LLISTEN, IF YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS—TO THE SAVING OF YOUR SOUL… YOU NEED TO LOOK TO THE CROSS—THAT’S WHAT JESUS WANTS YOU TO DO.

See the Son of man being glorified—see His walk to the cross—see His death – His sacrifice for you on the cross. In John 12:24, Jesus is saying that His death is a necessity, His death is for the whole world and the fruit of our salvation comes only through His death. Death is the victory—death is where salvation will come from. Connect the dots with Philippians 2:8 where we are told Jesus, “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:8). 
What Jesus did was submit to the will of the Father—laying down self—setting aside His own desire—“not My will but Your will be done” Live For This Life and Lose The life to Come. Jesus is our perfect example of one who was completely and perfectly willing to set aside His own desires, His own comfort, His own life to be in submission to the Father…

As soon as Paul began his epistle to the Galatians, he expressed concern. Marveling they were turning so soon to a different gospel – (Gal 1:6). Letting themselves be troubled by some perverting the gospel of Christ – (Gal 1:7). It is important to know the difference between the pure gospel and perverted gospels. To PREACH a different gospel is to be accursed – (Gal 1:8-9). To not obey the true gospel is to face condemnation.  The Lord will: “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Or, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

Today we need to be just as concerned about “Perversions Of The Gospel”…

Paul wrote to the saints at Colossi (3:1), “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God… then at (3:2)… Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Now in this lesson we look to verses 18 through 21 Paul gives us this list so that we can know being filled with the Spirit looks like:  “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Notice that Paul begins here with “AND”. He is connecting this statement with don’t be foolish, walk with wisdom, seek the will of the Lord and make the best use of your time. To the church at Corinth Paul wrote, “9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [b]homosexuals, nor [c]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). 

Of all these sins Paul chose to use being drunk here – why? Little doubt that Paul’s words were meant as encouraging Christians here—I mean you really have to “twist the scripture” to do that.

When Paul wrote of his concern to the churches in Galatia he described them as “foolish” – (Gal 3:1, 3), for seeking to be perfected by the flesh – e.g., via circumcision. Paul wondered if they had been “bewitched” – (Gal 3:1). Paul used a word (baskaino) which means “fascinate, bewitch, charmed, overpower” (Strong’s). Led astray by charming misrepresentations. Paul sought to reason with them – (Gal 3:1-5). Was not Christ clearly portrayed to them as crucified, had they not received the Spirit by the hearing of faith rather than by the works of the Law, had not the One who supplied the Spirit done so through the hearing of faith? 

Is it possible today, could we face similar dangers today? Might someone “bewitch” us through false teaching? Should we not be led by spiritual reasoning (Rom. 10:17; Rom. 3:4, 4:3), rather than charming, and bewitching claims of men? 

We may indeed find ourselves “Bewitched” for the Scriptures reveal there is A CLEAR AND EVER PRESENT DANGER…

The apostle now impresses upon all saints describing more of how we are to imitate God…walk in love…offering ourselves as Living Lights and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
He begins by saying, “Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph. 5:7). Partakers with who? People of this world who walked in the futility of their mind, in darkness and live without God in their lives, alienated from the life of God.
Your Duty to God and Christ is to be light, (Eph. 5:8), you have been given a new identity in Christ—you are light—learn it and live it. Paul does not say that you were “in darkness”, he says you were darkness (v.8). The blood of Jesus removed your darkness and replaced it with light—the blood of Jesus washed you—made you clean—and now you are light in the Lord. Now you have a mission—you are light in the Lord and Paul commands “Walk as children of light”…

Our focus is a simple one, yet one that I consider to be of great importance. It is necessary for every Christian’s spiritual health and well-being to possess the ability to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ as Paul wrote. Necessary because this will protect us from the evil one, the devil. Necessary because God’s word clearly teaches that what we think, makes us what we are. 

“As a man thinks, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) What we think about is crucial to who we are. Each and everyday thousands of thoughts come into our minds. Some Good, some bad. Who we are and more importantly who we become is shaped moment by moment by the thoughts we choose to let into our minds. But how can we manage to control the thoughts that enter our mind each day? What do we do with the thoughts that are not pleasing to God, and would tear us down?

As Christians every thought must be made subject, whether it be our own understanding (human reasoning) or impure thoughts. They all must be subject to God’s will for us, via His thought which is better and higher than ours as Isaiah wrote of God saying, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jeremiah wrote, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). So, left to our own thoughts and ways, we will surely fall victim to and become captive to the devil…

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). Jesus is the reflection of the Father. Remember the saying [The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree]? In context here Paul is saying the same thing. As children of your Heavenly Father—you need to imitate him. We need to imitate Jesus as well—knowing that He is the reflection of His Father. Remember what Jesus said to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Paul writing to the saints at Colossi said, “The Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and let’s not forget John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God”

Why imitate God and Christ? The question should not be why—but why not. When we consider the love of God—the provision of God—the extraordinary power of God to save that which is lost.

Why would any member of His family not strive to imitate Him as much as possible?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:9-10). Have you ever thought about what it means to “grow weary while doing good”? Why does it matter if we give up when we are weary? Is Paul saying that we must never grow weary—that we should never tire while doing good? Of course not. But there will be times as we labor in the kingdom that we’ll be pounded by the storms of life. There will be times when we may feel like giving up and giving in. Times when we question ourselves asking, will it really matter if I give up, or keep trying?” Possibly, the storm comes in the form of some specific temptation: Lying, cursing, profanity, stealing, gambling, dancing, immodest dress, pornography, fornication, adultery, drugs, or drinking. We all face the storms, none are exempt…

In Ephesians 4:17 Paul wrote, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [a]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” . We know who we are as God’s people, now Paul says, to all God’s children you must put off “your former conduct, the old man” (v.22) and (v.24) “put on the new man created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”. In this lesson we learn from the Apostle just what it means to put off the old and put on the new. In verses 25 through 32 Paul makes five points for us in theses 8 verses that teach us what we must stop doing and what we must start doing. Putting these into practice will in effect—put off the old—and put on the new causing each of us to think anew.  Transformation is what this is all about, renewing our minds by overwriting the worldliness, the old behaviors, the old way of thinking replacing that with “true righteousness and holiness” created according to God (v.24). To accomplish this we need to learn to stop practicing certain worldly behaviors and start participating in righteous and holy behaviors.

Throughout this lesson we must understand that  “The truth is in Jesus” and if the truth is in Jesus, then it cannot be in the world. If the truth is in Jesus, then it is not in your mind. Keep in mind these two verses from Isaiah “8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Unless we conform our minds, our ways to the Spirit by the word of God—our thinking is false—futile, darkened and ignorant because of blindness. Paul begins chapter four of Ephesians by saying, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [a]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind”  (Eph. 4:17).