chapter by chapter verse by verse and today our text is chapter six and verses five through nine.

I'll ask you to stand if you're able once you turn there in your Bibles. If not, that's all right.

You can follow along as I read. The Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit is writing to the church in Ephesus, and he says,

verse 5, slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart,

just as you would obey Christ.

Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly,

as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward

each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves

in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no favoritism with him. Let's pray if you would join with me.

Loving Heavenly Father, we need for you at this time to settle our hearts and focus our attention on you and your word and that which you have for us today here in your word.

Lord bless us your people in this your church we pray in Jesus name. amen. You can be seated. Thank you.

So I want to talk with you today about Christians in the workplace. This is one of those places

in God's word where the context is of paramount importance and

it's going to be germane to our understanding of what is before us today.

The Apostle Paul in the previous chapter of this letter writes concerning the filling with the Holy Spirit.

That's the premise, I guess you could say.

And the reason that this is so important is because everything that follows presupposes that the Christian is spirit-filled.

This is what the Apostle Paul is exhorting the church there in Ephesus concerning.

When a Christian is spirit-filled, then this is what a spirit-filled husband,

a spirit-filled wife, a spirit-filled family, and now a spirit-filled employee and even

employer will look like. You know, I love this about God's word. It is so practical.

It is so honest. It's the truth. And there's application in God's word, which is alive and active.

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