Eph 4:17-32

Intro

Good afternoon,

So we are back into our series through the book of Ephesians called “Loaded:Blessed beyond imagination”.

we get this idea from ephesians 1:3 “blesses be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blesssing in the heavenly places.”

In other words those of us who belong to Jesus, who has accepted him as Savior, Lord, and father, has no need to worry about provisions of any sort: material-financing food, clothing, shelter, education. immaterial-peace, contentment, joy, self control, wisdom etc. We are rich, we are loaded.

So we goth through chapter 1, 2, 3, and half of four. This is where we pick up today. We know that part of a story would not be as helpful without an idea of the whole story, so let’s revisit this video about the book.

[Bible Project Video]

So today let’s do this study together:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, 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 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

the futility of their mind. First, unbelievers are intellectually unproductive. As far as spiritual and moral issues are concerned, their rational processes are distorted and inadequate, inevitably failing to produce godly understanding or moral living. Their life is empty, vain, and without meaning (cf. ; ; ).

ephesians 1:4