WATCH YOUR STEP

Ephesians 5:8-18 (NLT)

8
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So
live as people of light! [walk as children of light]
9
For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
11
Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.
12
It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.
13
But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them,
14
for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

15
So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.
16
Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
17
Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
18
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with
the Holy Spirit,
- You were once full of darkness, but Christ has saved you and changed your life
(or He can do it!).
- LIVE/WALK as people of LIGHT!
- Watch your step!!!

1. BE CAREFUL HOW YOU LIVE/WATCH YOUR STEP (vv. 11, 12)

Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV2011)
1
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the
way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2
but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day
and night.
3
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in
season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
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Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly
of the righteous.
6
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked
leads to destruction.

2. MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME (vv. 16, 14)

- Facts about time:
1. 1 year, 12 months, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000
seconds.
2. Time passes faster for your face than for your feet (assuming you're
standing up). Einstein's theory of relativity dictates that the closer you are
to the center of the Earth, the slower time goes – and this has been
measured. At the top of Mount Everest, a year would be about 15
microseconds shorter than at sea level.

3. A second isn't what you think it is. Scientifically, it's not defined as 1/60th
of a minute, but as "the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation
corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the
ground state of the caesium 133 atom".

4. What you think of as a day – how long it takes the Earth to rotate – isn't
24 hours. It's 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.2 seconds. The reason it's 24
hours from sunrise to sunrise is because every day the Earth moves further
in its orbit round the sun – and the change in its position lengthens the day
slightly.
- Ask yourself, “How am I spending my time?”
- How much time do you give to God? - What do you do with your time?
Psalm 90:12 (NIV2011)
12
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Romans 13:11 (NIV2011)
11
And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for
you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than
when we first believed.
Isaiah 60:1 (NIV2011)
1
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
1 John 2:17 (NIV2011)
17
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives
forever.
- Make the most of every opportunity to make the right decisions… live for the
Lord… be a witness for Christ… allow the Holy Spirit to move in your life.

3. FOLLOW GOD’S ROADMAP (vv. 17, 10)

- “Don’t act thoughtlessly.”
- “Understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
- “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.”
Proverbs 16:25 (NLT)
25
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
James 1:5 (NLT)
5
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not
rebuke you for asking.
Proverbs 2:6 (NLT)
6
For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and
understanding.
Proverbs 4:7 (NLT)
7
Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do,
develop good judgment.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you
into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know
God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

4. LISTEN TO YOUR GUIDE/BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT (v. 18)
- Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life!
John 16:7, 13-14 (NIV2011)
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But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go
away, the Advocate (Comforter, Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you.

13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He
will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you
what is yet to come.
14
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make
known to you.
Acts 1:8 (NIV2011)
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But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.”
- Don’t be filled with anything else but the Holy Spirit. Don’t allow other things to
consume your life!
- The Holy Spirit will GUIDE YOU… He will INSTRUCT YOU… HE WILL EMPOWER
YOU!

*** WATCH YOUR STEP! BE CAREFUL HOW YOU LIVE!

*** MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE LORD!
*** PLEASE GOD IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE!
*** ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO MOVE IN YOUR LIFE!