Wake Up!

5) Tied down to the mundane

John 8:23 - (Message) Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end.

1 Corinthians 7:31 - (Message) Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you.

Luke 21:34-36 - "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life.

Dissipation = Wasteful expenditure or consumption; immoral or improper conduct; indulgence in sensual pleasure

Message – “Anxieties of life” = Don’t let the sharp edge get dulled by parties and drinking and… shopping.

Amplified = But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed (weighed down) with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to [the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose.

Are you tied down to the mundane? Are you missing God?

What is the world thrusting on you with its glossy magazine ads, internet pop-up windows, highway billboards, and relentless TV commercials? Are you dealing as sparingly as possible with those things?

Say it with me - Resist … the pull.

6) Wake up!

Romans 13:11-14 – The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber.

Amplified = rouse to reality

Message - But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. Be up and awake to what God is doing! We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Luke 12:35 – "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.”

Say it with me - Resist … the pull.

7) Fix your eyes

2 Corinthians 4: 18 - So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. (NIV)

Fix = to direct steadily or to attract and hold one’s eyes or attention

Hebrews 11:27 - (Moses) persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

Message - He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going.

Hebrews 12:2 - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (NIV)

Amplified = look away from all that will distract to Jesus

Average American watches TV over 4 hours per day! What are you allowing into your mind through TV, the internet, and movies?

Are your eyes “fixed” on Jesus? Or are they fixed on your new high-definition TV?

Are you getting a daily dose of God’s Word? OR… are you getting a daily dose of the latest new TV show?

Resist… the pull!