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Discover the spiritual blessings we have in Christ, from being adopted as God's children to forgiveness for our sins. Explore how we are made spiritually alive and seated with Christ. Uncover the mystery that both Jews and Gentiles have access to the same salvation. Learn how Christ's love surpasses our understanding and how we are given gifts to help each other mature. Live a life worthy of the calling you have received, avoiding the mindset and actions of unbelievers. Seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, and be transformed by renewing your mind.
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Living BeyondYourself Some Assembly Required
Spiritual Blessings in Christ 1:5 Adopted as God’s children 1:6 Freely given God’s grace 1:7 Redemption through Christ’s blood 1:7 Forgiveness for our sins
Spiritual Blessings In Christ 1:9 We’re let in on the mystery that we gentiles have access to the same salvation as the Jews 1:13-14 We have the Holy Spirit 2:5 We’ve been made spiritually alive 2:6 We are seated with Christ
Spiritual Blessings In Christ 2:19 Citizenship with God’s people 2:19 Members within God’s household 3:6 Made heirs together with the Jews 3:12 We can now approach God with freedom and confidence
Spiritual Blessings In Christ 3:18-19 We are informed that Christ loves us more than our natural minds can grasp 4:7-16 We have been given specific gifts to help each other mature
Positive: (What to do) Live a life worthy of the calling you have received Negative: (What not to do) Stop living like unbelievers; Stop thinkinglike unbelievers Two responses:
Ephesians 4:17-19 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Ephesians 4:17-19 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Ephesians 4:17-19 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Ephesians 4:17-19 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Ephesians 4:18 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Ephesians 4:19 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception” Blaise Pascal
Romans 1 ...19what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ...God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so thatmen are without excuse
Romans 1 ... they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, buttheir thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. . . .23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Romans 1 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Romans 1 28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 1 ... 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
Chain Reaction 1) Truth about God rejected 2) Self Caused Ignorance 3) Darkened understanding / futile thinking, no experience of God 4) No sensitivity to what is good 5) Runaway insatiable impurity
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Matthew 6:25-33 ...do not worry about: • your life • what you will eat or drink • your clothes 32For the pagans run after all these things
Matthew 6:25-33 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Romans 6:11 ...count (calculate, reckon, reason) yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, prepare your minds for action... ... “Be holy, because I am holy.”