Making The Most Of Every Opportunity

An episode of the Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church podcast, hosted by WEPC, titled "Making The Most Of Every Opportunity" was published on October 24, 2023 and runs 44 minutes.

October 24, 2023 ·44m · Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church

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Summary

…But now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8-9 As we start a new two-week sermon series on the invitation to live our life on mission, we are going to see this consistent call to live as light in a world full of darkness. While we once lived in darkness; now that we are children of light, we are called to be light and to serve as a witness to the living Christ. Sometimes we mistakenly think that witnessing to our faith means only knocking on doors or traveling to faraway lands to talk about the love of Jesus. In reality, shining the light of Christ’s love can happen in our everyday lives all of the time. It happens when we recognize we are new creations in Christ. Centered in gratitude for what Christ has done for us, we are empowered to love and respect the great variety of people God brings into contact with us. I can remember a number of years ago being in a church consistory/session meeting where the Senior Pastor verbally belittled and berated the Associate Pastor, even though he wasn’t there to speak for himself. I remember the room feeling uncomfortable, and saying later to that pastor, “I felt uneasy that we were talking about a coworker in this way without him being present to defend himself.” I only received a lot of excuses for why he did so. However, I still believe that living as children of light means that we must live differently. I also believe that it means we must shine light whenever darkness presses in. Since we are called to make the most of every opportunity, every day is ripe with new opportunities to show and share Christ’s love through our lives. May we do so in thought, word, and deed.

Episode Description

…But now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8-9

As we start a new two-week sermon series on the invitation to live our life on mission, we are going to see this consistent call to live as light in a world full of darkness. While we once lived in darkness; now that we are children of light, we are called to be light and to serve as a witness to the living Christ.

Sometimes we mistakenly think that witnessing to our faith means only knocking on doors or traveling to faraway lands to talk about the love of Jesus. In reality, shining the light of Christ’s love can happen in our everyday lives all of the time. It happens when we recognize we are new creations in Christ. Centered in gratitude for what Christ has done for us, we are empowered to love and respect the great variety of people God brings into contact with us.

I can remember a number of years ago being in a church consistory/session meeting where the Senior Pastor verbally belittled and berated the Associate Pastor, even though he wasn’t there to speak for himself. I remember the room feeling uncomfortable, and saying later to that pastor, “I felt uneasy that we were talking about a coworker in this way without him being present to defend himself.” I only received a lot of excuses for why he did so.

However, I still believe that living as children of light means that we must live differently. I also believe that it means we must shine light whenever darkness presses in. Since we are called to make the most of every opportunity, every day is ripe with new opportunities to show and share Christ’s love through our lives. May we do so in thought, word, and deed.