship is not fully reconciled until one asks for forgiveness and the other gives it.

I understand that.

That's reconciliation.

But but you can't say, well, you know what?

I'm gonna hold on to unforgiveness because they didn't ask for it, because chances are the purse you need to forgive is probably already dead.

Yeah, that person you're thinking of right now, and you never forgave them because they didn't ask for it.

But the reality is that today, no matter who or done something to you, you can take the ledger, tear it up, say no more.

I forgive.

Because that's exactly the way the Father has treated you.

In Christ Jesus, you have been forgiven.

And as one who's been forgiven, so you can tear up the ledger and forgive, regardless of what the other person's doing.

So you can walk out of here today without that bitterness.

You can walk out of here today without that ledger.

You can find forgiveness in Christ for yourself and just let it go to the Lord on what others have done to you.

I know, I know people have harmed you.

I get that.

I get that.

And I know some evil has been committed against some of you.

I get that.

But once again, no matter what has been done to you, our sin before the Father is far greater.

And that ledger has been taken care of at the cross.

And so we finish in chapter five, where we start it.

Verse 1 says, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Are you reading that?

It says, You're not imitating God so will love us.

You imitate him because he already does love you.

He calls you beloved children.

Think about where we started out when these shelters, right?

This earthquake bed slam shut.

You can think about a shelter from the tornado, you slam the door shut, and the neighborhood has a gate, you slam it shut.

And and every single one of those works in the same way of the five things we talked about today.

The lie can shut someone out, your anger can shut someone out.

Your closed hand of not giving can shut someone out.

Your cutting word can shut someone out, and your ledger can shut someone out.

Every single one of those things is a lid, and you pull it shut on the people you love, every single one.

But my brothers and sisters, God had a reason to shut the lid on you, but he didn't.

It says specifically in verse 2 Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us.

He loved me, he loved you, not good little boys and girls.

He loved sinners and he gave his life for you.

In fact, right before his betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus said this.

I want to read it to you in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 and 24.

Says, the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and we have given thanks.

He broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

We do that all the time at communion, but did you catch the beginning part?

In the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread.

He's eating at the table with sinners, and there's Judas, and there's Peter, and Jesus knew it, and Jesus doesn't shut them out.

He breaks the bread anyway.

And that's the way the Father treats you.

He doesn't shut the lid on you, but it's open because you are his beloved child.

And so the goal here is to imitate him.

We're about to take communion, but before we do, we're gonna work through these five things.

He give you an opportunity to pray, an opportunity to look at your life.

So, what I'm going to do, you know, you can take the elements right in front of you.

They were there in the pew, you can hold them.

And just if you're a believer, you can take this meal.

If you're not a believer, hold off.

You don't want to be a member of this church, just be following Jesus.

But I'm gonna go to a time of prayer and I'm gonna hit these five things.

And if one of them really is you, whether it's anger or greed or your words, then just pray after me for each one.

Don't pray out loud unless you really want to, but uh, just pray after me.

So let's go to the Lord in prayer.

If you have covered yourself with lies, repeat after me, Lord forgive me.

I've lied to cover myself.

Thank you that Jesus covered me.

Help me to tell the truth.

If you have been explosive in your anger toward other people, pray after me.

Lord forgive me.

I've made them pay.

Thank you that you've been patient with me.

Help me be patient with them.

If you have grabbed and held on to tight to your possessions or to your money, pray after me.

Lord forgive me.

I've looked out for myself.

Thank you for giving me your son.

Make me a giver.

If you've used your words to harm other people, pray after me.

Lord forgive me.

I've used my words to feel bigger.

Thank you for calling me beloved.

Help me speak grace.

And if you've been keeping a ledger and you're full of bitterness, and you're not forgiving, repeat after me.

Lord forgive me.

I've held on to what they owe me and not forgiven.

Thank you that Jesus paid every debt of mine.

Help me to tear it up.

If you want to go ahead and take the elements that are in your hand in front of you, we want to go ahead and take the bread and we remember that our sins are forgiven.

On the 90th petrade, took the bread.

Body broken for you, but take and eat.

Take and drink.

Do not l let the specifics pass you by.

Do not go out of here and eat your cookies and have your coffee and go take your Sunday afternoon nap.

And forget one of these five that you need to deal with.

Because your father loves you so much, he calls you to imitate him.