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🎙️ Episode 43 — The Story of Reversals (John 18) | #Faith4TodayPodcast · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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In today's episode, we're going to be exploring John 18.
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We're going to look at the garden as a place of reversal
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from rebellion to redemption, how identity leads to purpose,
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and why feelings are real but not in charge.
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Plus, I'm going to talk a little bit about how to build your life
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on conviction, not comfort, and why obedience and faithfulness
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still matter in a culture riddled and motivated by
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convenience. Here's the deal, you can't live
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accidentally and fulfill your destiny.
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Jesus shows us that surrender is not weakness, it's actually the
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pathway to experiencing the kingdoms power around us.
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Let's go. Welcome to episode 46 of the
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Faith for Today podcast. My name is Matthew.
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I am your host and it is a delight to have you with us as
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we jump into John 18 talking about the story of reversals,
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just reversals all throughout the story of John, John 18.
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Now here's the deal on the Faith for Today podcast.
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We want to help you not just be inspired on Sunday, but we want
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you to live it faithfully even on a Thursday.
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We want to have that faith each and every day.
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And man, we're grateful that you're tuning into this podcast.
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I hope it's been helpful and encouraging.
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And we love hearing feedback from you, what you're learning,
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what, what's helping you. So if you would, would you leave
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us a comment? Would you share the episodes out
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on your social networks? Helps us get the word out and us
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to find out what you're learning and how it's impacting your
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life. Just a great delight to get to
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do it. As always, we're going to recap
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the message. I'm going to share a little
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bonus content and then I'm going to respond to some questions
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that have come in as it relates to the content from that
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message. All right, let's jump into the
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recap this week on episode 46. The message was entitled A Story
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of Reversals, and we take a a look into the heart of John 18,
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where everything kind of seems upside down or unexpected even.
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Yet God's plan is unfolding perfectly in the garden where
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humanity once rebelled. Jesus reverses Adam's failure by
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choosing obedience. He says not my will, but your
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will. The betrayal that should have
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broken him only reveals his true authority.
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When Jesus says I am, even his captures have to fall backwards.
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This is in defeat. This divine submission, the
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garden that once symbolized man's fall, now becomes the
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ground for our redemption, where the first Adam grasp for
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control, the last Adam, Jesus himself surrendered in trust.
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The story begins in the darkness of betrayal, but throughout it
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you recognize that Jesus begins to turn history right side up.
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And this is where all of the reversals take place.
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From the garden to the courtyard to pilot's hall.
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All of these places where environments where Jesus brought
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reversal to things that humanity has lost or walks in brokenness.
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From the garden to the courtroom, every scene kind of
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reveals yet one more reversals. Peter's fear contrast Jesus's
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courage. Yet we can find great hope
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because in our denials of Christ, Christ still remains
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faithful. In Pilot's hall, the question
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shifts from politics to what is real truth.
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Are you the King? Was Pilot's question, and Jesus
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answered not with power, but with his purpose.
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My Kingdom is not of this world. It's a Kingdom of surrender,
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hearts built on truth that exposes every false allegiance
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that we have. When the world hides in the
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shadows, Jesus still stands in the light.
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When human, human authority fails, divine sovereignty still
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prevails. The story of reversal shows us
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this, that Jesus obeys where Adam fell, he stands where Peter
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falters, and he reigns where earthly powers have collapsed.
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Through surrender, Jesus wins the victory that reverses the
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curse, and he invites us to live in the freedom that comes from
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his truth found in his Kingdom as we trust in him fully with
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our lives. Alright, that'll do it.
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For our recap and summary, let's let me share a few bonus
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thoughts from the message, kind of beyond the message, if you
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will. The first is this.
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I love how Jesus wasn't surprised by the failures of
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Judas or the denial of Peter. In fact, we know Jesus knew both
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of those things were coming. But I think the principle for us
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today is to recognize that Jesus understands that we're not going
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to be perfect in our pursuit of him, even in our loyalty to the
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Kingdom. Like there are moments where
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you're going to have doubts. You're going to moments where
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you're going to fail. There's moments when I'm going
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to fail, but the reality is Jesus is faithful even though
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humanity is unfaithful. And I think when we get into
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these moments of recognizing that in the garden, Jesus
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modeled obedience in the courtroom.
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He modeled faithfulness to his purpose.
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And in the midst of, of being faced by accusations and kind of
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in a wrestling match of, of thoughts or ideas or ideology
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with, with pilot, Jesus still stood for truth.
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And the reality is all of us as followers of Jesus are, are, are
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called to these things. We're called to live in his
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truth. We're called to be faithful to
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him and we're called to be obedient.
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Like this is part of what it means to be an ambassador in the
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Kingdom of God that we live out our obedience.
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We remain faithful in our love and our our, our acknowledgement
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of Jesus as King and Lord. And we want to live with the
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truth. We want to live out the, the,
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the rule and reign of God in our lives and in our hearts as a
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reality that we live from. And I think it's important to
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notice that it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to be
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obedient. It is the Holy Spirit who
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empowers us to live out faithfulness.
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It's the Holy Spirit who reveals truth to us and in the very
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beginning of John 18, it says after Jesus has said these
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things and then like it. Then we get into the storylines
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right of the betrayal in the garden, the illegal courtroom
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scene where ultimately Peter in the courtyard denies knowing
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Jesus denies being a follow of him, denies trust in Jesus.
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And then with Pilate, the idea and the the battleground for
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truth where things were questioning and skepticism and
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just like searching for answers and searching for truth becomes
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a a really important reality of all of our lives.
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But in all of those things, those things all happen.
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After Jesus had said these things.
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Well, what things did he say? Well, he just got done praying
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for the believers. He just got done teaching them
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about the Holy Spirit, got done talking to them about eviding in
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the vine, got them talking about how the Holy Spirit was coming
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so they wouldn't remain orphaned in life.
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He got done washing their feet in John 13 like all of these
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things had just happened and now Jesus lives those teachings out
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fully in the midst of all of the pressure that he faced.
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Jesus life went under pressure in the moments of the garden in
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the betrayal and the of the denial and the courtyard and
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before Pilot and the authorities.
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All of the things that Jesus went through he did knowing the
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Holy Spirit was empowering him to do those things to reveal the
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truth to remain faithful to walk an obedient submission to the
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will of the Father. All of this is what the Holy
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Spirit helps us to do, empowers us to do so Jesus got done model
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talking about the Holy Spirit. Then he goes and models how to
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live in this union submission and life of God filled and
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fueled by the Holy Spirit. It's it's a beautiful, beautiful
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recognition. And and I think it's important
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because we can hear this message about obedience and faithfulness
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and truth and we kind of are reminded of the ways in which
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we've been unfaithful to Jesus. Maybe we're reminded of the
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times in which we've wrestled with believing the truth or
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maybe even outright betraying him and just not walking in
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obedience, but rather disobedience and and we can be
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confronted with our own failure. But I think it's important to
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remember it's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to do this.
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In fact, Peter pre Pentecost is a mess.
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Peter post Pentecost is less of a mess because of the Holy
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Spirit. Now, Peter still has some things
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he's got to work out after the day of Pentecost.
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But man, when he receives the Holy Spirit, he really does
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become a more courageous person. So in here we see him as a
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coward and denying knowing even Christ.
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But after Pentecost, Peter is like bold and courageous and
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speaking truth and not denying anything, but clearly
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proclaiming who Jesus is. What changed?
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What's the Holy Spirit that changed empowered him?
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And so we get a clear picture of Peter before Pentecost and Peter
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after Pentecost and after he receiving the Holy Spirit.
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And there's a great a great level of courage and boldness
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that Peter lives out as a witness for Jesus.
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Now, it's not to say he wasn't perfect.
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Again, in the book of Acts, we see some of Peter's shortcoming
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still. We still see him missing the
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mark a little bit, but it's a marked difference in his life
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because the Holy Spirit. And the same is true for us.
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We're not going to be perfect, but there's a marked difference
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in our lives when we repent, when we receive the life of the
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Spirit, when our heart is regenerated by Him and we are a
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living for Him. And it is the Holy Spirit that
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empowers us to will and do of the good pleasure and purposes
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of God, to be obedient, to remain faithful, and to live in
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His truth. And Jesus isn't surprised by our
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failures because he's always faithful, He's always willing to
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help us, and he's given us the Spirit so that we move towards
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Him in those ways. The second thing I want to say,
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kind of as a bonus, is that our identity leads us to live out
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our purpose. I think that's the point of
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Jesus. Jesus has been affirmed in his
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identity as the Son of God all throughout the Scriptures, so
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much of his life, his ministry, his personal time of prayer and
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public times when Jesus where God opens the heavens and
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affirms Jesus as his Son. Like Jesus's identity led him to
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live on purpose, so so in other words, the identity that Jesus
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had within him helped him stay faithful, living out the mission
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and purpose that God has for him.
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Same is true for your life in my life.
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Think about it, when Jesus steps forward in the garden, says I am
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he, he wasn't just saying hi, my name is Jesus.
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He was embracing the full identity of the Son of God, born
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in the world, come to save his people from his sins, ready to
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be the suffering servant that Isaiah proclaimed and prophesied
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about, and one who has always been the first born of all of
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creation, born to us, for us. Like Jesus is stating, I am He.
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It was a statement of his full awareness of His identity, which
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led him to live out his purpose. It was a revelation in that
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moment of everyone of his divine authority and his divine
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assignment. And when we realized the real
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identity of Jesus, when we meet the real Jesus and encounter the
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real Jesus man, we can't help but bend our knee in allegiance
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and loyalty to Jesus's authority.
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And then again, even as Jesus is arrested, right, He remains
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sovereign, His identity, and he remains on task in his purpose.
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It's not that he was defeated. No, no, He knew His assignment
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was to submit to this. So He divinely and sovereignly
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submitted His will to this process so that he could defeat
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death, defeat sin, and defeat Satan, not be defeated by those
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things. And Jesus, because He knew His
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identity, I was able to stay living in His purpose.
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And the same is true for us. I think when we are confused
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about who we are in Christ, we tend to confuse our purpose.
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I think it's easy to live a selfless, selfish life when we
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don't recognize who God has made us to be.
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I think that we wrestle around this idea of identity a ton and
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because we don't allow God to inform us and confer on to us,
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bestow upon us a proper Kingdom identity, we often don't live
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out our Kingdom purpose. I think the key to living out
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your purpose is first understanding your identity in
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Jesus Christ. And just again, Jesus lived out
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his identity that led him to live out his purpose.
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Here's here's what we do, though.
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We try to take our job or our stage in life and make our
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identity be about that behavior or about that context, right?
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So we think our identity is mother, father, right?
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Because that's what we are. Or we, we think our identity is
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construction worker or businessman or school teacher.
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That's our identity. No, that's the context where we
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live out our assignment. That's how we live.
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That's where we live out our purpose.
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It isn't our identity. Our identity informs our purpose
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and calling our purpose and calling is lived out in a
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specific context of an assignment.
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I've talked about this before when I understand that I am
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loved by God, that I am his Son, that I am called, I am redeemed,
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I am righteous that that I that he's given me gifts and I
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discover what those gifts are. And He's made me in a unique way
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with the fingerprint of God and the imago day of him and the
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image of God that is my identity.
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It's been redeemed and refined by his grace and His mercy.
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When I understand my identity, then I can step into my calling,
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my purpose. What is that?
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Well, the calling and purpose of God is really the same for each
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of us as followers of Jesus. It's to be an ambassador
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representing heaven and bringing the renewal and reign of God
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everywhere we go. That's Our Calling and our
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purpose and the context where we live out Our Calling live out
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our purpose is unique to each of us.
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Our assignments are temporary. Our assignments are the place
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where it's the convergence of our talents, our skills, our
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abilities, our opportunities, our passions, and our stage of
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life like that is all the convergence of what is our
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assignment or the context where we live out our purpose because
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we have an identity formed by God.
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I think of it like like this, when it's a choice that we step
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into and, and when you understand your identity and it
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helps you live out your purpose, then you get, then you can begin
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to live out your assignment and you can do it based on values,
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based on purpose, not pressure, not convenience, but
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convictions, not feelings, but this discipline.
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And I think that's important for us.
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I think immature people or people without purpose often can
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feel tired and they quit. But Jesus models for us.
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Somebody who knew his identity lived out his purpose.
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Therefore he main and maintained living according to his
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convictions. His convictions were, this isn't
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going to be fun. I'm not feeling the cross, but I
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am fully committed to living in submission to Jesus.
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In other words, Jesus didn't live by his feelings.
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He lived by his convictions, which helped him fulfill his
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assignment, helped him live out his purpose.
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I think immature people can easily quit because we are more
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controlled by our feelings than we are our convictions.
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I think when we are mature and we recognize our purpose and we
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are purpose people, when we are purpose driven people, then when
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we feel tired, we're willing to keep going because our why is
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bigger than how we feel right now.
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Our why for what we're doing matters more to us than the
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feelings of being tired, of being weary of of of not wanting
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to know what we have to have a clear picture of what our why
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is. That's part of our purpose as
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part of knowing our assignment in life.
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I want to say it really clear, feelings are real, but your
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feelings don't have to be in charge.
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You really can't build an entire life of purpose around just how
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you feel because your feelings will betray you, feelings will
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betray you and betray your purpose in life.
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I'm not saying that every time you're tired.
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You should just like never rest. I think there's some wisdom in
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learning how to rest and living wisely.
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But what I'm saying is just because I'm tired doesn't mean
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I'm going to bail on my convictions.
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And many times it's times when I'm actually weary and I need to
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rest, but I'm just going to like, man, I just got to keep
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going that I don't actually refuel properly.
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Well, if I'm going to fuel myself properly, it's because I
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have a strong conviction. I'm going to live with
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discipline and get good sleep and and protect those times time
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off. Why?
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Because my conviction has has been shaped by my calling and my
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why is bigger than the emotional feelings of well, I just feel
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like staying up later today or I feel like sleeping in.
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You know, I'm going to live disciplined not by my emotions,
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but disciplined because of my conviction to my calling,
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conviction to my values, conviction to what I I want.
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Feelings come and go. Feelings will betray you, your
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your your emotive state on how you feel about a circumstance.
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Circumstantial obedience is not what we're called to.
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We're called to a consecration of obedience regardless of
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circumstance in the Kingdom of God.
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I think when we live by our convictions, we we predetermine
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or pre decide to live according to our why because of our
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purpose. You know, feelings will say I'm
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going to skip church, but conviction says, As for me and
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my house, I'm going to serve the Lord.
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Feelings might say, I don't really want to get up and read
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the Bible, but my conviction says his word is a land to my
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feet and a light to my path and it fuels my life.
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And I want to have my mind renewed to the word of God and
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to the worldview of scripture rather than the worldview of
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secularism around me. And so I'm going to get into
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Scripture more than I'm going to scroll on TikTok.
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I'm just, I'm going to live by convictions, not by what's
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convenient or what I feel in in the moment.
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And when you know your identity, you can live with purpose.
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And your purpose helps you to live out your convictions.
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We want to be people of purpose, people of convictions.
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Listen, you're not always going to feel like praying, like
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giving, like forgiving, like loving other people.
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But conviction says I'm going to do it anyways because it's what
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I want to do. I don't know what Jesus felt
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exactly when Peter denied him. I have a feeling, I mean, I kind
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of get some of it, but Jesus pre decided how he was going to
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respond. He had already in his mind
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determined which way he was going to go.
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I think when you know why you're here on the earth, you can stop
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wasting time on things that are stealing from your purpose.
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And that comes because we recognize our purpose, we know
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our identity, we recognize our purpose, and we live out Our
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Calling and conviction. Purpose gives structure to your
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life. See you start asking questions
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like does this thing help my purpose or does this hurt my
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purpose? I heard Andy Stanley say years
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ago, in light of my calling and my identity, does this fill in
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the blank with whatever it is, make it a wise decision in light
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up my calling and my purpose? Does this decision, does it seem
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wise in light of my calling, my character, my purpose and what
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God has assigned me to do? Well, I think that's a good
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filter for life. You might want to do it.
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It might even feel like there's going to be some pay off to it.
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But if it doesn't align with your purpose, if it doesn't help
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your, if it hurts your purpose, even I think that helps you
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begin to filter and structure your life based upon conviction
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to your purpose. Listen, Jesus structured his
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entire life around the purpose and calling that God has for him
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around his mission, around his why.
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I think we need to have a clear understanding of our why to get
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in with God and know what is our why for the season.
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What is our assignment that is shaped by our purpose, that that
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helps us because of our identity?
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Because you cannot live accidentally and fulfill your
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destiny like you will not accidentally fulfill your, your,
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your, your destiny. It requires intention.
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It does require discipline, and those disciplines are shaped by
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your convictions because you know your purpose.
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What does Romans 12 say? It's just to present your bodies
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as a living sacrifice. Why?
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Because there are some things that are good and acceptable and
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part of the perfect will of God. And there are things in life
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that are not good, are not acceptable, and are not a part
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of God's will for your life. I think it needs to help you
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live in that way. Because purpose people live
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sacrificially. Present your bodies as a living
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sacrifice, living sacrifice. Why?
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Because you need to be willing to sacrifice the things, the
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commitments, the ideologies, the practices, the habits, the
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commitments that are contrary to the purpose that God has for
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your life, that are contrary to what pleases God, is good to
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God, acceptable and perfect will of God.
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We have to renew our minds daily, otherwise we will pursue
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pleasure over purpose. Purpose driven people live out
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their assignments on purpose rather than being enslaved or
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driven by the pleasures over. Today, let's be people who
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choose purpose over pleasure. That's temporary.
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Whatever your assignment is, whatever it is, can I just
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encourage you, be faithful in your assignment.
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Don't bail on your assignment. Stay faithful in the assignment
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God has given to you, your marriage, your family, your job,
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your context, your your calling as you serve in the church, as
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you are engaged in community, stay faithful there.
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That's where God wants you. Listen again, I, I don't know
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that Jesus ever felt like going to the cross.
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In fact, in the garden you prayed Lord, not my will, but
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your will be done. Because if it's possible, I want
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this cup to pass. But he's, he's willing to take
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the cup. He's willing to drink it because
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Jesus like man, not my will, not the pleasure that I'm after
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Lord, your will. I'm willing to walk through
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painful moments because there's purpose in these things.
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When you get a hold of God's purpose for your life, you live
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on purpose, not chasing pleasure.
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And I think real maturity means putting away the childish self
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interests of life and choosing a path of service, choosing a path
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that pursues God, walks with God.
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I think purpose in our life looks like, I've heard Pastor
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Javen Chavez define it like this purpose.
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Every man needs a purpose, he says.
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And purpose looks like someone to love, something to do, and
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something to look forward to, something to love, someone to
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love. Every, every, every.
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The purpose of our life is shaped around someone to love,
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something to do, and something to look forward to.
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In other words, there's people in our life that matters.
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There are things that God is asking us to do, and there is a
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future that we're looking forward to.
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There's something in the future. Why is that important?
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Because I think faith, faith, hope, and love is what Jesus
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Scripture says is what remains. Love gives you someone to serve,
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faith gives you something to do, and hope gives you something to
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look forward to. I'll say it again, love gives
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you someone to serve. Faith gives you something to do,
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and hope gives you something to look forward to.
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That's your purpose, to love, faith and hope.
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That's what we're called to love, faith and hope.
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Someone to love, something to do and something to look forward
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to. You need to be able to identify
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in your life your purpose around those three things.
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Something to love, something to do, something to look forward
25:24
to, love, faith, and hope. And I think that's where you
25:27
find fulfillment and define the values in your life that will
25:33
help you fulfill your purpose. Now, can I just say this about
25:37
values? It wasn't in my notes, but I'm
25:38
going to say it anyways. When you live a value purposed
25:43
life, values let you know what it is you're willing to let go
25:49
of in order to maintain your value.
25:52
A value isn't just something that you have fond affection
25:55
for. A value is something that you're
25:57
willing to allow other people to walk away from your life because
26:01
you're not compromising on your values.
26:04
There are certain things that as a church, right when I think
26:07
about our values, I'm willing to let people find another church
26:13
if they disagree with our values because our values are are what
26:17
is central to who we are. It's part of our value.
26:19
There are certain values I have in my life that I'm willing to
26:23
lose opportunity over. I'm willing to addict a
26:27
reputation on. I'm willing to allow people to
26:30
misunderstand me about because I've certain values that I am
26:34
just not moving on. These are values that I'm
26:37
holding on to and and and if it doesn't fit in those values, I'm
26:41
really not interested in pursuing it with my life.
26:44
I'm so, so values really are safeguards and boundaries, if
26:49
you will. Values help describe your life
26:53
of what's in it, which means by virtue, if something is in your
26:57
value system, then there are things that you leave outside of
27:00
your value system and you don't let come in.
27:02
You don't. You don't chase those things
27:03
because they're not your values. You don't chase those people
27:06
because they're not after your same values.
27:08
So a value driven life is one that helps you fulfill your
27:12
purpose. You need to know what your
27:13
values are. What are your values for your
27:15
family? For your finances?
27:17
The values for your time? Values for your, your, your
27:22
education, your mind, values for your health.
27:25
You need to determine what those are because values help you know
27:28
what to say yes to and what to say no to.
27:32
And can I tell you this? When it comes to values, when it
27:36
comes to purpose, when it comes to your calling, at the end of
27:39
the day, the most powerful thing you can do is say yes to Jesus.
27:43
Because in saying yes to him, you're saying no to a lot of
27:46
other things. Your yes is only as powerful as
27:52
all of the Nos you're willing to give.
27:55
Again, what makes my yes to my wife so powerful is that I give
28:00
1000 Nos to every other person out there.
28:04
She gets my yes, which means I'm saying no to all of you.
28:09
If I start saying yes to multiple, then I'm in trouble.
28:13
It dilutes my yes. My yes stands powerful because
28:17
of all of the Nos that I get. And my concern for the body of
28:20
Christ is that we are a people full of yes and we haven't
28:24
learned the power of no. We say yes to all sorts of
28:27
things and we need to learn the power of no.
28:29
Why? Because the power of no is what
28:33
strengthens our purpose, strengthens our values, and it
28:37
strengthens our loyalty to Jesus.
28:41
Here's the last thing that I'll say is that I found it
28:44
interesting in the contrast between Peter and Jesus, that
28:49
Peter lurked in the shadows, but Jesus kept stepping into the
28:53
light. And there was this kind of
28:56
contrast or dichotomy in the text between the darkness and
29:00
the light, the darkness and the light, the shadow and the the
29:03
light. I think when I think about that,
29:06
nothing good happens in the shadows.
29:10
Now, light is definitely a key motif and a theme throughout the
29:14
Gospel of John, right? He, he writes about light all
29:16
the time. In fact, you start reading first
29:18
John, some of his later writings, and then he writes
29:21
about light even more. That's where we get like if we,
29:24
if we live in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
29:27
with the light, which I think is kind of a direct contrast to
29:30
what we see. Peter did not stay in the light.
29:32
He stayed in the shadows. He tried to warm himself,
29:35
conceal himself, hide himself, and ultimately led to denying
29:39
Christ. I think wherever we have shadows
29:43
in our life and we don't let the light of Jesus shine in an area
29:47
of our life, ultimately that will eventually lead us.
29:53
It will eventually lead us to a place of denial in Jesus.
29:56
I think shadows. When I think about shadows in
29:59
our life, I think about things like shame they can think of.
30:02
So like sin, you have isolation. I think about it's in the shadow
30:08
where deceit grows. When I think about shadows, I
30:10
think about fear where our imagination kind of goes wild
30:14
beyond a reality or beyond kind of creating a a forecasted
30:19
future that that's absent of God's power at work in our
30:23
lives, that's missing his love. And it convinces us that he's
30:27
not with us, that we're all alone.
30:29
Like I think that shadows become this, this, this understanding
30:33
for me of anything that lurks that that I'm unwilling to bring
30:38
into the light. It's ultimately an area where I
30:40
don't have fellowship with God, where I'm not experiencing union
30:43
with God. James 113 through 18 says this.
30:48
No one undergoing a trial should say I being tempted by God,
30:51
since God is not tempted by the dead, by evil, and He himself
30:54
doesn't tempt anyone, that each person is tempted when he is
30:57
drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.
31:00
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when
31:03
sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
31:05
So don't be deceived, dear brothers and sisters, every good
31:08
and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
31:12
light, who does not change like a shifting shadow.
31:17
And by his own choice He has given us the birth by the word
31:19
of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of His
31:23
creature creatures. And I love that it says that God
31:26
is not a shifting shadow. In other words, God is fully
31:29
light. There is no shadow game in God.
31:31
God doesn't have hidden agendas and motives.
31:34
He is fully light. He has revealed his word to us
31:37
and he invites us to live into the light of relationship with
31:41
Him. And we need to examine the areas
31:44
of our life that we try to leave in the shadows that isolate us.
31:48
Maybe where there's shame, there's some sin that's ongoing.
31:51
There's something that because in the shadows, deceit grows.
31:54
In the shadows, isolation grows. In the shadow, fear grows.
31:57
In the shadows we miss Jesus. Jesus stays in the light.
32:00
He stood in the light. Peter lurked in the shadow,
32:03
tried to warm himself. And I think sometimes we try to
32:07
warm ourselves in life. We try to fix problems on our
32:11
own. We try to try try to live with
32:14
willpower. And we need to live in the light
32:18
and not live in the shadow. They need things that we're
32:20
ashamed of, things that we're doubting, things that that we're
32:23
wrestling with. I think we need to bring them
32:25
into the light, not live in the shadow.
32:27
Ultimately, anything that we leave in the shadow will lead us
32:30
to a place of denying Jesus. And nothing good happens in the
32:35
shadows, only more deceit and darkness grows in the shadows.
32:38
So, so I guess my point is this, if there's something that you
32:41
feel is in the shadow, bring it into the light.
32:43
Talk to somebody about it. Tell somebody that you can trust
32:46
about those things. Pray with somebody about them.
32:48
Don't don't live in isolation. Reach out to somebody and talk.
32:52
Don't let deceit grow. Don't let fear grow.
32:54
Don't like sin and shame grow. All of that grows in the shadow
32:57
of who we are. Let's let's let the light of
33:00
Christ in and shine the light together in this area then so
33:04
that we can live faithful. We can live loyal, we can be
33:06
obedient. We can be, we can we can live in
33:10
the truth. Jesus is the way.
33:11
Jesus is the truth. Jesus is real life and he is the
33:15
light of our He's a lot of our world.
33:18
Let's get into a few questions and response now.
33:21
We had several come in and I'm going to do my best to answer
33:24
them fully and succinctly if it can help us.
33:28
Here's our first question. Jesus took on our suffering to
33:30
reverse the curse of sin and separation.
33:33
He was willing to suffer in order to restore perfect union
33:35
with God and mankind. Should believers live their
33:38
lives in the sacred, sanctified, reverse manner in order to live
33:42
in the world but not be of the world?
33:46
I think that we need to live in union with God.
33:49
That's, I think the goal. I don't know that it's so much
33:51
about trying to separate or even in that way, but I think it's in
33:56
union with God that we become sanctified.
33:59
It's in union with God that we naturally begin to see the
34:02
reversal of the even impact of sin in our life.
34:06
I also think that many things in our life, especially our world
34:10
view, which impacts every area of our life, needs to be renewed
34:15
in light of that union with God. And so I think that the the
34:18
pinnacle point is really union with God, love from God in God
34:22
with God, and living in God with God of God, abiding in him.
34:26
I think there are two dangers though, two things that are
34:30
dangerous or or threatening to our union with God and our
34:34
allegiance to him, right? So our loyalty, our faith in
34:37
him, our union with God. There there are two things that
34:41
are are threatening it that are that are trying to disrupt,
34:44
distort or diminish even our our union with God.
34:48
Jesus calls it the yeast of Pharisees and the yeast of Herod
34:51
that in Matthew, you know, the 16 or 18, it's also in Mark
34:55
somewhere Jesus sensory of Philippi and he's like, Hey, who
34:58
do people say that I am? And they're like, oh, you're the
34:59
crisis of the living God. And what what Peter is actually
35:02
making a declaration of allegiance to Jesus as King,
35:05
Jesus as Lord. And in his declaration, Jesus
35:08
affirms that. But just before that, they're
35:11
having a conversation and Jesus says, beware of the yeast of
35:14
Herod and the yeast of the Pharisees because there's
35:17
something that will try to contaminate the purity, the
35:23
wholeness, the fullness of our of our devotion to God, of our
35:26
allegiance to Jesus. And the use of Herod is all
35:29
about trying to assimilate with the world and the worldview.
35:33
And the use of Pharisees is all about trying to live as a
35:36
separate, separate out yourself and kind of do it on your own
35:40
or, or try to be holier than thou.
35:42
And I don't think separation is the goal.
35:45
Assimilation isn't the goal. I think Jesus rightly shows us
35:48
that it's the incarnation way of living.
35:51
So when we Incarnate our life and love of God, then our love
35:54
for God permeates everything that we do.
35:55
It re prioritizes everything that we do.
35:58
And so I don't know that we need to.
36:00
Well, let me say it this way. I do think that there is an
36:03
element of, of suffering or pain or self denial that is required
36:08
to be in union with God because you can't be in union with God
36:12
and not submitted to God. And in order to submit to God,
36:16
that's going to require that you have to deal with the idol and
36:19
God of your own self, your own doing, your own choosing, Right?
36:22
Like it's just part of what we have to wrestle with.
36:26
I think that anytime we try to, to fully separate or assimilate,
36:32
we're, we're, we're missing the mark and the goal is walking
36:34
incarnately embodied in union with God.
36:37
So I think union with Jesus makes us kind of a non anxious
36:41
presence of redemption in our world.
36:43
I think union with God helps us to find a light and joy and
36:47
celebration in the moments of our life, right?
36:49
Like, just because of in other words, like I don't think that
36:54
we need to be people who never celebrate birthdays or never
36:57
enjoy special holidays and moments or never kind of cheer
37:02
on someone else. And we always need to live
37:04
stoically or we're always without delight and we need to
37:07
deny anything that we enjoy. We can't have.
37:09
I don't think that's, I don't think we need to live that way.
37:12
I think that there are things that God gives us for joy and
37:14
delight and beauty and celebration and wonder and all
37:17
and just pure pleasure that that those are all flow out of our
37:21
union with God, not in replacement or as a substitute
37:26
for union with God. I think, you know, let's just
37:29
take entertainment, for example. I think entertainment can very
37:32
easily disrupt and distort our union with God.
37:37
It can, it can even contaminate our union with God when we're
37:40
when we're being entertained so much in the in the wrong things.
37:44
But if our union with God is primary, we can enjoy things of
37:51
entertainment without, without guilt, without shame, without
37:54
feeling like we're too much like the world because we went to a
37:57
movie or we enjoyed this thing. Or I don't think that's
38:00
necessarily the case. It's when we go to entertainment
38:04
as our source to make ourselves feel better to, to live in a way
38:09
that that kind of makes us come alive or something, rather than
38:12
being in union with God. When we replace union with God
38:14
with entertainment, I think then we're in dangerous territory.
38:18
But I think there are things that there are in our world that
38:20
we must resist, mostly mindsets and attitudes that will lead us
38:24
away from faithfulness to Jesus. We need to be aware of those
38:27
things. And so we need to reverse those
38:29
things, renew those things, and in reality, we need to enjoy
38:34
union with God at all costs. And that often means we have to
38:38
deny ourselves. We have to reorient our
38:41
priorities. We have to rethink how our
38:44
relationship with things like politics and money and our own
38:48
selves and our families. We have to rethink the
38:50
priorities or the ways in which we interact with those things
38:53
now because any of those good gifts that God gives to us to
38:56
enjoy can become gods or substitutes for gods in and of
39:01
themselves. And union with God is what we're
39:04
really after. Here's the next question.
39:07
Can you expound on spiritual blindness?
39:09
Like, how do we get there and what does it look like?
39:12
Yeah, So I talked about spiritual blindness just kind of
39:15
like as a passing when I talked about how the Pharisees, as they
39:21
were holding a secret illegal trial, they were basically
39:24
breaking their own laws in order to get Jesus tried.
39:30
But yet we're unwilling to like cross the boundaries of Pilots
39:33
Hall in order to walk with. So they made Pilot like come out
39:37
of his house because had they walked into this Pagan place,
39:40
they would have been defiled and would not be able to keep their
39:43
laws in order to participate in Passover.
39:46
And I was talking about the just the the spiritual blindness that
39:51
is there that leads us to kind of justify certain actions while
39:54
ignoring the others. And it's just kind of a mess.
39:58
And we actually talked about spiritual blindness when we were
40:01
in John 98 and 9 and episode 37 on the podcast, we talked a
40:07
little bit more even about spiritual blindness there too.
40:10
In fact, Ephesians one kind of gives us the key things that we
40:14
have been blinded by this age by the rulers of darkness and and
40:18
Ephesians one tells us to pray that the God of our
40:20
understanding would open our eyes so that we could see him.
40:25
And I think spiritual blindness ultimately causes us to miss
40:28
Jesus while thinking that we have found Jesus.
40:34
And when we talk about spiritual blindness, and when I talked
40:37
about it in previous episodes and when we taught in John 8-9,
40:42
I talked about spiritual Anton syndrome, right?
40:45
This, this, this, this actual eye condition where people are
40:49
fully convinced they're seeing something or that they can see
40:52
but they can't. Where they are completely
40:54
imagining that their eyesight is fine, but it's not really there.
40:58
And there they are fully convinced that they're seeing
41:01
clearly, but they're not, and they're, they're blind to their
41:05
own blindness. And I think that we do that we,
41:09
we can convince that we're seeing the things of God clearly
41:13
while ignoring our inability and convincing others even that we
41:16
see right or that we are right or that we, we hold the right.
41:19
And so again, that the Pharisees were so willing to ignore the
41:25
fact that they were doing an illegal thing.
41:28
Why? Because they deeply, they were
41:30
convinced that their desire was more important than the law.
41:34
So they were willing to bend the law to suit their desire, but
41:37
then unwilling to carry it out. But while I'm not, I'm not
41:40
getting close because I got to participate in Passover.
41:42
And if I get close to, to pilot and I walk in his building, then
41:45
I'm I've now walked in an unclean place and I'm not able
41:48
to keep kosher. And now, now I can't participate
41:50
Passover and I've got to be able to participate Passover.
41:52
And so like, like the value system gets skewed and I think
41:57
we can easily skew our value system where we mistreat other
42:01
people and justify the mistreatment of other people
42:05
because of XY or Z. And I think that we can become
42:08
spiritually blind. Let me kind of expand on this,
42:11
double click on this a little bit more.
42:12
I think we spiritual blindness is a part Part 1 by a denial of
42:17
reality. Just as people with Anton
42:20
syndrome cannot see but insist that they can, spiritually blind
42:23
people often deny their need for God, insisting they see life
42:27
clearly on their own. There's false perceptions as it
42:30
relates to spiritual blindness. In Anton syndrome.
42:34
Many patients describe details that they can't actually
42:37
perceive, similar to how spiritually blind people
42:39
construct false belief or self-made truths to explain life
42:44
even apart from God. I think spiritual blindness is
42:47
seen in an unawareness of our own deficit, like those with
42:53
Anton syndrome are unaware of their own blindness, reflecting
42:57
how sin blinds us to to our lost condition and our own need of
43:01
salvation. We can't see what we can't see.
43:04
The reason it's a blind spot is because it's blind to your
43:08
sight. And we all have them.
43:11
The need for outside help is evident.
43:13
In fact, healing requires the recognition of a condition like
43:16
this. And a much like spiritual sight
43:20
only can be restored by God's grace through Christ, who is the
43:23
light of the world. And so our own eyes need to be
43:25
restored by someone else, by Jesus himself.
43:28
And, and ultimately, I think when we're spiritually blind, we
43:31
play the victim. When we are walking in spiritual
43:34
blindness, we are walking in pride, convinced that our way is
43:37
better and, and, and which causes us to justify, ignore, or
43:42
diminish the downside of any one thing.
43:44
I think it causes us to lack actual integrity and honesty in
43:49
how we talk about certain topics.
43:53
I, I think that that leads to a spiritual blindness, a spiritual
43:56
elitism, if you will, and the Pharisees demonstrated in this
44:00
passage so, so much. And I think it's, it's
44:03
dangerous. I think we need to be careful
44:06
anytime we're for me, spiritual blindness is when I will ignore
44:11
the spirit of the law in order to maintain the letter of the
44:14
law. So I feel better about myself.
44:17
I think that Jesus wants us to embrace both.
44:20
In fact, think about the Good Samaritan.
44:23
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Levite and the
44:27
ferret and the and the priest did everything according to the
44:31
law when it came to the man that they found on the side of the
44:33
road. No one in the audience would
44:35
have thought that the Pharisee, their Levite, acted out of
44:38
character, for for them it was the right thing for them to do.
44:42
They were adhering to their own life and code.
44:45
The the problem is that they were so committed to their code,
44:49
their life, their, their, their, their, their way, that they
44:53
missed a greater way, a greater truth, a greater principle.
44:57
And so they you invert the principles.
45:00
And so often times we, we will do things that make us appear
45:04
righteous without actually demonstrating righteousness.
45:08
We will actually appear compassionate, but we're not
45:11
actually living with compassion. And that blindness, this is an
45:15
inversion of, of, of spirit and law and, and, and we outwardly
45:20
sin, but we're outwardly, we're shiny, Jesus says, but inwardly
45:24
our cup is filthy. That's spiritual blindness where
45:27
we're missing the mark. I think if you, the longer you
45:32
go without confessing sin, the longer you go without admitting
45:35
a fault or a failure, the longer you go with sitting to
45:39
understand someone else's perception, the more susceptible
45:44
and likely you are to being spiritually blind.
45:48
And by listening to somebody, I, I don't mean arguing and I
45:50
certainly don't even mean that you need to compromise in what
45:54
is true. I just mean the unwillingness to
45:56
listen kind of indicates a spiritual ineptness, spiritual
46:00
blindness to those things. And I think about actions in my
46:06
life. I talked about how sometimes my
46:10
own pain of rejection and fear and fear of rejection led to
46:14
like bad parenting decisions and, and I have such shame over
46:17
over those things. And I, I think so often we can
46:23
misdirect our anger at our kids because of a blind spot
46:28
blindness that we have, because we're not really mad at our kids
46:31
for their actions. We're mad at the embarrassment
46:33
we feel or we feel out of control.
46:37
And because everything feels out of control, we just yell and get
46:40
angry because we're not in control and we feel ultimately
46:43
scared and insecure in that moment.
46:46
And I think as long as we're we're willing to blame our kids
46:48
for our anger rather than deal with what is spiking us to be
46:52
angry, we remain spiritually blind there.
46:55
There are roots that are causing our actions, and we if we don't
47:00
take notice that our actions are unhealthy, we'll never address
47:04
the root that's making them unhealthy.
47:07
Or if we justify our actions, our outward things, in such a
47:12
way that we never actually look at the roots of our life, I
47:16
think that's spiritual blindness.
47:18
I think that's part of spiritual blindness, ongoingly.
47:21
And so we need to be careful not to use spiritual things to
47:24
justify or blame others rather than looking at the cause of our
47:29
actions. And I think anger is an easy one
47:31
because anger is a secondary emotion.
47:33
So every time we're angry, you can blame the people that you
47:36
think made you angry, but the real reason you're angry is
47:39
something underneath in the root system of your heart and soul
47:42
that you haven't been healed of. And that's why you're getting
47:45
angry. It's not them, and as long as
47:47
you're pointing your finger at them as to why you're angry,
47:50
you're actually never going to deal with your anger.
47:52
And that's a sign of spiritual blindness.
47:53
So for me, anger is like the easiest place for me to see my
47:56
own blindness because it alerts me to something, alerts me to
48:00
something else. Here's the next question.
48:03
What do what part does emotion play in discovering truth?
48:08
Well, I kind of just hinted at it like when I'm angry, that's
48:12
an emotion. And if I'm undiscerning, if I'm
48:15
living blindly, I will blame other people for my anger, or
48:19
I'll blame the circumstance for my anger.
48:21
But if I'm wise, I'm discerning, and my eyes are spiritually
48:24
open, I will recognize my anger. It's an emotion and get to the
48:28
root, the meaning, the truth underneath where that emotion
48:32
comes from. Emotions are a byproduct of a
48:36
belief, meaning emotions alert us to something that we are
48:42
believing or that we are experiencing that is shaping A
48:45
belief or or creating a belief. And the things that we're
48:49
experiencing or the belief that we're holding, the reality is
48:53
those may not be true. So you can experience an emotion
48:58
and that emotion actually underneath it is being
49:01
motivated. It's a byproduct of something
49:04
that you are believing, believing about that moment,
49:07
believing about yourself, believing about other people.
49:09
But the reality is what you're believing that is creating that
49:13
emotion might not be true. And so I think emotions are
49:18
meant to alert us to discover what is happening on the inside
49:22
of us. I think that's it.
49:25
I think emotions are meant to be that alert system.
49:28
I think also. So in that case, that's how
49:31
emotions help us discover truth, not necessarily define truth.
49:35
They help us discern and discover truth and more
49:40
correctly, emotions help us discern and discover incorrect
49:43
truth. A lot of times.
49:45
I think the other thing that emotions do is emotions kind of
49:48
enrich, they can enrich our life in, in other words, the ability
49:52
to find joy, the ability to find sadness.
49:54
Now, if you never experienced sadness, you wouldn't know what
49:57
joy is. If you never knew what joy is,
49:59
you wouldn't know what sadness is.
50:01
And so it's, it's kind of like you, you need both, both are
50:04
there. It's kind of AI heard it said
50:06
that if God never exceeds your expectations, or excuse me,
50:10
here's how it goes. It says if God always met your
50:12
expectations, you wouldn't know what it was like for God to
50:16
exceed your expectations. In other words, they, they,
50:19
they, they have a way of enriching how we experience
50:22
life. The other thing that emotions
50:24
can do, not only can they enrich our life, if we're not careful,
50:28
emotions will enslave us to ourselves.
50:31
Emotions will enslave us to an experience.
50:34
Emotions will enslave us to a moment rather than helping us
50:38
live out our purpose, as we talked about earlier in the
50:41
podcast. So I think emotions are a
50:43
byproduct, not necessarily our truth, but they do help play a
50:49
role of alerting us of something that we're believing, and
50:52
sometimes the thing that we believe is actually true.
50:54
So the emotion is appropriate, but in that moment, we don't
50:58
want to be enslaved to an emotion.
51:01
We want to allow emotions to help enrich our lives and the
51:04
lives of those around us. Here's the next question.
51:08
How do we know that Jesus is the king of our heart like most
51:10
people who claim Christianity say he is?
51:13
But how is one really sure? Like, how do we distinguish the
51:16
difference between Jesus being the king of our heart and
51:18
missing the mark under pressure versus like a heart full of evil
51:21
and not of him at all? It's a really, I think, honest
51:26
question. It's a question that I think
51:28
many people wrestle with. The first thing I would say is
51:31
when it comes to is Jesus the king of your heart is have you
51:34
taken the first steps of repentance?
51:36
Like did you choose Jesus to to be your king?
51:40
Like did did you repent of your sins, confess him as Lord,
51:44
declare him his king and choose to turn your life to walk in his
51:48
direction? Like that's repentance.
51:50
So have you taken the first steps of repentance?
51:52
If you've taken the first step of repentance, I think Jesus
51:54
really is the king of your heart.
51:57
Now the problem is that our heart is crowded.
51:59
The problem is that there are lots of things that want to
52:02
compete still for kingship, and so we need to keep choosing
52:07
Jesus more and more. Again, I used this earlier when
52:12
talking about values. Values of saying yes help us
52:16
know what to say no to and our values help us say, say yes to
52:19
the right things and no to the wrong things.
52:21
When you choose, like when your allegiance is Jesus, your yes to
52:25
him as Lord is only as strong as your nose that you're giving to
52:30
everything else. So if you're saying yes to
52:32
Jesus, but also yes to this and yes to that and yes to hear and
52:35
yes, you're saying yes to a lot of things.
52:38
And I'm not saying that means that we don't do anything other
52:40
than like sit and worship and pray and talk to God all day.
52:42
That that's not what I'm talking about.
52:43
I'm talking about like the the trust that you place in Jesus.
52:48
How much trust are you putting in Jesus plus something else,
52:52
plus the government plus your spouse to meet your needs, plus
52:58
your kids to make you feel fulfilled.
53:00
All of the pluses devalue our yes to Jesus in some way.
53:08
They they disrupt it in some way.
53:10
So I think, how do I know if man, I've, I've actually put
53:14
Jesus or if I'm just claiming something?
53:17
I think it's all about the nose. What, what are the things you're
53:19
saying no to? If you said yes to Jesus and you
53:22
meant it, then what are the things you're saying saying no
53:24
to? Now, I think that kind of helps
53:26
you identify who is ruling and reigning in your heart a little
53:30
bit. Now there's a process to that.
53:32
I'm not I'm not saying we're perfect at it and Jesus
53:34
certainly isn't asking us to be perfect in it.
53:36
But I think that the distinction between Jesus being the king of
53:39
my heart and me missing and I just kind of mess up or I missed
53:42
the mark under pressure and I'm not perfect versus like my heart
53:45
is evil. It hasn't been regenerated and
53:47
I'm not his child at all. Like what do I know?
53:50
Well, Philippians 213 says for it is God who is working in you
53:53
both the will and do to work according to His good purposes.
53:58
Hebrews 1321 says that God equips you with everything good
54:04
to do, His will working in us what is pleasing in His sight
54:08
through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever in
54:11
Christ Jesus. Amen.
54:13
In other words, when your desires for God are growing,
54:17
it's because your heart is being changed by Him.
54:21
If you don't desire God at all, then then you really do need to
54:26
question, have I really repented and have I said no to everything
54:29
else? Have I left the life of sin?
54:31
Or am I still trying to live a life pleasing to myself and yet
54:36
permissible by God? I think that that's where that
54:39
the confliction of our kingdoms come.
54:42
I think that's where you have bursts, like Peter has said,
54:46
where, where he starts to deny it entirely.
54:49
I, I think the danger is not in our denial, but when our denying
54:54
because of a a conflict in our souls leads us to betray him,
54:57
leads us to totally disown God. I think those are dangerous
55:03
places to be. I think that's the contrast
55:05
between Judas and Peter. Peter's heart was out of place
55:08
that he knew his denial was wrong and he, he knew his, what
55:12
was in him needed to change and he wanted his full allegiance to
55:15
be in Jesus, but but he didn't do it perfect.
55:18
I I think that's the difference between when when you have
55:21
conviction, it's a good thing. Why?
55:23
Because it means your heart is consecrated towards God and
55:26
there is something in your heart that isn't of God and you're
55:28
feeling that conviction. That's a good thing.
55:32
But Judas, on the other hand, his heart had grown so hard that
55:36
his many denials led to a full betrayal, a full disowning, if
55:42
you will, of Jesus, a full saying, I can't follow you, you
55:46
have failed me, I am rejecting you.
55:48
And that full rejection and betrayal.
55:51
And that was a different thing. And I think Peter and Judas
55:54
experienced different outcomes in that way.
55:56
The desire to submit to God is born of God.
55:59
So if there is a desire in your heart to submit to God, know
56:01
that God is working in your heart.
56:03
You can hear truth. Thus you repent.
56:06
Jesus said those who are of me and of the truth hear the truth
56:10
and they hear my voice is the truth.
56:11
So if you're hearing a conviction, if you're hearing
56:13
something that matter, I missed the mark, I need to repent.
56:16
Well, that that by default tells you that you're hearing the
56:18
truth of God and that he's giving you and that he's working
56:21
in you right now to will and do according to his good purposes.
56:26
And I think God gives us embodied reminders that he's
56:29
working in US things like communion, things like
56:32
confession of our sins. These are things that we
56:34
participate in physically as ongoing reminders that God is
56:40
working in us boast the will and do of his good pleasure because
56:43
he's the king of our heart. But we've lived with dual
56:46
allegiances for so long that it that we're we're having to come
56:50
back to moments of saying no God, you have my heart.
56:52
No, God, you can have my heart. You can have my heart.
56:55
In fact, one of my favorite worship songs that I just keep
57:00
singing again and again right now is a song called Half My
57:03
Heart by Bridge Worship. And there's a part of the bridge
57:09
that says, if it's not of you, I don't want it.
57:13
I don't want anything, God but you.
57:15
And then there's this like anthem that starts to rise in
57:17
the song. And I just find it as as part of
57:19
my own soul's confession. God, if it's not of you, burn it
57:24
away. Take anything out of my life
57:26
that doesn't honor you and it doesn't keep you as king of my
57:29
heart. I think that's how you know, if
57:32
you never feel conviction around your sin and it doesn't, and you
57:36
have no desire to draw closer to God, then I think you have to
57:38
ask yourself some serious questions.
57:41
But if your heart is for God, you're desiring him and you know
57:44
you, there's conviction in your heart and the Holy Spirit is
57:46
working, and that's a good thing.
57:48
And it takes God to do that. And so I think that does mean
57:51
that Jesus is the king of your heart.
57:53
But there are competing things that keep trying to dethrone
57:57
him. And we have to work hard in
57:59
renewing our mind and offering our bodies as a living sacrifice
58:02
to God so that our allegiance and consecration to him is
58:05
ongoing. And I think that's part of how
58:07
we know and how we live in that way.
58:10
Here's the next question. You said something about
58:13
happiness is the goal and pain is the enemy.
58:15
Being a secular world view, would you say then that a
58:18
spiritual worldview would just be that Jesus is the goal and
58:22
evil is the enemy? I think that's a really solid
58:25
contrast. And I definitely think that's a
58:26
good thing to hold to. Like Jesus is my goal.
58:28
Like I want Jesus, I want him, I want his presence, I want his
58:32
life, I want his love, I want union with him.
58:34
And evil or anything of the enemy is a delay of deceit, and
58:37
that's going to try to corrupt that and shift my worldview.
58:41
I think that's true. Again, remember that maybe I
58:46
would even take it a step further or maybe say this to
58:49
clarify what we mean by evil, because the enemy, I think, gets
58:53
us to prioritize our self over God.
58:56
And what did James say? We read it earlier in the kind
59:00
of the bonus content there at the end, it says that no one
59:04
undergoing trials should say that I'm being tempted by God.
59:06
God doesn't tempt us with evil, but anyone who is tempted is
59:11
drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.
59:15
And then after that desire is conceived, it gives birth to
59:18
sin. And when sin is fully grown, it
59:21
gives birth to death. And so James is kind of giving
59:23
us this process. This is what you need to pay
59:25
attention to are the things in your heart that make you
59:29
prioritize self over submission to God.
59:33
And so if we want to say the evil is the enemy, yes, I agree
59:37
with that. But evil starts as a seed of
59:40
self glorification. And that's how the enemy
59:43
deceives us. Because if we think it's good
59:47
for us and it's a benefit for us, we'll live in that
59:50
direction. But the subtlety is that we can
59:53
easily prioritize self over God or self as God, and we
59:57
emancipate ourselves from God and we embrace self as our own
1:00:01
God. And that's really where
1:00:02
secularism comes into play. And so I would, I would
1:00:07
definitely say Jesus is our goal, Union with him is our
1:00:10
goal. And the enemy is trying to
1:00:12
steal, kill and destroy that. But how he steal, kills and
1:00:16
destroys that is to get us infatuated with our self so that
1:00:20
we filter everything through. How do I feel about that?
1:00:23
What do I think about that? What is good for me in this
1:00:26
moment? And we live with a radical
1:00:28
individualism that just isn't present in Scripture.
1:00:31
And it causes us to prioritize self over God.
1:00:35
Which is why several years ago, I I I recorded a Sabbath Sunday
1:00:41
video. In fact, I may have been sitting
1:00:42
right here and I was introducing the idea of reading the Bible
1:00:46
recap, and our goal in reading the Scripture would be to know
1:00:50
God through His Word, not know how to apply God's word.
1:00:53
In other words, when we look for how Scripture impacts us or what
1:00:57
it's saying to us, we're actually going to Scripture
1:01:00
making it about us when Scripture is actually about God.
1:01:04
And so even in our Christian devotional life, we can invert
1:01:08
this to where we turn the gospel or the Scriptures rather into
1:01:11
something that is about us rather than us seeing God
1:01:15
clearly and then seeing God clearly, we know who he is and
1:01:19
how to pursue him, honor him and love him.
1:01:22
And that's different. And so when we put the priority
1:01:24
of self in coming to the Scripture, we're actually
1:01:27
putting our self in and replacing God.
1:01:30
And it's a very, very dangerous, subtle thing that happens.
1:01:32
So we need to be careful to the seeds of evil, which are
1:01:36
actually seeds about our self, and we need to be cautious of
1:01:40
those things. But it's a great contrast.
1:01:41
None, none the less. Next question, how do you act
1:01:45
less like Peter, compulsive, and more like Jesus?
1:01:50
So we talked a little bit about purpose, how our identity shapes
1:01:53
our purpose, and our purpose is really informed by our values,
1:01:57
and our values help live out those things, help us live with
1:02:00
conviction rather than compulsiveness.
1:02:03
So we've talked about that a little bit, but let me take it
1:02:05
maybe a step further and tell you kind of for me, how I'm
1:02:10
shaping that right now. Currently, I'm shaping a life
1:02:15
that is a little bit more like Jesus and less compulsive like
1:02:17
Peter, so that I'm living by values and convictions versus
1:02:22
convenience or compulsion. For me, it comes to it's
1:02:26
twofold. One, it's confession honestly
1:02:29
before God, where I'm just constantly confessing things to
1:02:31
God, being honest about emotions, experiences,
1:02:36
disappointments, frustrations. I'm just getting really honest
1:02:40
in my confession with God. And two, learning to slow down
1:02:44
in prayer. In other words, I'm using prayer
1:02:48
and stillness to slow my life down.
1:02:50
I've learned that I cannot love like Jesus running at the speed
1:02:56
of our culture. This is me.
1:02:59
So if I'm living at the speed of our culture, I will absolutely
1:03:03
be compulsive and live based on convenience.
1:03:06
But if I'm learning how to slow down and be with Jesus, then I
1:03:10
will learn how to live by conviction and values instead of
1:03:14
compulsion and convenience. So those are the two in my life
1:03:19
right now that has helping me in so doing.
1:03:23
It's helped me recognize where my compulsiveness, my reaction,
1:03:27
comes from. I I don't think it's wrong to
1:03:29
respond to situations, but it is less helpful often when we just
1:03:33
are reactive all the time. It's not thought through, it's
1:03:36
not intentional, it's not it's often not kind.
1:03:41
I really am not a loving person when I'm living at the speed of
1:03:44
our culture and I have to learn how to slow down.
1:03:47
And it's something that's just been driving home with me in
1:03:50
over those last year. Slow down.
1:03:52
You're living too fast. You're living at the speed of
1:03:55
the culture and you're going to compromise.
1:03:56
You're going to live, you're going to be compulsive and and
1:03:59
you're going to try to live convenient because you're living
1:04:01
too fast. So I really am trying to slow
1:04:04
down my life, slow down a lot of things about life.
1:04:08
And I'm doing that primary through prayer and ongoing
1:04:10
confession because in prayer and with my failures, I've just kind
1:04:15
of recognized where I'm trying to be God or where I'm trying to
1:04:19
shape God in my own image. And that leads me to be
1:04:21
compulsive, like Peter trying to cut off somebody's ear or maybe
1:04:25
react out of fear and deny even a life of godliness that I know
1:04:29
I need to hold to. Here's the last question.
1:04:32
Can you discuss further what you mean by we're being tested by
1:04:36
obedience, faithfulness, and truth as Christians?
1:04:37
Yeah, let me explain. Jesus kind of did a reversal of
1:04:42
a of rebellion by being obedient.
1:04:44
He did a reversal of unfaithfulness by being
1:04:46
faithful, and he did a reversal of false allegiance with the
1:04:50
truth or or untruth with truth, the reality of the Kingdom of
1:04:53
God. And so these three things,
1:04:57
obedience, faithfulness, and truth, we will all face
1:05:00
opportunities to be tested in these ways.
1:05:03
Why? Because testing refines us.
1:05:06
James and Paul talk about our lives being tested, talks about
1:05:10
being tested with our faithfulness, talks about being
1:05:12
tested with what is true, what is a lie, talks about being
1:05:15
tested in our obedience. In fact, Paul goes far so far as
1:05:20
to say is that everything that we do, our obedience, our
1:05:22
faithfulness, all these things, they're going to be tested and
1:05:24
refined by fire to see what what lasts would endured.
1:05:28
In other words, were we building with God, honoring material in
1:05:31
this way, things that honored God, or were we doing it with
1:05:34
things of human nature and self orientedness and barely escaping
1:05:38
it? But we don't want that.
1:05:39
We want to come into the Kingdom of God and go into the life in
1:05:42
the world that is to come with with full assurance, a full
1:05:45
allegiance, full truth that that our lives are are fruitful and
1:05:49
we hear well done, good and faithful servant.
1:05:50
Not like, well, you barely made it in, but come on in, right?
1:05:53
Like like that's not the point. The reality though, is that not
1:05:57
only does Paul and James talk about our lives being tested,
1:06:00
how it produces perseverance, produces godliness.
1:06:03
So our obedience, our our our faithfulness, our the truth that
1:06:07
we hold to all of these things are refined and the way God
1:06:11
refines them is through testing. It's just how it works.
1:06:14
Testing and temptation are different though.
1:06:16
Remember, temptations try to trap you and trip you up.
1:06:20
Tests refine you and define for you your allegiance.
1:06:24
It reveals something to you, it reveals what God has done in
1:06:29
you, it reveals the strength that you've developed.
1:06:32
It reveals where you have grown in the Lord.
1:06:36
I mean, can we just acknowledge the fact that Peter grew from
1:06:39
cutting off the guys ears to only denying like he didn't
1:06:41
punch anybody out at the fire pit.
1:06:43
Good for Peter, right? Like, I mean, he grew in that
1:06:46
one test. He straight up just cut the
1:06:48
dude's ear off and Jesus had to like do a reversal and restore
1:06:50
the ear. But here's Peter being faced
1:06:53
with with another pressure moment and at least he only
1:06:56
denies Jesus. He doesn't like kill somebody,
1:06:59
right? Like, hey, there's some growth
1:07:00
here, Peter. Well done.
1:07:02
I think each test is refining something in our lives.
1:07:06
And there will be moments in your life, seasons where God is
1:07:09
refining you and He's wanting to know where your obedience is.
1:07:13
How are you faithful or unfaithful?
1:07:16
Are you walking in truth or are you living in the wrong Kingdom?
1:07:20
And the reason He does this is because He wants us to see where
1:07:25
we have grown, to see where He has been working.
1:07:30
There are a lot of similar tests I face in my life again and
1:07:33
again. And each time around, sometimes
1:07:35
I pass it better than others. Sometimes I I see strength where
1:07:38
I didn't see it before. And sometimes I don't see the
1:07:40
strength of the progress that I wanted to.
1:07:42
But it helps me see him at work in my life.
1:07:45
And that's the point. God is coming to send his Son
1:07:49
back for a bride that has been purified.
1:07:52
The only way we're purified is through testing.
1:07:56
Testing refines us and it defines us.
1:07:59
And in our obedience, in our faithfulness, in our truth,
1:08:02
we're going to be tested and it's going to be defined and
1:08:05
refined. And, and those things are
1:08:07
playing out in our lives each and every day in a lot, a lot of
1:08:09
seen ways and maybe a lot of unseen ways.
1:08:13
But the reality is like Jesus, these things will be a test of
1:08:17
our allegiance, a test of our loyalty, a test of our trust in
1:08:20
the truth of him. Or are we trusting in truths
1:08:24
that a worldview that's different than God?
1:08:26
Are we living a biblical worldview or are we living a
1:08:29
worldview shaped by a secular age?
1:08:32
I think those things play out in our lives and and we will give
1:08:36
an account for those things before the Lord and, and in the
1:08:40
meantime, he's trying to purify those actions and those
1:08:42
attitudes so that man, we we help people see Jesus more.
1:08:49
Why is God refining us? Why do we go through testing?
1:08:52
Why do trials and tribulations come again?
1:08:54
James says because the perseverance of our faith, it
1:08:57
produces godliness, which means people see God likeness in how
1:09:03
we live our lives and we want to be more like Jesus.
1:09:06
We want to be the radiant people of God and we don't want to be
1:09:09
radioactive in our life of faith and allegiance to him.
1:09:13
Hey, that wraps up all of our questions.
1:09:14
That was a lot. Thanks for sticking with us.
1:09:17
Hey, listen friends, I want you to know that we love you.
1:09:19
We are cheering for you and I pray God's best over your life
1:09:23
and until next time, know your love.