<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Ephesians 5;7-10<div><br></div><div><b>7. &nbsp;Therefore do not associate with them,</b></div><div><b>8. &nbsp;for once you were darkness, but now you are light <u>in</u>&nbsp;the Lord; walk as children of of light</b></div><div><b>9. &nbsp;(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),</b></div><div><b>10. &nbsp;and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Paul’s exhortation, <i>“do not associate with ‘them’” </i>(meaning the immoral, children of darkness), does <u>not</u>&nbsp;mean God wants us to withdraw from society and be sanctified hermits.</div><div><br></div><div>It means that the lives we live are to display the light of Life, Jesus within us. &nbsp;Life now for us is all about who God has now&nbsp;made us, not who we once were.</div><div><br></div><div>The little word ‘of’ means ‘from’…therefore we are no longer ‘from’ the world or ‘of’ the world. &nbsp;We are now children of God, born of the water and the Spirit. &nbsp;We are washed from&nbsp;our uncleanness, therefore we should not return into it, (like a fresh washed pig goes back and wallows in the miry filth again. See,&nbsp;2 Peter 2;22). &nbsp;We are not pigs.</div><div><br></div><div>Jesus taught, <i>“If you were ‘of’ the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not ‘of ‘the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” &nbsp;</i>(John 15;19)</div><div><br></div><div>And Jesus prayed, <i>“But now I am coming to thee; </i>(Father), <i>and these things I speak in the world, that they </i>(my disciples) <i>may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. &nbsp;I have given them thy Word; and the world hates them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. &nbsp;I <u>do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world,</u>&nbsp;but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one.”&nbsp;</i></div><div><i>&nbsp;</i>(John 17;13-15)</div><div><br></div><div>Therefore it is taught that we, the Church are to, ‘Be <u>in</u>&nbsp;the world, but not <u>of</u>&nbsp;the world.”</div><div><br></div><div>Our Lord has commanded us to, <i>“Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach&nbsp;them to obey all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” &nbsp;</i>(Matthew 28;19&amp;20)</div><div><br></div><div>In short, we are to be the ‘friend of tax collectors and sinners’ but we are not to join in their darkness. &nbsp;We are to transport them into God’s marvelous Light, by the Word of the Gospel and the Witness of sacrificial, self- controlled love, (Christ the Light indwelling and inspiring&nbsp;us.). &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, inspire&nbsp;us to&nbsp;walk by faith&nbsp;in the Light of Christ&nbsp;through this dark world. &nbsp;Make us your own&nbsp;aroma of Life, (a&nbsp;‘stink’ to those who are perishing, but ‘smell clean, pure, wholesome,&nbsp;and beautiful’&nbsp;to those who are being saved). &nbsp;Let us delight and rejoice&nbsp;in the&nbsp;holiness you have given to us by&nbsp;your Word, and the clean, wise,&nbsp;fear of the Lord. &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, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</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 5;7-10
7.  Therefore do not associate with them,8.  for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of of light9.  (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),10.  and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Paul’s exhortation, “do not associate with ‘them’” (meaning the immoral, children of darkness), does not mean God wants us to withdraw from society and be sanctified hermits.
It means that the lives we live are to display the light of Life, Jesus within us.  Life now for us is all about who God has now made us, not who we once were.
The little word ‘of’ means ‘from’…therefore we are no longer ‘from’ the world or ‘of’ the world.  We are now children of God, born of the water and the Spirit.  We are washed from our uncleanness, therefore we should not return into it, (like a fresh washed pig goes back and wallows in the miry filth again. See, 2 Peter 2;22).  We are not pigs.
Jesus taught, “If you were ‘of’ the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not ‘of ‘the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  (John 15;19)
And Jesus prayed, “But now I am coming to thee; (Father), and these things I speak in the world, that they (my disciples) may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them thy Word; and the world hates them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one.”  (John 17;13-15)
Therefore it is taught that we, the Church are to, ‘Be in the world, but not of the world.”
Our Lord has commanded us to, “Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”  (Matthew 28;19&20)
In short, we are to be the ‘friend of tax collectors and sinners’ but we are not to join in their darkness.  We are to transport them into God’s marvelous Light, by the Word of the Gospel and the Witness of sacrificial, self- controlled love, (Christ the Light indwelling and inspiring us.).   
Prayer:  Merciful Father, inspire us to walk by faith in the Light of Christ through this dark world.  Make us your own aroma of Life, (a ‘stink’ to those who are perishing, but ‘smell clean, pure, wholesome, and beautiful’ to those who are being saved).  Let us delight and rejoice in the holiness you have given to us by your Word, and the clean, wise, fear of the Lord.  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.”

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