New Clothes For a New Year

Amen. All right, we're continuing on

in Ephesians chapter 4 this morning, Ephesians chapter 4,

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

we're going to be in verses 17 through 24.

I'll read that for US ever so quickly and then we will dive in

to our passage. Ephesians chapter 4 picking up

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

in verse 17, it says Now this I say and testify in the Lord,

that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.

In the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their

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 that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that

you have heard 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, and to be renewed in the spirit of your

minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness

of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Sermon title this morning is New clothes for a new Year and we

could not have timed it any better.

So here we go new clothes for a new year.

As we dive into our our passage this morning we we need to

remember the flow of Ephesians remember Ephesians chapter 4 and

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

on to the end of the of the book is really imperatives for you

and for me. It's a list of things that that

he that Paul is telling the church to do.

He begins in chapter 4 verse 1. He says I therefore a prisoner

for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling

to which you have been called. And then he he goes on and he

talks about the body and how how you and I are part of that body.

And then he ends or our passage really takes off from verse 16.

He says from whom the whole body joined and held together by

every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is

working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up

in love. That that's the church, that

that is you and I as believers of Jesus Christ.

We are the church, we encompass the church, and we are to work

together for love, for the love of Christ, right?

We have love in us because He first loved us US and so we are

are able to love because again he he loves us and we unify with

that love and then he he breaks it down even further and he he

begins this passage again with the the old self as we look in

to verses 1718 and 19. This is the old self where some

of us are still at today. We're still battling with this

old self. Either we have not given our

lives to Christ and we literally are living the old self.

There is no new self in Christ. Or we have this idea that that

we can take on Christ and still hold on to our past as well.

And this has been an ongoing problem all throughout the

church, all throughout the, the generations, right?

The Judaizers, they wanted to, to say, yes, Christ is who he

says he is, but I, I still need to obey the laws.

I still need to abide by the Old Testament, right?

We, we've had this, this issue all throughout the church.

We have this issue today in our churches that we say, yes,

Christ is enough. Christ is sufficient, but I

still love my old life or I still need to do XY and Z and,

and if you want to tune me out, hear this.

Do not add to the grace of God. His grace is sufficient for you.

That's right. We look in verse 17, he says

this, he says now this I say, and I testify in the Lord.

So so he brings this, this, this idea and he says this is of the

Lord that this I am bringing to you as truth and Lord, the Lord

is my witness. OK, and so he he says that you

must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.

Here's here's the word that we need to focus on is that we

must. This is for you and for me that

that we are no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk.

This word walk encompasses our daily conduct.

What what you and I do day-to-day, right.

We look at our lives over the last month and and we look at

those and we say, what has our daily conduct been like over the

last month? And that is encompasses our walk

with the Lord or our walk with the world but one way or the

other. And he says, but we must no

longer walk as the Gentiles do. Remember Psalm 11?

He says this blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of

the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the

seat of scoffers. That that's a word for you and

for me, that in our day-to-day lives, we are to be looking for

the things of God, not the things of the world.

So when we see this word Gentiles, as we walk through

this, we're talking about the lost world, the Pagan side, the

people that are not followers of, of Jesus Christ.

And he says we cannot walk as the Gentiles do.

We must be different. And then he's going to give us

this list, this nasty list that you and I have to have to dig

through because it's the word of the Lord and we cannot gloss

over it. So bear with me as we dive into

some nasty things that the world brings and yet you and I live it

every single day, he says. First and foremost, he says this

about Gentiles, about the lost world.

They are futile in their minds. Their minds are literally empty.

This, this word futile is pointless or useless.

Pointless or useless. Their minds are empty and void

of substance. The life of an unbeliever

consumes himself in the pursuit of goals that are purely

selfish, in the pursuit of what is temporary, and they look for

satisfaction in things that are deceptive and disappointing.

You see, that's the way of the world.

That is the old self. That is the, the, that is what

we call the fleshy self, right? The old way, the old clothes,

the old man is what the King James Version says.

He says that that our minds are not like their minds.

Our minds are not futile. They are not empty.

They are full of the word of God.

They are full of the grace of God.

They are full of the attributes of God because again, we are

bought with a price. We are bought with a price.

And he says, do not be futile in your minds.

Do not use our minds for the things of this world.

Do not use our minds to pursue the things of this world, but

use our minds in pursuit of those things that are godly,

that are lovely. He goes on.

And he says this in verse 18. Again, continuing on in the list

of what the Gentiles do, he says this.

He says they are darkened in their understanding, alienated

from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them

due to their hardness of heart. Yeah, I'll go back to verse 16

very quickly. Just the first part, he says

From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint

with with it with which it is equipped.

And he says this in verse 18, that their hardness of heart.

And this idea of hardness is that that that calcium build up

that they get in between their joints that that are very hard,

that they are painful, they are nagging, they keep you from

actually moving your body. It is hard as a rock.

And that's what he's saying, that they have a hardness of

heart. Their hards, their hearts are as

hard as a rock. And we can look upon the lost

world. We can look upon our neighbors,

we can look upon those in power of the world and we can see the

hardness of their hearts. We can see the things that they

have done are doing that are against God.

And they continue this, this idea or this, this thought

process of being hardened of hearts to the point that

literally they are ignorant, ignorant to the things of God.

Of Romans chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, it says this.

Romans 1:21

It says for although they knew God, they did not honor him as

God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their

thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming

to be wise. They became fools and we see

that day in and day out in the world of which we live in the

cause of the darkness. The ignorance and separation

from God is truly the hardness of heart.

Their their willful determination to remain in sin.

Their willful determination to remain in sin.

They like the sin. They like the way it makes them

feel. Remember, they live for

themselves. That's what the word of God

tells us, that they live for themselves.

John Phillips says this. He says the nonsense some men

believe shows how darkened their understanding is.

He says Christian Scientists, for instance, believe that death

is not real and that pain is an error of the mortal mind.

He says Mormons believe that they can become gods.

Hindus believe that depending on how we behave in this life, we

might come back as a cow, a chicken or a cockroach.

The scientific community embraces the theory of

evolution. The humanist thinks that man is

essentially good and quite able to cope with moral problems.

And you and I would say absolutely not.

Man is not inherently good. We are not inherently good,

that's right, apart from Christ, praise God, but in Christ we are

a new creation. We are a new creation.

So he says this, He says they are darkened in their

understanding. They do not understand the

things of God. They don't understand the things

of God because they have hardened their hearts.

They have hardened their hearts through continual sin that says

I want my sin more than I want anything else.

I I desire myself above all things.

That is the world of which we live.

That is the selfish world that you and I are in.

And he says this, he says, Paul says to to the church in

Ephesus, he says you cannot be that way.

You must be different. You must be different, He says,

listen in 19, he says they have become callous.

This idea of of being callous is when people continue to sin and

turn away from the life of God. It's this continual rub.

Most most of us have calluses on our hands from one thing or

another. It's this continuous rub that

that that creates this callus upon your hands.

And this continual rub is what he's talking about, is the rub

of sin, the rub of the world, the things of the world, the

constant rub, the constant going back to their vomit, as the word

of God says. You see, we're called to

something greater. We're called to something much

more powerful than going back to our own vomit.

He says they reject all standards of righteousness.

They do not care about the consequences of their

unrighteous thoughts and actions.

Titus chapter one verse 15 says this.

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and

unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their

consciences are defiled. May it not be for followers of

Christ, May it not be for those that proclaim Christ, He says.

They have become callous in verse 19.

They have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice

every kind of impurity. So we, we, we, we know a little

bit about Ephesus. We know a little bit about the

temple of, of Diane. That's there, right?

But we, we know that it's one of the seven wonders of the ancient

world. There was lots and lots of

debauchery going on in that temple.

Lots and lots of of lust, lots and lots of prostitution and all

the things that go along with that was right there in the

middle of emphasis going on in their world.

And so as he writes this, as Paul writes this to the church

at emphasis, their minds automatically go to that place

as he begins to say that they they have given themselves up to

sensuality and greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

And every kind of impurity was was there at that temple.

And every kind of impurity unfortunately, is at our

fingertips now on the web, on the Internet.

And we invite that. And not only do we invite that

into our homes, we actually pay to invite that into our homes.

You see, we have this idea that that we are are we are safe from

the things of the world because we are followers of Christ, that

that the world cannot taint us because we are now a part of the

Kingdom of God. And I wish that were true, but

that's not what the word of God tells us.

That's right. That's not what the Word of God

tells us. The Word of God tells us that we

are to be separated from the world.

We're to be in the world, not of the world.

We're to be renewed in the Spirit of God.

So we're going to talk about here in just a minute that that

that our lives look different than the world.

That that we would not invite those things into our homes,

into our families, that again, that we would be different then

the gentiles, then the pagans, then the lost world, because

they have become callous and given themselves up again to

sensuality. And this idea of sensuality is

primarily talking about sexuality.

And all of the things of that goes along with that that we

won't get into for our young years.

But you guys understand what we're talking about.

You understand the debauchery of what we live in in our day and

age, the debauchery of what you and I see in the depravity of

man. He says the he says that again,

that that they have given themselves up to sensuality.

The world of sensuality and impurity is truly the world of

greediness. The person given over to

godlessness and immorality greedily takes whatever they can

from those around him. They evaluate life only in

material terms and use other people to their own advantage.

They also turn their backs on God in order to fulfill their

own evil desires. The whole point is this, that

they evaluate their life only in material terms.

You see, you and I are called to something far greater than that,

far greater than this exchange of materials, this exchange that

says I want what I want and I want it now, right?

That's why we have a microwave. Amen.

We, we, we do not want to wait very long for our Pop Tarts to

be ready. So we're going to throw it in

the microwave, right? We do not want to wait long for

our Hot Pocket, so we want to throw it in the microwave.

We want what we want and we want it now.

And that is the world of which we live in.

If we want sensuality, if we want to to do that, we can just

go on the World Wide Web. We can go on the Internet and do

whatever it is that we want to do in the privacy of our own

home. And we think nobody is the

wiser. And that is from the devil.

Second Peter chapter 2, verse 3 says their greed.

2 Peter 2:3

They will exploit you with false words.

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their

destruction is not asleep. You see that the Bible talks

about our enemy, our enemy, that we have a real enemy who goes

around, prowls around, looking for people to devour.

He goes around like a lion waiting to attack US, us

followers of God, that is our enemy, that is Satan, who is

alive and well ready to get us at that moment that we are the

weakest. That's right.

That's when we turn to Christ and say I am a new creation.

I am a new creation. I am no longer bound by the

chains of this world. He says this in verse 20.

All the bad stuff pretty much gone away.

Let's look at the good stuff. We'll park here for a while, but

that is not the way you learned Christ.

Let's just stop here for a moment and let's just look at

the the one word, the one word, verse 20.

But how many times do we see in Scripture where, where there is

this list of things that the world is, is out to get you in

all the bad things of the world. And then it says, but God.

But God, you see, there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ.

He says you have learned about Christ.

You know about Christ, you know what he did for you upon the

cross. You know, the sacrifice of which

he made for you. You see, it's a free gift, but

it is not a cheap gift. That's right, it was costly.

It was very costly. And we take that gift, we accept

that gift and we look different than the world because no longer

does the world have it's chains in us.

We are now bound. We are now bound to Christ.

We are in the Lamb's book of life.

We are heaven bound, not hell bound.

We are glory bound, not Satan bound and that is the power of

the blood of Jesus Christ. But God, without God, all of

those things that we have already talked about are sealed.

There's nothing that you can do about it.

There's no, there's no hope for you, there's no love for you.

There's no way out. It's all about you and this life

that we live in, but with God, but with God we can say this

world does not have a hold on us.

This world does not have a hold on you and me.

We can and we should look different than the world.

We can and should look different than verses 1718 and 19.

He says this, he says, but that is not the way you learned

Christ. Again, I, I, I'm thankful that

one of our, our core values here at, at heritage is, is that that

we, we love knowledge. We love theological knowledge

and we put that in high esteem because we want to teach who

Christ is and what Christ has done.

And the more knowledge we get, the deeper in love we get with

who he is. And the deeper in love we get

with who he is, the more we look like Christ and less like the

world. And the more we look like

Christ, the more people come to us.

And they say, how is it that that you have this peace in the

midst of this chaos, in the midst of this world?

Who is out to devour you? How is it that you are able to

have peace? And you say, I have peace

because I know the God of peace. I know the Prince of Peace.

Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ who can change you from

the inside out. You see, we are called to

something far, far greater than verses 1718 and 19.

We are called to Christ. I love this passage because it

doesn't say that that that these are the 10 steps to a better

life. It doesn't say that if you abide

by these 10 rules, life will be amazing for you.

Even though there are lots of books out there that you can

read about 10 steps to A to A to a healthy life. 10 steps to be

better at work, 10 steps to learn to drive better, right?

Some, some of it, you all need to read that 10 steps to

whatever, right? He doesn't say that.

He says let me introduce you to Jesus Christ.

It is a relationship with a real live person who is alive and

well and who is wants to be in our lives.

He says it's not, it's not a ten step thing.

It's not a three-step thing. It's this is a relationship with

a real person. That's the answer.

That's the answer that that that is how you and I change from the

inside out. Again, it's not this this idea

or precepts or principles. It is a person that we go to and

we tell him that I need a new way of life.

I am tired of the rat race of the world and what it provides

because it provides death and destruction in this endless rat

race. Like, like a gerbil on the wheel

who never gets anywhere. That is the world.

That is what the world offers us.

And we say we're tired. We're tired of being that gerbil

on the wheel. We want to actually do something

that changes this rat race. And there's only one thing that

changes that. That is Jesus Christ, a

relationship with Jesus Christ, he says.

But but that is not the way you learned Christ.

The essence of the gospel. The essence is is literally

right here in this verse very easy to memorize.

That is not the way you learned Christ in complete contrast to

the world and what the world offers.

We read in Matthew Chapter 11 verse 29.

Matthew 11:29

He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am

gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your

souls. That is what Jesus Christ offers

us. He offers us an exit off the on

ramp of this wheel, this gerbil wheel that gets us nowhere.

And He says come to me, learn from me, you see, come to Him

and then learned from him. Allow Him to work in you this

process of sanctification. He says I am gentle and lowly in

heart. I don't know about you, but that

is 180° off of what the world has for you and for me.

The world is anything but gentle and lowly.

That's right. Anything but gentle and lowly.

And he says you will find rest for your souls.

Some of us need to find rest in this new year.

Some of us need to to find rest as we turn the clock to a new

2026. How many of you guys do New

Year's resolutions or whatever it is you call it, so that it

doesn't sound so bad like a resolution, like you're resolute

in that Anybody got anything like, yeah, there's a cup.

There's like 3 of you. That's great.

I'm going to talk to the other three for a minute.

The rest of y'all can listen as we turn the clock to 2026.

As we look back at 2025, we look back at verses 1718 and 19 and

we be real and honest with one another.

And we say far too often was I defined by the old man by verses

1718 and 19. Far too often was I defined in

that way in 2025. And as the the clock rolls to

2026, I want to do better. And how do we achieve that?

Well, the word of the Lord tells us.

He goes on in verse 21. He says this.

He says assuming that you have heard about him and were taught

in him as the truth is in Jesus. Alright, so I love this because

remember Paul was at Ephesus for about how many years?

But I remember 3. So he was there for about 3

years, the longest he was anywhere, right?

He was in Ephesus for about 3 years.

Scholars say it's somewhere between four and six years he's

been gone from Ephesus when he when he writes this book back to

the the Ephesians there remember this is a a prison epistle,

meaning he is in prison when he writes this to the Ephesians.

Again, four to six years or so he's been gone from Ephesus.

He was there for three years and he says this in in verse 21.

Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught him

taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

And we know that they were taught in that, but at least

while Paul was there. But we also see it in Acts

Acts 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20. And, and, and you know, for,

for, I apologize to you guys. I wasn't going to go into Acts

Acts 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20, but but Aaron said I have plenty of time because we

didn't have a ministry minute and we didn't have a choir.

So I had like an extra 20 minutes.

So we're going into Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

So turn with me to Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

You can blame Aaron after all, right?

So Acts chapter 20, this is this is him.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

This is this is Paul leaving Ephesus.

OK. And again, I, I wasn't quite

prepared to go here, so I got to find the verses here.

I know it's towards the end and we'll just pick up in verse 26.

Let's just say that. Let's just say 26, everybody in

in Acts chapter 20, verse 26, everybody there.

Acts 20:26

I love the sound of Bible's turning.

It's my favorite sound in all the world.

Here we go. Acts 20 verse 26.

Acts 20:26

Therefore I testify again, this is this is Paul talking.

He's leaving Ephesus. OK, been there three years

approximately. Therefore I testify to you this

day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not

shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Pay careful attention to yourselves, to all the flock in

which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the

Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.

He says, I know that after my departure, here we go.

After my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you,

not sparing the flock. Here's very important verse 30.

And even from among your own selves, even from among your own

selves. Again, he's only talking to the

elders at an Ephesus at this time.

Even from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted

things to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not

cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which

is able to build you up and do give you the inheritance among

all those who are sanctified. He says, I coveted no one's

silver or gold or apparel. He goes on, Let's just bypass a

little bit. And then he says in verse 36.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed

with them all. And there was much weeping on

the part of it. They embraced Paul and they

kissed him. You see, Paul was there again,

pouring out his blood, pouring out his tears for the church at

Ephesus. So he he knows in verse 21,

assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him

as the truth is in Jesus. This four to six year hiatus

from being there. He says, I hope that the word of

God is still being taught how it should be taught.

That tells you and me that we must always be on guard to who

we listen to, to who we give our ear to, to, to who we allow to

speak truth into our lives. He says that assuming that you

have heard about him and were taught in Him, there's a big

difference about about knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus

and things about Jesus and having a relationship with Jesus

Christ. We cannot get those confused.

We see in verse 21. These verbs here are are past

tense. It leads us to believe that that

a time where they have given their life to Christ.

He says, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught

in him as the truth is in Jesus. John 14-6 Jesus said to him, I

am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

You see, the idea again is that the truth is Christ, that that

is truth. Philippians 2, five through 11.

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality

with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking

the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of

men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by

becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him

the name that is above every name, so that at the name of

Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under

the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Paulus 3 truths. We're going to see 3 truths here

that when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and

Savior, these three things are done for you.

Let me let me say that again. When you accept Jesus Christ as

your Lord and Savior, these three things that that Paul

mentions here in just a moment are done for you.

You, you don't do them. God does them for you.

You guys, you guys with me. OK, here we go, three things.

I'm going to read them for you and then we'll dissect them

together, right. So the first in verse 22 is you

put off the old self. Verse 23, you're renewed in the

spirit of your minds. Verse 24, you put on the new

self. Again, these things are done for

you. This is not the the three-step

process to a better life. OK, Don't don't take that that

these things are done for you the moment that you accept Jesus

Christ as your Lord and Savior. OK, here we go verse 22 he says

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

life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.

These are the literally the old clothes.

This is the idea of putting off stripping off old clothes and

and putting on new clothes, right?

Think of a time where you were the dirtiest you've ever been.

You had the nastiest clothes on that you have ever had and you

could not wait to RIP them off. Take a shower and put on new

clothes. Everybody got that moment in

your mind? Yes.

Thank you. We have one person has it.

I was giving everybody a moment. Isaac, come on now.

Not everybody's as quick as you, brother.

So the moment I can think of here, here we go very quickly.

We're in Liberia, West Africa. We are driving 3 hours on a dirt

road, 15 miles an hour so that we can avoid potholes that will

swallow the car. We drive 3 hours.

We we go, we meet a ton of people.

It's dusty. It's hot, it's nasty.

We put on a revival. We, we share Jesus Christ with

an unreached area and, and we, we enjoy all of that.

And then we drive back about midnight, 3 hours, 15 miles an

hour on these dirt roads because again, it's going to swallow our

car if we hit a pothole. And so we're driving very

slowly. And when we get back, I am by

far the dirtiest I've ever been in my life.

I took three showers, three showers, and I normally take

like one a week. So that was really like 3-3

showers was a lot for me. And I took three showers and I

kid you not, I kid you not, the next day I was still digging out

dirt in my ears, in my nose, in my eyes.

It was disgusting. I could not wait to get back to

the hotel to RIP off those clothes.

You see, that is the idea that we have here that we cannot when

we, when we meet Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we cannot

wait to get the old self, the old man, the old clothes off and

put on the new clothes, the new self, right?

Second Corinthians 517 tells us if we are a new creation in

Christ, the old has gone away. Behold, the new has come.

You see, I want to, I want to, I want to tell you one more thing

very specifically, that there are three things again that

happen. The old self goes away, renewing

of our mind. The new self comes on.

You see that this isn't a marriage, all right?

This isn't a marriage where you bring in your stuff and I bring

in my stuff and we form this marriage that somehow works

sometimes and doesn't work sometimes.

That is not what this is. This is a death to the old self.

The, the never the twain shall meet is what the key King James

Version says, right? Never the twain shall meet.

The old self goes away. It is a death of the old self

and it is a life to new self. Stop trying to bring the world

with you. Stop trying to bring in all of

your baggage with you. And I often say that that, that

in our day and age, I think that the the best analogy is when

when Jesus says that there is a narrow gate, the narrow way,

it's because we cannot bring in all of our baggage through that

narrow gate. We can only take Christ, our new

self. We can't take the things of the

world with us, and we shouldn't want to.

And we shouldn't be going back to them like a dog returns to

his vomit. We are a new creation in Christ.

The old has gone away. Behold the the new has come, he

says in verse again. 22 put off the old self, which belongs to

your former manner of life. Verses 1718 and 19 that no

longer is you. Those are not you any longer.

If you are followers of Jesus Christ, that no longer defines

you. Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

You could turn there if you want.

It's just to the right. I mean, just a couple of pages.

Colossians chapter 3. You don't have to if you don't

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

want to. Colossians chapter 3, verses 5

Colossians 3:5–9

through 9. I think it, I think it lays this

out for you and for me very plainly.

It says put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in

you? Sexual immorality, impurity,

passion. Think about these things as I

read them. Write down the one that you

struggle with. Write it down.

Here we go. Put to death the earthly things

that are in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion,

evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.

There's going to be another list here in a minute.

If I didn't get you, I will hear on account of these.

The wrath of God is coming in these you 2 once walked.

When you were living in them, that's the old self.

That's verses 1718 and 19. That's before verse 20 that says

you have a relationship with Christ.

He says those are the old things that you once walked in them,

but now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice. Some of you guys need to start

writing on the back, right? Anger, wrath, because I know I

do. Anger, wrath, malice, slander

and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you put off the old

self with its practices. You see, we still struggle,

don't we? If we're going to be honest with

one another, we still struggle with the old self.

But I think it's a, it's a mind shift.

It's a mind shift that says that that is death, that that is no

longer defining me. Stop thinking of it as a

marriage where the two should blend.

Never the twain shall meet. That's TWAIN, by the way.

Never the twain shall meet. It's a mind shift, verse 23, and

to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

The Bible tells us that we're to take our thoughts captive.

When we find ourselves going to those places of the old self, of

the fleshy self, we take those captive, but we say no, I cannot

go there anymore. That does not define me.

That is the old self. I, I do not live under those

laws anymore. I am now living for Jesus

Christ. We take our thoughts captive

sometimes, sometimes in the darkest days.

I know for me, I can speak for me in my my darkest days were

with when Noah was on dialysis for two years, bar none, no

doubt by far lowest I've ever been in my life.

I pray I never ever, ever go there again.

There were days where I literally just said I couldn't

even sing it. But I would say the joy of the

Lord is my strength and I began to refocus my mind.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

I had no other strength. The Bible talks about even being

weary to the point where you cannot pray for yourself and the

Spirit intercedes for us. Those were the moments, guys.

Those are the moments. So you think about that for your

life. Some of you may be in that now,

in those darkest days of your life, if you are a follower of

Christ, depend on fellow believers to pray with you and

encourage you and remind you that the joy of the Lord is your

strength and it is a mind shift. It is a mind shift.

Hold your thoughts captive. Satan always attacks the mind.

Satan always attacks the mind. The other thing, this is not a

counselling session. Hopefully you're not taking it

that way, but there are usual triggers in our life that moves

us back to the old self. What are those?

What are those triggers in our life that says that that tend to

remove our thoughts back to the old self and the old way of

living? Maybe you're bored, maybe you're

depressed, maybe you're in a fight.

Whatever it is, what what are your your triggers that bring

you back to the old self and try to avoid those bring people

around you that would encourage you that you can call when those

begin to creep up. But again, ever since our first

parents ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the

human mind has been vulnerable because it has a natural bend

toward evil thoughts. I'm just being real with you,

right? This is the world that you and I

live in. We are attracted to sin.

It is blind to spiritual truth unless it has the Holy Spirit's

illumination. Colossians, chapter 3, verse 10.

Colossians 3:10

So back in Colossians, if you still have your finger there.

If not, it's OK. I'm only going to read verse 10

and have put on the new self which is being renewed in the

knowledge after the image of its creator again, we're to be

renewing our minds in the word of God.

We're to be renewing our minds with fellow believers that

encourage us that that change our thought process.

We're to be renewing our minds by holding our thoughts captive,

saying no, I, I, I won't go there.

We're renewing our mind to know that this is going to cause me a

problem. If I go to this place or if I do

this or if I allow myself to go here or think that that will

lead me down a dark path. I will not allow myself to do

that to discipline. It's a discipline.

Verse 24 again now this is the new self and to put on the new

self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and

holiness. This is the the new man.

This is the new clothes. This is the new clothes for the

new year that you and I would look different than we did in

2025 and 2025 may have been a fantastic year.

It may have been the best year that you've ever had, but 2026

can be even better. Because remember, we are being

renewed in the Word of God. We're being renewed by the

passions of God. We're being renewed by our

relationship with God and we are growing deeper and deeper in

love with Him and becoming more like Christ every single day.

And so 2026 can look way better than 2025 ever did because we

die to self even more. I'll tell you, we have six

children. Six children.

And I love most of them every day.

And I remember every time we got a child I thought I couldn't.

I'm no longer selfish. There's no way they've already

taken out all my selfishness. I'm ready for another kid.

It's not going to be anything. And every single time they

taught me how selfish I still was.

And if I had 12 more kids I'm not.

But if I did, I feel like every single time I would have more

self to die. Because we love self, don't we?

I mean, if we're going to be honest, we love self, right?

But let's love Jesus more. Let's love Jesus more.

The renewed spirit of the believers mind is a result to

putting on the new self again. This is the new creation made in

the likeness of God. We are made in the image of God.

That is you and I. We're not made in the image of

the world. We're not made in the image of

Satan. We're made in the image of God

our Creator, our sustainer. Amen.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord that we are made

in His image. He has changed us from the

inside out. He has given us righteousness

and holiness, the things that we never had before.

But because we cannot have those apart from Christ, we must be a

new creation in Christ. We must take the word, this word

as truth. We must know that there is an

old self and there is a new self, and never the twain shall

meet. And we must live under the new

relationship of Jesus Christ again.

The old has gone away become the the new has come, and we must

obey and hold our thoughts captive.

In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12, Paul calls believers

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

the chosen of God, holy and beloved.

In Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, he says I have been crucified

Galatians 2:20

with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave

himself for me, practically speaking, and I'm and I'm and

I'm done. The primary means of ongoing

transformation in our lives is the word and the Spirit.

Let us let us no longer let us no longer hold on to the old

self. Let us no longer focus on verses

1718 and 19 because verse 20 says, but God, we have a

relationship with Jesus Christ who transforms us from the

inside out. I ask you, do you know him

today? Do you know this Christ of whom

we speak of today? Let me pray for us.

And we're, we've got a few things left, but we're almost

done. Father, we are grateful for your

word. We're grateful for the truths

that say that that God we are no longer bound to this world that

we are a new creation in Christ and Father as we turn the clock

to a new year. God, I ask that you would renew

our minds show us father on this list, this list of in Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. Where is it that we are still

holding on to old self, to the old, close to the old way of

life that we ask for your wisdom?

We ask that you would save and call people to yourself today.

Change them from the inside out, for we are nothing without you.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Thanks for listening. To learn more about Heritage

Church or if you'd like to respond to this sermon, visit

our website at www.heritageshawnee.org.