Rise And Shine And Give God The Glory

Title: Rise and shine and give God the Glory!!

Text: Ephesians 4:8-20

Introduction: Have you ever thought about how difficult it might be to preach to an audience as diverse as this?

‒ We have new Christians--Precious babes in Christ.

‒ We have veteran Christians--Served the Lord for years.

‒ We have the attending resister--Your here because you’ve been made to come.

‒ We have people who are the rebels--they have already decided that when they can, they are out!

‒ We have children--the greatest in the kingdom.

‒ And on and on.

TODAY, WHAT I SAY, I SAY IN LOVE FOR THIS CHURCH.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR US (NEW CHRISTIANS, NEW MEMBERS, ETC)

LOTS OF GREAT STUFF GOING ON, BUT WE HAVE SOME WHO ARE LUKEWARM AND INDIFFERENT. LAZY, UNSPIRITUAL. WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT!!

(Ephesians 5:8 NCV) "In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light."

--Remember your past life.

‒ Filled with bad language, hate, sin, etc.

‒ Then came the light of the Lord.

‒ Things were fresh, new, exciting, you were saved.

‒ Some are experiencing this now.

‒ Then reality set it. This is real stuff, this Christianity.

Then a simple admonition: “Live like children who belong to the light.”

‒ How do we do that? What is the secret? Where do we start?

‒ Some need to start, others need to start over.

1. “Wake up sleeper, rise from death.” Ephesians 5:14

a. We have some in this church who are asleep, and we might be surprised to find out who they are.

i. Those who sleep are those who I won’t get to speak to tonight or Wednesday night because you won’t be back.

(1) Still says, (Hebrews 10:25 NCV) "You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming."

(2) The meeting together is for worship!!

(a) Those who don’t meet don’t want to worship. We do exactly everything we want to do don’t we?

(b) Those who don’t want to meet, are telling God, “I don’t love you Lord enough to show up for worship.

(3) We meet together in order to lift each other up.

(a) Someone said it best last Wednesday night, “I could not get through the week living right if I did not meet with my family.”

(b) Problem is, those who are not worshiping together with are probably are not giving their all to Jesus Christ.

(c) Can I just say it brethren, “It is wrong--a sin to not be here when the Lord is being worshiped.”

(4) Don’t we have a Lord worth worshiping!!?

(a) He is the “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and they who are with Him are the called, chosen, AND FAITHFUL!” (Revelation 17:14)

(b) (Deuteronomy 10:17 NCV) "The LORD your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords. He is the great God, who is strong and wonderful. He does not take sides, and he will not be talked into doing evil."

(c) (Isaiah 54:5 NCV) "The God who made you is like your husband. His name is the LORD All-Powerful. The Holy One of Israel is the one who saves you. He is called the God of all the earth."

(i) You have a major problem if you don’t want a God like that!!

(5) What are we, who are here, doing about it?

(a) (Galatians 6:1 NCV) "Brothers and sisters, if someone in your group does something wrong, you who are spiritual should go to that person and gently help make him right again. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin, too."

(i) Sometimes I feel like we owe those who are not faithful an apology.

1) How often is it that you know a brother or sister in sin, and just let it pass?

2) We don’t want to get someone mad, or hurt their feelings.

3) So we neglect our duties as Christians to help our erring brethren.

4) How serious are we in our responsibilities.

5) We “all have sinned” AMEN!! So we are not judging, we just love them and want them back.

ii. We are sleepy in our morals. Too many parents and young alike letting down their moral guards.

(1) Do you realize that we are allowing our kids to see movies and listen to music and even taking them ourselves to see things that are ungodly!

(a) The Bible still says, (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 NCV) "But test everything. Keep what is good, {22} and stay away from everything that is evil."

(b) Does that not apply to movies, and music?