The Wood Stove

Good morning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Ephesians 5:15-17

¹⁵ See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

¹⁶ Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

For many years our family has tried to live a simple life out in the woods. We didn’t want to be a problem to other people but chose to live a simplistic life. For many years our family has burned wood for heat and cooking.

Before we had children the wood stove was completely exposed. As adults we knew that we needed to avoid it to keep from getting hurt. When my children were old enough to crawl I decided to make a fence to go completely around our wood stove. Andrew and I went to the hardware store, bought some fencing and built a fence of protection for the children. We did this to protect the children and assure that they would never be burned on the stove. Getting burned does not feel good does it. Have you ever been burned before?

When I was a teenager I flipped a motorbike over in a deep mud hole and the hot muffler landed on my leg. I credit it to my own stupidity. The hot muffler burned me really bad and to this day I still don’t have any feeling where it burned me. These were consequences for being foolish.

As a parent we think more about consequences than a child does. As a faithful preacher in the church you think more about the consequences of the sheep for their sinful behavior. It’s not because we are better than you, but because we understand the suffering that you are going to have to endure because of what you’re doing. Whenever you sin it’s going to result in consequences.

A consequence is the resulting action of something that you did earlier in your life. Many years ago I used to work at a school with special ed students. I always taught them that poor choices that they made would eventually lead to a poor result. I used to work with a very precious child who because of no fault of his own, his parents divorced. I loved Him dearly, and I still do. Divorce is caused because of hatred. It’s truly a hate crime that should be punished by those who are in the place of authority in this world. Every place of authority in this world has been granted by God. What people do with the authority that has been given them or what they choose not to do will be accountable at judgement day.

It doesn’t matter if they are a dad, a sheriff a policeman or a king. It doesn’t matter if they are a judge or a leader in society, I guarantee you that nobody who is in authority will be able to escape God’s judgement at judgement day. Consequences are going to come with God and it doesn’t matter who you are. God is perfectly just and will punish the wicked no matter who they are. This is why each of us need forgiveness with Him.

Pilot chose to wash his hands rather then help Jesus, and unbeknown to us, I guarantee you that he suffered the consequences for his actions and his inaction.

A consequence is a result of an action or situation that you have done. If you drive a 130 miles an hour down a dirt road the consequence may be running into a tree. Everything that you do while you’re upon this Earth results in a consequence, whether they be good or bad.

God does not want us to be fools. A fool is a silly or stupid person. Its a person who lacks judgment or sense. Consequences are going to result no matter what position you may hold while here upon the Earth. The only way to avoid them is coming to Christ Jesus and confessing your faults.

Paul and the other ministers listened to the sins of people as they confessed them. I’m sure some of the sins that they committed were horrific, but a true minister of God understands that he is just as guilty as everybody else. A minister is here to help you through the mistakes you have committed.

The blood of Christ has been provided for us to cleanse our hearts and our minds of the consequences for our actions. We cannot undo what we have done but we can be forgiven. We cannot change our past but we can change our future. We can redeem the time that has been given to us by God.

To redeem mean to compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something).

The Apostle Paul is a perfect example of redeeming his time. After he had spent many years destroying Christian churches he spent the rest of his life planting them. He did this when he got forgiven for his sins. His life went through a radical change and he started to redeem the time that he had been given by God.

What you do with your life matters. There’s only a certain amount of time that God gives to each of us and He is watching to see what we do with it. It simply comes down to a matter of choices.

You can choose to do what’s good or wrong. You can choose to do what is kind or bad. The choices that you make today are ultimately going to be accountable at the day of judgment. God offers each of us forgiveness and grace but expects that you do what is right with the free gift that he extends to us.

Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,….

Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Col 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Our lesson today is about being circumspect. If you truly have this quality you’re going to think about something before you do it. You’re going to think of the results before you actually attempt it. The consequences for sin is eternal damnation.

Would you jump out of a plane without a parachute? Would you try to go down the mountain without a rope? Would you try to get to heaven without Christ?

Think about those things for today and Lord willing we will talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.♥️

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