"THE GOOD LIFE" - PLEASE DEFINE??

•    how WORTHY is our dream?
•    experiencing PLEASURE vs. developing personal strengths

GIVEN OVER: THE EMPTINESS OF THE OLD

•    HARDENED hearts attracted by deceitful desires
•    futile thinking: MEANINGLESSNESS of life apart from God (Ecclesiastes)
•    “eat and drink - tomorrow we DIE”
•    given over to sensuality – continuously want MORE

PUT OFF – TO PUT ON

•    TAUGHT in Jesus: propositional truth to shape us
•    put/throw off the old self: Jesus calls us to DENY ourself
•    Holy Spirit teaches us, RENEWS our mental attitude
•    PUT ON the new self: conform to Jesus’ likeness
•    key thing about Christianity: not rituals but being BORN AGAIN

GIVEN UP FOR: OUR MODEL AND MUSCLE FOR THE NEW

•    motor for behavioural change: indwelling HOLY SPIRIT
•    TRUTH: put off falsehood (4:25)
•    TEMPER: be angry but don’t sin / give devil toe-hold (4:26f)
•    THIEVING: work so have something to share (4:28)
•    TALK: not what’s rotten but helpful (4:29)
•    don’t grieve Holy Spirit with whom we were MARKED
•    not bitterness or brawling, but MIMIC God (5:1)

CHEAP TO GET OUT OF THE PIT

•    live a life of LOVE - Christ loved us, gave Himself as a sacrifice for us