1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Good morning. Do you have your Bible's Ephesians 4 as where we'll be this morning? 2 00:00:08,580 --> 00:00:15,580 I took a philosophy course in seminary and I loved it because everyone just argued because 3 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,180 you never knew what answer was correct, right? Now if you don't know this about me, I can 4 00:00:21,180 --> 00:00:28,180 be somewhat contrarian if the mood hits me just right. And I can, so I might actually 5 00:00:28,180 --> 00:00:35,180 not believe in something, but I can argue as if I do. And it drives people crazy, especially 6 00:00:35,180 --> 00:00:42,180 my wife. It's what also made me really, really good at speech and debate throughout my school 7 00:00:42,180 --> 00:00:49,180 journey. But in my class, the topic of absolute truth came up. And it was amazing to me to 8 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:55,040 hear so many people not believe that there is an absolute truth. The definition of absolute 9 00:00:55,040 --> 00:01:02,040 truth says that it is whatever is always valid regardless of parameters or context. So a square 10 00:01:04,580 --> 00:01:11,580 always has four equal sides. Not all relationships will lead to marriage. We are all going to 11 00:01:13,060 --> 00:01:20,060 die. The Chicago Bears will not win the Super Bowl this year. Those are all absolute truths. 12 00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:27,060 One can't deny the existence of absolute truth because they are there and when you argue 13 00:01:27,060 --> 00:01:33,060 that they aren't, you come across as foolish. So with that in mind, let's look at our passage 14 00:01:33,060 --> 00:01:39,060 this morning. We're going to read verses 20 through 24. Paul says, but that is not the 15 00:01:39,060 --> 00:01:46,060 way you learned Christ. Assuming that you have heard about Him and we're taught in the Bible, 16 00:01:46,060 --> 00:01:53,060 as the truth is in Jesus. To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner 17 00:01:53,060 --> 00:01:58,060 of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of 18 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:05,060 your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness 19 00:02:05,060 --> 00:02:12,060 and holiness. So if you were to scan the rest of this letter, you will notice that Paul 20 00:02:12,060 --> 00:02:19,060 does something different here in verse 21 when he is referring to Jesus. And all the 21 00:02:19,060 --> 00:02:25,060 other references that Paul has made about Jesus in this letter, he refers to Him as 22 00:02:25,060 --> 00:02:32,060 Christ, as Lord, as some combination of those words. But here he just simply refers to 23 00:02:32,060 --> 00:02:39,060 Him by the name given to him at His birth. He doesn't refer to Christ Jesus as Christ 24 00:02:39,060 --> 00:02:46,060 Jesus. He doesn't refer to Him as Lord, it's simply Jesus. I think the point that Paul 25 00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:57,060 is trying to make here is that Jesus is truth. By using the name Jesus, without referring 26 00:02:58,060 --> 00:03:05,060 to Him by the titles of Lord or Christ, Paul is referring to the historical Jesus as God 27 00:03:05,060 --> 00:03:12,060 in the flesh. So when Paul refers to the truth that is in Jesus, he is proclaiming that the 28 00:03:13,060 --> 00:03:20,060 sinless, spotless life that Jesus lived while he was here on this earth is the demonstration 29 00:03:22,060 --> 00:03:29,060 of the truth that resided in him. We tend to think of truth as a concept or truth as 30 00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:36,060 a principle, but the Bible is clear that truth is a person. The truth is Jesus. John says 31 00:03:37,060 --> 00:03:43,060 in his book in chapter one, in the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we 32 00:03:43,060 --> 00:03:49,060 have seen His glory. Glory is the only son from the Father full of grace and truth. 33 00:03:49,060 --> 00:03:55,060 He goes on a few verses later in 17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth 34 00:03:55,060 --> 00:04:02,060 came through Jesus Christ. Abraham Lincoln was having a discussion with somebody, and 35 00:04:02,060 --> 00:04:09,060 he asked, how many legs does a cow have? Four, of course, was the answer. That's right, Lincoln 36 00:04:10,060 --> 00:04:17,060 agreed. Now, suppose you call the cows tail a leg. How many legs would the cow have then? 37 00:04:17,060 --> 00:04:24,060 The man answered five confidently. Lincoln said, now that's where you're wrong. Calling 38 00:04:24,060 --> 00:04:31,060 a cow's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. Now, there's a belief system out there called 39 00:04:33,060 --> 00:04:40,060 omnisum. It's a belief that all, that no religion is truth, but the truth is found in all of 40 00:04:40,060 --> 00:04:47,060 them. So you kind of sprinkle a little bit of Christianity, a little bit of Islam, and 41 00:04:47,060 --> 00:04:53,060 maybe a little dash of whatever makes sense to you, and you call that truth, and you base 42 00:04:53,060 --> 00:05:00,060 your entire eternal destiny on that. You hear things like, Jesus was a good teacher, Jesus 43 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:08,060 was a prophet, Jesus wasn't born of a virgin, Jesus didn't actually die, and he was born 44 00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:15,060 of a virgin. Jesus didn't actually die, he just fell into a deep sleep. We receive forgiveness 45 00:05:16,060 --> 00:05:22,060 by doing good works and being a good person. Those are things we hear all the time in our 46 00:05:23,060 --> 00:05:27,060 culture because they don't want to believe that Jesus is truth. So what happens a lot of 47 00:05:27,060 --> 00:05:36,060 times is we take Jesus, and we believe some of the things he says about himself, and then 48 00:05:36,060 --> 00:05:43,060 we're on some religious behavior because we have to do something to earn it. Or we have 49 00:05:43,060 --> 00:05:50,060 Jesus, but then our culture says that this particular sin, whatever it is, is now okay 50 00:05:51,060 --> 00:05:57,060 and needs to be accepted, or you don't really love Jesus, and so many people fall for it. 51 00:05:59,060 --> 00:06:05,060 Jesus says in John 14 that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the 52 00:06:05,060 --> 00:06:10,060 Father except through him. But our friend is a universalist, and they're a really good 53 00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:16,060 person, and they have a really good family, and so we begin to believe that we will see 54 00:06:16,060 --> 00:06:26,060 them in heaven one day. We have to come to terms with what absolute truth is, because 55 00:06:27,060 --> 00:06:34,060 John 8 says that if we abide in his word, we will know the truth, and the truth will 56 00:06:34,060 --> 00:06:41,060 set us free. He isn't talking about consuming knowledge. He isn't about doing more Bible 57 00:06:41,060 --> 00:06:47,060 studies. Knowledge isn't going to set you free, because a few verses later in chapter 8, Jesus 58 00:06:47,060 --> 00:06:55,060 said it is the Son that sets you free. The Son is truth. The truth is the only thing that 59 00:06:55,060 --> 00:07:05,060 can set you free. Do you want peace? The truth is the only thing that can set you free. Do 60 00:07:06,060 --> 00:07:14,060 you want to overcome anxiety? You need Jesus. Do you want a better marriage? You need the 61 00:07:14,060 --> 00:07:22,060 truth. Do you want to find healing? You need Jesus. Do you want to overcome that particular 62 00:07:22,060 --> 00:07:28,060 sin that you've been carrying around for years? You need the truth. Do you want to have purpose 63 00:07:28,060 --> 00:07:36,060 in your life? You need Jesus. Now, those two things are not different. They are the same. 64 00:07:36,060 --> 00:07:45,060 Jesus is the truth, and the truth is Jesus. It's an absolute truth. If you've not learned 65 00:07:45,060 --> 00:07:51,060 that today about Christ, hear that today, because as Paul goes through this thing, he even says, 66 00:07:51,060 --> 00:07:58,060 I'm assuming that you have heard it and were taught in him. I didn't want to assume this 67 00:07:58,060 --> 00:08:05,060 morning, because it's very highly probable that you have heard some sort of Christianity 68 00:08:05,060 --> 00:08:14,060 that's not actually accurate. Jesus cannot be as supplemental to what you have going on. 69 00:08:14,060 --> 00:08:25,060 It's not Jesus and a self-help book. It's not Jesus and life recovery. It's not Jesus 70 00:08:25,060 --> 00:08:35,060 and some counseling. It's not Jesus and worship music. It is Jesus and then everything else 71 00:08:35,060 --> 00:08:44,060 is supplemental. If we were to take Jesus out of the equation, in anything we do here, we might 72 00:08:44,060 --> 00:08:49,060 continue to function. We might look somewhat like a church, but there isn't going to be 73 00:08:49,060 --> 00:08:56,060 any purpose behind it. We might be doing what others consider good things, but that's all 74 00:08:56,060 --> 00:09:04,060 it's going to be, good things. Without Jesus, Bible studies are just consuming knowledge. 75 00:09:04,060 --> 00:09:14,060 Without Jesus, our worship service is just singing songs. Without Jesus, praying is just 76 00:09:14,060 --> 00:09:21,060 you talking to yourself, making people think you've lost your mind. Jesus has to be the 77 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:28,060 focus of everything, because he is the truth. Now, we don't have time to go into great detail, 78 00:09:28,060 --> 00:09:43,060 but in Numbers chapter 21, God tells Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole. Weird, right? 79 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:49,060 It says that if they were ever to be bitten by a serpent, they were to look upon the serpent 80 00:09:49,060 --> 00:09:57,060 on the pole in order to live. Later on in John chapter 3, Jesus says as Moses lifted up the 81 00:09:57,060 --> 00:10:04,060 serpent and the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. And whoever looks up and 82 00:10:04,060 --> 00:10:14,060 believes in Jesus, they will have eternal life. Now, when you get bitten by sin, bitten by 83 00:10:14,060 --> 00:10:24,060 circumstances, bitten by temptation, look up to Jesus. That is the truth. If we look down 84 00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:29,060 and think that the answer is in a book, if we look down and think the answer is in a 85 00:10:29,060 --> 00:10:39,060 relationship, think that the answer is in church attendance, you will not live. Life is in the 86 00:10:39,060 --> 00:10:47,060 truth, which is Jesus. So now that we've stated that, we can now move on, because once you 87 00:10:47,060 --> 00:10:56,060 understand that Jesus is truth, we have to take off our old self. This is not the only place in 88 00:10:56,060 --> 00:11:05,060 his writings that Paul uses the picture of taking something off that we no longer want to 89 00:11:05,060 --> 00:11:11,060 characterize our lives by and to put something new on that is consistent with our new life in 90 00:11:11,060 --> 00:11:18,060 Jesus. In Romans 13, Paul writes, the night is nearly over, the day is almost here, so let us 91 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:25,060 put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. In Colossians chapter 3, he tells us 92 00:11:25,060 --> 00:11:32,060 to put off our old self and put on our new self. Hebrews says it as well, let us let aside 93 00:11:32,060 --> 00:11:40,060 everything that entangles us. Peter says it as well. The word Paul uses here for putting off is 94 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:47,060 a word that was used to describe runners in the Olympic games who had literally cast off all their 95 00:11:47,060 --> 00:11:58,060 clothes and run nearly naked in the stadium. And what are we to do? We are to cast off, we are to lay 96 00:11:58,060 --> 00:12:06,060 aside everything that corresponds with our former way of life. All the things that Paul has previously 97 00:12:06,060 --> 00:12:14,060 written about in this letter, the feudal thinking, the spiritual ignorance, the hardness of hearts, 98 00:12:14,060 --> 00:12:22,060 the lack of shame, and continual lust for more sin. Now whenever I'm around old friends, especially 99 00:12:22,060 --> 00:12:30,060 from high school, there's always a conversation that goes something like, I can't believe you're a dad. 100 00:12:30,060 --> 00:12:43,060 And then they go into this long list of things that I used to do that I would not want my children 101 00:12:43,060 --> 00:12:53,060 to follow my example in. When I got married and when I began having children, there were some behaviors 102 00:12:53,060 --> 00:12:59,060 that had to stop or Sina would have left me and taken my children with her. I mean it's part of the 103 00:12:59,060 --> 00:13:06,060 growing up process, right? The same is true when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. When we 104 00:13:06,060 --> 00:13:14,060 understand the truth of who he is, when we understand that he is the truth, we have to stop living 105 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:22,060 the way we used to live. Paul has already spoken about the feudal way of living. Our former self 106 00:13:22,060 --> 00:13:31,060 does not focus on the desires of God. Our former self focuses on our own desires. Jesus points us 107 00:13:31,060 --> 00:13:38,060 out in Matthew 12. He says in verse 43, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes 108 00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:44,060 through waterless places seeking rest but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house from 109 00:13:44,060 --> 00:13:52,060 which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept and put in order. Then it goes and 110 00:13:52,060 --> 00:13:59,060 brings with it seven other spirits, more evil than itself. And they enter and dwell there. And the last 111 00:13:59,060 --> 00:14:07,060 state of that person is worse than the first. So also it will be with this evil generation. Jesus 112 00:14:07,060 --> 00:14:13,060 pointed out that it was not enough simply to get rid of the evil spirit. If that evil spirit was not 113 00:14:13,060 --> 00:14:22,060 replaced with something else, it would return with its buddies. It would fill that vacated space and the 114 00:14:22,060 --> 00:14:29,060 final condition would actually be worse than it was before the evil spirit departed. When we lay 115 00:14:29,060 --> 00:14:38,060 aside the old man, when we lay aside the old self, we need to make sure that at the very same time, 116 00:14:38,060 --> 00:14:48,060 we also put on the new self. Otherwise the old man has a way of creeping back into our lives in a 117 00:14:48,060 --> 00:14:55,060 manner that will make our lives even more miserable than they once were. I have a friend many of us 118 00:14:55,060 --> 00:15:04,060 can probably relate to. He stopped smoking but he was struggling with what to do with the time that he 119 00:15:04,060 --> 00:15:13,060 was using, used to using while he was smoking. If he smoked a pack of day, that is about an hour and 120 00:15:13,060 --> 00:15:24,060 a half of time a day that he spent smoking. Over 10 hours a week, over 42 hours a month. That is an 121 00:15:24,060 --> 00:15:36,060 entire day, every single month dedicated to smoking. He stopped smoking but he filled that time that he 122 00:15:36,060 --> 00:15:46,060 used to be smoking with snacking and gained over 50 pounds in a couple of months. That caused a whole 123 00:15:46,060 --> 00:15:54,060 set of other problems for him. So many times we want to take off our old self but we don't replace it with 124 00:15:54,060 --> 00:16:02,060 things that are of God. We don't pursue righteousness. We don't spend it serving others. We spend it on 125 00:16:02,060 --> 00:16:08,060 other desires that we might have. I mean my life is a perfect example of that. My kids like many of you 126 00:16:08,060 --> 00:16:17,060 keep us pretty busy. We get through the gauntlet that is baseball season. So we catch our breath and 127 00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:26,060 we're like, oh this is so nice. And it gets filled with other things pretty quickly. Like plays and 128 00:16:26,060 --> 00:16:34,060 basketball and wrestling. If we do not intentionally fill that void, it will automatically be filled with 129 00:16:34,060 --> 00:16:43,060 something else. When Paul writes that we are to put on a new man, the word he uses for new is a word 130 00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:50,060 that means something that is completely new in quality. Something that is far superior to what 131 00:16:50,060 --> 00:16:59,060 existed before. Now in order to put off our old self, Paul says that we have to renew our minds. 132 00:16:59,060 --> 00:17:06,060 And we will see here in a moment the work of being made new is all God's work. But we need to give him 133 00:17:06,060 --> 00:17:14,060 something to work with. And since the work of renewal occurs in our mind, then it seems pretty clear that 134 00:17:14,060 --> 00:17:22,060 the material that we give God to work with is our thoughts. Let's focus on three specific areas where 135 00:17:22,060 --> 00:17:31,060 we need to focus our thoughts. We have to renew our mind with truth. Now we've already established that 136 00:17:31,060 --> 00:17:38,060 Jesus is truth. But this isn't the only place that Paul has this emphasis on focusing our thoughts on the 137 00:17:38,060 --> 00:17:44,060 truth. Here's what he wrote in another one of his letters. Philippians 4, he writes, finally brothers, 138 00:17:44,060 --> 00:17:50,060 whatever is true. Whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever 139 00:17:50,060 --> 00:17:56,060 is commendable. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these 140 00:17:56,060 --> 00:18:06,060 things. Based on what Paul has already written, we could very accurately replace the word truth with 141 00:18:06,060 --> 00:18:15,060 Jesus. And paraphrase the verse something like this, whatever is consistent with Jesus, think about 142 00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:26,060 such things. Whatever is consistent with Jesus, think about such things. We spend so much time worrying 143 00:18:26,060 --> 00:18:34,060 about things that don't really matter in the long run. Our minds are filled with anxious thoughts. We 144 00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:43,060 have temptation running through our heads all the time. And if we don't renew our minds, those things can be 145 00:18:43,060 --> 00:18:54,060 overwhelming. We don't just stop worrying. We have to think about things that are true. It is a never-ending 146 00:18:54,060 --> 00:19:02,060 cycle of replacing thoughts in our head with the truth of who Jesus is. The truth that is found in his 147 00:19:02,060 --> 00:19:10,060 word. So one step in renewing our mind is to fill it with truth. The next step is to think about things 148 00:19:10,060 --> 00:19:21,060 that are eternal. Think about things that are eternal. If I want my mind to be made new, I have to focus 149 00:19:21,060 --> 00:19:27,060 my thoughts on those things that are eternal. I mean that's how Paul could face all the problems and 150 00:19:27,060 --> 00:19:37,060 persecution he was facing. To die is gain is what he said. He understood that there is more to life 151 00:19:37,060 --> 00:19:43,060 than just a little bit of time that we spend here on this earth. He certainly focused on the eternal in 152 00:19:43,060 --> 00:19:50,060 his letter here in the Ephesians. He spent quite a time writing about the spiritual inheritance and 153 00:19:50,060 --> 00:19:58,060 about how one day God through his son Jesus is going to bring everything together and restore it to 154 00:19:58,060 --> 00:20:08,060 its original glory. Jesus certainly taught his followers to focus on the eternal, didn't he? He told 155 00:20:08,060 --> 00:20:19,060 them not to worry about food and clothing. How many of us have been worried about food? The cost of food? 156 00:20:19,060 --> 00:20:29,060 Our grocery bills through the roof. Jesus tells not to worry about it. He exhorted them to lay up 157 00:20:29,060 --> 00:20:35,060 treasure in heaven. He told them not to worry about those who could hurt them physically but rather 158 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:43,060 to fear those who would destroy their soul. When Paul writes about things above in this passage, he 159 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:52,060 uses that phrase in a very similar way. He uses the phrase heavenly realms here in Ephesians. As we've 160 00:20:52,060 --> 00:21:01,060 discovered that phrase is used not to describe a physical location but rather to describe those things 161 00:21:01,060 --> 00:21:08,060 that operate in the sphere of influence of God. Paul uses that phrase to distinguish the things above 162 00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:18,060 and from the things of the world. Now, Sina and I have been robbed more times than I can count. We've 163 00:21:18,060 --> 00:21:28,060 had a couple cars stolen. We've had our house robbed a couple times. We've had our cars broken into 164 00:21:28,060 --> 00:21:38,060 and gone through. We've had identity theft and had our bank account drained. Every time that has happened 165 00:21:38,060 --> 00:21:49,060 to us, we're about due for one actually. Every time that's happened to us, there's this strange 166 00:21:49,060 --> 00:21:58,060 piece that I had. I was mad for a moment but then I realized those things don't really matter. We 167 00:21:58,060 --> 00:22:03,060 actually laugh about how often we have been robbed. It's like, oh yeah, I remember that time we were 168 00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:11,060 robbed. I mean, you could even go as far as one time my true story. My truck was broken into and I had 169 00:22:11,060 --> 00:22:17,060 a hard drive on there and I remember at the time maybe eight years worth of sermons. That's all that 170 00:22:17,060 --> 00:22:26,060 was on that hard drive. So maybe, maybe they plugged that thing in and they've experienced the goodness 171 00:22:26,060 --> 00:22:32,060 of the Lord. I don't know. I don't know. But that mindset didn't happen overnight. It was a continual 172 00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:41,060 reminder that the things on this earth don't matter for us. I would have gone crazy if I allowed 173 00:22:41,060 --> 00:22:51,060 myself to dwell on those things. I mean, I would never use my debit card again. I would have had one 174 00:22:51,060 --> 00:23:00,060 of those Tim Allen security systems installed in my house that never functioned correctly. I would be 175 00:23:00,060 --> 00:23:07,060 constantly living in fear of what is going to be taken next. Instead, every time it happened, I'm 176 00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:14,060 reminded, we say it all the time, our treasures in heaven. More importantly, we have to remember that for 177 00:23:14,060 --> 00:23:22,060 our minds to be renewed, God has to do the work. God has to do the work. Although I can provide some 178 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:32,060 material for God to work with, the work of renewal is not my work. It's God's. When Paul writes, 179 00:23:32,060 --> 00:23:40,060 he's using the word renewal in the spirit of your mind. He's using a passive verb that makes it clear 180 00:23:40,060 --> 00:23:48,060 that I'm not the one doing the renewing. It's not my work. Someone else is doing that work in me. But 181 00:23:48,060 --> 00:23:55,060 even though only God can do the work of renewal, I can either facilitate that process or I can make it 182 00:23:55,060 --> 00:24:01,060 harder. God's not going to force his way into my life for the purpose of renewing my mind. I have to 183 00:24:01,060 --> 00:24:09,060 do the work of renewal as it is to my mind so that he can do the renewing. Now, as we've seen, one day, 184 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:15,060 one way we do that is to make sure that we put the right stuff in our minds, that we start with 185 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:23,060 putting the right stuff in our minds. I think the major way we allow God to work is to spend time 186 00:24:23,060 --> 00:24:32,060 with him in prayer. But it has to be the right kind of prayer. Not the kind that views God as some genie 187 00:24:32,060 --> 00:24:39,060 in the sky that we go to in order to ask for a bunch of stuff, but rather the kind of prayer where we 188 00:24:39,060 --> 00:24:49,060 get away from all of our distractions and we allow God to speak to us. Spirit to spirit. Frankly, 189 00:24:49,060 --> 00:24:55,060 the purpose of prayer as we see modeled in the Bible, especially by Jesus, is to allow God to enable 190 00:24:55,060 --> 00:25:03,060 us to see things from his perspective. And when we approach prayer with that attitude, God is able to 191 00:25:03,060 --> 00:25:11,060 renew our minds. All these verses that we've looked at regarding renewing our minds, including our 192 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:21,060 passage here in Ephesians, are written using present tense verbs. By now, we know that that means that 193 00:25:21,060 --> 00:25:29,060 they indicate continuing action. We don't just renew our minds once and then we're done with it. It's a 194 00:25:29,060 --> 00:25:38,060 continuous action. The process of allowing God to renew my mind is one that will never be completed 195 00:25:38,060 --> 00:25:46,060 in my lifetime here on this earth. So I have to stick with it day after day. That's why everybody gets 196 00:25:46,060 --> 00:25:54,060 saved at youth camp on Thursday night. Because they haven't spent the rest of the year renewing their 197 00:25:54,060 --> 00:26:02,060 mind day after day. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you've submitted to him as Lord and 198 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:16,060 Savior, then God's work in you has already rescued you from your former way. But day by day, you're 199 00:26:16,060 --> 00:26:24,060 being formed into the image of God. The question for us this morning is, are you willing and ready to put 200 00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:34,060 off your old self and allow God to renew our minds? Are you willing to lay aside your former self and 201 00:26:34,060 --> 00:26:45,060 allow God to renew our minds? Now, when I say former self, you have an idea of what that looks like. 202 00:26:45,060 --> 00:26:56,060 And for each and every one of us, it's probably different. When you hear this passage, when you read this 203 00:26:56,060 --> 00:27:05,060 passage and you see that phrase, former self, that we need to lay that aside, you know what that is for 204 00:27:05,060 --> 00:27:15,060 you. Are you willing to lay that aside? And not just lay it aside and stop doing it, but are you willing to allow 205 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:22,060 God to renew your mind by filling it with something more valuable? I can't answer that question for you. 206 00:27:22,060 --> 00:27:34,060 So I'll let you wrestle with that. Let's pray. Father God, I pray that as we prepare our hearts for 207 00:27:34,060 --> 00:27:52,060 communion, that you will reveal to us what we need to put aside. And then, Father, I ask that you will help us 208 00:27:52,060 --> 00:28:01,060 walk in obedience. Help us not be a time where we just stop doing certain things because we know it's not right, 209 00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:13,060 but help us also fill that void in our hearts. I pray, Father, that you will renew our minds, that you will speak to us 210 00:28:13,060 --> 00:28:30,060 right here in this place, spirit to spirit, so that we will be made new. I pray God that as we take communion, 211 00:28:30,060 --> 00:28:40,060 your spirit will just move freely in this place. I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.