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Introduction to Personal Bible Study - Videos (2007)

4 short introductory video studies First recorded in 2007, posted to GodTube in 2010  These short videos were made nearly 14 years ago. ...

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Walk Worthy - Part 1 - Ephesians 4

Walk worthy of the calling to which you were called

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling to which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. - Ephesian 4:1-6
As part of our series on Walking in the Spirit, I thought I'd lay out the instructions and teachings of this age. There has been a recent dust-up in Christendom over a popular teacher stating we are no longer under the Ten Commandments. I disagree. I was NEVER under the Ten Commandments.

As we have covered many times before, the Law and the Ten Commandments, as profitable as they are, were not given to anyone but to Israel as part of her covenant (Ex 19-20). But just as murder and adultery were wrong before Moses, so they are still wrong today. But God has not left his Gentile church of this age without instruction. We will look at Philippians in our Walking in the Spirit series, but the rubber meets the road in the Post-Acts books of Ephesians and Colossians.

There are some weighty instructions for this age. It is by these commands that our service will be judged.

We start with the practical section of Ephesians (chapters 4-6) and bullet point chapter 4 here:

  • we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting
  • speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ
  • you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness
  • put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
  • be renewed in the spirit of your mind
  • put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness
  • Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor” 
  • “Be angry, and do not sin”
  • do not let the sun go down on your wrath 
  • nor give place to the devil
  • Let him who stole steal no longer
  • let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need
  • Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers
  • do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption
  • Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice
  • be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you

Pretty strong meat there, and we're just getting started.