Greater Faith, 10508 Intro. Praise & Worship Scx:...

 Greater Faith, 10/5/08

Intro.

Praise & Worship

Scx: eph 5: 15-21

Title: Blessed anyhow , be wise

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but ube filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [1]

Orientation/ discuss the familiar

• Wall street
• 401
• Employment situation
• Layoffs
• Unemployment line increasing
• Foreclosures in Fairfield county > 500%
• We are dealing with evil days, and everyone is feeling the squeeze

This has affected some of us in our health.

• Sleepless nites
• Headaches
• Anxious
• Snappy and short tempered

These are times for us to be wise b/c the days are evil.  We are in a winter season.

• Season where things die, grass goes from green to brown, night is longer than the days, the environment is hard and harsh.

The bible says, to look carefully at how we are living.

Examine your walk

Stewardship

• Money
• Family
• Growth: not just in your waist line in your spirit, character.

Examine yourself to make sure you are

·       not intoxicated with the wine of the world

o      cheap wine vs. quality wine

·       you can tell if you are intoxicated b/c you become the center of life and not God

be wise and realize that you don’t have to feel so anxious about life you maybe facing this by yourself but you are not alone.

We become anxious b/c we are anticipating the worse to happen.

• Satan uses your imagination against you
• But remember the Word of God says as a man thinks, so is he.
• You are what you think
• If you think differently you will feel differently
• If you feel differently you will behave differently
• It’s the Devil’s job to rain doubt in our mind
• But you need sing that song to him
• I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
• Devil you’ve been fooling me long enough

Theo. Of Worry:

It’s the enemy’s plan to keep you bound up in you mind with worry and anxiety.

• He realizes that if you are worrying you are bound
• If you are worrying your judgement will be poor
• If you are worrying you wont feel like praying
• If you are worrying you wouldn’t feel like reading your Bible
• If you are worrying you wouldn’t feel like

Examine yourself:

• So that you are not in toxic conversations that keep you pondering your problems, that keep you feeling like a grasshopper and not like a giant.
• Drinking the wine of Fox news, CNN, CBS,ABC
• Make sure you keep an attitude of Gratitude
• To make your walk matches your talk

Illus. young church musician that after svc. Went to the club, drink, smoke and then crashed

b/c we live in an imperfect world we will have troubles 

you have to learn how to EXHALE

don’t wait to exhale, breath in God’s love now, and exhale your anxiety now.

Folks are tripping out and need meds.

Two choice;  two kind of pharmacies

1. the world
2. God’s

Dr’s rx drug s for anxiety called anxiolytic

The bible says, be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplications let your request be made known unto God

Matt 6 : stop worrying b/c if God will feed the birds and cloth the lilies then aren’t you more impt. Than the birds and the flowers.

Jerl 17:

7-8 7     f“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

gwhose trust is the Lord.

     8     hHe is like a tree planted by water,

that sends out its roots by the stream,

          and does not fear when heat comes,

for its leaves remain green,

          and is not anxious in the year of drought,

for it does not cease to bear fruit.” [2]

don’t look to God for an answer, look to God as the answer

Remember : To trust Him in anxious times

Cast your cares upon him b/c he cares for you.

Game: who wants to be a millionare

·       Ask q’s choose answer from multiple choice

·       You have to get the right answer to stay in the game

·       If you get a question you cant answer you have help, Life line:

o       call a friend to help you decide

o      Have the audience vote on the right answer

o      Eliminate 2/4 answers from the multiple choice

Aren’t you gle the you serve a God that there is no situation that life can throw at hime where he needs to call a special counsel of the angels to get their help.

Aren’t you glad, that he’s not calling Gabriel…., Michael the arcangel…

God don’t need no life line , he needs no counsel, he is the life line he is the final counsel.

This is the problem for some chiristians :

Life gives them a problem that they don’t know the answers to and so they reach for their life line and call a friend.  But in life is only one true life line, and his name is Jesusl

Cnn – Jesus

Bishop Jakes, Jesus…

I know the days are evil;

Wall st – but you blessed anyhow

Unemployment – but you blessed anyhow

Foreclosure

Broke

Artritist

eph 6:10 Finally, ebe strong in the Lord and in fthe strength of his might. 11 gPut on hthe whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against ithe schemes of the devil. 12 For jwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against kthe rulers, against the authorities, against lthe cosmic powers over mthis present darkness, against nthe spiritual forces of evil oin the heavenly places. 13 Therefore ptake up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in qthe evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.[3]

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u [Luke 1:15]

[1]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Eph 5:15-21). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

f Ps. 25:2; 34:8; 125:1; See Ps. 2:12

g Ps. 71:5

h Ps. 1:3; [Ezek. 47:12]

[2]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Je 17:7-8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

e Rom. 4:20 (Gk.); 2 Tim. 2:1; [1 John 2:14]; See ch. 3:16

f ch. 1:19

g ver. 14; Job 29:14; See Rom. 13:12

h ver. 13; [2 Cor. 10:4]

i ch. 4:14

j See 1 Cor. 9:25

k ch. 1:21

l See ch. 2:2

m Luke 22:53; Col. 1:13

n [ch. 3:10]

o See ch. 1:3

p [1 Pet. 4:1]

q ch. 5:16

[3]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Eph 6:10-13). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.