PUT OFF THE OLD AND PUT ON CHRIST (16 OF 44)
Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-22, Ephesians 4:26-32, Ephesians 5:1-2
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Put off the Old and Put on Christ (16 of 44)
Series: The Church at Ephusus: God's Calling, Empowering, and Instruction for the Church
Patrick Edwards
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
Introduction
One of the hardest things to do in life, I think, is break a habit. To take some regular routine of life, whether weekly, daily, or hourly and to suddenly cease engaging in that routine can seem near impossible. The reason is because our minds and our bodies are easily trained to repeat common activities, such as breathing. It's easy to form bad habits, and unfortunately not so easy to break them. I know many of you can relate to one of my bad habits that I had to break years ago, and that was the habit of tobacco. Many of you have shared with me your struggles with kicking the habit of cigarette smoking; me, it was never cigarettes but pipe smoking. Now I'd like to tell you that I decided to quit on my own, but the truth is that I quit because I got married and my bride told me she'd have none of it!
Regardless of motivation, however, it was no easy task to quit tobacco. For me, though, the difficulty laid not in the physical addiction I had, but in the mental. My daily routine was built around the pipe. My personal time, my prayer time in fact, was built around the pipe. I was so used to having those 45 minutes in the afternoon and/or in the evening that I simply did not know what to do without the pipe. Every afternoon, every evening after dinner all I could think about was that pipe. Even now, if I can bear my soul for you, there's not a cloudy cool day that doesn't pass by without me think, ''Oooo, this would be a good pipe day.''
You know what was the key for me, though? It was not in simply training myself to not want to smoke anymore. The key for me was in finding something new to fill that time with. If it was time outside by myself that I missed, why not going walking or running instead of smoking. If it was quiet time by myself, why not go away somewhere qu ...
Series: The Church at Ephusus: God's Calling, Empowering, and Instruction for the Church
Patrick Edwards
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
Introduction
One of the hardest things to do in life, I think, is break a habit. To take some regular routine of life, whether weekly, daily, or hourly and to suddenly cease engaging in that routine can seem near impossible. The reason is because our minds and our bodies are easily trained to repeat common activities, such as breathing. It's easy to form bad habits, and unfortunately not so easy to break them. I know many of you can relate to one of my bad habits that I had to break years ago, and that was the habit of tobacco. Many of you have shared with me your struggles with kicking the habit of cigarette smoking; me, it was never cigarettes but pipe smoking. Now I'd like to tell you that I decided to quit on my own, but the truth is that I quit because I got married and my bride told me she'd have none of it!
Regardless of motivation, however, it was no easy task to quit tobacco. For me, though, the difficulty laid not in the physical addiction I had, but in the mental. My daily routine was built around the pipe. My personal time, my prayer time in fact, was built around the pipe. I was so used to having those 45 minutes in the afternoon and/or in the evening that I simply did not know what to do without the pipe. Every afternoon, every evening after dinner all I could think about was that pipe. Even now, if I can bear my soul for you, there's not a cloudy cool day that doesn't pass by without me think, ''Oooo, this would be a good pipe day.''
You know what was the key for me, though? It was not in simply training myself to not want to smoke anymore. The key for me was in finding something new to fill that time with. If it was time outside by myself that I missed, why not going walking or running instead of smoking. If it was quiet time by myself, why not go away somewhere qu ...
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