Proverbs of a 41 yr. Old man

You need a clean break from everything you once were, especially in your thinking. Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals. God calls us out of the world and its darkness and into His Marvellous Light! What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? Do idols belong in the temple of God? We are the temple of the living God, as God himself says, "I will live with these people and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.” Amen. Think about Abraham the father of faith. God called him out of everything he knew and loved. To leave not just his family but his previous thinking. He had to rely on faith alone to please God. Follow along with me in Heb. 11:8-10. It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Amen. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Amen. Notice that Abraham lived in tents and never built a city. He was a foreigner to his previous way of life. His nephew Lot left Abrahams covering and went to live in the world, and even tried to live at the edges of it. He witnessed the decay of society in Sodom and Gomorrah and it grieved him every day and eventually destroyed his family. We ourselves have to come up out of this world and out of its ways and cultures. If not, we will be destroyed by its evil desires working in us and through us. Like Abraham we need a clean break from the world and those who hold us back from stepping into faith, life and godliness. Choose to suffer for Christ than to the enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Like another patriarch of the faith, Moses. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger. Moses didn't give up but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God. Amen. Alot of people you love will be angry with you for leaving them behind in Sodom and Gomorrah. You had dreams and passions together, you had hope together. But live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. We must not spend the rest of our lives chasing our own desires, but we must be anxious to do the will of God. We have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, our former friends are surprised when we no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander us. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead. So although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit. Amen. One more plea. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of Babylon, my people, so that you do not participate in her sins and suffer from any of her plagues.