I Must Insist On This

Here are a few of them.

- Lindsay Lohan. Due to her poor movie choices (”I Know Who Killed Me”), delinquent behavior and bad taste in men.

- Kiefer Sutherland, actor, recurring drunk driver.

- Michael Jackson, former singer, mess.

- Alec Baldwin, actor, verbal abuser, very angry man.

- David Hasselhoff, public disaster, drunk, etc.

These are just a few. Now honestly, would you want to be like or live like some of these people? We might wish we had their money but certainly not their actions and/or attitudes.

Brothers and sisters, it seems like almost "anything goes" in Hollywood; from drugs, to drunkenness, to immorality, to wild parties, etc., etc., etc. You name it and they do it. And if it’s never been heard of, they’ll dream it up and do it.

Now to Kiefer Sutherland’s credit, he did serve his jail term without any problems and as a model prisoner. Sutherland was arrested early September 25, 2007 on misdemeanor drunk driving charges (his second time since another incident in 2004) after failing a field sobriety test. He was pulled over in West Los Angeles, where he tested over the state’s legal blood alcohol limit and later released on $25,000 bail. On October 9, 2007 Kiefer pled no contest to the DUI charge and agreed to complete the 48 day jail sentence in a prison in December 2007, including Christmas and his 41st birthday.

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

Hey, I tried that drinking and driving bit when I was probably only 18 or 19 years old and discovered quickly that was no way to do or act. I don’t want to do that or live that way! That’s a good way to get killed or to kill someone else.

Paul insisted in the Lord that we not live like the Gentiles do. It’s not just Gentiles either, it’s everybody. How do most people live today? Selfishly, sinfully, and satiatedly (meaning, to excess!).

ILL.- For example, I had a guy write me about his addictions in the past. He wrote: I’ve been addicted to alcohol, chewing tobacco, painkillers, and speed (in the past).

Is that the way we want to live?

The people of our world love to do whatever they want; good, bad or otherwise, but Paul said, "I insist on this in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do." Meaning at one time, we may have sown our wild oats, but NO MORE!

Of course, just because a preacher "insists" that we such and such or refrain from something, it doesn’t mean we’re going to do it. RIGHT? Why? Because we’re a self-willed bunch of people who like to do our own thing.

Ultimately, however, here is what will make a difference in the way we live.

II Cor. 5:14 "For Christ’s love compels us.."

If the love of Christ doesn’t constrain us from doing certain things and compel us to do good things, then nothing else will.

II. I INSIST THAT YOU DID NOT LEARN CHRIST FROM THE WORLD

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

ILL.- Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, was talking one day with the governor of North Carolina, and the governor complimented him on his inventive genius. “I am not a great inventor,” said Edison.