Now he begins the fourth chapter again with
a reminder that he is a prisoner of
the Lord.
And I beseech you, I beg you, I
implore you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you were called.
Now notice this is the first mention now
that Paul makes of your response to God.
He has spent three chapters telling you what
God has done for you, of what God
has given to you, of what God has
provided for you.
He spent three chapters unfolding the glorious mysteries
of God's love and grace and goodness.
How God has reached out to you, you
Gentiles who were once alienated and far away,
and He's brought you near.
Now, after spending the three chapters telling you
all that God has done, now he turns
around and he says, now you walk worthy.
One of the problems in the church is
that we have been emphasizing the walk first.
We've been trying to get people to walk
before they even know how to sit.
Paul gets us firmly seated in Christ in
heavenly places.
And now he says, now walk.
You've learned how to sit.
Now walk.
In a little while, as we get to
the sixth chapter, he's going to say, now
stand.
And so, as another author of Ephesians has
divided it, he's spent three chapters telling you
of the wealth and of the riches that
you have in Christ.
Now he's going to spend a couple of
chapters telling you about the walk that you
should have, and then he'll spend the last
chapter telling you about the warfare that you
are in.
So, the wealth, the walk, and the warfare
of the believer.
Ruth Paxson divides the book of Ephesians that
way.
Watchman Nee divides it in sit, walk, stand.
But, it is important to note that God's
work for us is first of all mentioned
before our response to God.
So opposite to the religions which teach man
to do his work in order that God
might respond to him.
And if we are in that works response,
I work that God might respond syndrome.
We will never have the full relationship with
God that He desires to have, nor will
we ever enjoy the riches that God wants
to bestow upon us.
Because our works are always going to be
failing and feeble.
It is God's work that matters, not mine.
It is my response to God which is
important, not trying to get God to respond
to me.
God is already initiated.
And God is the initiator.
Man is the responder.
So many times, man seeks to reverse that
in the preaching making man the initiator and
God the responder.
Such is not the case.
Such is not the Gospel.
There is no Gospel in that.
The Gospel is that God initiated.
God so loved that He gave.
And that man responds.
We love Him because He first loved us.
The love of Christ constrains me.
I am responding to that constraining love.
And so, any work that I try to
do for God that does not come from
a responsive base is unacceptable.
Any work that I try to do to
gain favor, any work that I try to
do to gain merit, to gain points, to
gain righteousness is of no avail.
It is only that work that flows freely
as I am responding to God and His
grace and His goodness to me that has
any real eternal merit or value.
And we need to get this correct theology
or else we're going to really be missing
out on all that God is wanting for
us and wanting to do for us.
You do not initiate the relationship with God.
He has initiated it.
You need to respond to it.
You cannot make God love you more.
He loves you supremely.
You need to respond to it.
Now, when I am responding to God, then
I am not really getting all puffed up
in my works and boasting in them and
going around and bragging about all I've been
doing for God.
All I'm doing is responding to love that
I just can't handle.
Overwhelming love.
I respond to it.
And so it isn't, oh, I've given so
much for God or I've sacrificed so much
for the Lord, you can't believe how much
I've given to the Lord.
No, no, no.
The person who has the true relationship with
God is going around saying, you can't believe
all that God has done for me.
Oh, I can't believe His goodness.
I can't believe.
Listen, you'll never believe what the Lord did
for me this way.
You know, and they're always talking about what
God has done and what I do is
nothing, man.
It's just a response to this glorious grace
that I have received through Jesus Christ.
So, respond now to God.
Let your walk be in keeping with what
you are.
God has called you to be His child
that you might in the endless ages to
come experience the richness of His grace and
mercy and love toward you in Christ.
Now respond to that by living in a
manner that is fitting that of a child
of God.
Live like a child of God.
Don't live like the devil.
You did that long enough.
Now start living like a child of God
which you are through Jesus Christ.
Respond to it.
How am I to live?
With all lowliness and meekness.
You see, I'm to live as Jesus Christ.
You remember when Jesus said, Come unto me
all ye that labor and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of
me for I am meek and lowly of
heart.
Now, how are we to walk?
In all lowliness and meekness.
Now, this is really the natural response to
the real understanding of the grace of God
for me and my unworthiness of it.
You see, if I'm doing my works trip,
then involved in the works is the bragging
and in the boasting and in the glorying
of what I am and what I have
done.
But when I realize what God has done
for me, what God is offering to me,
this glorious grace of God of which I
am so totally undeserving and unworthy, the effect
that I have is that of lowliness and
meekness.
As Paul said, that God should choose me
less than the least of all the saints
to bestow this abundant glory.
That I should preach the unsearchable riches of
Christ.
And that man who truly understands what God
has done is humbled by what God has
done.
The man who has had a true confrontation
with God is humbled by that confrontation.
Walk with all lowliness and meekness.
Now, I'm thinking of a certain TV evangelist
who seems to have purchased so much time
on television and some people have come and
asked me what my opinion of him is.
Well, from what I have observed, which is
not very much because I have a hard
time taking it, if I am commanded as
a child of God to walk in lowliness
and meekness, if I am commanded as a
child of God to walk in love, then
these are characteristics that I do not observe.
And so, the whole ministry must come into
question.
I am to walk with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in
love.
What a glorious way to walk.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
I'm not to be cursing all of the
government officials, the FCC, and all of the
ministers that don't go along with me.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
I should be constantly seeking the unity of
the Spirit within the body of Christ.
Now, it is sad to me that man
has so divided the body of Christ and
built his fences, and in some cases, block
walls.
We are the people.
Everybody else is false and wrong.
We have the truth.
And they build up these barriers and these
walls around themselves.
A few months ago, I received a letter
where I was invited to speak at a
certain denominational meeting.
And I got a letter this week after
I had responded.
I thought, well, that's interesting.
I'll accept that.
And so, I wrote a letter of acceptance
and I got a letter back this week
from the minister who had invited me to
speak.
And he said, I'm awfully sorry, but when
I brought up your name, you know, a
lot of the ministers were afraid, you know,
that, you know, some of our ministers might
be influenced by you because you believe, you
know, in the validity of the gifts of
the Spirit.
It might draw some of them, you know,
away, so they've decided that they don't want
you to speak.
You know, I'm sad.
There's only one body.
There's only one Spirit.
There's only one hope of our calling.
There's only one Lord.
There's only one faith.
There's only one baptism.
There's only one God and Father of all
who is above all, through all, and in
you all.
There should be a unity in the body
of Christ.
And the thing I like about being non
-denominational or inter-denominational is that it does
give us a comfortable place and a comfortable
posture whereby we can accept and love and
feel free to fellowship with anybody from any
denomination who really believes in Jesus Christ.
Now, there are some denominations that will not
accept the baptism of another denomination.
Some churches that will not accept the baptism
of another church.
Oh, you were baptized by them.
Well, then you'll have to be baptized again
before we can receive you into membership.
There are some churches that have closed communion.
When they pass the broken bread, you can't
take it unless you are an approved member
of that church.
Walls by which the body of Christ is
divided.
One baptism.
That is, we were all baptized unto Jesus
Christ.
We weren't baptized unto Paul or Apollos or
Peter.
Or we really weren't baptized a Baptist or
a Christian church or a Methodist or Catholic.
We should have been baptized into Jesus Christ.
Not into a church.
Because a church cannot save you.
There's only one baptism and that's the baptism
into Jesus Christ.
And if you were baptized into a church,
then I would encourage you to just be
baptized into Jesus Christ.
One baptism.
One faith.
One Lord.
One God and Father.
But to every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift
of Christ.
I love this.
What is the measure of grace?
The gift of Jesus Christ.
And every one of us is given a
measure or given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Jesus Christ.
Paul said, If God spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how much more then shall He not freely
give us all things?
You see again, when I come to God
for my needs, I think, oh, I don't
know if God's willing to do this much
for me.
Well, how much is God willing to do
for me?
He's willing to send His only begotten Son
to die for me.
Now, do you need more than that?
And so, grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ.
Wherefore, He saith when He ascended up on
high, that He led captivity captive and He
gave gifts unto men.
Now, He that ascended, what is it, but
that He also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth.
And He that descended is the same also
that ascended up far above all heavens that
He might fill all things.
What's He talking about?
The one who has ascended is the same
one who descended into the lower parts of
the earth.
And when He ascended far above all the
heavens that He might fill all things.
They came to Jesus one day and they
said, show us a sign.
And Jesus said, a wicked and an adulterous
generation seeks after a sign, but there will
no sign be given to it except the
sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the whale, so
must the Son of God be three days
and three nights in the heart of the
earth.
When on the day of Pentecost, the people
were gathered and Peter stood up to preach
to them, he identified his subject as Jesus
of Nazareth, a man who proved that He
was from God because of the signs and
the wonders that He did in the midst
of you, who you, according to the predetermined
counsel and foreknowledge of God with your wicked
hands have crucified and slain.
But God raised Him from the dead because
it was not possible that He could be
held by it.
For the Scripture said, Thou wilt not leave
My soul in hell, neither will you allow
the Holy One to see corruption.
And we testify unto you that God did
not leave His soul in hell.
But He has been raised again.
Jesus in Luke's Gospel chapter 16 said, there
was a certain rich man who fared sumptuously
every day.
And there was also a poor man that
was brought daily and laid at his gate
full of sores and the dogs were licking
his sores.
And the poor man died and was carried
by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
More also, the rich man died and in
hell he lifted up his eyes because he
was in torment.
And he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus
there being comforted.
And he said, O Father Abraham, would You
send Lazarus that he may take some water
and touch my tongue with it because I
am tormented in this heat?
And Abraham said, Son, remember that in your
lifetime you had the good things and Lazarus
the evil.
Besides that, there's a gulf that is between
us that is fixed and it's impossible for
those that are here to come over there
or for those that are there to come
over here.
He said, if that be the case, then
I pray, please send Lazarus back that he
might warm my brothers lest they come to
this horrible place.
And Abraham said, they have the Law and
the Prophets.
They will not believe the Law and the
Prophets.
Neither would they believe even if one should
come back from the dead.
Jesus tells us that prior to his death,
Hades was separated into two compartments.
In the one compartment, those who were being
tormented, the unrighteous.
In the other compartment, those who were being
comforted in Abraham's bosom.
For we are told in Hebrews 11, when
it lists off these great men of faith
in the Old Testament, that they all died
in faith not having received the promise.
But they saw it afar off and they
embraced it and they claimed they were just
strangers and pilgrims.
But they all died in faith not having
received the promise because God has reserved some
better thing for us that they, apart from
us, could not come into the perfected state.
Now, Isaiah tells us that a part of
the mission of Christ in chapter 61, to
preach the Gospel unto the poor, to bind
the broken hearted, and then also to set
at liberty the captive and to open the
prison doors to those that were bound.
So that when the thief on the cross
said, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom,
remember me.
He said, today you will be with me
in Paradise.
So, when Jesus died, His Spirit went into
Hades.
But into that compartment where Abraham was comforting
those who had died in faith.
As they were awaiting the fullness of time
when God would fulfill the promise of sending
the Messiah.
For they all died in faith, but they
could not ascend into Heaven because it was
impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
could put away their sins.
All they did was foreshadow the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ whereby sins could be put away
and man could have access on into Heaven.
And so Jesus preached to those souls that
were in prison.
And on the third day when He rose
again, He led the captives from their captivity.
He opened the prison doors to those that
were bound.
He led them from their captivity.
And the graves of many of the saints
were open and they were seen walking in
the streets of Jerusalem after His resurrection from
the dead, Matthew 27.
So, He who has ascended is the one
who first of all descended into the lower
parts of the earth.
In order to open the prison doors to
those that were bound, in order to lead
those who had by faith been waiting for
the Messiah, in order to lead them on
into glory.
And He gave gifts unto man.
And to some He gave apostles.
And to some prophets.
And to some evangelists.
And to some pastors and teachers.
So, He anointed some men to be apostles.
He anointed others to be prophets.
Others to be evangelists.
Others to be pastor-teachers.
Now, what is the purpose then of the
church?
What is the purpose of these men that
God has gifted?
For years, because of my seminary experiences and
my exposure to Oswald J.
Smith and his missionary conferences, and because of
my denominational background, I thought that the primary
purpose of the church was the evangelization of
the world.
And so, I was always trying to preach
evangelistic sermons in order that I might evangelize
the world.
Because, after all, that, I was taught, was
the primary purpose of the church.
And as the result, the people in my
congregations have been exposed to evangelistic preaching over
and over and over again.
Every week, they were hearing messages on the
importance of receiving Jesus Christ and being born
again.
The new life that you could have in
Christ.
Repent.
Turn your life over to Jesus.
Surrender your life to Him and be saved.
Now, I would oftentimes have extremely powerful evangelistic
messages that the Lord had laid upon my
heart.
I mean, I would just have my heart
burning with this message because it was so
dynamic and powerful, it would surely convert the
heart of a sinner.
And I'd be so excited, ready to deliver
this powerful message, and surely no sinner could
resist.
And I'd go to church, and there wouldn't
be a single sinner in the house.
Oh, how frustrating.
I'd take my frustrations out on the people.
If they had only been witnessing this week
as they should, they'd have had some of
their neighbors in church with them tonight.
You're a disgrace to God.
You're a failure.
And I'd begin to beat the sheep that
were there.
Jesus didn't say, Peter, do you love Me?
Beat My sheep.
Yet I was.
Jesus said, do you love Me?
Feed My sheep.
But you see, I was so into evangelism
that I never took the people beyond that
level.
I never brought them into the fullness in
Christ.
In Hebrews 6, it says, therefore, setting aside
these first principles of the doctrines of Christ,
the repentance from dead work, the baptism, laying
on of hands, let's go on into maturity.
I wasn't doing that with the people.
Because I thought that the primary purpose of
the church was the evangelization of the world.
Isn't that what they taught me in seminary?
But then I came across this passage in
Ephesians 4 and it transformed my life and
my ministry.
I found out God didn't call me to
be an evangelist.
I never felt that He did.
I was uncomfortable trying to be an evangelist,
but that was the mold that the denomination
fit me into.
And I realized that God called pastor teachers
too.
And this is the area where I was
very comfortable and I loved.
But the purpose of the church, the purpose
of the pastor teacher was the perfecting of
the saints for the work of the ministry
and building up the body of Christ.
I've been tearing down the body of Christ.
I've been beating the body of Christ.
I've been driving them away.
I should be building up the body of
Christ.
The pastor teacher.
Till we all come in the unity of
the faith and the knowledge of the Son
of God into the fully matured man unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ.
And I had a whole new philosophy for
the purpose of the church.
It isn't the evangelization of the world, but
it's the building up of the body of
Christ.
And so I then began to focus my
ministry on building up the body of Christ,
loving the body of Christ, ministering to the
body of Christ, strengthening the body of Christ,
teaching the body of Christ the Word of
God, feeding the body of Christ.
And as a result, as they began to
mature and come into this maturity in Christ,
their lives became a witness to the world
around them and others came to know and
came to find out what was going on.
And evangelism was the byproduct of a healthy
body.
That we no longer be like children who
are tossed to and fro and carried about
with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they
lie and wait to deceive.
There's always been the curse of these weird
doctrines that blow through the church.
And there are always those little sheep who
will follow anybody ringing a bell.
Not matured.
They come with their starry eyed.
Oh, I heard the most wonderful thing the
other day.
We can all be perfect now in these
bodies.
Oh, bless God I'm perfect, you know.
Oh, help us God.
Children tossed to and fro with every wind
of doctrine and slight of men.
Cunning craftiness.
And boy, I mean they are there.
What cunning craftiness.
These letters that they send out on their
computers.
Cunning craftiness.
I mean they are masters of deceit.
They lie and wait to deceive.
But, speaking the truth in love.
And that's how the truth should be taught
and spoken.
In love.
Not pounding the truth into people.
Not ranting and raving.
But speaking the truth in love.
That we may grow up into Him in
all things.
That growth through the truth of God.
Which is the head even Christ from whom
the whole body is fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies according
to the effectual working in the measure of
every part making increase of the body to
the edifying or the building up of itself
in love.
So, Christ the head.
And all of us really fit together, joined
by the Spirit, made a part of that
body.
The beautiful body of Christ functioning together, coordinated
together by the Spirit coming into the fullness.
But, you know, we look at the body
of Christ today in the world and it's
fasting.
And no wonder the world isn't interested.
You know, the church is so divided.
Divided over the dumbest things.
It is only as we really come to
that unity in love that the church will
have a powerful witness before the world.
Building up itself in love.
Now this I say, therefore, and testify in
the Lord that you no longer walk as
the Gentiles.
So, we are told, first of all, walk
in a way that is fitting as a
child of God.
Now we are told that we are not
to walk as the Gentiles.
And that word is used for the heathen
who walk in the vanity of their mind
or empty-headed.
Because they have their understanding darkened because they
are alienated from the life of God because
of the ignorance that is in them.
Because of the blindness of their heart.
So, their hearts are blind.
Thus they are ignorant.
Ignorant of the life of God that is
available to man.
And they are alienated then from God.
They are past feeling.
And have given themselves over to lasciviousness.
To work all uncleanness with greediness.
You are not to walk as the Gentiles
who walk in lasciviousness, in sexual impurity.
Working all uncleanness.
A catharsis.
Filthy.
And greed is usually the problem behind it.
Today, the real problems of the world you
can trace back to greed.
The greed of man.
All of the social ills come back to
the greed of man.
The exploitation of people.
All comes back to greed, wanting for myself.
But that's not what you've learned from Jesus
Christ.
If so be that you have heard Him
and have been taught by Him as the
truth is in Jesus.
What did He teach?
Love one another.
Even as I have loved you.
And He has taught that love should be
the motivating factor behind our lives and behind
our actions rather than greed being the motivating
factor.
Now, there are two powerful motivators in the
world today that move men.
And you are moved by one of the
two motivators.
Men are either motivated by love or they
are motivated by greed.
The man apart from Christ is motivated by
greed.
You see the results in the world around
us.
The man who is in Christ is motivated
by love and you see the effects within
the church.
Wherever they are following the truth that is
in Jesus.
What a glorious thing to be around people
motivated by love.
Motivated by the love of Christ.
What they do, they do in the name
of Christ.
What they do, they do for Jesus Christ.
For the love of Christ constrains me.
And thus they are giving because they are
motivated by love.
Whereas those that are motivated by greed are
only interested in getting.
Now that's not the way you've learned from
Christ.
But you have learned that you should put
off concerning the former manner of life, the
old man which is corrupt according to his
deceitful lust.
You are to put him off.
Know ye not that the old man was
crucified with Christ.
That the body of sin should not reign
as king over you any longer.
Put off that old man, corrupted because of
his deceitful lust.
And that you be renewed in the spirit
of your mind and that you put on
the new man which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness.
Now, this is the way I'm to walk.
After the new man, the new nature in
Christ.
Righteousness and holiness.
Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man the
truth with his neighbor for we are members
one of another.
Now, be angry and sin not.
There is an anger that is not sinful.
That anger at sin, that anger at unrighteousness,
that anger at evil, that anger at bigotry.
Jesus, when he came into the temple and
saw the money changers there, saw the desecration
of the house of God, saw the commercialism,
was angry.
And I think that he is equally angry
with the commercialism today within Christianity.
And he said, My father's house is to
be called a house of prayer.
You've made it a den of thieves.
And he drove them out angry.
Again, when he came into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and there was a man
with a withered hand and the Pharisees watched
to see what he was going to do,
he said to the man with the withered
hand, Stand forth.
And he looked upon that Pharisee crowd with
anger because they would, because of their narrow
bigotry, keep this man from receiving the work
of God, the healing of his withered hand
that day.
And he looked around upon them with anger.
Anger because men, through their traditions, would hold
back the work of God from other men
because that's not the way we do it.
That isn't according to the bylaws of our
denomination.
There is an anger that is not sinful.
Be angry and sin not.
Let not the sun go down on your
wrath.
Don't go to sleep at night holding a
grudge.
It's apt to destroy you during the evening
hours.
Don't let the sun go down on your
wrath.
Don't give any place for the devil or
for the devil's work in your life.
You know, so many times we give place.
We say, well, I have a right.
And we say, go ahead, sit there.
I have a right to be swayed.
Don't give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more.
But rather let him labor, working with his
hands the thing which is good.
Notice that he might be able to give
to those who have need.
In other words, the motivation for working is
not just to provide for my own needs,
but I might be able to give to
someone else who has need.
Let him that stole steal no more, but
work with his own hands so he can
give to the poor, so he has something
to provide to others.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your
mouth, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace
to the ears.
This is something that I think that we
need to really take to heart.
There is a form of jesting many times
even among believers that is not really proper.
Filthy communication.
Jesting over sexual things or filthy things.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your
mouth, but that which will build up someone.
Not that which will tear down someone.
Not that which will destroy someone else.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Again, back in chapter 2, He has sealed
us with the Holy Spirit, which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession.
Now, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
How do I grieve the Holy Spirit?
Well, I grieve the Holy Spirit when filthy
communication comes out of my mouth.
For He is pure.
He is holy.
I grieve the Holy Spirit when I speak
to someone in anger.
When I sort of put myself on a
pedestal to put others down.
That isn't the work of the Holy Spirit.
It's to build others up.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
you are sealed.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
clamor and evil speaking be put away from
you with all malice.
Now, these are the things that grieve the
Spirit.
Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice.
On the positive, be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God
for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
There it is.
Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted.
Not hard-hearted.
Tenderhearted, forgiving one another.
By what measure?
Even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you.
Remember now the lessons that Jesus taught on
forgiveness.
There was a certain man who had a
servant who owed him 16 million dollars and
he called him in and said, pay me
what you owe.
And he says, oh, I can't pay you.
Give me a little time and I'll try.
This man went out and caught a fellow
servant that owed him 17 bucks.
He took him by the neck and he
says, pay me what you owe me.
He says, oh, I'm sorry, I can't right
now.
Give me a little time and I'll pay
you.
He said, no way man, you've had it.
And he took him to court and had
him thrown in the debtor's prison.
Now the Lord who had forgiven him the
16 million dollar debt called him in and
said, how much did you owe me?
16 million bucks.
And didn't I just say, well, I forgive
you the debt?
Yeah, yeah.
How is it that I hear that you
got hold of a fellow servant that owed
you 17 bucks and you had him thrown
in debtor's prison because of his debt?
He said, that's not right.
You see, we are to forgive as God,
for Christ's sake, has forgiven us the 17
million.
Who are we to hold these small grudges
or debts against each other?
Tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
This is one of the first scriptures my
mother had me memorize when I was a
little boy.
Planted in my heart when I was two
years old.
Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another even as God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you.
When our little girl was about three, she
was in one of those moods that was
insisting that we spank her.
Though I was always reluctant to spank them.
But it was one of those days when
she kept pushing and pushing and pushing until
she gave you no alternative.
And so I brought her in and I
sat her down and I said, alright, that's
it.
I've had it.
Now, do you know what the Scripture says?
And I was going to quote to her
Ephesians 6.1 Children, obey your parents and
the Lord for this is right.
And she says, yes, I know what the
Scripture says.
And I said, what does it say?
She said, be ye kind one to another.
I said, that'll work this time, but not
again.
Smart little kids.
But oh, what a verse to take and
work on this week.
To allow the Spirit to work in our
hearts with just this verse.
Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted,
forgiving one another.
Even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
us.
What beautiful exhortation.
Father, we thank you for your word and
help us, Lord, now to walk in a
manner that becomes a son of God.
That we might, oh God, put off the
old man with his desires and with his
affections.
And that we might put on that new
man after Christ.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.