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October 1, 2026 | Graham Inman delivers a message focusing on the discipline of the mind using Ephesians 5:6-15 as his base passage. He highlights the transformation from darkness to light, the importance of walking wisely, and making the most of the present season by living in gratitude and obedience. The teaching challenges believers to pay careful attention to their spiritual walk as a response to God's grace and salvation.
Men's morning bible study led by Pastor Ben Mandrell
Hey guys, good morning. I hate to miss Bible study this morning. Lindley and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary with a little trip, and we are certainly going to be having a good time, but I'm sad to be missing this time. I'm excited for you to hear from Graham Inman. He's one of the dynamic new guys on our team. He oversees recreation, also oversees the guys on our MA program. He preaches and teaches, loves the Lord. And I asked him while I'm out, if he would come step in and bring you this lesson on a discipline of his choosing. So I'm excited to see which one he picked, and I'm excited to hear from you about the difference it made. So welcome to the platform, Graham Inman. Hey, good morning. Good morning, men. Hey, if any of you are tempted to get up and leave because Ben's not here, just know I am not going to pressure anyone to run anywhere this morning, okay? If you see me running, you better run with me because we are running from something, okay? But if you did come prepared to run this morning, Matt Pyburn is in charge, and you guys will meet in the same place you guys usually meet, and I will see the rest of you guys at Krispy Kreme for breakfast number two. All right. Hey, this morning, I am honored to be a part of the morning with you, and thankful for the invitation from Pastor Ben to be with you in the mix today. If you have a Bible, Ephesians chapter five is where we'll be, Ephesians chapter five. I have looked through the book. I've read the Kent Hughes book a couple of times over my years, and I chose this morning to settle in on the discipline of the mind. A.W. Tozer has a famous quote, says, what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. The first thought that enters whenever you think about the Lord, that will dictate and direct every single step of your life. And this morning in Ephesians chapter five, I have a simple word, not a shallow word, I hope, but a simple word for us as we consider what it means to lock in on the mind of Christ. Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse six, the Bible says this. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God's wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light. I have a footnote right here, important distinction if you're taking notes. Paul says you were not just in darkness. The Bible actually says you were darkness. Darkness was not just somewhere you were, the darkness was in you. So what is Paul saying? I need you to lock in, church. Paul is saying God has not just relocated you. God has transformed you. And here's what that means. Here's the result of it, verse nine. For the fruit of the light consists of, here's the ingredients, all goodness, righteousness, and truth. These things are used to test what is pleasing to the Lord. He's getting at it. Your very substance has changed. God did not just send a new software update. He gave you a whole new creation. And because of that, therefore, he says, don't participate, verse 11, in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible. For what makes everything visible is light. Therefore, it is said, get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. This is interesting. He quotes this here, but he didn't quote an actual scripture. That's not like an Isaiah passage or somewhere in the Old Testament. This is literally where most people get the song, rise and shine and give God the glory glory. This is a refrain that would have been customary in this day. And then he says this in verse 15, pay careful attention then to how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. We did ministry for a number of years in the Nashville area. My sister came over to Nashville with us for a weekend and we did all the Nashville things that we could imagine and finally settled back in on our house. And she said, hey, I wanna watch a movie you guys gave. And I was like, I'm always looking for a reason to eat popcorn. And so I was like, you have a movie in mind? And she was like, well, yeah, I do. And then she stopped and she said, well, technically, I guess it's a play. I was like, uh-oh. And then she paused again and she said, well, technically, I guess it's a musical. And I was like, oh, no. And then she said, it's a musical about history. And I was like, well, technically, I'm going to bed. The musical was a musical called Hamilton. If you've heard of this musical before, it's a musical that follows the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of our forefathers, one of the founding fathers of our nation. And it follows him and other leaders across the earliest days of our nation. And so I reluctantly gave it a chance and I can't condone everything that happens in this musical. However, I will tell you, by the third song, I was hooked. This thing's got something on it, right? Like this is a fun little deal that's going on here. I was so impressed by the music, by the performance. Who knew that all of our founding fathers could sing and could dance and were all choreographed? Like that was nowhere in my history class growing up. But it follows Hamilton. Here's Hamilton, an orphan in a fledgling new country, just trying to get started. He's a talented writer, a brilliant mind with a unique opportunity to make history. In one of the songs, he begins his kind of story by saying, I'm not throwing away my shot. I'm not throwing away my shot. I'm young, scrappy, and hungry. I'm just like my country. I'm not throwing away my shot. The central theme of that song and really the musical itself is how important it was for Alexander Hamilton to take full advantage of what he believed to be a unique opportunity, to make the most of his shot. And besides the quality of the performance itself, I think the reason why that musical swept the nation and has been Broadway for ever now, why it has captured people's minds and hearts is not just because of the quality of the performance. I think what's captivating about that story is that each of us can find ourselves in it somewhere. It's a theme that all of us understand, right? We only get one shot at this life. Isaiah says, life is like grass. Here for a moment and then cut down. James says, life is like the dew in the morning. It appears for a moment and then it's gone. Forrest Gump said, life is like a box of chocolates. I'm just kidding. Hebrews, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Hebrews says, it's appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. What's the point? None of us are getting out of this thing alive when we only have one shot. This is the heart of our text this morning. This is the heart of Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians is a letter written by a guy named Paul. Ephesians is a very unique letter. It's the only letter that I believe Paul wrote where he wasn't mad at anybody. He's not dealing with the stuff that he dealt with in Galatia. He's not dealing with Corinth. They got the longest letters and there were two of them. There's a lot going on there. Ephesians is a completely different tone. With the Ephesians, he takes a completely different approach. Six chapters, one through three with one section and four through six with another. And he's so different with this letter that if you read the first three chapters of Ephesians, you don't see a single instruction anywhere in it. He doesn't start with a rebuke or a correction or hey, what in the world is going on down there? He just starts and says, hey, before I get into anything else, can I just remind you of how much God loves you? He says it in chapter one, verse 11 in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance. Having been predestined according to his purpose before you were even a thought, God had a destination on your life. You are not an accident or a mistake. He says later, having been redeemed, you have been, here's the picture, adopted into the family of God. You are chosen by God and you are secure. How did that happen? In chapter two, he says it's by grace that you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. You couldn't earn it. You could never deserve it. You didn't get here by dotting your spiritual I's and crossing your spiritual T's. You weren't saved by your church attendance or by your quiet times or your prayer breakfast or your Bible app reading plan. You are saved by the grace of God. Grace is you didn't eat your dinner and you still get dessert. And he says, because of that, chapter three, he says, hey, I want you to know, verse 20, God wants to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could even imagine. What's he saying? God has bigger plans for your life than you do. God has more excitement about your life than even you do. God has more at stake at your life than even you do. How do I know? Because he's the only one that's died for it. He's saying God has so much in his mind for you. So here's the picture. You have been adopted into the family of God. You have been given a grace
you never could have earned or deserved on your own and God has a plan for your life that exceeds any of your expectations. The first half of Ephesians is set up in such a way that by the time we get to chapter five, any half to of the Christian life is turned into a get to. Because of a God who loves me that much. And so then we come to our text. I wanna focus in on two verses right there at the end. Verse 15, the Bible says, so pay careful attention then to how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. Paul spent chapter four talking about the corruption of the day and how much is going on, giving a warning about false teaching and about those who want to live in darkness. And then this first phrase, he says, this in the original language is literally translated to use strict discernment. What's he saying? Holy and righteous living usually doesn't happen by accident. You and I will not stumble into righteousness. We just accidentally showed up one day and said, man, I made it. No, he's saying Godly living is a choice. Paul says there's a whole bunch of stuff you can get caught up in in this life. And he says, Godly living is a choice. There's a whole bunch of stuff you can get caught up in in this life. I've just talked about it for the last chapter or so. He says, you don't have to live like that, but walking wisely is not as simple as it sounds. Why? Because of that last phrase. He says, you gotta pay careful attention because the days are evil. You see, there's a real enemy out there. He's got plans for your life too. He isn't content to kick his feet up on the coffee table and watch you try to live a godly life. John 10 tells us that he comes to steal, to kill, to destroy. I don't know what's on your Google calendar this morning, but I hope none of those things are there. But that's the agenda. The enemy wants to come and ravage everything. He's not content to pop some popcorn and just see if you figure it out. He's gonna come after you. He's gonna try to surround you with people who don't want that for you. He's gonna try to inundate you with a culture who promotes and celebrates the exact opposite of wisdom. And he's gonna do everything he can to throw everything he has at you to keep you from living a godly life. So Paul says, you wanna walk in wisdom, you wanna fight this discipline of your mind, you're gonna have to pay careful attention. You're gonna have to stay on guard. You have to watch how you walk. You don't let that guard down. Be wise. So question, what does walking in wisdom look like? How do we know we're doing it? What's the score? What does walking in wisdom really mean? What is setting our minds on the things above, as Colossians would say? What does that actually mean? You do know that right now across our globe, even excluding the Middle East right now, there are over 150,000 soldiers that are stationed across 80 countries at any given point. Those soldiers are stationed across strategic geopolitical places and they're ready to serve at a moment's notice in rapid response or as an immediate deterrent should anything bubble up anywhere in the world. Most days those soldiers are just sitting on go. Some days they get thrown into the mix. Our military doesn't wait for the attack to build a defense system. Doesn't wait for something to pop off in a foreign country for us to drop a battle plan and try to recruit some soldiers and form some sort of a strategy. No, they stand at the ready before the first shot is ever fired. And a wise man does too. A wise man is one who is ready for the fight before the enemy ever fires the first missile. A man who walks in wisdom, who has captivated his own mind and has taken that under the authority of Christ is a man whose defense systems are already up. The battle plans are already drawn. The strategy's already been formed well before the enemy shows up with the fight, this fight for our minds. It means setting boundaries on what you watch, on what you listen to, on what you do. It means using, the Bible says, strict discernment on the fuel that you put in your tank every day. It means standing your ground against a culture that celebrates a lot of things that break the heart of God. The world goes crazy for things Jesus died for. I'm not trying to be the buzzkill in the room or the uptight, legalistic person, but here's what I know, and if you've lost you so far, I'll lock back in for a second. Every single man in this room is filling up every single day on something. It's not a choice. You're filling up on something. Something's going in the tank that's pushing you forward. So the question is not if, the question is what. What are you feeding on? What are the inputs that are producing that output? What's filling you up? The Bible says we have to use strict discernment with these things to fill up on the things that look like Jesus. Are you reading God's word? In his book, The Divine Mentor, Wayne Cordero says the most effective strategy to become more like Jesus is to become a self-feeder on the word of God. You don't need me to come bring the bread. You don't need Ben on a Sunday to be the only source that you get for the week. You're probably gonna eat more than one meal today, and by the way, Bill Street lied to you. We were out of sausage biscuits. Thanks, Bill. Are you spending time in prayer? Are you walking, as Galatians 5 says, in step with the Spirit? Are you connected with people who make you a better man? Walking in wisdom isn't going to just happen because you hope so. Romans says there's no unrighteous, not even one. You gotta pay attention. You gotta choose wisdom. You gotta walk in his wisdom. Every single one of us walking somewhere, what are you walking towards? And then he says this, right there tucked in the middle. Make the most of the time. This concept is unique. In the original language, this is as technical as this little Sunday school lesson gets, okay? Don't let me lose you. It's as technical as it gets. In the original language, this phrase is two words. Okay, it's the Greek word exaggeratso. It's a big word, so is mayonnaise. We'll figure it out. Exaggeratso, which is a word that means to buy from, okay? Okay, and then the word for time is typically in the scripture two words used for time. There's the word chronos. It is 6.56 a.m., tick-tock, tick-tock. That's chronos. That's not the word that Paul uses here, that Paul uses the word kairos, which means season. So, literally translated, this phrase means buy from this season. Not too long ago, I was doing something upstairs and my wife hollered up the stairs and said, hey, I'm gonna run to the store for a couple of things. And I was like, okay, no big deal. Let me know when you get back. And she was just gone for way too long. And I was so confused and so concerned because she just said a couple of things and she came back and she hollered up the stairs and said, hey, will you come help me unload the car? And I was like, Catherine, what? You just were going for a couple of things. You and I disagree on a couple. And I walk outside, guys, to just an alarming amount of stuff in our car. Like, I walk back there and I'm just like, are we going to war? Like, what's happening right now? Like, are we rationing? Like, what's going on? And I walk out and I looked at, I said, Catherine, what did you do? And she looked at me, I'll never forget. She said this. She said, you'd be so proud of me because there was a sale. I said, Catherine, I can't afford to keep saving this much money. What's she saying? She said, hey, I was at the store and there was a unique opportunity that had a deadline on it. It was just today. And I bought up as much as I could. And Paul says, this is how I want you to see your life. You've been through a lot. You've been given a unique opportunity. Just for today, it has a deadline on it. This season will end. Buy up as much as you can for the kingdom. Do all that you can. Because this season has a deadline. Use all that you can. Exhaust all your resources. Leave it all on the field. Because this is the opportunity that God has given you. This kind of commitment, men. This kind of fervor. This kind of no quit in me attitude is what Paul says is essential for the follower of Jesus. Amen.
And remember, I told you a minute ago, he started this entire argument in the first three chapters completely outlining everything that Jesus has done, the high price that Jesus has already paid for their lives. He's not coming out of left field here. He's forming an argument, saying, hey, let me outline for you everything that God has done for you. And then as a response, here's what you have to do for him. This is not just some good podcast encouragement. This is not a soundbite for Paul. This is not just some friendly feedback or some advice. No, this is a response. Paul is saying, hey, I've shared everything that God has done for you. In light of all that Christ has done, this is how you should live. You have been adopted into the family of God. You have been saved by a grace that you could never deserve. And God has built a plan for your life that he's had in his mind since you were a concept. There's nothing you could do about it. Can I tell you, men, the only thing that you bring to your salvation is the sin that needed it. And Paul is saying, hey, in light of all that Jesus has done, this is the only way forward. You had darkness running through your veins. It was all you knew, because it was all you were. And yet he says, because God has bought us back, because of the vast that God did span. Because he showed us grace undeserved. Because he set our feet on a new path. We are not just empowered to live differently. We're expected to. This is not just the minimum, this is the standard. That you will pay careful attention. You won't live like the world. That your life will be different because of who you follow. That this response is a response of not just obligation over obedience, but an overflow of gratitude. How could I help but speak of all that God has done? If you were to walk the Jacksonville Beach Pier any given Friday evening in the 1960s, you would see a man walking up and down this pier holding a bucket. Older man, and he's walking up and down, slightly bent over, and in that bucket, he's holding a few pounds of shrimp. And if you would get close enough to him as he's taking this shrimp and tossing it in the air, you would hear him slowly and humbly whispering the words, thank you. Thank you. He's tossing the shrimp to seagulls in the air. The man's name is Eddie Rickenbacker. Eddie was a World War II fighter pilot. If you read about him, he had a whole lot of lives before he joined the military, and yet he finds himself in a fighter jet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean with seven other soldiers in World War II. They're coasting along. They're 1,000 miles each way from land of any kind, and they're just cruising along, and all of a sudden, their GPS fails in their plane. The electronics begin to glitch, and they begin to go out, and things begin to get really grim in the plane. They have no idea where they're going. Don't know which direction they're supposed to keep flying when they're supposed to turn, and they're beginning to realize that things are getting pretty rough. They're about to run out of fuel. They don't know how they're gonna make it to land, and they begin to make the decision that it's gonna be safer for us to abort the plane, to put a life raft in the water, for me to put the plane on the water. Let's get in the life raft with the food rations, with water, with different things that'll keep us alive for a little while. Plane will go down, and we'll hope a ship will come by and will rescue us, and so as he was trained, Eddie lands the plane on the water. They throw the life raft out into the water. They put all the rations and all of the things they need for an emergency in the life raft. They leave the plane. Plane goes down, and now you have eight soldiers sitting in the Pacific Ocean on a life raft they were never confident they would need. And so Eddie begins to lead the men through a exercise of how do we ration this? How do we take care of that? How do we make sure that we survive this, just hoping that eventually someone will rescue them, and they had enough food for about four days. Day four arrives. There's not been a ship that has passed yet at all. No planes in the middle of the ocean, and they are completely alone. It begins to get bleak. They begin to think this is the end for us. This is how it's gonna go. There's no hope for us, and as they're getting more tired, more hungry, more frustrated, more fearful, the emotions of the boat begin to take over, and Eddie kind of calls them together. Eddie's the son of a pastor, calls them together, and as you and I often do in desperate moments, we finally decide to start praying. And so Eddie leads the men through prayer service of sorts each morning for the next couple of mornings, and the story would go at the end of one of those mornings, Eddie would pray with these men, and then he drifted off to sleep. Again, his fatigue is setting in. He's getting tired. Stamina is gone, and as he falls asleep, there lands something on his head that he begins to understand what's going on. He recognizes there's a bird that has landed on his head, and he begins to think, if I can capture this bird, I can use this bird as bait, and I can fish, and the fish will keep the men alive for as long as we can, and so he does what he does. I'll spare you the details. He takes the bird. He kills the bird, and he uses the bird as bait. They begin to fish with the supplies they have, and the story would go that kept the men alive for another 24 days, until eventually a ship passing by rescued Eddie and his friends. So, every Friday evening, about sunset, on a lonely stretch of eastern Florida seacoast, you'd see an old man walking, white haired, bushy eyebrow bent over, holding his bucket, filled with shrimp, feeding seagulls, whispering, thank you. Standing on this pier, Eddie teaches you and I something about life. When something dies for you, you say thank you. When someone dies for you, you say thank you. Men, can I just humbly submit to you this morning, your thank you will not be measured by your words. It will not be measured by your song. It will not be measured by the things that you say that you are. The thank you will be measured in how you walk. You'll choose to live a life of obedience, a life of discipline, a life of discernment, and a life that says in light of everything that Jesus has done, I will make the most of my time. I will put down the distractions. I will set aside the diversions. I will recalibrate my focus and I will walk in wisdom. Amen. That's my thank you. And so as we come around this together at the tables, I have a question I want us to consider and then Josh will come and lead us today in a response song. The question is very simple. Think about the battle that we face each day for our attention, for our best energy, for our focus. Pastor, we talked about purity last week. Maybe this is a chapter two of that. Maybe it's not necessarily an impure thing that captures your mind, but it's just a distraction, something that is a good thing that has slowly become the main thing. Think about those things that compete for your attention, your energy, your focus. And in a weak moment, where are you most likely to lose focus? And then in response to that, what are some practical steps that we can take to help us keep our minds on the most important things? I wanna pray for us and then we'll jump in around our tables and we'll talk for a few minutes. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how it challenges us, how it encourages us, how it shapes us. And God, I do pray that even right now that you would begin to open our minds and our hearts up with each other, that we would be able to be honest with each other, encourage one another. The Bible says to stir each other up, to love and to good works. And God, I pray that over the next few moments, that's what happens around the tables as we consider how we can put you not just first, but only in our lives. God, would you give us an honesty that changes the conversation. Would you allow us to be knit together by the spirit in Jesus' name, amen. You guys take a couple of minutes and then we'll respond in worship.