Sermon By:
Pastor Bob Paquet
A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
Ephesians. 4:1-32
HOW TO BE A BUTTERFLY
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you:
ARE YOU A PRISONER FOR CHRIST?
(1)to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been
called,
HOW THEN SHALL YOU LIVE?
[2]with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
showing forbearance to one another in love,
[3]being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.
HOW MANY BODIES DOES CHRIST HAVE?
WHOSE BODY ARE YOU A PART OF?
[4]There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in
one hope of your calling;
[5]one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
[6]one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in
all.
HOW HAS THE FATHER PREPARED YOU TO
SERVE?
[7]But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of
Christ's gift.
[8]Therefore it says,
"When He ascended on high, He LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, And He
gave gifts to men."
YOU HAVE NOT BEEN LEFT OUT!
(See also 1 Corinthians 12-14)
[11]And He gave some
as apostles,
and some as prophets,
and some as evangelists,
and some as pastors and teachers,
WHY HAS HE GIVEN YOU GIFTS?
[12]for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ; [13] until we all attain to the
unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature
man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of
Christ.
[14]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there
by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery
of men,
by craftiness in deceitful scheming; [15]but speaking the truth
in love,we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head,
even Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, being fitted and
held
together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper
working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the
building up of itself in love.
SHOULD YOU AND I BE DIFFERENT? CAN
ANYONE TELL?
HOW DO THE UNSAVED BEHAVE?
[17]This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you
walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their
mind,
[18]being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of
God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness
of their heart;
[19]and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to
sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
[20]But you did not learn Christ in this way, [21] if indeed you have
heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
[22]that, in reference to your former manner of life,
CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE!
IT’S YOUR CHOICE!!!
you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with
the lusts of deceit
[23]and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, [24] and put on
the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in
righteousness and holiness of the truth.
[25]Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you,
with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
[26]Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your
anger,
[27]and do not give the devil an opportunity.
[28] Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor,
performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have
something to share with him who has need.
[29]Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a
word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment,
that it may give grace to those who hear.
[30]And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed
for the day of redemption.
[31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be
put away from you, along with all malice.
[32] And be kind to one another, tender-hearted,forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
KNOW WHAT?
HE HAS MADE YOU A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT
GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU THAN HE
THAT IS IN THE WORLD
YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS IN CHRIST!!
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