0:00 things from all of you. One, please join me in with me in prayer. Not just in the we will pray before we before I share, but even as I speak, I request you all to pray because we are one body. I'm just a tongue here. Uh you are the many 0:17 of you are the hidden parts pumping the blood so that we are all connected to the head and as the head we are reminded again that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church as he speaks. I just want to be his voice or his the tongue 0:32 part of the body. And second, come with a hunger and thirst. Uh let's not come with a casual attitude. And uh let us tremble at God's word. If we come with hunger and thirst, we will be filled. And uh as I speak that word 0:50 of whatever I'm going to share is also for me. Uh so the iron sharpeneth iron and it is a double-edged sword. So um so I I request these two things and uh let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love for the church and for the huge 1:08 price you had to pay to give us this indescribable gift in our Lord Jesus Christ. The redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Lord, it is it did not come easy for you. You had to slay your own son. You did not spare your own son. you 1:24 have given himself up for us all. Thank you, Father, for this um indescribable love. Uh Lord, I pray and um that as we seek to hear from you today, speak to each one of us from the word that you have given to us, fill me with your holy 1:41 spirit as I seek to be your voice. Bless our church, Lord, with a word from heaven, Lord. Revive us again, Father, by your word. uh and I pray that you would fill everyone who has come with hunger and thirst today to listen from 1:53 you. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So the scripture portion for today um is from Ephesians chapter 4. Uh so we'll be spending uh most of our time in Ephesians. Occasionally we'll go 2:13 to few other chapters but uh Ephesians chapter 4 17 all the way up to 32 we'll be spending mostly in a Bible study style format. Um but um I think as let's try to uh see the things that the Lord is highlighting or want to impress upon us 2:33 from this limited time we have. Yeah. So the one of the important part of uh Ephesians is Ephesians I mean we heard many times Ephesians is one of the most spiritual letter and we also heard it as 2:51 like the first letter to Ephesians. There is also a second letter to Ephesians. Where is it? Where is the second letter to Ephesians? In Revelation. So we see a second short uh letter to the book uh to the elders at Ephesus. But this is the first uh letter 3:09 Paul wrote and it's one of the most spiritual letter and it is divided into six chapters. First three chapters all talk about all that God had done to us. All that it is no instruction nothing. It's all about what God has done for us 3:24 and four five six are all about what how we should live uh in response to that what God has done for us in response to what God has given to us. uh how we must live. So that is the focus of four, five and six chapters. So today we're going 3:42 to focus on the fourth chapter from verse 17 onwards. Uh one of the key theme here is that comes out is the take out the old self and put on the new self. Uh it is there's lot God has done but putting on new self there's 3:58 something that we need to do and get rid of the old self. So if you look at verse 17 uh let's begin from verse 17. I have prepared few slides just as a helpful tool but let's uh use our bible primarily. Um so Paul writes here the 4:16 very first uh in verse 17. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding excluded from the life of God because of 4:36 the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart. A lot of things Paul mentions in this just two verses. But he says,"I affirmed together with the Lord that you no longer walk just as the Gentiles walked." Why? 4:53 Because we all have a muzzle memory. We before we were born again, we lived like Gentiles. We walked like Gentiles. We did everything that the Gentiles did. So, but he's reminding us, he's affirming together with the Lord. Uh, 5:08 and he's saying now walk no longer stop that walk. Just as Gentiles walked in the futility of their mind, in the emptiness of their mind, their understanding is darkened because they are walking on their own with their own 5:24 reasoning. um they they don't have any authority like we have the scripture they don't have an example in Christ is like we do their understanding is darkened they are excluded from the life of God excluded from the life of God 5:39 because of their willful ignorance they don't want to come to the knowledge of the truth and because of their willful ignorance they're excluded from the life the abundant life that God has promised to all of us that's their uh nature that 5:54 That's how they are living. Their understanding is um darkened and they're excluded from the life of God. Which all leads to this hardness in their heart. Uh all of these characteristics are among the Gentiles. When I say Gentiles, 6:11 people who do not know God, people who are still living in the darkness and which we were all even we are born again. But once upon a time, we also walked like that. And uh when our internal state is like that, when we are 6:26 walking in our own futility of mind with our own emptiness, with our own reasoning and philosophies and uh the resulting conduct is what is that again? This Paul writes here what he says is that we will be callous in verse 19. And 6:43 they have they having become callous having have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice every kind of impurity and greediness. Four things he mentions there. Callus and sensuality. 7:03 We can see in the world uh it's all about the pleasure. What pleasure do I get? Uh what do I do? It's about pleasing our senses, pleasing our self. Uh very callous, very indifferent, um hardened by sin and blinded by sin. 7:20 The impurity uh we see all sorts of impurity in the world all because of their internal state and greediness. uh we don't even have to uh explain when we live in the world it's everything is driven by the greed uh right we see that 7:37 all over so that is what the Gentiles do and Paul is saying here now you no longer walk like Gentiles but you have you have now we you've been bought with a price now we have Jesus Christ as an example we have the Holy 7:55 Spirit we have the scriptures now he's going to tell us what how we must be living. Uh so this is how we lived before and no longer do that. Now what does what is Paul asking us to do? In the next verse it says but you did not 8:14 learn Christ in this way if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him just as truth is in Jesus Christ. Um so we came to know Jesus Christ we are learning we don't we don't even have we 8:32 don't just have scriptures we also have an example Jesus Christ walked on this earth as sinless man and we have heard him we have heard the truth in Jesus Christ now with respect to that because of the truth that is given to us in 8:47 Jesus Paul is saying in the next verse that in reference to your former manner of life, you will lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance 9:03 in accordance with the lust of deceit. So there is uh one thing that I want all of us to say who who is supposed to lay aside the old self. God has done all his work. Now it is our responsibility to lay aside to hate this sinful way of 9:22 living in our own lives. This is the old self, old nature I have and it is being corrupted uh with the lust of the deceit. So I want to be done with this. I must have a new relation. If once I have a new relationship with God, I must 9:38 have new relationship with my old style of living. I must get rid of this old self. That's what Paul is saying in verse 22. Lay aside the old self. Lay aside the old self. First of all, we need to recognize what is that old self. 9:53 This is still my old way of thinking and how I process, how I do things, how I behave. Uh so lay aside and we need to be renewed with the word of God continuously to understand what the will of God is, what is God's nature. 10:09 continuously look on to Jesus uh who who came to this world who has shown us that example to live completely for the will of God and uh for whom who had a testimony as father said this is my beloved in whom I am very well pleased. 10:27 That is the example we have in Jesus Christ in regard with regards to all these things all that God has done and no longer walk like the way you walked. Get rid of this old self. And verse 24 is where we are getting in. Put on the 10:44 new self. Put on the new self. Um how do we renew or the the expression let's focus on that re be renewed in the spirit of your mind? Verse 23. How can I be renewed in the spirit of my mind? And 11:01 um the we as we just read uh we hear the words we heard the words of Christ and we were taught in him the truth about God a truth about God's holiness and how do I renew myself how do I grow in faith faith comes by hearing the word of God 11:19 that's why it is very very important if you are a born again Christian and if you're not reading your Bible we will we are the prime targets of being deceived. We are primed we become prime targets of going astray. Faith 11:36 comes by hearing the word of God and that is not just for one day but every day it's a daily mana we need and daily we need to be renewed because we read the news we hear a lot of things we are living in this world our minds are being 11:51 influenced by the world and continuously we we need to be renewed again with the truth in the scripture with the word of God by looking onto Jesus by meditating on his life Lord I this old nature I want to be done with this my old style 12:03 of living I want to be done with And uh I want to look onto you, look onto Jesus and uh be renewed in the spirit of my mind and be renewed in the word of God. Continuously being transformed. Uh you know in Romans 12:2 says metamorphosis 12:20 we are continually being transformed into the image of Christ. And that happens by renewing our mind with the word of God with a fresh I mean amplified Bible. I started liking it very much. It amplifies the meaning having a fresh untarnished mental and 12:37 spiritual attitude continuously being alert not getting lukewarm but being continuously on the fire of fire for God by being renewed in the renewed in the word of God. So so one of the most important thing to distinguish between 12:53 what is my old self and to understand what the will of God is I need to be renewed in the spirit of mind and God has given us a scripture. God has given us the teachers. God has given us the Holy Spirit. God has given us the 13:05 church. And so many ways he encourages us who challenges us. So we need to come with that hunger and thus Lord I want to be done with the world's old world old way of self living. I want to be I want to put away this old self and put on the 13:19 new self. Um so that's verse 24. Let's read it again slowly. put on the new self which in the likeness of God which has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. 13:37 Uh just focus on those two expressions righteousness and holiness of the truth. So this new self uh is going to be in the likeness of God. Is we are continuously all things in our lives are 13:56 working together for our good so that we will be conformed to the image of God in the likeness of God. God has given us incredible promises, magnificent promises so that we can partake in the divine nature. And this holiness and 14:10 this righteousness is of the truth. It is not something an illusion. It is not something fake. It is um it is not some a patch to our old life. It is not like okay I was bad but let me put some patches. It's it's not that it is 14:29 completely all over again. God has made us a new creation in Christ Jesus. The change is not outward. The change doesn't start from outside. It starts from inside to outside. God changes something inside our heart and he puts a 14:44 new desire. He writes his laws upon our heart. He puts his laws in our mind so that we start hating the sin, hating this old stale and being renewed in the spirit of mind so that I want to partake in this divine nature. And this holiness 14:58 that we possess, that holiness we want to grow is true. It's not fake. A true inward change of heart. If we are not going to do bandages, we are not going to put patches. We have to change from inside to outside and it penetrates deep 15:13 into the innermost parts of our hearts. But we need to allow the word of God. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. If you close it, God cannot do much work. He God Lord do whatever it takes. Let this word of God penetrate 15:27 deep into my heart. The word of God is a uh is a two-edged sword. It can penetrate even even to the dividing ascender of the soul and spirit and of the joints and of marrow and judges the thoughts and the intents of the heart. 15:42 Let that word of God penetrate it. When uh when we hear the word of God like this take it for ourselves. It's not for that person. It's not for this. It is for me. Lord speak to me. Let this word of God penetrate deep into my heart. 15:55 Expose the sin. I want to be done with this old stale of living. want to partake in your nature and this true this will produce a true holiness not some illusion it's not something you know there is a uh in Japan I I lived in 16:11 Japan for some time I was blown away when I go to a restaurant they'll put all the menu items outside in plastic and you see that even the it's almost like the texture even like a vapor everything is there you can look at oh 16:25 this is the dish I want to want but you cannot eat it it's Fake food you cannot eat it. But you only you can kind of appreciate how the food looks like. We don't want our lives to be like that. Fake holiness it is of no use. True 16:39 holiness even if it is a little bit even if it's just a simple food. It is true. It is true. I'm not faking it. This is the truth. And that's what God wants to do in our lives. And we he will do even more in the days to come if we yield to 16:53 him. Lord, I want to grow in this likeness of God. in the likeness of who you are. Help me, help me to constantly look onto you. And now he comes and there are four things that I want to highlight in terms of living. There are 17:09 many things Paul writes in the next few verses. But for the sake of u to remember easily at least if there's a takeaway at least the four points I want all of us to remember uh that will make it easy at least uh we take it to our 17:23 heart and apply it in our lives. The first one verse 25 in the new self. What does it say? Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his 17:43 neighbor, for we are members of one another. Let's read it slowly again. Laying, we talked about laying of old self, right? One of the old self is speaking falsehood. Now he's saying stop 18:01 speaking falsehood. Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor in your family in the church. We are members of one another. I was thinking about it. If my eyes speak falsehood to me like we're think about I'm part of 18:19 one body. I am this right? And we're talking about different members speaking different things. If my eye deceives me and speaks falsehood, okay, this I'm about to eat healthy food. I want to eat healthy food, but this is junk food. It 18:34 deceives me, speaks falsely, and then it says this is the most healthy food. I go and eat it. What will happen to my body? Right? So, we are members of one body. We must speak truth to one another and lay aside this falsehood. Lay aside this 18:51 falsehood. I have put some verses here. Even in Colossians 3:9 says, "Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices. The lying spirit." Lying spirit. God hates the if you go and do Bible study about 19:10 lying spirit there are so many verses especially the book of proverbs um God hates a lying tongue. God hates a lying tongue. You know this passage in Proverbs 6 it says there are six six things God hates and seven are an 19:26 abomination to him and he lists down many things. I think we should look at that. Let's open Proverbs chapter 6. Because if we want to grow in the Lord, we need to know what he loves and what he hates. So that we are aligned with 19:41 him. We also hate what he hates. In uh verse 16, Proverbs 6 verse 16, there are six things which the Lord hates. Yes. Seven which are an abomination to him, which are detestable, which Abomination is used for something which 20:01 is detestable, something that goes into the toilet. It's God hates it. One hotty eyes, pride. Obviously, God hates pride. God resists the proud. But the very next thing is lying tongue. So that is the 20:17 nature of the old self. No, nobody a child doesn't need to be taught how to tell a lie. It is part of us. It's in it is so easy to lie lie lie lie. So the lying time becomes a nature. It's almost like it's so easy. We don't have the 20:35 fear of God. We just say that's what the Gentiles do. But when we are born again, when we are in Christ, we must know God hates his lying tongue. And um especially the falsehood, you know the falsehood, there are many things that 20:52 falsehood could mean. One of them could be uh it could be telling white lies, right? It's partial truth uh halftruth uh you know something that you speculate 21:09 and speak something falsehood is the intention to deceive or may not may not have an intention but something that is not a complete something that could be presented as truth even though you know it is false but he says we must reject 21:25 we must stop uh we must stop speaking this falsehood because God hates a lying tongue. Uh, a lying lip. Even in the same Proverbs, book Proverbs 12:22. Let's read that also. 12 22. 21:44 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are his delight. M and even in revelation 22 we see the characteristics of the people who are outside you know those people are described some of the characteristics 22:03 those who love and uh let's read 22:15 who who love the lies I think that's the expression if I remember correctly 22:15 it's the last chapter Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers 22:25 and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolators. We understand all of them are outside but and also everyone who loves and practices lying. Everyone I can't believe people love and practice. It's not just practice who 22:43 love and practice lying. Those are the people who will be outside. This is the last chapter of the Bible and this is a warning for all of us. Let us hate this lying spirit in us. If it is still there lingering because of the old self and 22:59 even speaking half truth if you don't know let's say I don't know let's not speak halftruths um and speak truth each one of you with his neighbor especially being honest with one another. We don't have to fake. Again, as I said, it's not a fake 23:15 holiness. It's true holiness. And we we can be honest. If I am at in spiritual state, if I'm at a kindergarten level, I can say truthfully, I'm at kindergarten level. I'm not there. I know in this church there are many PhD people. But I 23:27 am only at kindergarten. That's fine. But I want to grow next year. I want to be at the first grade, second grade, third grade. But I want to grow. But I can be honest today. I'm at first grade. I'm at second grade. That's it. And uh 23:38 people like Ananas and Safhira in the early church they thought that they could do they could lie in the church and come and say when there is apostle Peter in the church and holy spirit was doing incredible things in the early 23:51 church and they came and presented something as if there it's like full uh price of the land that they sold and both wife and husband did that and they were smart by God and Peter says why did you dare to lie to the Holy Spirit do We 24:07 recognize in the church church is the bride of Christ and there is a holy hol hol holy spirit is important part of our uh everything that we do and when we say something it's not true we are lying to the holy spirit it's lying to one 24:20 another it's like a part of one body and hand lying to this part of the hand eyes are lying and the the body will not be healthy anymore so the important part is speak truth to each one of us hates the lying lips take it to heart uh my dear brothers and 24:38 sisters and I also want to show one more verse in Psalms 15 let's read Psalms 15 so here in Psalms 15 there are few 24:56 verses that talks about it begins like this the psalmist David wrote this psalm oh lord who may abide in your tent who may dwell on your holy hill, right? Or in this, we are not in a hill now. We're in a church. Who can be part 25:13 of this church which is holy and pure, who walks with integrity, who works with right and works righteousness. That's the second verse. And look at this. And who speaks truth in his heart. We must speak truth not just through our 25:31 lips, in our heart, in our actions, in everything that we do. speak truth in his heart. Those are the people who can dwell in his holy hill. Otherwise, in the in the presence of God, which is like a fire, the sinners and the 25:47 hypocrites will be tremble. It says in Isaiah, so let's be honest people. Let's speak to truth even to the Lord and to one another. Lord, I'm struggling. I I am uh I I have this temptation. I need to overcome. I'm struggling. Help me. 26:03 Help me, Lord. And we can be truthful to the Lord. The Lord knows everything about us. And uh and same thing with one another. Speak truth uh not the falsehood. And let's move on to the next one. Anger. 26:23 The old self. Anger is part of all of us. Uh we get angry so quickly, right? That's at least I was like that and I'm growing in this area. I must hate this anger the spirit of anger and u because 26:41 there are two Bible in this verse we can understand there are two types of anger. There's a righteous anger there is a righteous anger because Bible says be angry and do not sin. There's a righteous anger. when I can be angry like Jesus. Jesus 26:56 was angry when uh people were taken advantage of. Jesus was angry when there were people were making money of innocent people and Jesus was angry when God's name was dishonored. And the anger that concerns the glory of God, it's a 27:14 good anger we must have. If you don't have that anger, then we have to question L, do I really say hallowed be thy name? Uh we we pray this Lord's prayer. If I truly want the Lord's name to be hallowed in my life, in my 27:28 marriage, in my church, I must be angry if God's name is dishonored. Be angry and do not sin. But there is other type of anger, the sinful anger. And that is where we must not let sun go down on our anger because that means 27:43 before the end of the day settle it. Settle it. And most of our sinful anger is when we are hurt. Our self is hurt. When we're rebuked or corrected. When the self is hurt. When we are misunderstood. When we are spoken evil 27:58 of when our reputation is tarnished. And something happens to ourself and because our self is still on the throne we get hurt and the anger comes in the that is a sinful anger and Bible says here do not let the sun go down upon your anger. 28:17 Forget about son are the years going by and your anger or months and days and years are still holding on grudges against one another bitterness against one another. Do not let let it go. And you know what the greatest danger when 28:34 we do that? We give opportunity to the devil. We give a foothold for the devil in our lives. And that's what the next verse says. Do not give devil an opportunity. He is an uninvited guest. He can come anywhere. But if you open the door, how many of us 28:53 go to our bed opening all our doors in the home? We don't do that. We close it because enemies and thieves and can robbers can come in, we close it. How about the devil, the enemy, the deceiver, he's ready to come in. The 29:06 moment we are holding on the anger and the grudges, we are opening a door for him to come in into our lives. That is why we make such a uh s we we could backslide or we can make we make such a little progress in our spiritual life 29:19 because we are giving room for the enemy because we are holding on to this anger that is the old self. My dear brothers and sisters, get rid of that. Put on the new self in the likeness of God. Yes, be angry when it concerns the Lord's name. 29:33 If God's name is dishonored in the church, be angry. Yes, Lord, this should not be the case. God's name must be honored. If if it is concern my reputation, my honor. So, let it go to the dumps. That's fine. But when it comes to you, Lord, I want I want to 29:47 have this righteous anger. I don't want to have this sinful anger. And I even if I'm angry, if I have something against someone said I want to settle it. Most of the times you know families it could be between wife and husband or maybe in 30:01 the church. Settle it. Like this is a great principle. If you do it we can sleep happily we can have a healthy life. Even physical health would be good. Most of the people go through health issues also because they're holding on to the grudges. It causes 30:15 ulcers. It causes anxiety. It sleeplessness. Why? Why do you need to go through that? Forgive. And that's what uh we'll look at the end of the verse that contrast. Forgive others. Don't hold on. Forgive as Christ God in 30:30 Christ Jesus has forgiven us. Uh Ephesians 4:32 at the last last verse we're going to look at. Just as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven, forgive. Don't hold on to this with a tight fist. That's about anger. 30:49 And next one, words. Um, I'm skipping verse 28. I want to focus on the verse 29. Let no unh wholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification 31:09 according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Let's read slowly. Let no unh wholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification 31:27 according to the need of the moment so that it will minister grace to the to those who hear. Again, the old self is to speak whatever comes to my mind. the profanity, whatever language, the cursing words, whatever comes, unh wholesome words come 31:45 out of our mouth. Uh that is the old nature. But now in the new nature, what is the word? Is it edifying word good for edification? Does it bless others? Is it edifying others? Does it go through this filter? Is this word good for the edification of 32:04 my brother and sister or my wife or husband or my child or the person who is is this a need for the moment? Is this something that I need to bring up now? Is it something that I need to speak now? Is it appropriate for the moment? 32:17 Second filter. And the third filter, does it minister grace to those who hear it? Grace giving to those who listen to that. Three things good for edification. Is it good for edifying those who are whom I'm speaking to or is it needful 32:35 for this moment or is it inappropriate is not the times you know there are times we don't it's best not to speak any word I learned that hard way especially when you deal with family like sometimes when wife is going through you don't have to speak just be 32:49 there listen and be quiet and that does incredible good rather than speaking so I need to know when I need to open my mouth when I need to close my mouth And that's why on the day of the hol on the day of Pentecost, Holy Spirit came 33:06 and rested on the tongues. This tongue is the first thing that needs to be transformed because death and life are in the power of tongue. With the same tongue, we can encourage someone or we can destroy someone. Death and life are 33:20 in the power of our tongue. Do we recognize the incredible power that God has put in our tongue in the verse? That's why seek earnestly for the gift of prophecy so that you can encourage and edify and exhort the church not to 33:34 don't if we speak if we have spoken negative words we spoken discouraging words to others let us repent of that let us repent and Lord from today transform my tongue fill me with your holy spirit just as you said on the day 33:47 of Pentecost on all the disciples you have given them the power in their tongues to speak those words and you see the work God has done through them through the all the disciples and there is a great warning for all of us. Jesus 34:01 in his own words said we shall give an account for every idle word not words word every idle word we speak do we tremble at that word do we tremble at this warning we shall give an account there's another verse whatever you have 34:19 spoken in closed spaces in a inside a secret chambers will be proclaimed on the top so what do we speak in the closed chambers do will you be okay if that is going to be told to everyone That's how we could uh check Lord is 34:35 this word that I'm going to speak is it edifying is it appropriate is it grace does it minister grace and uh just like the previous was through anger we give an opportunity for the devil to come in through speaking 34:52 words like that you know what we do we grieve the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit given as As an earnest, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and the spirit of Christ grieavves. When there's a husband and wife quarreling and there's brothers 35:10 quarreling and something going on with words are fighting with each other, you know, the person who is grieving is the Holy Spirit. Of course, in the family, children also will be grieving. Why my mom and dad are fighting like this? But 35:24 the Holy Spirit who is there is also grieving. And the people who rejoice are the enemies uh devil and all its angels will rejoice. But we grieve the Holy Spirit with our word. Let us take this warning seriously. My dear brothers and 35:41 sisters, let no unh wholesome word come out of our mouths. But only that is you know in amplified Bible it says the unh wholesome it's defined. It's good to see a false word, a profane word, a worthless word, a vulgar word coming out 35:58 of our mouths. Let us watch for our tongue. You know in India uh when we go to a doctor with a lot of sickness first thing we don't have a lot of things blood tests and all of that at the time when we were growing up India was a poor 36:12 country now it's lot of medical uh there's a lot of advancement first he'll take a torch light and he says open your mouth and he'll put that light and say okay and most of the diseases he'll catch immediately and he will write a 36:25 prescription that's how it was the tongue will tell a lot of things about us it tells what's going on in our heart everything and he he could easily see the problem. So if we need to get a good assessment of your of our spiritual 36:40 state, ask someone like your spouse or someone how is my language? How is my speech that tells whether we are growing? Maybe we are not there yet. But we can at least recognize the problem. This is my part of my old nature. I want 36:51 to get there. I want to be like Jesus. Jesus words were every word he spoke had a had a need. He spoke for the moment. He it was good for edifying every word we read letter Bible. The words of Christ are so important, precious and it 37:06 ministered grace to those he who hear. So let us not grieve the Holy Spirit. We heard we saw that in the memory verse. We are bought with such a precious price and let us glorify God especially especially through our speech. 37:25 And u the next one forgiveness. I mean there are a lot of things uh in verse 31 and 32 but I want to focus on the forgiveness. Let's read verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath 37:43 and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Actually there are six things he mentioned. bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, 38:02 and also malice. And what do we need to put on in verse 32? Kindness. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted. Verse 32, forgiving each 38:19 other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Let all the bitterness and wrath and anger clamorous land be put away. Let us be kind to one another. And uh we have to see what I mean why Paul mentioned so 38:39 many things so many things here. I mean again other versions of the Bible says is a bit for all these words it's if English is not your you know first language I grew up in India so it's good to read different versions to get a 38:55 deeper understanding of this what Paul is writing here perpetual animosity resentment strife faultf finding all of that is part of it let's focus on slander for some time slandering others. 39:15 So many times we we make judgments based on what we see and we could slander slander or speak evil of others to uh someone else and damage the reputation. One verse I want to show to all of us about Jesus in Isaiah 11. Let's read 39:33 quickly. Isaiah 11 verse 3. Chapter 11:3. This is about Jesus and how he acted. He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He 39:53 will not judge by by what his eyes by what his ears sorry. He will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear, but with righteousness, he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the 40:12 afflicted of the earth. So when we just simply go by what we see, we can easily go wrong. I'll tell you one example. Um I was working in Intel back in California. uh we used to have a lot of demos, demonstrations of new products. 40:30 That time virtual reality was something a new technology that was coming up and someone had a demo and I went there. They asked me to wear something big. I mean nowadays virtual reality glasses are all over but that time I I had this 40:42 great experience. I have put this and and I was they said the demo is on. I'm standing on the ground like this. Once the demo was on, I was standing in a big cliff. It's like there is some huge, it's almost like if I step like this, 40:59 I'm going to fall into uh deep canyon or something and this side also like that and I have to walk in a very narrow path. I know in my senses I know I'm on standing on this ground but I became so because my eyes are dominating the 41:14 vision dominates everything because what I am seeing my mind is thinking there's a danger here. There is a danger here. I was struggling and wobbling to walk and I had to remove it because the reality is not reality. What I perceive is the 41:28 reality. Reality is not the reality. What I perceive at the time is the reality. And we make judgments but based on what we see. Think about for example you were living in go back to like a take a time machine and go back to 41:42 living in the Nazareth many thousands of years ago and you know Mary mother of Jesus and um you know that you're very close and maybe it's a small village and Mary and Joseph got betrod they have not started living together but you came 42:00 to know that Mary was pregnant and you had no clue that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit And if that person is a carnal person and he cannot keep that himself like uh okay Mary's pregnant they have not started living together how come this 42:17 could happen if you go and tell that person this is by the power of the Holy Spirit they will not believe right because it is nobody saw that but that's what God did only Joseph knew it because angel revealed that and uh Joseph uh the 42:32 righteous man did not put Mary away but he listened to God and he took Mary as wife um and he realized that he was became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. But if the people who did not know the full truth started talking 42:48 about Mary all over the village in a small village and later a year later they come to know that Mary was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and all my understanding was wrong and by the time the damage was already done the 43:03 horses have left the barn and the rumors have spread the rumor has spread out what do you do the slander we don't know all the details So the damage is done. Can you go and repair the damage? Now that's why my dear brothers and sisters, many times we know 43:20 partial facts, partial truths. Let's not make judgments, but based on what we see, leave all the judgment to God. Lord, I will be very careful. I don't want to have this um uh this um this slanderous I I don't want to slander anyone. I 43:37 don't want to hold on to bitterness. I don't want to have this wrath, this anger, uh, clamor, making all sorts of accusations, resentment, and strife. I want to grow. I want to be done with this old self. I want to live a life uh that Christ 43:55 showed as an example, which is kindness, which is tender-heartedness, which is forgiveness. Forgive others just as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven you. Do you want God to forgive you just as you are forgiving the other person or 44:12 you want God to forgive you completely completely just as that is the standard when we forgive someone we are not simply saying I am you have forgiven forgiveness from heart forgive that's what Jesus mentioned many times if you 44:26 do not forgive others from your heart neither your sins will be forgiven take the word seriously this is directly coming from our lord Jesus Christ be kind to one another tend tenderhearted. Let's not get hardened. In the beginning 44:40 of the verses, beginning we saw that Gentiles hardness of the heart. That is the old self. New self becomes tenderness. Lord, Holy Spirit, remove this hardness of the heart. Remove this unbelief. Remove this uh all the spirit 44:54 of bitterness and wrath and anger. Make it soft like like your heart. Help me to be merciful to others just as you are merciful to me. and help me to show kindness and forgive others just as God 45:10 in Christ Jesus has forgiven you and me and uh it is uh forgiving others become difficult because we have not understood what God has done for us on the cross we think that we are forgiven little that's why we forgive others little if we think 45:26 that we have forgiven so much Lord I how can I even stand in like in the presence of the saints and I I'm sealed the Holy Spirit. You have forgiven me. You have justified me. All the things that million sins I have committed, you have 45:40 forgiven me. You call me justified. You call me as your child and you invite me into your presence and I can have fellowship with you with all that. You shed your blood for all that and give me strength to forgive this person. Even if 45:52 there is a struggle, I can go back to God. Lord, help me to forgive this person. And if you hold on to forgi unforgiveness and bitterness, you are giving a room for the devil to rob, steal, kill and destroy you. And if we 46:06 let go of that old self and if we forgive and let go of the anger, let go of that and be filled with the Holy Spirit and put on the new self and uh we can fulfill God's plan and let's not miss out anything. Let's recognize this 46:21 old nature and let's recognize what what our high calling is. And I I do acknowledge that it is impossible to leave this life on our own strength. If we start trying to live Lord, I want to be kind. I want to be tender heart. I 46:34 want to forgive. I'm telling you it will be impossible. That's why wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. Seek for the power of the Holy Spirit and humble ourselves. Let us humble ourselves. And the grace of God comes, he will empower 46:45 us. And when the spirit of God comes, we will be able to obey every single thing that we have seen with regards to all that God has done, Paul is writing to Ephesians, leave this life, put away the old self, put on the new self. That is 47:00 my responsibility. God is not going to take come out and take away my old clothes and put on the new clothes. It is my responsibility. I need to do cry out to God, help me to possess this life, a life of Christ. May the Lord 47:12 help us. If you have something spoke spoke to you, if some one of the any anything at least one part, take it to the Lord and ask God make this true in my life. I want to put on the new self. I'm still living in this old self in 47:26 this particular area. Help me. And God will help. If we ignore, if you see your face, they're like a mirror and ignore and go away. I'm telling you, after 10 years, you'll be like that. May God help us. Thank you. Thank you for these reminders. 47:58 um brother Surina renewing the spirit of mind and um put on a new self. If you could uh recollect 48:16 what brother Josh shared uh uh in his recent message um he was also talking about the mind um being heavenly minded setting our minds on the things above and seeking uh his kingdom 48:41 seeking his his righteousness. Yes. Um thanks for that unity we feel in spirit because uh our mind is a battleground. Uh most of uh the challenges 49:00 we face because of the wrong choices we made. When brother was talking about um lying, using an angry word, not using an edifying word to your partner or your children, your brother or your sister, 49:20 crushing their spirit rather than lifting them up. These are all choices we make uh based on the battleground in our mind. What do we yield to? If we yield to the spirit, we use spiritfilled words. If we yield 49:39 to our flesh, we use words of flesh which hurt others. Uh brothers and sisters, uh we all are uh so precious because we have bought with a a precious 49:56 price. May we all take it. Every body part, our mind to start with our eyes, our tongue, our lips, lay it on the altar. May we all speak the words of faith 50:22 when we tempted to lose temper. Um may we be encouraged to compose ourself making right choices using the right words. I want to share a couple verses from 50:42 Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We see the heart of Paul here. uh he ministered to this church about 3 years day and night. He encouraged them. 51:01 He exalted them like as we heard u he challenged them with that burden. He shares um I'll start with u verse 24. I do not consider my life as 51:19 an account as a dear to myself. Verse 26. Therefore, I testify you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to 51:39 you the whole purpose of God. It is hard to speak such messages. Uh it's so easy to tell that dear brother God loves you. Dear sister God loves you. He will provide everything you ask uh name and claim it. Telling those 51:56 flattering um halftruth message so easy to tell but telling the real truth the whole purpose of God it's very difficult very uncomfortable but we should do that. Why? The next 52:14 verse, verse 28. Brothers and sisters, please see that be on God for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers 52:30 to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. That is a responsibility as elders. We take it seriously. We are answerable to ourselves and also 52:47 to the flock which the Holy Spirit has made us as overseers. as way we speak this um yeah may you may feel the strong message but consider the heart behind it because Paul was so sure I know that 53:07 after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock therefore be on alert remembering that day and night for a period of 3 years I did not cease is to 53:24 admonish each one of you with the tears. Luke chapter 22:32 and 31:32. It's one of my favorite message, I'm sorry, uh passage. Simon, 53:42 Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to shift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. This is Jesus telling that Jesus is telling that your faith may not fail. 54:00 And when you once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. This is our responsibility to strengthening the saints so that we all together build the body of Christ. 54:17 John chapter 10 finally Jesus says I am the door verse 9 John chapter 10:9 I am the door if anyone enters through me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture 54:36 that's what brother recommended and requested in the beginning see it in your Bible take it to the Lord these verses Please pray. Go on your knees and meditate on his word. 54:53 Develop the independent thinking and ask our heavenly father and our lord to open our understanding so that the intent behind these words. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. 55:11 John chapter 10 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 55:28 No one will be able to snatch us out of our Lord Jesus Christ's hand. If we go in and out and eat the pasture what he provides, his word, no one will be able to deceive us. The word will protect us. The word will protect our mind when 55:46 somebody try to sw a wrong seed. The word will protect our heart when we tend to speak like unkind words or like you know um words with lack of faith. The word of God will strengthen you to speak not only just from the hands of 56:03 our God, from the hands of our father. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. No human. One of our children was sharing that who can snatches away from the hands of our Lord. No one. Neither death nor a 56:19 stronghold. Whoever it is, Satan has to request our Lord. Can I touch Peter? Satan. Job. Satan has to go and ask our Lord to touch Job at Job's property. Job's children. No one is able to snatch us out of our 56:39 father's hand because I and the father are one. We are united. The holy spirit comes and dwells in us. Father and the son, the lord Jesus Christ. Holy spirit who dwells in us. Three of us are together in this battle against the 56:54 enemy Satan and our deceiver of flesh. The Lord will strengthen us to fight this battle. The battle is not against the flesh and blood. Think about this. This is against God and Satan. It is against uh evil and good. May the Lord help us brothers and 57:14 sisters to uh be on our knees, go on our knees and to pray and seek God's word, to be open to us, to be protected, to be protected from the deception from our flesh and from the world. Thank you for listening to us patiently. Uh 57:34 we'll close with the prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you for the love you have shown for for us by coming down to this sinful world, laying down your life for sheep, for all of us. 57:51 Help us Lord to be careful about our walk uh and to walk with that integrity that you are watching. You are able to hear us. You are able to see us and grow. We all may grow in the 58:08 fear of you than fear of men and pleasing you over any other human being. Loyalty with you before any other human being. Help us Lord to grow in this. We ask and receive all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. You all are 58:27 welcome for lunch and uh a fellowship. I believe the Lord will help you. Thank you.
