Ephesians 4:17-19

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 2nd & 3rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

When the "new creation" arrives in the world, achieved by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the death-knoll starts to toll over the old order of things.

However, the process of transformation does not necessarily take place all at once, though the earliest signs of new life are unmistakable. We have a distinct role in the process, though its true author is God, the giver of life. The birthing of "The New Humanity,” the "New Human,” entails the death of the old one. In practical terms, that means years of ingrained habits, behaviors, and obsessions required radical removal and drastic change. Whereas our salvation experience might well have taken place in a moment of time, and God's Spirit took up immediate residence in our lives, not everything disappears. Otherwise, Paul would have no need to remind his Asiatic brothers and sisters about their responsibility to cultivate the "New Human" while at the same time, putting the old one to death.  [BN, 3]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am