HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

February 17, 2008

OBJECTIVE: To encourage one another to live wholly and

totally for God.

MAIN TEXT:

Ephesians 5:15-20

15 So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who
are not wise, but live wisely. 16 Use every chance you have for
doing good, because these are evil times. 17 So do not be
foolish but learn what the Lord wants you to do.18 Do not be
drunk with wine, which will ruin you, but be filled with the
Spirit.19 Speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual
songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord.20
Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A. INTRODUCTION

Miriam’s father went home to the Lord yesterday. He was more than
70 years old. We have had several beloved people pass away the
past year. For them, the troubles of this world have ended, but for us
who are left behind, how then shall we live, seeing that we are still
here?

I feel very strongly to share with you a word which the Lord has been
speaking to me since last year and the word is this: PREPARE FOR
WAR.

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Joel 3:9-17

9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse

the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks
into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!"

Each one of us faces daily battles. However, we live at a peculiar

time in history, some might even say, a time of unprecedented
technological advance yet times of so much evil and suffering.

God does not want us to be filled with fear, to be blind or deaf to

the events happening around us. Since we live in these perilous
times, how then are we to live?

B. When we look at the world we live in, what do we see? We

see the following:
a. Rising crime rates
b. Wars
c. Famine
d. Earthquakes, floods, unusual weather
e. Global warming
f. Epidemics
g. Incurable diseases
h. Genocide, Killing of the unborn
i. Religious wars
j. Rebellion

We live in a world filled with trouble and no one is exempt from it. We
read the newspaper, listen to the radio, and watch TV. Daily, we are
bombarded with bad news.

We live in what many people call ‘the last days’. When we read
the Word, we will find verses that accurately describe the world
we presently live in. The following are some examples and
many references are not included. If you want to learn more, I
encourage you to open your Bible and read.

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C. THE LAST DAYS – not a complete description. Not all
references are listed.
a. Matthew 24: 3-14

3As He was sitting on (D)the Mount of Olives, the disciples

came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these
things happen, and what will be the sign of (E)Your
coming, and of the end of the age?"

4And Jesus answered and said to them, "(F)See to it that

no one misleads you.

5"For (G)many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the

Christ,' and will mislead many.

6"You will be hearing of (H)wars and rumors of wars. See

that you are not frightened, for those things must take
place, BUT THAT IS NOT YET THE END.

7"For (I)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom

against kingdom, and in various places there will be
(J)
famines and earthquakes.

8"(K)But all THESE THINGS ARE MERELY THE

BEGINNING OF BIRTH PANGS.

9"(L)Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill

you, and (M)you will be hated by all nations because of My
name.

10"At that time many will (N)fall away and will betray one
another and hate one another.

11"Many (O)false prophets will arise and will mislead

many.

12"Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love

will grow cold.

13"(P)But the one who endures to the end, he will be

saved.

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 14"This (Q)gospel of the kingdom (R)shall be preached in
the whole (S)world as a testimony to all the nations, and
then the end will come.

b. 2Timothy 3:1-9

1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in

the last days. 2 People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God—
c. 2 Peter 3:3-7

3 First of all, you must understand that in the

last days scoffers will come, scoffing and
following their own evil desires. 4 They will say,
"Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our
fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the
beginning of creation."

D. WE ARE NOT UNINFORMED.

a. The Lord has not left us without the necessary information
we need.
b. He has not left us in the dark but the word of God clearly
instructs us about what to expect.
c. In addition, His word teaches us how we are to live.

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 E. GOD’S PRESCRIPTION FOR LIVING
a. Live wisely. v. 15 So be very careful how you live. Do
not live like those who are not wise, but live wisely.

What does it mean to be wise?

Is it possible to play yourself to death? Officials at a Chinese

Internet cafe think so ever since a 30-year-old man died
after playing a game online for three days. The man
collapsed, and paramedics failed to revive him on the scene.
About 100 other people using the cafe for Internet purposes
left in fear.

China is second only to the U.S. in number of Internet users

and is home to millions of online gamers who play for hours
in public Internet cafes. Internet addiction has spawned a
counseling industry to treat people who cannot stop playing
online games or surfing the web for days at a time.

Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World was written in 1932,

but Huxley correctly forecast some of the issues of the 21st
century. Huxley's premise was that people would come to
love the things that enslaved them, and that they would
worship the technology that would undo their capacities to
think. He believed that by inflicting pleasure upon people,
they could be controlled, and ultimately ruined, by the trivia
they pursued.

Hugh Poland, Kingwood, Texas; source: "Chinese Man Dies

after 3-Day Internet Gaming Binge," Houston Chronicle (9-
17-07)

1. Wisdom is hearing God’s word and

obeying it.

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 a. Matthew 7:24-27 "Everyone who hears

my words and obeys them is like a wise

man who built his house on rock. 25 It
rained hard, the floods came, and the
winds blew and hit that house. But it did
not fall, because it was built on rock.

Houses are built over a period of time. NO ONE HAS

INSTANT HOUSES. In the same way, we learn to obey
God, one step at a time.

b. 26 Everyone who hears my words and

does not obey them is like a foolish man

who built his house on sand. 27 It rained
hard, the floods came, and the winds
blew and hit that house, and it fell with a
big crash."

Crisis events in our lives will show us if we have built our

lives on the rock or on the sand.

b. Use every chance that God gives you to do good,

because these are evil times.

From 1991 to 2007, Fuller Theological Seminary's School of

Intercultural Studies conducted a survey among 750 Muslims
who had converted to Christianity. Those surveyed
represented 50 ethnic groups from 30 different countries.
Here were the nine most-cited reasons for conversion to the
Christian faith:

1. Christians practiced what they preached.

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2. Christians appeared to have loving marriages in which
women were treated as equals.

3. Christian-to-Christian violence was less prominent than

Muslim-to-Muslim violence.

4. The prayers of Christians had healed the disabled and

delivered others from demonic powers.

5. The Koran had produced profound disillusionment because

it accentuates "God's punishment more than his love, and
the use of violence to impose Islamic laws."

6. God had used visions and dreams to influence the

converts' decision.

7. Muslims can never be certain of their forgiveness and

salvation as Christians can.

8. As they read the Bible, the converts had been convicted of

its truth.

9. The converts were attracted to the idea of God's

unconditional love.

Jennifer Riley, "Analysis: Why Muslims Follow Jesus," The

Christian Post (11-16-07); submitted by Jerry De Luca,
Montreal West, Quebec, Canada

c. Learn what the will of God is.

1. Not knowing is what God wants you to do is

described as being a foolish.

2. Not all are called to be pastors, preachers,

teachers but all are called to live like Jesus

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 lived. Romans 8 – to be conformed to the
image of His son.
3. An obedient life is a weapon of war in God’s
hand.
4. it pulls down strongholds. It honors God and

gives glory to him.

5. Considering therefore what we are presently
talking about, we are called to exhibit God in
our lives.

Matthew 24: 14"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the

whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will
come.

LIVE TO SAVE SOMEONE.

A New York Times article titled, “How to Get Out Alive: What the
Science of Evacuation Reveals About How Humans Behave in the
Worst of Times,” tells what researchers have learned about
evacuation from disaster survivors.

In the case of the doomed Trade Towers, those who made it out
waited for an average of six minutes before evacuating. Some
lingered as long as half an hour. What did they do while they
waited? Some helped co-workers. Others milled around. The
article said, “Many called relatives. About 1,000 took the time to
shut down their computers…. At least 70 percent of survivors
spoke with other people before trying to leave.”

One lesson was that, in spite of a previous attack on the towers,

and various efforts to make evacuation effective, less than half
the survivors knew there were three stairwells in the building,

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and less than half had ever entered a stairwell. One investigator
said, “I found the lack of preparedness shocking.”

One woman, Elia Zedeno, who was on the 73rd floor of Tower
One, “heard a booming explosion and felt the building actually
lurch to the south, as if it might topple.” The article stated:

You might expect that her next instinct was to flee. But she had
the opposite reaction. “What I really wanted was for someone to
scream back, ‘Everything is okay! Don’t worry. It’s in your head.’”
Fortunately, at least one of Zedeno’s colleagues responded
differently. “The answer I got was another co-worker screaming,
‘Get out of the building!’” she remembers now. Almost four years
later, she still thinks about that command. “My question is, what
would I have done if the person had said nothing?”

This world is going to end. The Bible promises it will happen when
people least expect it. But God’s Word also gives clear directions
on “How To Get Out Alive.” We can’t afford to keep quiet.
People’s lives are on the line.

d. Be filled with the Spirit.

1. Some people cope with trouble by running

away from it or by denial or by trying to find

comfort in drinking or eating.
2. God gives us the Holy Spirit to be our

sufficient resource during troubled times. He

is the one sent by Jesus to walk alongside us
to help, comfort and encourage.
e. Live a life of worship. Eph 5:19 Speak to each other

with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and

making music in your hearts to the Lord.

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 1. There will be many times when you will not
feel like singing. But when you allow the Holy
Spirit to use your voice, you will find that you
can sing, no matter what the circumstance.
There are songs that are sung in the night
seasons of life.
2. David was described as a man after God’s

own heart yet he was not a perfect man.

3. He lived a life of worship. 2 Samuel 12 20

Then David got up from the ground. After

he had washed, put on lotions and
changed his clothes, he went into the
house of the LORD and worshiped.
f. Always give thanks.

Genuinely giving thanks is a declaration of absolute

trust and confidence in the love of God for us.

THE MESSAGE

Ephesians 5:15-20

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance
you get. These are desperate times!

17Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what

the Master wants.

18-20Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the
Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking
songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over
everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of
our Master, Jesus Christ.

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THE LAST DAYS WILL SEE THE GREATEST MOVE OF GOD:

New Century Version (NCV)

Acts 2: 17-21
17 'God says: In the last days
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 At that time I will pour out my Spirit
also on my male slaves and female slaves,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show miracles
in the sky and on the earth:
blood, fire, and thick smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
the moon red as blood,
before the overwhelming and glorious day of the Lord will come.
21 Then anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved.' — Joel 2:28–
32

THEREFORE:

ISAIAH 60:1-3

1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.

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