Sunday Morning Worship
September 25, 2011
Series: “Jump Start for Dummies”
Today: “Preparing for the Charge”
Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-24 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. 18 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. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 
Intro: If someone did write a book, “Jump Start for Dummies,” cleaning the corrosion off your terminals would be included.
A. The Prophet Jeremiah was sent to God’s people to give them a similar message.
Jeremiah 4:1 & Jeremiah 4:3-4 “If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray…
3 This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done– burn with no one to quench it.
B. It is not as easy to spot in our spiritual lives as it is in our cars.
* Jeremiah is the prophet that later wrote: “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). 
I. LOOK AT YOUR INTEGRITY ISSUES.
A. Ephesians 4:25 – Put off falsehood and speak truthfully.
B. Ephesians 4:28 – “He who steals , must steal no longer.”
C. Ephesians 5:3 – “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual morality or any kind of impurity.” 
II. LOOK AT YOUR RELATIONAL ISSUES.
A. Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth…”
B. Ephesians 4:31 – “Get rid of all bitterness , rage and anger…every form of malice.
C. Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.” 
III. LOOK AT YOUR ATTITUDE ISSUES.
A. Ephesians 4:23 – “to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Does God need to re-plow and attitudes to be more receptive to His voice, more loving, more forgiving, more generous?
Conclusion: Let me conclude with the Prophet Jeremiah’s words to God’s people many years ago:
Jeremiah 4:1-2 “If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, 2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory.”