Ephesians 4:22-25

"Dear Father, righteous and holy God, Enable me to put away completely my old human nature - the former lifestyle corrupted by deceitful desires. Help..."

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the..."

"Instead [of going back to our old way of worldly living], let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be..."

You were taught...to be made new in the attitude of your minds... - Ephesians 4:22-23

So who do you need to be good? Patrick Odum sees a billboard by an atheistic and agnostic group that says many are good without God and he decides he is barely tolerable with God, so there's no hope for him without God!

"Instead [of living by your corrupt sinful nature], let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God —..."

Where in the world did those horrible computer viruses come from anyway? Sin is like a virus Satan has designed to appear harmless, infect us, spread, and render everything useless and destroy everything.

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires..."

"...be made new in the attitude of your minds... "

"...and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

"So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body."

Inspirational illustration of Ephesians 4:22 -- You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires ...

Inspirational illustration of Ephesians 4:24 -- ...and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Inspirational illustration of Ephesians 4:25 -- Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

So what are you doing holding on to that in your heart? We hang on to so much unnecessary and unhelpful stuff that we need to let go and forgive.

Not only can we begin the New Year as a fresh start, but we can also be made new — from the inside out — each day as we follow Jesus! Demetrius Collins and Phil Ware lead us in virtual worship through words and music using YouTube videos and inviting us to continually be made new from the inside out.

A powerful image of renewal! Pasquale Mingarelli shares pictures and a Bible study to help us remember that spring is the time for renewal

"But [living immorally] isn't what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw..."

"Dear Precious Disciple, Paul beautifully described the Father's grace in the first part of his letter to the Ephesians. He emphasized that the..."

Is there ever a time not to tell the truth? No matter if it is the corporate world, school, church, or friendships we owe each other the truth and should not lie or withhold the truth.

Would you have told the truth in such dire circumstances? Rubel Shelly challenges us with an old story to be people of truth and respect even in the most dire and painful circumstances and treat people with the same ethical respect we would expect ourselves.

"Dear Father, worthy of my love and obedience, May the thought of deceit or falsehood never enter into my relations with my brothers and sisters in..."

Would you have come clean? Mike Barres holds himself accountable for telling the truth, the full truth, and not deceiving others when it is in his best interest.

How frequently do you and lie?

What do we do when our partners are involved in email relationships? Joe Beam deals with the challenging issue of improper email relationships.

Some criticism isn't helpful, it is withering, so how do we deal with it? Rubel Shelly reminds us that unfair criticism is a part of life so we need to rely on our relationship with God to overcome it and we need to not ever become one of those kinds of criticizers.

How deep does our deception go? We live in a world of deception but God has called us to be Kingdom people, people who tell the truth and do not deceive, yet forgive those who confess their deceitfulness to us.

We are ToGather: People from around the world, gathered virtually, to honor God as we are reshaped by his Spirit to do the work of Jesus in our broken world. Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit as we are transformed to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When giving up something is winning for everyone! Rubel Shelly tells about the Ike story that touches the heart and reminds us what sports are supposed to be about.

Jesus calls us beyond the narrow caricatures of grace. Phil Ware continues his series called UNPREDICTABLE about Jesus and his love and grace and call to follow him in holiness and reminds us that grace calls us from sin and death and to a life of holiness.

So what's the big problem with all this self stuff? When we put self in the middle of everything, then everything becomes about I, me, my, and mine, and not about God and we mess up our self-absorbed lives.

We've allowed our modern definition of faith to be drained of depth and turned into a shallow kiddie wading pool of little more than mental assent. Phil Ware reminds us that faith as understood in the New Testament was much more robust than what we often call faith today.