Grace For Your Day October 5

In 2008, a news release was sent out in Great Britain entitled, "World’s Oldest Living Animal Discovered After He is Pictured in 1900 Photograph." The article showed a picture taken on the island of Saint Helena, several hundred miles off the coast of Africa that included a solider and a prisoner from the Boar War, which was fought from 1899-1902. Standing right in front of them, nibbling on some grass, was a turtle nicknamed "Jonathan" who was believed to be 70 years old at the time.

The interesting thing about the photograph is that in 2008, at the time of this news release, scientists had returned to Saint Helena to find that Jonathan was still alive and he was the oldest living animal on the planet. The article went on to say that he had lived through the reign of 8 British Monarchs and 50 Prime Ministers.

By way of contrast, there is another animal that few have heard of called the gastrotrich. The gastrotrich is a water tick that lives in lakes and ponds. Its body is tiny, only about .004 or .006 of an inch and it only lives for 5-6 days. A gastrotrich is born, eats, reproduces, and then dies all within a week’s worth of time. Its entire existence will happen between this Sunday and the next.

Now with that in mind, let me ask you a question: Which one are you living like? Are you living like Jonathan the Turtle or are you living like the gastrotrich? Are you living for this life or are you living for eternity?

To ask it another way: What are you filling your life with? What is taking up all of your precious time? This is what the Apostle Paul addresses in Ephesians 5. After saying that you need to "be careful how you walk" (verse 15) and "make the most of your time," he goes on to say in verse 18:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. 

In other words, Paul says that this is what you need to fill your life with. This is what needs to talk up all your precious time. You need to fill it with the Holy Spirit. You need to let your time be consumed with thoughts of Him. But what does this mean? Practically-speaking, how do we fill our lives with the Spirit? How do we give our lives over to Him?

This is what we will be talking about this Sunday morning at Grace Fellowship Church. We will be talking about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are going to talk about how to live for eternity and not for the things of this world. This should be a helpful study as we are all prone to waste time. We are all guilty of filling our life with the wrong things.

So please join us as we study this passage together. Bring your Bibles and the service begins at 9:30.

- Jeremy Cagle