{"id":26642,"date":"2023-06-04T22:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-5_1-7-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-23T11:47:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T18:47:30","slug":"ephesians-5_8-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-5_8-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Your New Identity in Christ and The Power of Confessing Your Sins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ephesians\u00a0 5:8-14\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

We can learn some powerful lessons from today’s passage:\u00a0Ephesians\u00a05:8-14.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/em>\u00a05<\/em>:8<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n8<\/sup>\u00a0<\/em>For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse\u00a08: Before Christ came into our lives, we were in the dark.\u00a0 But with Jesus Christ in your life, not only do you\u00a0have\u00a0<\/em>the light, but verse\u00a08\u00a0says you\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the light.\u00a0 Just as Jesus is the light of the world (John 9:5), so His followers are the light too (Matthew\u00a05:11).\u00a0 That’s who you are now: “light in the Lord”.\u00a0 So embrace your new identity in Christ as “children of light”.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/em>\u00a05<\/em><\/strong>:9 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 9: \u00a0Whenever you live out your new identity in Christ, the effect is that you bear fruit!\u00a0 Your life becomes a blessing and an encouragement to others, a reminder of all the things that Jesus is — goodness, righteousness and truth.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, when we continue to live in sin, the result is “fruitless” (v11).\u00a0 We don’t end up blessing anyone, including ourselves.\u00a0 Instead, weeds grow that threaten to choke the life out of us.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/em>\u00a05<\/em><\/strong>:10\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>and find out what pleases the Lord.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 10: \u00a0How do you “find out what pleases the Lord”?\u00a0 By studying His Word, spending time with Him in prayer, seeking the advice of godly men and women, and listening\u00a0for\u00a0His voice.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/em>\u00a05<\/em>:11-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.\u00a0<\/em>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.\u00a0<\/em>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,\u00a0<\/em>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>for it is\u00a0light<\/em>\u00a0that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-14: \u00a0What does it mean to “expose” the fruitless deeds of darkness (v11)?\u00a0 Does this mean we should be nosy gossipers who love to talk about the sins of other people?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 In certain\u00a0cases it means speaking the truth in love, which we talked about three days ago when looking at Ephesians 4:15.<\/p>\n

But I believe another good application of this verse is to confess our own sins to God and to people we trust.\u00a0 It’s about bringing our own sins out into the light.\u00a0 Part of what makes sin in our lives so powerful is its secrecy.\u00a0 When we expose our sins by confessing them, we break that secrecy and allow God’s light to shine into that situation.\u00a0 Is there a sin you need to confess to God?\u00a0 Is there a sin you need to confess to others?<\/p>\n

It can be difficult and embarrassing to confess our sins – as Paul says, “it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (v12).\u00a0 But when we confess our sins, we allow God’s light to shine, to replace our shame with His forgiveness, and to work out a sinful situation for good.\u00a0 Since “everything exposed by the light becomes visible” (v13), when you allow God’s light to shine even in the darkest places of your life, God can start to turn even your darkest struggle with sin into a story for His glory.<\/p>\n

Are you feeling defeated by sin?\u00a0 Remember that God is still for you, not against you.\u00a0 God wants to turn your struggle with sin into a testimony about His power.\u00a0 By His\u00a0power\u00a0you will “rise from the dead” (v14).\u00a0 It all begins with confessing your sins.\u00a0 Take a moment to confess your sins to Him today.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for being such a forgiving God.\u00a0 Thank You that if I confess my sins You are always faithful and just to forgive my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).\u00a0 I confess my sins now: [take a moment to confess any specific sins you struggle with to God] \u00a0Thank You that the blood of Jesus cleanses me from every sin, and thank\u00a0You\u00a0that because of Jesus Christ, I can overcome that struggle with sin.\u00a0 Holy Spirit fill me today, that I would live in a way that is consistent with my new identity in You.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

We can learn some powerful lessons from today’s passage:\u00a0Ephesians\u00a05:8-14.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a05:8\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n8\u00a0For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse\u00a08: Before Christ came into our lives, we were in the dark.\u00a0 But with Jesus Christ in your life, not only do you\u00a0have\u00a0the light, but verse\u00a08\u00a0says you\u00a0are\u00a0the light.\u00a0 Just as Jesus is the light of the world (John 9:5), so His followers are the light too (Matthew\u00a05:11).\u00a0 That’s who you are now: “light in the Lord”.\u00a0 So embrace your new identity in Christ as “children of light”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a05:9 (NIV)\u00a0
\n9\u00a0(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse 9: \u00a0Whenever you live out your new identity in Christ, the effect is that you bear fruit!\u00a0 Your life becomes a blessing and an encouragement to others, a reminder of all the things that Jesus is — goodness, righteousness and truth. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26645,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642\/revisions\/26645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}