<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Ephesians 4;1-3<div><br></div><div><b>1. &nbsp;I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,</b></div><div><b>2. &nbsp;with all lowliness&nbsp;and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,</b></div><div><b>3. &nbsp;eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>The lives we live day to day are intended by God to reflect and display the presence of Christ within us.</div><div><br></div><div>Paul must <i>“beg” </i>the Ephesians (and us) to do this.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;Paul, inspired and&nbsp;empowered by the Holy Spirit, speaking as the mouth of God, <u>pleads</u>&nbsp;with us to renounce who we once were. &nbsp;Just as Luther teaches us to live in our Baptismal death saying, <i>“Baptism with water means that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts; and that a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” &nbsp;</i>(see, Romans 6;4) (Luther’s Small Catechism, Baptism)&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>We live this new life by daily contrition and repentance. &nbsp;We live this new life by <u>faith</u>&nbsp;which believes in the <i>“new man” </i>who is indwelt by Christ. &nbsp;The new man is not our old Adam trying to be ‘good’.</div><div>The new man is witness to the death of the old Adam. &nbsp;He walks by the Spirit in communion with Christ indwelling.</div><div><br></div><div>This new life has been&nbsp;prepared for us by the Father from eternity. &nbsp;This life&nbsp;is not our own invention or work but His. &nbsp;The new life is lived by the new man, by faith&nbsp;<u>following Christ.</u>&nbsp; He is now a disciple, his body has been presented to God, a living sacrifice. &nbsp;He is not his own, he is bought with a price.</div><div>The new man has intentionally entered into servitude, a bond-servant of God.</div><div><br></div><div>Paul must <i>“beg” </i>us, because we by our old nature still consider our lives, ‘our own’. &nbsp;God forgive us.</div><div>We have something better than selfish self-determination, we have been <i>“called” </i>into true full abundant life lived in the fullness of God through faith in Christ indwelling us. &nbsp;This life does not fear death and sin no longer has dominion over this life.</div><div><br></div><div>We will certainly have temptations and tribulations, and because the sinful nature clings like dead thing to our flesh, we will and do still fall to temptations,&nbsp;but in Christ we are continually being washed and given <i>“newness of life”. &nbsp;</i>The Holy Spirit given us in baptism empowers the new man to put to death the deeds of the body and walk following after Jesus. &nbsp;Living the life to which we have been called.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, bless us this day and always, to love you and one another, in and through Christ. &nbsp;Keep us in Christ, the lowly, meek, patient, forbearing One. &nbsp;Bless us to be in constant prayer that the peace You have given us be maintained in our communion and fellowship with one another, for this is the calling to which we have been called. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day,&nbsp;every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Ephesians 4;1-3
1.  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,2.  with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,3.  eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The lives we live day to day are intended by God to reflect and display the presence of Christ within us.
Paul must “beg” the Ephesians (and us) to do this. 
 Paul, inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit, speaking as the mouth of God, pleads with us to renounce who we once were.  Just as Luther teaches us to live in our Baptismal death saying, “Baptism with water means that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts; and that a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”  (see, Romans 6;4) (Luther’s Small Catechism, Baptism) 
We live this new life by daily contrition and repentance.  We live this new life by faith which believes in the “new man” who is indwelt by Christ.  The new man is not our old Adam trying to be ‘good’.The new man is witness to the death of the old Adam.  He walks by the Spirit in communion with Christ indwelling.
This new life has been prepared for us by the Father from eternity.  This life is not our own invention or work but His.  The new life is lived by the new man, by faith following Christ.  He is now a disciple, his body has been presented to God, a living sacrifice.  He is not his own, he is bought with a price.The new man has intentionally entered into servitude, a bond-servant of God.
Paul must “beg” us, because we by our old nature still consider our lives, ‘our own’.  God forgive us.We have something better than selfish self-determination, we have been “called” into true full abundant life lived in the fullness of God through faith in Christ indwelling us.  This life does not fear death and sin no longer has dominion over this life.
We will certainly have temptations and tribulations, and because the sinful nature clings like dead thing to our flesh, we will and do still fall to temptations, but in Christ we are continually being washed and given “newness of life”.  The Holy Spirit given us in baptism empowers the new man to put to death the deeds of the body and walk following after Jesus.  Living the life to which we have been called.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, bless us this day and always, to love you and one another, in and through Christ.  Keep us in Christ, the lowly, meek, patient, forbearing One.  Bless us to be in constant prayer that the peace You have given us be maintained in our communion and fellowship with one another, for this is the calling to which we have been called.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”



Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
