Well, good morning everybody again.
Good to see everyone here. This morning once again.
Obviously, I'm not called. So if you want to and you
bulletins you can keep the last name Jones because that's right.
Kyle has a good last name but if you want to, you can scratch
scratch out Kyle and put James and this morning.
We're To be going over different text as well.
We're going to be in the book of Ephesians chapter number 4 and
we're going to be going over verses 17 through 32.
I want to try to Endeavor to teach something this morning.
Message, I've entitled give no opportunity.
You give no opportunity here in the book of Ephesians chapter 4.
We start out talking about the unity in Christ, Unity of the
body in Christ. That we are admonished to walk
worthy of the calling that God has called us by.
He goes on in verse 11 and tells us that God has placed people in
the body of Christ to teach to prepare people for the works
that God has for us to do that, the task that he has forced to
do and he places people in Authority inside the church to,
so that we all can become Mature.
The scripture says, and then in verse 17, to 32 we get into kind
of like How is this, how is this happening?
It's kind of divided into two segments.
Verses 17 through 26, is going to be dealing with our inward
self. Inside is the Inside Job verses
28 to 32 is, is how because of what's happened inside?
How is that going to manifest on the outside?
In verse 27 is the hinge verse that ties these two segments
together. Verse 27 says this, And given no
opportunity to the devil. That's why we're going to be
talking about this morning before we.
Before we read, I want to. I want to pray once again for
our for our service and our time together.
Father, I praise you. I magnify you.
I thank you for the opportunity that we have to be here.
I thank you for your word, father.
I ask that you just be with us today.
Be with me today. As I as I as I speak, Holy
Spirit, I ask that you lead this time now.
That she will lead us goddess into the truth.
Of this word of your word. Let your name be glorified in
this place. Amen.
Okay. Ephesians 4 verse 17 through 32.
It says, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you
must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of
their minds. They are darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the truth of God because of the
ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of Hearts,
they have been cut Calais, they have become callous, and have
given it themselves up to sensuality greedy to practice
every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you
learned Christ. Assuming that you have learned
that you have heard about him and we're taught.
Him as the truth is, in Jesus to put off your old self, which
belongs to your Foreigner, former manner of life and is
corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in
the spirit of your minds. And to put on the new self
created after the likeness of God in true, righteousness and
Holiness there for having put away falsehood.
Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for.
We are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no
opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal
but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands
so that he may have something to share with anyone in need let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good
for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give Grace
to those who hear. And do not grieve the holy
spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with
Mal. Malice be kind to one another
tender-hearted forgiving one another As God has God in
Christ. Forgave you okay, let's let's
begin. We're just going to go verse by
verse. There's a lot a lot in these
verses we're just going to do a kind of a brief overview this
morning. You need about three or four
weeks to really dig dig deep the way that that's needed.
But the first thing that Paul admonishes the church at Ephesus
in verse 17 is that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do
no longer walk as they do and he says in the futility of their
minds and that word futility means, what is devoid of Truth
And appropriateness and not just the Voice of Truth.
It's, it's Based in perverseness or or D by D, privation Frailty,
or won't evict Vigor and that phrase won't of vigor means not
having mental strength that they walk in the, in their futility
of their minds. That they don't have the mental
strength to do, or to live out the Christian Life and neither
do we. that's why we have to depend on the Holy Spirit and
you compare that to what Paul wrote to Timothy and second
Timothy chapter 1 verse 7. He says that we have been given
a spirit of power love and a sound mind or self-control.
So instead of having a mind that is void of the mental strength,
To give no opportunity to the devil.
We have been given the mental capacity to have a sound mind
and have self control. A man through the power of the
spirit. We have it says second Timothy
1:7. We've not been given a spirit of
fear but of power love and sound mind or self-control.
And why, why are the Gentiles walking in the futility of their
minds Verse 18? They are darkened in their
understanding alienated from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them due to their Hardness of Heart this
word darkened. Simply means it's the blinding
of the Mind. The blinding of the Mind.
Second Corinthians 4:4 says this in their case, the God of this
world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them
from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. So this fertility in the
darkness of their mind is because they have been blinded
from the truth and because of this, it leads us into verse 19.
That they have become callous and have given themselves up to
sensuality greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
The word callous here means to cease to feel pain or feel
grief. It's essentially it's it's
ceasing to feel conviction. Romans 1:21 tells us this for
although they knew God. They did not honor him as God or
give thanks to him, but they can't, but they became futile in
their thinking and their foolish Hearts were darkened.
So we're seeing just in these first few verses we're seeing a
pattern and the pattern is is what's going on.
Right up here in our minds verse 17, in the futility of their
minds, they don't have the mental strength to mental mental
capacity, their understanding has been darkened, according to
verse 8, and in verse 19, they have been cut College.
They have become where it doesn't even affect them, Gods
gods, Should no longer even affects them.
And there's a pattern of their thinking their thought life When
it comes to given no opportunity to the devil, it all begins and
ends right here in our in our minds.
It's a mental battle. It's an inside inside, battle
say, Inside Job. if you ever set and thought about what you think
about, If you ever caught yourself, one of the things I've
said this before, but one of the things that I've struggled with
my whole life is self talk, that lots of times, I I Can Be My Own
Worst Enemy just, you know, I don't need, you know, I don't
need the enemy. I don't need the devil, my own
mind. You know, tells me how terrible
on worthless. I am.
And you know, so you know, over the years, I've had to learn how
to combat that. Does it mean I've overcome it?
100%? No, I still struggle with that
that Tom's, but, but it's an inside job.
We we give we give opportunity or we don't give opportunity to
the devil based on our own decisions on thought life and
what we allow ourselves to ponder But the good news is
verse 20, but that is not the way you learned Christ.
Assuming that you have heard about him and we're taught in
him and the that in him is very important in this scripture as
the truth is in Jesus. See when we are made new in
Christ and his only because of Christ that we are given a new
heart. a new mind and a new outlook not only upon ourselves,
but on one another His only in Christ.
So assuming that you have heard about him where we're taught in
him. As a truth is in Jesus once
again. It is in the mind.
What are you thinking about? What are you learning?
What are you giving yourself to? Then we get to verse 22, 23 and
24. Get into digging deep here.
It says to put off your own self, which belongs to your
former manner of life. And his corrupt through
deceitful desires. We are to Cast Away or put away
and I want you to look at this verbiage here.
These are verbs. These are action words is the
something that we are told to do This is dealing with.
Thus the sanctification of the Holy Spirit as we become new.
We become unit, we become unity in Christ through salvation.
Now he's telling them, this is how you need to live and now
we're seeing the all this inside job of the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification in US, Matthew Henry said this about putting
off the old man. He said the principles habits
and dispositions of the Soul. Must be changed.
There must be sanctification. For the sin in the soul is the
corruption of its faculties. It grows daily worse and worse
and tends to destruction. Sinful inclinations and desires
are deceitful lust, they promised me an happiness but
render them miserable and if not so dude and mortified betray
them into destruction. Our own mind.
Will lead us into destruction, based on what we allow ourselves
to think. What we allow ourselves to
ponder on and what we allow ourselves to believe goes on.
In verse 23 it says and to be renewed in the spirit of your
mind. we must renovate or reform or take on the new mind, which
is our rational Soul, which deals with our decisions, our
thoughts The faculties of perceiving understanding to feel
to judge. And to determine these are all
mental capacities that the Gentile says that they don't
have because their minds are futile, but we are not.
So it says, if we are children of God, then that is not.
So why? Because we have the holy spirit.
Amen. When we, when we are saved, we
were told that the holy spirit is with us and in us to lead us,
God In the, teach us into all truth.
So instead of having a futile mind, we can have a renewed
mind, we can have mine on that basis.
Our decisions, our thoughts, our understanding, or judging, and
our perceptions on the Holy Spirit and not or flesh verse
24, it says, and to put on the new self created after the
likeness of God in true righteousness.
Righteousness and holiness. And this new self is something
that is recently made or fresh, or unused unprecedented or
uncommon. Matthew Henry goes on and says
about the new man. He says, by the new man is meant
the new nature, the new creature which is actuated by a new
principal, even regenerating Grace, enabling a man to lead a
new life that life of righteousness and Holiness which
Christianity requires So we are to take off, put off, cast off
the old man, the old way of thinking and bring on a new way
of thinking a new man and we do that by renewing our mind.
Book of Romans chapter 8 verses 5 through 8 says this for those
who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of
the flesh. But those who live, according to
the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit, For to
set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on
the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's
law. Indeed.
It cannot. That's some that's direct and to
the point, those who are in the flesh, cannot please God. 1st
Corinthians chapter 2 verses 12 through. 16 says this.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the
spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things
freely given us by God, and we impart, this in words, not
taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit
interpreting spiritual truths, to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of God, the
things of the spirit of God for their Folly to him, that's that
futile mind. And he is not able to understand
them, that's his dark, his understanding being darkened
because they are spiritually discerned.
The spiritual person judges all things.
But he is himself to be judged by no one for who has understood
the mind of the Lord as to instruct him.
But we have the mind of Christ. So we can exchange a futile mind
for a mind that is being led and changed into the image of God.
Step by step in the sanctification process.
Second Corinthians chapter 2, I believe it is tells us that we
are changed. Minute-by-minute
moment-by-moment from Grace to Grace.
And that is the sanctification process.
So that's what's going on. That's what that's what Paul the
Apostle Paul is saying this is what's all needs to be going on
inside of us. And it's all in our minds.
It's how we think, it's how we perceive.
It's how we judge based on our thought life, once again, second
Timothy 1:7 For God. Gave us a spirit, not of fear,
but of power and love and self-control. so, knowing this,
we look back here in Ephesians at verse 25 and it says,
therefore, Have him put away falsehood.
Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for.
We are members one of another. This, this word falsehood means
a lie and not just any lie alive based on.
Perverse and deceitful precepts. Today, there is a pattern that
our mind because it could be hostile to God.
And our adversary, the devil uses, we read about it this
morning and Sunday School. He always brings a lie.
And then there's a seduction to believe that lie.
And this is what our minds will do to us.
That there is, it's always begins within lies some kind of
error, some kind of something that's not right.
A little twisting, we read about how Satan Twisted the words of
God, this morning dealing with Adam and Eve.
Not very much just Twisted in said it just a little bit
different than what God actually said and it created doubt.
And then, then Eve was seduced into believing that lie.
The devil started that way, and he still does it today.
And it always starts right here. Because every action.
Every word we ever speak. Always begins at the thought,
Every action or every word we say, always begins as a thought.
it, we think it first Then it becomes an action.
Well, what we're instructed to do is to capture those thoughts.
Recognize if there are ungodly recognize when they're negative.
And then I didn't look at those thoughts that through the view.
Of God's grace and the voice of the holy spirit that still Small
Voice that we can just sense inside of us.
That, that knowing it's why we talked about this morning and
Sunday school. Why?
Why it was so important to know the word of God.
So you can recognize those errors, recognize those
falsehoods. Hebrews 12 verse 1 says,
therefore since we are surrounded by so great.
A cloud of witnesses this is leading out of Hebrews chapter
11, talking about different ones that had been used by God and
believed God and was faithful to God because it says therefore,
since we have all these people to to, as a example, Let us lay
aside every weight and the sin, which clings so closely and let
us run with endurance. The race that is set before us.
There's things that we need to lay down.
Maybe not even sinful things. Maybe it's an activity that
takes too much time. Maybe it's a relationship that
God knows you don't need to be in.
Sometimes God will lead us and guide us into things.
We need to lay down that. There's nothing sinful about it.
But for whatever reason, God is asking leading you to lay those
things down? But then there are things that
are sinful, we have to lay those things down, lay those thoughts,
those negative thoughts, those erroneous thoughts those, those
thoughts that that don't line up with the word of God, lay those
things down. Allow the Holy Spirit to renew
our minds so that we can recognize as it says in.
Romans 8 that if we're led by our fleshly mind at leads to
death. But if we are led by the spirit
And it leads to life and peace. Verse 26, it says be angry and
sin. Not do not let the sun go down
on your anger and verse 27 and give no opportunity to the
devil. The word give here means to,
Grant of One's Own Accord. Once again, this is a choice.
It's an action. We either Grant opportunity or
we don't Grant opportunity And I'm encouraging you to mount
this morning. Don't give opportunity Don't
give opportunity. Give no opportunity to the
devil. Give no opportunity to your own
mind. The Book of James chapter 1,
verses 14 and 15. I believe it says that every man
is drawn away and enticed by his own own evil desires.
It's not anybody else's evil desires if I'm drawn away.
It's because of my evil desires. If I leave my rightful place and
get distracted, it's because I chose to and the same applies
for all of us. It's a choice, whether or not,
we grant that, we grant that opportunity, the the phrase no
opportunity. Some versions says, don't give
any place or don't give the devil a foothold.
It means any portion or space marked off and it's an inhabited
place. According to second Corinthians
chapter 10, verses 3 through 6. These are places that could be
called strongholds strongholds of wrong, thoughts, or
strongholds of Godly thoughts. It's an inhabited place.
It's a protected place. We have a lifetime.
Of wrong thoughts and wrong, patterns, wrong thought life.
We can create our own strongholds in our mind that
hold us back from. Really letting God have his way
to really live in that Christian life, allowing that
sanctification process to happen, the way God intended, it
intends for us, And it all begins.
Right there in our mind. But if we renew our mind.
We allow the spirit to lead us. We make the choice.
To give no opportunity. We make the choice to think
about what we think about. Don't listen, don't listen to
any negative. Self-talk don't listen to any,
you know, any outward, influences friends, family
anything, but we choose to live a life.
Trying to live after the spirit. Then we're going to see outward
outward change. And that's what we that's what
we see here in the rest of these verses verse 28.
It says let the thief no longer seal but rather let him labor
doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have
something to share with anyone in need verse 29.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth but only such as
is For building up as fits the occasion, that it may give Grace
to those who hear this phrase. Corrupting talk, means anything
that's rotten. Putrefied Of poor quality unfit
for use or worthless. We can book a Proverbs hers us
that life and death are in the power of the tongue.
We can we can either choose to Speak Life.
Or we can choose to speak death. We can either choose to tear our
own selves down or two lifts our own selves up.
And the same thought we can. We can choose to tear others
down or we can choose to lift others up and it's all based on
our words, Let no corrupting talk that.
Nothing that's that's rotten or poor quality or unfit for use.
Come out of your mouth. But only that fits the occasion,
that it may give Grace to those who hear it.
Verse 30 and do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption.
You ever think about that, that we have the ability to grieve
the Holy Spirit to make him sad to cause cause them to grieve.
To effect with sadness. The Holy Spirit wants to
commune, he wants to to have fellowship with us.
Second Corinthians 13:14, I believe it is.
We have the love, love of God, the grace of Jesus, and we have
the communion of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit wants to commute, he wants to Fellowship.
He wants to lead us into all truth.
It's up to us whether or not we allow him to do that He-Man
verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all
malice and this is all outward outward signs.
Bitterness means extreme wickedness.
Wrath means a boiling anger. Just you ever ever know, or be
around someone that you can just Tell that they're always angry.
There's just something that's like you can sense it underneath
the surface like at any moment, they're just going to explode.
That's why it means. Wrath and anger is having a
disposition of anger. Clamor is the Outburst because
of their disposition in any moment.
They're just going to explode and you know it if you have the
unfortunate to have to you know be around people like that
especially a lot. You can find yourselves like
saying goes walking on eggshells, not wanting to set
them off and that's no way to live.
Him. And People don't want to be
around people like that. Amen.
Slander. away from you along with all malice, and this word,
malice means the desire to see people hurt just for the sheer
enjoyment of watching them, watching them feel pain, That's
what our own mind can lead to because our mind can be hostile
to God if we allow it to be. Verse 32 be kind to one another
tender-hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ.
Forgave you The word kind. Is going right against
everything. In verse 31, it means fit for
use or used for virtuous, are having a pleasant demeanor.
Instead of having 2 m of of anger or or you know, knowing
that someone's going to explode. Anytime this person that's kind,
they have a pleasant demeanor. You want to be around someone
like that. We want people to be around us.
How else are we going to lead people to Christ?
Hey, man. If we're always angry or we're
always, something's always upset in this people.
You know. I don't want what you got.
Amen. Amen.
Tender-hearted forgiving one, another.
Compassionate. This word forgiving is not just
the basic forgiving. It means being agreeable,
graciously to restore one another.
And we see this played out in community.
We see it played out here together.
We see it played out in home groups.
We see it played out as we interact because see, it's
played out in community as we grow in faith in Jesus and love
for one another, amen. This is how it's played out.
That. As we allow ourselves or we
allow our minds to be renewed. We allow ourselves to be
directed by Godly thoughts. Allow ourselves to be led by the
spirit that wants to lead us into all truth that wants to
lead us in the peace and truth. Then that's going to come out.
It's going to be the outward manifestations.
So all this inner stuff, if we if we can get this right.
And the outward is going to be the Overflow of that.
It's going to be the side effect of that.
So, how do we do that? We have to line our thoughts up.
With the spirit. However, the spirit is leading,
we do that by how reading our word praying being among other
believers. We're told him in the Old
Testament. The iron sharpens iron being
around fellow Christians being in that Community with one
another, it builds us up. We build one another up.
When when one is suffering, we all suffer.
When one would Joyce's we all Rejoice.
We grow we especially in the community of homegroups, you get
a time to know people better. You get it, you get it.
You get time to, to live out their pains live out, their Joys
live out, their hardships and together.
We, we come together and we we love on one another.
You mean it's true? We we eat, we eat together.
We talk together. We cry together and we love
together. And that is, that is a beautiful
thing. Want to read one or one of the
verse to you to you this morning it's found in Ephesians 3 verse
20 says, now to him, who is able to do far more abundantly than
all we ask or think? According to the power at work
within us, God wants to do far more than we could ever imagine
in our lives. He wants us to live that truly
Abundant Life that he spoke about in John 10:10.
But that can never happen until we allow ourselves to be humbled
by the Holy Spirit, to realize that I can't do this on my own.
That's the futility of the mind. We don't have the mental
strength to do this on our own. We have to have the leadership
of the Holy Spirit to walk out this Christian Life.
He does it by changing its on the inside.
And then the outward comes. Hey man.
Let's stand this morning. Worship team can come if you
want. Again, I just want to encourage
you this morning too. How have a habit of think of
think thinking about what you think about?
Think about what you thinking about.
Because lots of times we can get so busy in our day, we have
hundreds and hundreds of thoughts that come in and out of
our minds every day. Most of the time, we don't
really pay attention to them. But if we build a habit of of
paying attention here in our own self, talk those thoughts that
come in those random thoughts. I said, it's not always the
devil, it's not always our enemy.
It's sometimes, it's store mine because our mind or its, or our
mind apart from God, is deceitful. but if we take that
practice, we study our word. We pray and have that
relationship with Jesus. We get in community with one
another. One another encourages us to
grow in little bit by little bit, the holy spirit's going to
change us. And then we will be able to walk
out. And look more and more like
Christ every day in our lives. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, I Praise You.
Magnify you I thank you for your word.
Holy Spirit. I thank you for your
companionship. I thank you.
That you are a comforter. You are the one who walks
alongside. I ask that you lead us.
You got us. Help us to recognize our own
thought patterns our own thoughts.
Erroneous thoughts that we believe and let us change those
Holy Spirit. Help us through allow you to do
the work it inside of us. Father, That will lead us.
To having those outward manifestations of what a true
Christian should look like how we interact with people how we
treat people, how we treat ourselves either.
Lead us goddess directors. May we always be changing.
More and more into the image of Christ.
Amen.