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TITLE: How to Get Cleaned Up

TEXT: Ephesians 4:20-24

PROPOSITION: Cleaning our life is more demanding than cleaning our body.

QUESTION: How?

KEY WORD: Steps

SCRIPTURE READING: Same

INTRODUCTION:

  1. Mow the yard, wash the car, get invitation to eat out.
  2. "Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up."
  3. Paul outlines the 3-step process to get our lives cleaned up.

 

Put off the Old – 22

  1. Old = dirty, wet, sweaty garments
  2. Greek word = "throw off" cast away, not just take off
  3. Urgency involved – Aorist imperative
  4. Imagine putting on a coat and feeling the sting of a bee.
  5. You would THROW it off.
  6. Corrupt = from Greek word – to rot
  7. In the context of Ephesians 4 this includes – lying, stealing, dirty words

 

Renew our Minds – 23

  1. Refresh – relax, unwind (like a vacation)
  2. Once out of the old, rotten garments – Where do I go from here?
  3. Clean up – fresh, clean clothes – What to wear?
  4. Begin thinking in a new direction, new goals

 

Put on the New – 24

  1. New – not new from the store
  2. New = fresh, clean, not soiled, dirty, rotten
  3. Not just new clothes – new mind, new attitude, new inner self
  4. Change the "can't" to "can"; change the "lust" to "love"
  5. Change from self focused to Christ focused
    Put on the mind of Christ – Philippians 2:5
  6. Colossians 3:12-16
    Kindness, humility, meekness
    Bearing and forgiving each other
    Love and bond of unity
    Peace of God, thankful
    Word of Christ dwell in you richly

 

Conclusion:

  1. Have you been in the mud of sin? Stained, rotten?
  2. It is now time to get "cleaned up".
  3. Throw off the old, set mind in direction, put on new


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