Choosing to Walk in the Light – Part 2

and calling in Christ. And today, pastor Mark will give us a recap before addressing his second point. If you've missed any of the messages in this series, catch up online when you visit us at Bold Steps. But let's not delay the message any longer with today's bold steps. Here's Mark Jobe.

Pretty much the culture is this we can hook up sexually, even though we may. We're not dating. You know, I can I can give sexual favors to an individual doesn't mean I like them. Doesn't mean we're boyfriend girlfriend, doesn't mean we're dating. We can give each other sexual favors. Why? Because it feels good. And then we can walk away. Don't expect a letter. Don't expect that we're together. Don't expect that we're somehow involved each other. And I can

do that for this person. I can do that for another person. It's pretty much the one night stands, the sexual favors pretty much accepted practice ingrained in the mainstream of our culture at a college level, at a high school level. And unfortunately, now more and more at a junior high level. It's the culture. It's accepted. Now what? Paul Paul understood that and he's not talking to. It's not like our society is much different than the society that Paul was talking to. Paul was talking to the

Ephesians in Ephesus. There was a big temple to Diana, the god of fertility. Part of the practice of the god of fertility is that there were priestesses in the temple of Diana, and in order to go and engage in a sexual experience in the Temple of Diana, people would get drunk and basically have orgies with the priestesses of the Temple of Diana. And so sexual immorality and sexual playing around was rampant in the society that Paul

was talking about as well. So it was counter the culture for Paul to say, now that you are children of God, there shouldn't even be a hint of sexual immorality among you. And in case that wasn't clear enough, you say, well, I'm not really sure what he means. I mean, does he mean this? Does he mean that? Then Paul adds to it. He says, or of any kind of impurity. Impurity has to do with anything. It's related to sexuality, but it could have to do with pornography.

It could have to do with fantasizing. It could have to be with X-rated movies. It could have to be with it could have to do with the latest, uh, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. It could have to do with a lot of issues out there that have to do with sexuality out there. So not even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity. And he says, or greed. You say, well, what does greed have to do with it? Well, greed is it's the word covetousness.

Covetousness means I desire something that doesn't belong to me, that I can't have. But I still want it, even though it's not legitimate for me to have it. So you could be greedy towards money or towards things. You could see someone driving a car that's nicer than your car and say, man, why does he get to have that car? I want that car. I should have that car. And I'm kind of frustrated that he's got it and I don't. But it could also have to do with, um,

it could have to do with sexuality. It could have to do with desiring another man's wife or desiring someone that's illegitimate for you to have. But you desire and covet something that is illegitimate for you to possess. And so basically what Paul says is, I know you live in a culture that is a sex saturated culture. Let's be honest, that's the culture we live in. We live

in that kind of society. And the fact that people, the fact that people live together, the fact that people hook up together, the fact that people have multiple partners when they're in their 20s or 30s, it's pretty much just accepted by society. It's just the way it is. It's just kind of normal, right? Well, God says it may be normal for the world out there, but hey,

you are the people of God. And it may be normal for society at large, but because you are children of God, it's not normal for you because you live by different standards. You reflect the standards of your Heavenly father. Listen to what he says. He says, because these are improper for God's holy people, you're holy. Now, I know some of you don't consider yourself holy. I taught you before, though the Bible calls you a saint. Yeah, a saint. Wow.

I thought you had to, like, do a miracle and, like, live almost perfect to become a saint. Well, Scripture says if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a saint. Because the word saint means separate unto God. The word holy means separated unto God. God is separated you unto himself for a purpose. So therefore you're holy. And listen, sexual immorality and all that stuff may be alright in the world out there, but you're not part of the world.

You're separated unto God. You're a people with a call upon your life. So therefore your values are different than the values of the world. Now let me make this clear. Oftentimes, we as Christians try to apply our Christian morality towards people that are not yet Christians. And that is absolutely a wrong way of doing it. He's not talking to non-believers here. He's talking to believers.

for that. We have been attending our church for almost four years now. We absolutely love it. My enthusiasm has been challenged to an extreme degree. However, we completely fell in love with our pastor. His wife attends there also. She has a consistent way of making us feel unwelcome. She isn't very friendly and it shows in her face, in her body expressions. Her husband, the lead pastor, is

a very loving, warm person. I'm really struggling with this, so much so that I always hope she doesn't come to the service we attend. I think it's an unacceptable way for anyone to act more so. The wife of the lead pastor. I pray about this a lot for God to help me ease my heart about this and let go of the feelings I get because of her. What can you suggest I do? I appreciate your time. Thank you.

to say, that's all right. Uh, you don't have to be best friends with the pastor's wife. Uh, but I would say grant or grace, God has to work on her own life. And maybe she's going through some stuff right now that's causing her to be a little bit on edge. Or maybe you don't quite connect with her the way you connect with the pastor. But I would pray for her. I would, when you can give her

a word of encouragement. And, um, I would slow down in talking with her right now until you get to know her, maybe a little bit better, and just ask that God would empower her with joy. That if she's going through a hard time, that God would just give her a sense of contentment. And most importantly, I would say, do not fixate on her while you go to church. Do not let that be a hindrance. And I would

say that about anybody in the church. Uh, do not let it be a hindrance for your worship of God, and pray that God would give you a special love for them. Pray blessing upon them, and ask that God would just allow you to worship God freely and understand even the people around you that may be going through a difficult time. Keep going to that church, keep ministering, keep growing, and keep praying for the pastor's wife.

at Moody's. All right. Thank you. Mark. Let's get back to your message now titled Choosing to Walk in the light.

what's your mother think about that? I don't say anything about their lifestyle. You know why? I don't expect the non-Christian to live like a Christian. I don't expect someone that doesn't have the Spirit of God inside of them to behave and act like someone that has the Spirit of God inside of him. If someone's a pagan, they're a pagan. I expect them to behave like a pagan, act like a pagan, walk like a pagan, talk like a pagan, and and behave like what they have inside.

If they don't have the Spirit of God, some of us try to make our non-believer friends try to live like believers when they're not. I don't say, well, you know, you shouldn't talk that way or you shouldn't swear like that. I don't, I don't I don't indict their language. I don't like their their lifestyle. You know what my goal is? When I talk to them, I think to myself, they need to know Jesus. And my goal is if we get to talk about spiritual things, my goal is to

introduce them to Jesus. I want them to know Jesus. I want them to experience the life of God. I want them to know that there is another way, that there is someone that can fill their life and take away their void, that there's someone that can adopt them and wash their past and give them a new identity and a new future, and the power of the Holy Spirit inside of them. That's what I want them to know.

That's what I want them to be. And once they are believers now, now that they're believers, I want to challenge them to live like believers. Do you know how many young men I have put my arm around in this church? After they became believers and were living with their girlfriend, and I put my arm around and say, bro, bless you man. Glad you're living for Jesus now. Now when are you going to marry her? I don't do that before. They're. They're believers. Why? I don't expect them

to live like believers. But once they're children of God, once they are believers in walking in God, then I'm going to say, hey, it's time. And normally when they're new believers, they say, well, yeah, we've been thinking about it for a while. It's just we haven't gotten around to it. I want to save up money for a ring. And, you know, it's taken us a while. We want to get the apartment together. You know, we're just kind of working on that. And so I say, great. All right, well,

until you get married, you know, here's the thing. The Bible says that sex is out. Usually it's in. Okay. Pastor, when can we do this? Like, as fast as possible. You see, when you become a believer, then I want you to live like a believer. Walk like a believer, talk like a believer. But. But if you're not a believer, you know I don't expect you to live that way.

This passage is talking to people of God. He's saying, hey, now that you are people of God, this is the expectation that we have for your lifestyle because you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Verse four. Now if you think that some of you are saying, hey, I'm off the hook then pastor, because I would never cross lines, I would never touch another woman. I would never do that. I would never cross the line. I like to sort of joke around and talk about it, tell a few

dirty jokes here and there. But you know what? I you know, there's no harm in that. But you know what? I wouldn't cross any lines. Okay. let me talk to you then. Verse four. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse jesting. This is all talking about sexually charged, uh, joking innuendos. Uh, this is talking about the sexual bantering that goes on around the water cooler at work. And,

you know, hey, what about this? And how was this? And, you know, the the the talk that is sexually charged and you know it, the bantering, the flirtation that goes back and forth that you view to be harmless but really is inappropriate for you as a child of God. It goes down to the locker room talk, where guys are bragging about what they did on the weekend and how it went and how long it went, and how

they enjoyed it. And you should have seen them. And they're not going to mention any names, but man, they go on all that stuff. It goes to the to the gestures and the words that we use that are charged with with sexual crassness as we talk. It goes to the off color jokes that we tell. And hey, hey, listen to this one. Have you heard this one? Everybody gathers around and you're sort of looped into it, and everybody laughs, and you don't want to seem like a

little prune there. So you laugh too. And then you figure, I got to add my joke in there. So you add your joke in there. Listen, it goes to that, that all that talking because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And when God what God is saying, if you are my children, if you belong to me, listen, first of all, there shouldn't be a hint of sexual immorality. But secondly, your mouth should not be going down that road. Why? Because he says this

is out of place for you as people of God. Why? Because your people of God. And if you want to do anything with your mouth, give thanks Instead of this kind of stuff, he says, but rather Thanksgiving. Why you say it's so ingrained in our culture? Listen, some of you have lived in it so long, you've talked about

it so much. It's been such a part of what you do that to actually stop using certain words that are crude and crass and actually stop saying certain jokes, that it's just a real struggle for you to realize how that's inappropriate for me as a man of God, to really be going down that road. Hello. I told you, I'm going to step on some toes here. Why? Because you are men and women of God. And there shouldn't be even a hint of it among you, he says. And then he goes on. If you didn't think that

was bad enough. Notice what he says in the following verses. He speaks to our destiny. To the second point that I'm making, I'm talking about what it means to imitate God and live as children of light. If you're taking notes, write this down destiny. You cannot live habitually. That means on a regular basis, as a habit forming basis, you cannot live habitually inconsistent with who you are because ultimately what you value will shape your life. Listen to what

he says in verse five. For this you can be sure. He's almost like sounding a warning and saying, hey, you want to know how serious this is? Let me tell you how serious this is. Look at what he says. Look up at me. This is huge. No immoral person. That's someone that singles that are having sex with one another. Someone's having adultery on the side. Someone that's consistently engaging in sexual, sexual behavior outside of marriage, knowing moral person

or impure. Someone that's consistently in pornography, Biography X rated stuff, getting involved in that kind of stuff, part of your life, fantasies and so forth, or greedy individuals. Someone that's coveting that which is not their own and pursuing that which is not their own. No immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let me tell you what he's saying and what he's not saying. You could read this at one glance. Why

is this so serious? First of all, he says, because such a man is an idolater. What's an idolater? You say, well, I thought an idolater was someone that worshipped idols. Exactly. Now, when we say an idolater, you have in your mind someone in Africa bowing to a totem pole and worshiping that totem pole as though it were God. That is idolatry.

But do you realize that there's other idols that we bow to that don't have to do with an image or a pole or a statue, but that there's other idols that we make, gods in our life, and these gods run our life and dictate our life and have control over our life. And sometimes it's the God of sexual addiction or sexual promiscuity, where my life revolves around this sexual activity and that runs my life, I can't say no to it. I fall into it over and over.

I engage in it. And although I want to be a follower of Christ, I do not give up that or impurity, the same thing, or greed or covetousness. Listen, anything in your life that controls your life, anything in your life that's bigger than God in your life has just become your new God.

deal with. It's sin, isn't it?

that's me and what can I do? I wish I was that we call them influencers. And so I think it's had a huge effect on people's lives.

photos with our best friends. But now we're sitting there voyeuristically sometimes looking at other people's lives and wondering why everyone's life is better than our own. And that is a problem. And sometimes it motivates our lives. I think of Ecclesiastes, and this is a passage that most people don't ever even come across or think about. But it says, Here's Solomon saying, I saw so much toil and skill in people's work that came from a man's envy of

his neighbor. And I think to myself, sometimes we never at peace with what we have. We never enjoy what we have because we're always looking at other people on social media thinking, well, I've got to keep working until I can achieve that. And there's so many problems with that analogy in terms of how we're viewing life. It's not it's not reality. But we have to get to the place where we say, you know, this envy is stealing my contentment. It's stealing my joy. It's making me

want things I don't have. Instead of really enjoying the things that God has given me. It is a thief and it will steal our contentment.

message on choosing to walk in the light. This message is from our series. When you believe, everything changes and you'll hear it Thursday right here on Bold Steps with Mark Joe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.