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17 through 32. I'm glad you could be with us today. Let's get right into it.

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Paul says, so with the wisdom given to me from the Lord I say you should not live

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like the unbelievers around you who walk in their empty delusions. So Paul right

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away he just gets right to it. Look, your culture that you live in is amoral.

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Nothing right or wrong about it. The character that we're called to is Christ

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like character. There's no such thing as a Christ like culture. There's just

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Christ like character that is displayed by you and I in the specific cultural

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contexts that we find ourselves in. Regardless of where you live, whatever

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space, whatever place you find yourself in, whatever race of people we are, we're

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called to Christ like character and attributes. That's what sets us apart. He

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says, their corrupted logic has been clouded because their hearts are so far

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from God. Their blind understanding and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them

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from the true knowledge of God. So sometimes people are just far from God

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because they choose to be and they want to be and that's the life that they find

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themselves in. And so the Bible refers to this as being in the dark. He's using a

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metaphor of light and dark. People choosing to live in the darkness, choosing

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to live totally separated from God, totally devoid of any relationship with

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God in their life. And of course, God loves us enough that he lets us suffer

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the consequences of our own decisions, actions, and choices. That's the

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definition of love is that you give people the choice as to what life they

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want to live. Now he says in verse 19, because of spiritual apathy they

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surrender their lives to lewdness, impurity, and sexual obsession. So when

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people lose their desire to follow God, to follow the Lord, they will give in to

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money, to power, to women, to lewdness, sexual immorality, because something is

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going to dominate the energy in our life. And when you follow Jesus, he redirects

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all of your energy towards the goal of being unselfish, the goal of being a

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servant. The closer we get to Christ, the more unselfish we are, the more we want

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to serve others, meet their needs, and help them. So without Jesus to channel

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our energy, most people boomerang into debauchery, which is what he's talking

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about here. He says, but this is not the way of life that Christ has enfolded

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within you. If you have really experienced the Anointed One and heard

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his truth, it will be seen in your life, for we know the ultimate reality is

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embodied in Jesus. So if you really have Jesus living in your life, it will become

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evident based on how you live and how you act and how you treat people. It's

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really that simple. Now, can sincere people have a bad day? Of course,

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absolutely. Can sincere people make terrible choices and make stupid

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decisions? Of course, of course. It all has to do with your heart and the

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direction that you want to go towards. The really humble person

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will always quickly say sorry and get right back on to what God has

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for them. Now he says in verse 22, he's taught you to let go of the lifestyle of

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your old life, the old self, which was corrupted by sinful and deceitful

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desires that spring from delusions. Now, what's he talking about here? Sinful

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desires that spring from delusions. Delusions are the things that we make up

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in our head that we think are gonna make us happy. And more money won't make you

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more happy. More money will just make you more of who you already are. More houses

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won't make you more happy. They'll just make you more of who you already are. All

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of the material things that you have in your life they don't give you more

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happiness and more peace. They just make you more of what you already

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are. If you give an unselfish person a lot of money, they'll be unselfish with

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it. If you give an unselfish person a lot of homes, they'll

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be unselfish with it. If you give a generous person a bunch of stuff,

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they'll be generous with it. Your money and your material things just magnify

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and multiply who you already are, which is why we so desperately need God to

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transform us in our life every single day. So he says in verse 23, now it's time

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to be made new by every revelation that's been given to you. So when God

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shows us things in His Word and by the Holy Spirit,

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changes the way that we think, changes the way that we behave. And he says, and to be

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transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ within your new life and live in

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union with Him, for God has recreated you all over again in His perfect

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righteousness and you now belong to Him in the true realm of holiness. So it's

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not Jesus that makes us right with God. I mean it's not us that makes us right

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with God, it's Jesus that makes us right with God. Jesus is the one who gives us

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our righteousness, our right standing with God. So he says, so discard every

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form of dishonesty and lying so that you will be known as one who always speaks

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the truth for we all belong to one another. Verse 26, but don't let the

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passion of your emotions lead you to sin. Don't let anger control you or be fuel

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for revenge, not even for a day. So our passions in life, in another version it

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says, you know, be angry and do not sin. So it's okay to have passion about things

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that you perceive to be injustices, but through the filter and through the eyes

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of Jesus, God takes our any righteous passion that we have and He redirects it

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in a godly way. He says, don't give the slanderous accuser, the devil, an

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opportunity to manipulate you. If any of you has stolen from someone else, never

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do it again. Instead be industrious, earning an honest living, and then you

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will have enough to bless those in need. Wow. You know, God wants us to work hard.

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It is amazing to me how many people give advice to others and they don't even

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have a full-time job. Unbelievable, man. And we live in a world of fakes and

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phonies and God calls us to be industrious, to work hard, and out of that

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many wonderful things can happen. He says, and never let ugly or hateful words come

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from your mouth. Boy, that's a that's a mouthful. You know, I learned a long time

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ago Billy Graham said it best, when you wrestle with a pig, both of you get dirty

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but only one of you likes it. What's what's he saying there? Listen, you don't

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have to go one day in your life without getting tempted to say something that

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you shouldn't. Do I have people say mean things and rude things to me? Every

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single day. Every single day, including this morning. What did I say? Nothing.

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Nothing. God watches every time the devil throws you a pitch in the dirt, God is

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watching to see if you swing at it. Every time the devil throws a pitch to you in

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the dirt, God is watching to see if you swing at it. Every day is filled with

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opportunity, pitches that come your way that you say, no no no I'm not swinging

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at that pitch. That's in the dirt. I only swing at strikes. And so God will give

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you the wisdom when to talk, when to be quiet and pray. Nearly 90% of my day now

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is God telling me be quiet and pray. Don't say anything. And so as we talked

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about yesterday, when you get disciplined in that, then what happens is when you do

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speak, then your words carry an anointing and they carry force because you're

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speaking when God wants you to speak. But instead let your words become beautiful

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gifts that encourage others. Do this by speaking words of grace to help them. So

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God wants all of our words to be care packages for people. To love them and

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bless them and help them in their life. Now verse 30, the Holy Spirit has sealed

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you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So once we're

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Jesus's, no one can take us away from Jesus. Once we have Jesus in our heart

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and we've said, Lord I give my life to you even through the ups and the downs,

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we are a member of God's family. Jesus owns us. We belong to Jesus. You don't

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have to worry about that. He says lay aside, verse 31, bitter words, temper

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tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. Again, all of this has to do with

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attitudes and words. Lay aside bitter words means let them go. Temper tantrums.

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It's the last time you had a temper tantrum. God was watching. Revenge, revenge,

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profanity, and insults. So God's watching to see how we use our words and how we

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operate from our attitude. And then lastly in verse 32 it says, instead

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be kind and affectionate toward one another. God has graciously, hasn't God

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graciously forgiven you. Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of

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Christ's love. So Jesus forgives us so we're supposed to forgive others. It's

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really that simple. And aren't you glad that every single day you can come to

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this book, God can speak to us, he can encourage us, he can lift us up. And

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that's one of the reasons why I read my Bible every day and I love to teach it

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to you as much as possible. Thanks very much for watching today. Until next time,

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have a beautiful day.