Living the New Self

Today's reading is from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 to chapter 5 verse 2.

Ephesians 4:17

Starting in verse 17 we read, the new life.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do,

in the frutility of their minds.

They are darkened in the understanding, alienated from the life of God,

because of the ignorance that is in them.

Due to their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality,

greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

But this is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him,

as the truth is in Jesus.

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life,

and is corrupt through deceitful desires.

But to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

and to put on your new self,

created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, having put away falsehood,

let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor,

for we are members one of another.

Be angry and do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger,

and give no opportunity to the devil.

Let the thief no longer steal,

but rather let him labor,

doing honest work with his own hands,

so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,

but only such as is good for building up,

as fits the occasion,

that he may give grace to those who hear,

and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,

by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander

be put away from you,

along with all malice.

Be kind to one another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another,

as God in Christ forgave you.

Therefore,

be imitatis of God,

as beloved children,

and walk in love,

as Christ loved us,

and gave himself up for us,

a frequent offering and sacrifice to God.

This is the word of God.

All right.

Thank you, Margo,

for that warm introduction,

and thank you, Kevin,

for that introduction.

So, again,

my name is Margo.

I'm part of Oasis CG.

I'm also working with Young Life right now,

and part of my identity is also as a Hong Konger,

and I don't know if you know Hong Kongers,

what do we love to drink?

Ice lemon tea.

And, of course,

you know,

being health conscious as I am,

I always ask for less ice and less sugar,

right?

And, you know,

growing up,

that's like my favorite drink,

right?

Ice lemon tea.

And I really,

really wanted to have an ice cream,

which was just like ice lemon tea.

And so one day,

when I was a small child,

I remember I was walking with my parents in Beijing,

we're traveling,

and I walk across the store,

and then this store was selling like ice cream,

I think,

and then it said lime sherbet.

And I was like lime equals lemon,

okay?

Sherbet,

kind of like ice cream,

I guess.

And so I was like spending 10 minutes just like begging my parents,

like,

please,

please,

I really,

really want this lime sherbet.

Like,

please,

mom,

like,

please,

dad.

And my parents were like,

ah,

like,

I don't think so.

Like,

hey,

you know,

we're in a hurry.

But then like after,

you know,

a huge tantrum,

they're like,

okay,

okay,

here's your lime sherbet.

Okay,

like,

be happy.

And I was like the happiest kid in the world.

And when I put that lime sherbet in my mouth,

I realized it tasted nothing like ice lemon tea.

It was like a sour bomb had went off in my mouth.

And I realized I was like,

I was crying.

I was like,

oh my gosh,

this is so bad.

And my parents,

you know,

being good parents,

they're like,

no,

you must finish your lime sherbet.

Right?

And so I was probably like the saddest looking kid in the world,

like eating lime sherbet out in the street.

And people were probably like really confused.

And the thing is like,

and the reason I tell this story is because,

I think sometimes we have this expectation of like what it is.

Right?

But in versus the reality of this.

And I think often Paul paints in Ephesians and then kind of the passage we're just reading,

how the church is such a beautiful church.

You know,

people are changing.

People are transforming.

People are growing.

You know,

people are no longer stealing,

but are now like generous to one another,

like all these amazing things.

And you know,

sometimes,

sometimes we do feel like that.

Right?

We feel like,

man,

we're growing.

You know,

I feel like,

you know,

some people in my CG was just saying recently,

like they feel like,

wow,

they've like really been changing in the past few months.

And wow,

that's amazing.

That's great to hear.

But sometimes it's also,

it feels like,

you know,

church doesn't necessarily meet the expectation of what that is.

It isn't always perfect.

You might feel like,

oh,

I remember sometimes,

you know,

you speak truth and love.

It completely backfires.

Right?

You feel like,

man,

the church could be doing so much more.

Like you're really passionate about evangelism,

about serving young people,

but you know,

other people aren't there yet.

And maybe you feel like,

wow,

church is great.

You know,

I know a lot of people,

but I feel like,

you know,

it's not,

I don't feel like I'm like,

can be super vulnerable around these people.

And even for myself,

I remember when I was leading CG,

where this one session,

I was like,

it was just me and this other guy.

And I was like,

dang,

like maybe we need to close down our CG.

Right?

And it's like,

sometimes it's hard.

And I think here in Ephesians,

Paul talks about,

you know,

this cosmic plan of Christ,

adoption to the gospel,

all these really great things.

And then there's this perfect,

loving community church.

But then there seems to be somewhere,

there's like a gap in between.

Right?

And that's where we're going to go today.

And here,

Paul tells us in today's passage,

that we can only have this loving church.

We can only love others

by the daily renewal

of our identity

as God's new creation.

Okay,

let me repeat this.

So Paul tells us

that we can really only love each other

through the daily renewal

of our identity

as God's creation.

And he starts off

with our hardened hearts.

Right?

In verse 17,

18,

he paints this picture

of our old life.

What were we like before?

You know,

our old minds,

our old hearts.

And the key idea

in verse 18

is that,

you know,

our hearts,

all these issues

from our life

actually came down

from our hardened hearts.

And that basically just means

like our hearts

were like stone

and it progressively hardens

and, you know,

no matter what other people say,

like we're just not going

to listen to them.

And it progressively develops.

Right?

So this hardened heart,

you know,

leads to us being ignorant

of how we can live life,

ignorant of how we can love others well.

And it leads to being alienated

from God

and also ends up

us being stuck

in these loops of sin,

these patterns of sin

that we feel like

we can't get out of.

I remember when I was

a teenager,

actually,

I feel like I was always

stuck in these patterns of sin.

Right?

I remember

myself,

I was a super prideful kid,

you know,

always trying to seek

external validation,

you know,

trying to get the highest grade,

trying to compare myself

with other people.

My heart

was just so hard.

I was just captured

by this idea that,

man,

I needed to achieve

a lot of things

so that I would have value.

And I remember

I was just being a huge jerk

and this heart,

you know,

led to me just behaving

like really poorly

and just like treating

my friends really poorly.

I remember belittling them,

belittling them,

you know,

trash talking,

you know,

as all good

like teenage boys do.

And yeah,

I remember,

you know,

in my cringiest moment

where I was in math class

and we're just like

trash talking to each other

and I remember

I was like,

okay,

it sounds better

in Chinese,

trust me,

but I was like,

you know,

who is the idiot

and who is the genius?

And I was telling a friend

and I was like,

the class was like silent

and I was like,

for a split moment,

I was like,

yeah,

I got him.

And then I realized

that actually I was

the biggest idiot

in the room,

right?

And so,

it was like all these things

that I was like

treating my friends

really poorly.

I was stuck in this loop

and I felt the consequences.

You know,

I didn't feel

like I was any better.

I constantly felt stressed

and it was like,

no matter what I did,

I couldn't get out

of this loop.

I couldn't,

through my own new insights,

get out of these behaviors

and whenever someone told me,

like,

hey,

you know,

when I went to church sometimes,

like,

people were like,

oh,

you know,

love your friends,

okay,

like,

okay,

and then I would find ways

to change my behavior

a little bit

but it feels like

I'm still stuck,

right?

I would,

like,

find other ways

to,

like,

trash talk my friends

and,

yeah,

you know,

even now,

like,

God's redeemed my heart

and it's great

but sometimes these old patterns

of sin still exist,

right?

And it's not just like,

and Paul doesn't talk about,

oh,

just one or two sins,

it's all our sins,

right?

And maybe for you,

it's status,

right?

Security.

Maybe it's prestige,

you know,

finding approval

from others,

like,

there's these things

that kind of hook

into our hearts

and we feel like,

man,

sometimes we're just stuck

in these loops

and that's why I think

Paul reminds us,

right,

as Corinthians,

that actually we can't

lift ourselves up,

you know,

we as flawed people,

we can't use our own knowledge,

our own strength

to lift ourselves up.

Actually,

what we need

is a new heart,

right?

Like,

with our,

I don't know if you guys

ever experienced this

but,

you know,

when I was a teenager,

my mom was always like,

oh,

you know,

clean your bed,

pack your room

and I was like,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

okay,

mom,

okay,

mom,

but it would just go

from one year

to out of the other year

or like,

I mean,

unpopular colleague

said something

or unpopular boss

said something,

you're like,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

okay,

but then it kind of

just like goes

from one year

out of the other year,

right?

Like,

our hearts

are so hardened

that,

you know,

even though like

people give us

new advice,

new ideas,

it's like hard for us

and even if you look

at humanity,

like,

I used to work

for a humanitarian

organization

and I think

as a collective,

like,

we've come so far,

you know,

we've had so much progress

but if you just look

at the news today,

racism,

war,

suffering,

it seems like

we're stuck in these

like old patterns,

right?

Like,

no matter how hard

we try,

we can't get out

and I'm all for,

you know,

podcasts,

you know,

I'm the podcast person

or like self-help books,

I love those,

you know,

don't get me wrong,

go for it,

read it,

but those aren't

going to dramatically

change our hearts,

change our lives

and what we need,

Paul,

thankfully,

you know,

doesn't just leave us here

like,

oh,

okay,

good luck,

you know,

he uses the word

but,

which is,

you know,

one of Paul's

favorite words

and he tells us

in the next section

that actually what we need

is this constant renewal

in our new identity

and verse 20,

it talks about how,

hey,

our minds are no longer,

you know,

the old minds

no longer darkened,

we've now learned

Christ,

I want to pause here

for a moment,

what does it mean by,

oh,

we're just learned Christ,

you know,

it's actually not about

just,

obviously,

it's great,

the teaching of Jesus

is great,

knowledge,

new knowledge

that Jesus gives us,

amazing,

but the key thing

is actually our goal

as Christians,

as apprentices to Jesus,

is to become like Jesus,

our goal is not

to have new knowledge

and that helps

with how we live our life,

our goal is to become

like Jesus

and in verses 22,

he talks about how

we put on our old self,

you know,

our self that was corrupting,

that was degenerating

and this is a beautiful image

and he said,

we said yes to Jesus already,

we put on this new self

and so even for those

who haven't said yes to Jesus,

that's totally okay,

you know,

he's inviting you every day

and so this is a process

that's already happened,

right,

putting off the old self,

putting on the new self

but why does Paul remind us

even though it's already happened,

right,

and it's because we often forget

and we need this daily renewal,

it's like a person,

you know,

needing to have food

every single day

or a plant needing nutrients,

we need renewal

as verse 23 talks about,

our mind needs constant renewal

and while we cannot earn it,

we cannot earn our faith,

we cannot earn our salvation,

daily renewal requires effort,

okay,

let me repeat this,

so our faith,

our walk with Jesus,

while it cannot be earned,

requires effort in our walk,

now I don't become

a better apprentice to Jesus,

I don't become a better Christian

just from sitting on Sunday service

and just like passively absorbing

what the preacher is saying,

we need to work in our faith,

right,

and a lot of it actually is about,

you know,

what the Bible calls like

spiritual disciplines

or what we can call today

as like daily habits,

right,

habits like God's word,

listening to God's word,

prayer,

you know,

solitude,

silence,

all these good things

or even like engaging

in a community

that challenges you

but still loves you,

right,

there's all these like

great habits,

things that we can renew ourselves

in God every day

and if that sounds hard,

it's because it is,

right,

21st century,

we are in this hyper-connected society

where we always need to be

on top of the news,

we're always checking up

on what's our favorite sports team doing,

how,

yeah,

maybe checking our emails

quite a lot

and we feel like,

you know,

we're constantly needing

to be on top of things

and so I want to present you

kind of two scenarios.

First scenario is,

I don't know what you do

when you wake up in the morning

but I think for most of us,

we,

you know,

check our phones,

right,

whether that's in the bathroom

or like somewhere else.

You're just doing your daily routine

and you're like,

you know,

checking your emails,

going social media

or like reading the news

and there's always something

that maybe annoys you

or like triggers you

or like just gives you anxiety

like,

wow,

this world is like

not a great place,

right,

and versus scenario two

where,

you know,

you're still doing

your morning routine

but you're just spending

10 minutes,

10 minutes

just reading the word of God

and sometimes,

you know,

it doesn't penetrate

super deeply

but that's okay,

right,

you're reading about

God's steadfast love

and just like reminding yourself

like,

okay,

yeah,

I'm a child of God

and you have this small

sense of peace

and then you get out

the door,

you know,

in these two scenarios,

you both get out the door,

you run to the MTR,

right,

because we're always

in a hurry in Hong Kong

and you come across

your first battle of the day,

a slow walker,

right,

and you're like,

okay,

okay,

if you think about it,

in which of these two scenarios

are you going to have

the most patience

with the slow walker,

right,

and I'm always guilty of it,

right,

I'm always like,

oh,

trying to just like

get across them really quickly,

like,

why can't you walk faster,

right,

and it's like,

wow,

actually,

what I realized is,

and what Paul is saying

is that behavior change

comes from a heart

and our mind transformation,

right,

and actually,

the battle is already lost

how you started the day,

you know,

the battle isn't

in that MTR slow walker

or in that office space

where you have this

really annoying colleague

that,

you know,

that constantly talks,

it's actually won

or lost in the morning,

right,

how are we spending our time

feeding our minds

and feeding our hearts?

We have a choice,

actually,

we're not just passive people,

you know,

mindlessly absorbing

social media,

mindlessly absorbing technology

where we can choose

what we can feed

in our hearts

and our minds

and we need this

constant renewal,

reminding of this new identity

in God's creation

and as a psychology major,

I love looking at just research,

reading books

and actually research

has also shown that,

you know,

behavior change

comes from change

in our identity,

right,

and that's why every day

we actually need

the daily renewal

of our new identity.

Who are we really?

Am I just a office worker?

Am I just a younger brother?

I'm actually a new creation

as well,

right,

and it's hard

because,

you know,

I think Paul used the idea

of like new clothes

and old clothes.

You know,

even though our new clothes

fit really well,

you know,

are probably more practical,

aren't as worn,

don't have holes,

there's something more comfortable

about wearing these

like old clothes.

Like I have this camp t-shirt

from like 10 years ago

that I just keep wearing

from my pajamas.

Like,

I should probably throw that out.

It's probably not very,

not very great.

But it's like,

yeah,

there's something about

these old clothes

that we feel more comfortable in.

And that's why

Paul constantly

asks us to renew ourselves

so that we don't forget.

And moving on,

Paul,

you know,

in the next verse,

right,

he uses the word therefore.

You know,

another of Paul's favorite words,

therefore.

And what does he do here

when he talks about,

you know,

the next section,

how do we love each other well?

He connects actually

the vertical dimension,

like our relationship with God

with the horizontal,

which is how we love each other well.

And he wants us to,

he wants to point out

kind of the insight,

which is,

actually for a lot of us,

how we love each other well

depends on how our relationship

is secure in God.

Are we being renewed

in his identity every day?

Right?

We can't force ourselves

to change our behavior

through willpower alone.

It might work for a while,

but it won't last.

Right?

He's telling us that,

wow,

we need to renew ourselves

in God every day

so that we can love each other.

And how do we love each other?

Well,

we model ourselves

after Christ.

And I think the really cool thing

is here Paul talks about

it's no longer just,

you know,

avoiding sin.

And,

you know,

sometimes we're like,

I don't know if you heard,

like,

oh,

you know,

rules of life.

It's like,

okay,

just don't be a jerk.

Don't be,

don't be a bad person,

right?

That's how you should live life.

Like,

okay,

you can do anything else,

but just don't be a jerk.

Right?

Actually,

Paul doesn't say that.

He says,

actually,

you know,

we have to no longer sin

and love each other.

Right?

In verse 24,

25,

sorry,

he says,

you know,

we no longer lie,

but speak the truth.

We no longer steal,

but we're being generous

with each other.

29,

no longer gossip,

but say words

that really encourage each other.

No,

31,

no longer be bitter,

replace it with tender heartedness

and forgiveness.

And so the idea is,

we're just no,

we're not just no longer sinning.

We're trying to love each other.

And actually,

Paul has this really great insight

into our behavior.

See,

we,

the tricky thing is,

we can't replace

our sinful behavior

with nothing.

It's like,

for example,

I don't know,

sometimes I tell myself,

like,

okay,

Marco,

like,

today,

you need to stop using your phone so much.

You've been on your phone too much.

So I keep telling myself that.

And I'm like,

okay,

no,

but you stop to carry your phone around

because it's,

you need to communicate with other people.

And so,

you know,

you go about your day,

you're at a bank,

you know,

lining up to ATM

or you're in a bathroom

with nothing to do.

And what do we do?

We pull out our phones,

right?

Automatically.

I'm like,

on social media

and I'm like,

I catch myself.

Five minutes later,

I'm like,

okay,

what did I just do?

And it's like,

when we tell ourselves

not to do something

but don't replace it with something,

we automatically go back

to that old thing

that we're doing.

And so,

for us,

it's,

we can only substitute

a sinful behavior,

a sinful act

with a loving act.

That's the only way it works.

And what does that look like today?

Well,

for example,

I don't know about you guys,

but during the fifth wave,

I was complaining quite a lot

about,

you know,

government policies,

COVID policies,

whatnot.

Instead of doing that,

let's pray for the government,

right?

Instead of ghosting conflicts,

which is super easy

to do these days,

you know,

just don't respond

in a phone text.

Engage in conflict.

Engage in a loving way.

Instead of feeling bitter

that other people

aren't where you are,

like,

man,

like,

church could be doing

so much more,

like,

man,

we could be serving the poor,

we could be serving

these communities,

we could be doing more.

Having that patience,

right?

Instead of doing that,

having that patience,

being inviting,

instead of being bitter.

And this is maybe,

this is also a really tricky one.

Because I think so often

we want to present ourselves,

you know,

as spiritually good.

You know,

we're all,

like,

not that,

oh,

we're perfect,

but like,

oh,

you know,

we're kind of,

like,

put together,

right?

Sometimes you go to church,

people ask,

like,

how are you doing?

You say,

good,

you know,

and that's kind of,

like,

how the conversation goes.

But it's like,

yeah,

it's super easy,

right?

Just to,

like,

have that facade

and just say,

okay,

you know,

things are going okay.

And you know what?

Sometimes you are doing good.

That's totally cool.

But I think a lot of times also,

and I think we're all

going to get there,

we're going to experience

that one way or another.

It's like,

we're just spiritually dry.

Right?

We feel like,

oh,

okay,

I've been,

like,

pouring out,

or work has been so hard,

and I just feel like

disconnected from God.

I feel like,

okay,

I haven't been reading my Bible

for, like,

three weeks.

It's like,

yeah,

things are tough.

And I think the temptation

is just to stay

at things are tough,

but also,

like,

okay,

I'll deal with this alone,

right?

I think in Chinese,

we say,

oh,

we don't want to bother

other people with our problems.

But I think here,

what Paul is also saying,

it's like,

hey,

let's not lie to each other,

right?

Let's actually just be honest.

Hey,

where are we at right now?

And the really cool thing is,

you know,

Jesus didn't come for the healthy,

right?

He came for the sick.

And the church isn't a place

actually full of

super healthy people.

The church is actually

a hospital of people

who are just working

out their faith.

Doesn't that,

like,

a beautiful imagery

of what the church is like?

Wouldn't that be amazing

if, like,

we're all doing all this?

You know,

we're all changing.

You know,

we're all, like,

trying to figure out

what does it mean

to be an apprentice to Jesus

in the 21st century?

You know,

working out their faith,

being vulnerable,

speaking truth and love,

even though, like,

there will be setbacks.

Like,

we're all going to keep growing

that way.

Now,

if all of that sounds hard,

it's because it is,

it is hard,

right?

It's just like going to the gym.

You know,

you don't start off

like the rock.

Or it's like,

you know,

behavior change is hard.

And loving is also

actually hard,

right?

We feel like sometimes

we're in this comfort zone

and it's,

yeah,

it's just nicer

to stay in this comfort area

without going out.

We feel like,

you know,

when we love other people,

you know,

you send a text like,

hey,

you know,

how's it going?

Other people don't respond.

You're like,

oh,

okay,

fine.

I don't know what's going on.

But a lot of people

don't love back

the same way

that you might love

other people,

right?

And it feels like,

oh,

you know what?

It's just easier

not to like,

take that extra step

and like,

ask how they're doing.

And I think opening up

also means,

you know,

loving other people

also means caring.

And that means

you're also going to

have a chance

of being disappointed,

right?

Whether that's,

you know,

CG drama.

I remember,

yeah,

that's,

I mean,

ask around,

this definitely happened.

People saying hurtful

things to each other

in CG are like,

you know,

you speak truth

and love

but then people

just like,

respond like,

horribly.

And,

yeah,

loving also just means

like,

interruption,

right?

It's like,

you have this well-laid

weekend plan

but suddenly,

like,

someone has an issue

and then,

okay,

you need to cancel

those plans

or you need to like,

spend less time

going hiking

and just like,

spending that time

with that person

because there is like,

some sort of crisis

happening.

And,

sometimes we have

this like,

mental bank account

in our heads

where we're like,

okay,

we're like,

keeping score a little bit

of like,

how we love

and,

you know,

we always,

you know,

whenever we give love,

you know,

we withdraw

but then we always

want to receive it back,

right?

We don't ever want

to be like,

completely empty.

Like,

we kind of have

like a love tank

or a love bank

and here actually,

Paul reminds us

of the gospel,

right?

Because it's actually

too hard on our own.

In verse 32,

he tells us

that even when

our debt,

our bank account

of God

was deeply,

deeply in the negative,

he forgave us

and he sacrificed himself

who,

he who was

of immeasurable worth

so that our bank

accounts of love

can also be

of immeasurable worth,

right?

And so we can actually

just keep on giving

this love,

right?

Because we're drawing

from this huge reservoir

of love

that just doesn't run out.

And,

you know,

sometimes,

yeah,

we can love

without being,

feeling like,

oh,

we're going to be hurt

because,

you know,

God calls us

beloved children

even though

sometimes we feel like,

oh,

this ugly blob,

this dirty blob

and,

like,

actually,

we can keep on going

because he loves us

as this ocean of love

in Ephesians,

right,

which is so wide,

so long,

so high,

and so deep.

This ocean of love

that just

overcomes

any suffering

or any disappointment

that are just buckets

compared to this ocean.

and even for myself

this week,

man,

it's been

a hard week.

I was just,

no,

even I was,

like,

working on a sermon

on Saturday.

I was like,

okay,

Saturday,

last week,

I was like,

okay,

this is a dedicated time

for a sermon.

Like,

okay,

I'm just going to,

like,

sit here

and just work on it

and I get,

like,

a student

who's,

like,

I'm in some sort

of life emergency.

I'm like,

okay,

should I reach out

to that student?

I was like,

okay,

fine,

I'll talk to them.

I met up with them

really quickly.

What I thought

might be,

like,

an hour conversation

became,

like,

a five-hour conversation.

I was like,

oh,

my gosh,

all right,

now I'm like,

or,

like,

you know,

throughout this week,

I remember just people,

like,

constantly dropping the ball

and I'm like,

okay,

I have to,

like,

pick up their slack

and then,

really hard

to be patient

with people

and,

you know,

even me,

I was,

like,

super aware

that my sermon

was coming up

about,

okay,

how we love people

so I need to be,

like,

super aware,

okay,

how I need to love people

well,

right,

but,

man,

let me tell you,

I struggled,

like,

big time.

I struggled big time.

My heart was just,

like,

bitter at different moments

and I realized,

like,

man,

I needed prayer.

I was,

like,

constantly praying,

like,

God,

like,

you know,

I'm,

like,

kind of bitter at this moment

even though it was really hard

that actually,

you know,

even though,

like,

man,

I have to constantly,

like,

forgive,

constantly,

like,

interrupt myself

and,

like,

be patient with people,

like,

actually seeing that

how sinful I was,

you know,

a reminder of actually

and how much love

and how much patience

God had with me

and how much he forgave me

even when I was a jerk,

when I was impatient,

even when I was grumbling

and,

you know,

living in love

in the 21st century

is really hard,

right,

in the fast-paced Hong Kong,

where everything is moving

really quickly

but God's grace is enough.

God's grace is enough

each day to give us strength,

renew ourselves every day.

So,

friends,

that is why every day

we actually need to renew ourselves

in this abundant love

that God has for us

so that we can live out

as his new creations

and walking in love

as his children.

Let us pray.

Dear Father,

thank you for this time

I'm able to,

yeah,

just read the word

and talk about

just how you've been working

in our lives,

Lord.

And Father,

I just pray that every day

we see just how desperate

we are for your love

because this world,

man,

just takes our attention away

and it's so easy

to be impatient,

so easy to be unloving,

so easy to be in a hurry

and so easy to,

yeah,

withdraw,

Lord.

But Father,

we know that your grace

and your love

is so wide,

so big.

It's like an ocean of love

that we can just drown in,

Lord,

and everything

that,

yeah,

comes our way,

Lord,

it just pales in comparison.

And Father,

I just pray that every day.

We're reminded

that we need to

make that effort,

Lord.

You know,

our faith isn't earned,

but we do require effort.

And Father,

I just pray that,

yeah,

we just work that,

work out our faith

and figure out what this means

to live out being a Christian

in the 21st century,

Lord.

Let's pray that,

yeah,

as we come out this week

that we're just continually renewed

and that whatever comes up at work

or in our CG,

Lord,

that we are just renewed

in your love,

renewed in your,

a new identity

that we can live out

in ways that continue

to love you

and model after you,

Jesus.

I pray that in Jesus' name,

amen.