Ephesians 5:6-14: Walk as Children of Light; Sanctity of Life Sunday

An episode of the Faith Sermons and Studies podcast, hosted by Faith Baptist Church, titled "Ephesians 5:6-14: Walk as Children of Light; Sanctity of Life Sunday" was published on January 22, 2025 and runs 41 minutes.

January 22, 2025 ·41m · Faith Sermons and Studies

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Summary

Recently I’ve been on a journey. It’s a journey of health an fitness. For the past 4 months or so I’ve been trying to eat healthier and work out regularly. I started lifting kettlebells 3x a week and have been doing that faithfully for about 4 months. I also decided to do a running streak of at least a mile a day, every day. Today will be day 85--yes I do intend to go for a run today. And I’ve lost something like 15-17 lbs and have really enjoyed this journey. But one thing I’ve come to realize about this, is that it starts on the inside. It all starts with what you put into your body. What type of food you eat, how much, all of those things. So I started counting my calories to make sure I am not overeating. And as you control what you eat, it starts to change things on the inside. Things like cravings change. Blood flow increases, energy and stamina increases, sleep quality increases. Other things that can’t even see begin to change--blood sugar, cholesterol, your body starts to morph from the inside out. Those are all the internal things. But eventually change starts to be external. You achieve more gains in your exercise--you can lift more or run faster or go longer. You start to shrink in size. Your clothes get baggy, and your body slowly starts to change shape on the outside. Those internal changes have now started to become external, and as such they become more and more visible. Internal changes affect your eternal lifestyle. Isn’t it the same way in our spiritual lives? The gospel, when it first comes to us, starts inside. Gospel means good news--it is the good news about Jesus. And when it first starts to work in our lives, it starts internally. It begins with salvation, God saves us through the work of his Spirit and our faith in the work of Christ. And things start to happen inside. Desires change. Thought processes change. The outlook on life changes. And after a while, those internal changes become external. The person starts changing certain ways that they live. Certain lifestyle choices they made before are now different. They start reading the Bible, and praying. And they start telling others about Jesus and the change he makes in their life. Their internal change became external, and not it is externally affecting those around. This is how the Gospel ought to work in our lives. Here’s the reality thought--many times it doesn’t. Many times it stops at the internal and doesn’t change us externally they way it really should, and the result is we don’t make the impact on the world around us the way God wants us to. This is so true when it comes to our topic for today, sanctity of life Sunday. Too many believers have settled for internal change, and have not that change affect them externally in regards to their thoughts on things like abortion and how they stand up for the truths of Scripture. And in our text today Paul addresses this. Paul gives us the needed reminder that we are children of light, and we need to live as such. Throughout this text Paul teaches us how we can set up our lives so that we are externally changed by the good news about Jesus. Big Idea: Internal Gospel change produces an external Gospel lifestyle

Episode Description

But one thing I’ve come to realize about this, is that it starts on the inside. It all starts with what you put into your body. What type of food you eat, how much, all of those things. So I started counting my calories to make sure I am not overeating. And as you control what you eat, it starts to change things on the inside. Things like cravings change. Blood flow increases, energy and stamina increases, sleep quality increases. Other things that can’t even see begin to change--blood sugar, cholesterol, your body starts to morph from the inside out. Those are all the internal things. But eventually change starts to be external. You achieve more gains in your exercise--you can lift more or run faster or go longer. You start to shrink in size. Your clothes get baggy, and your body slowly starts to change shape on the outside. Those internal changes have now started to become external, and as such they become more and more visible. Internal changes affect your eternal lifestyle.

Isn’t it the same way in our spiritual lives? The gospel, when it first comes to us, starts inside. Gospel means good news--it is the good news about Jesus. And when it first starts to work in our lives, it starts internally. It begins with salvation, God saves us through the work of his Spirit and our faith in the work of Christ. And things start to happen inside. Desires change. Thought processes change. The outlook on life changes. And after a while, those internal changes become external. The person starts changing certain ways that they live. Certain lifestyle choices they made before are now different. They start reading the Bible, and praying. And they start telling others about Jesus and the change he makes in their life. Their internal change became external, and not it is externally affecting those around. This is how the Gospel ought to work in our lives.

Here’s the reality thought--many times it doesn’t. Many times it stops at the internal and doesn’t change us externally they way it really should, and the result is we don’t make the impact on the world around us the way God wants us to. This is so true when it comes to our topic for today, sanctity of life Sunday. Too many believers have settled for internal change, and have not that change affect them externally in regards to their thoughts on things like abortion and how they stand up for the truths of Scripture. And in our text today Paul addresses this. Paul gives us the needed reminder that we are children of light, and we need to live as such. Throughout this text Paul teaches us how we can set up our lives so that we are externally changed by the good news about Jesus.

Big Idea: Internal Gospel change produces an external Gospel lifestyle