Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / Episode 58 – Resistance: Living a Radiant Faith in a Conforming World | #Faith4TodayPodcast

Transcript

Episode 58 – Resistance: Living a Radiant Faith in a Conforming World | #Faith4TodayPodcast · #Faith4TodayPodcast

0:00
What if resistance isn't about being angry about being formed?
0:04
This episode of the Faith for Today podcast, we're going to
0:07
explore the theme of resistance, resisting the story of self, and
0:11
living into God's story of redemption and renewal.
0:16
From Women's 12, we learn what it means to live as a living
0:20
sacrifice, reject conformity, and be transformed from the
0:24
inside out. This is a radiant faith,
0:27
intentional, resilient, and being shaped by Christ.
0:32
Let's go. Welcome everybody to the 58th
0:40
episode of the Faith for Today podcast.
0:43
My name is Matthew. I'm your host and I am thrilled
0:46
to have you with us today as we are looking at the subject of
0:50
resistance. Now, this is different than like
0:53
cultural rebellion and all of those things.
0:56
We're looking at resistance. In fact, as a church, this is
0:59
kind of our theme for the year. And each week on the Faith for
1:04
Today podcast, we, we have a desire to help you grow in your
1:08
faith for the Lord. In other words, we don't want
1:10
you just to feel good on a Sunday.
1:13
We want you to follow him faithfully, even on a Thursday.
1:17
And so that's why we have faith for today.
1:19
And so we're going to recap a Sunday message, but then we're
1:22
going to share some bonus content to kind of take it
1:24
beyond the message and then respond to some questions to
1:28
help us kind of integrate these things in a very practical way.
1:33
So without further ado, let's jump into our recap.
1:37
Now, this past Sunday at church was our Vision Sunday.
1:41
We, we shared some things kind of as a family moment.
1:45
For us. It was a time of celebrating
1:47
God's faithfulness and where we kind of realign our hearts for
1:52
where we believe God is leading us this year.
1:56
Now a lot of what I share was rooted in Psalm 92 where we
1:59
reminded ourselves that we are planted in God's house.
2:03
We don't just survive, but rather we begin to thrive.
2:07
We celebrated what God has done through our church.
2:10
Lives change, baptism, the generosity, growth, prayer, the
2:14
outreaches that took place and formation that occurred in many
2:18
people's lives. But more than numbers, it's
2:20
really about having a realization of a radiant faith.
2:25
Faith that pursues God's presence, is formed by Christ
2:29
and partners in His mission. This is who we are and this is
2:33
how we bring faith to life as a church.
2:35
I then shared not just what we saw last year and kind of
2:40
reminded us of our ongoing vision.
2:42
Large picture, but I talked about this year's theme, which
2:46
is resistance. We're resisting the story of
2:48
self for God's story of redemption and renewal.
2:52
I walked us through Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, and
2:55
it reminded us that radiant faith is shaped by three things,
2:58
shaped by redemption that Christ does, resistance that we
3:02
intentionally practice, and renewal that God promises to do.
3:07
And in Romans 12, we saw that it was because of God's mercy that
3:11
we worship with our whole lives. We resist being shaped by the
3:15
world and instead be conformed to Christ.
3:18
And we live with the confidence that God is still making all
3:21
things new, including us. This year as a church, we're
3:25
going to choose not to settle for an average faith, but to
3:30
live intentionally through Scripture, prayer, generosity,
3:34
ongoing consecration, and spiritual practices that really
3:37
shape our lives. Church, this is our invitation
3:42
to resist the way of the world and live a radiant faith
3:47
together. All right, let's get into a
3:49
little bit of a bonus content and take it a little bit beyond
3:52
the message. First, I want to share just a
3:54
few things from Psalm 92. Now, Psalms 92 verses 12 and 13
3:59
is kind of our anchor Scripture, if you will, for our basics
4:03
course. Our basics course at church is a
4:05
A2 week course introducing you to what is the local church.
4:09
And Week 2 is how you can partner with a local church.
4:13
And ultimately what we're looking to do as a church is
4:16
invite people in and allow them to be planted in this in this
4:20
place. Psalm 9212 and 13 says this, the
4:23
righteous thrive like a palm tree and they grow like a cedar
4:27
tree in Lebanon planted in the House of the Lord.
4:31
They thrive in the courts of our God.
4:35
There's an an awareness that if you are being made righteous in
4:39
Christ, which we all are. The psalmist is pointing that
4:42
those who are being made righteous by God that they can
4:46
thrive like a palm tree. A palm tree is one of those
4:49
trees that like always looks the same, right?
4:52
Even under windstorms. You, you can see like those
4:54
hurricane winds, like bending it down, but it bends, but it never
4:58
breaks. In fact, it kind of coils back
5:00
to its shape to where it is. So we want to be planted like a
5:03
palm tree and we want to grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
5:07
And so there's a growth that happens because we are being
5:11
formed in the image of Christ and it says planted in the House
5:14
of the Lord. That's where we really thrive in
5:16
the courts of our God. So if we want to thrive in the
5:19
life of God, the family of God, the Kingdom of God, the the
5:23
domain that belongs to God, if our life is being established in
5:28
his Kingdom, part of that looks like being people who are
5:32
planted in the House of the Lord.
5:34
Now I believe with all of my heart that you will grow
5:39
spiritually when you're planted in the right environment.
5:42
If you're in the wrong kind of environment, you're not going to
5:45
grow for the kind of plant, the kind of being that that got the
5:48
Organism that you have been created to be.
5:51
Which is why I really do believe that it's important to be in the
5:54
right local church. I don't believe that every
5:58
person should go to 1 local church church, but I think that
6:00
there is a local church for everybody.
6:03
And I think it takes different kinds of churches to reach
6:05
different kinds of people to help them reach their full
6:09
redemptive potential in Christ. We celebrate other churches,
6:14
growth and flourishing and the things that God's doing in
6:17
there. There are people who have been a
6:18
part of our church who are now a part of another church.
6:20
And we, we celebrate that. We honor that.
6:23
We we hold that very open handed as a church because we're not
6:26
here to compete. Rather we want to see the
6:30
Kingdom of God grow. And we believe your life can
6:33
flourish when you are planted in the right house.
6:36
And so being planted in the House of God is a huge part.
6:40
Now being planted doesn't just mean you attend.
6:43
It means that you engage, that you participate and you let your
6:46
roots settle in and there's a soil there.
6:49
So, so you're not church hopping, You're not attending
6:52
this one and then attending that one.
6:53
And I actually think that that that short circuit you are
6:56
growth, if you just kind of like a little bit here and a little
6:58
bit there and a little bit one of the things that it does is it
7:01
actually undermines the spiritual life and authority
7:05
that God has brought into your life to help you grow and
7:08
flourish. And so being planted in that
7:10
place really is necessary. And I think the Scripture is
7:14
clear that you grow best planted in the right environment.
7:19
And I believe in God's house among the people of God is the
7:23
best place to be planted and established in your life.
7:27
That there's something in the soil of the House of God that
7:30
allows you to find nurture, find the nutrients, find the things
7:35
necessary to help you grow to the person that God is growing
7:38
you into being. So, so I love Psalm 92.
7:42
I love that it talks about the cedar in Lebanon.
7:44
And, and this is just kind of a personal thing for me.
7:48
One of the things I love about cedar, I just love the smell of
7:51
it. I love the look of it.
7:52
I love there's just something about it that I really do love.
7:55
And when we came here to Faith Church, one of the things that
7:59
is true of our physical building is that there are cedar planks
8:04
everywhere. Like like the wall behind me,
8:07
although it's painted white, is a cedar plank wall.
8:11
Like we have them everywhere in our in our church.
8:16
And I just love the fact that the Scripture uses this as an
8:20
example of of what life is because we have a visual
8:23
reminder to grow like the Cedars, to grow rich, to grow
8:28
strong, to grow a formidable, to help be something that is being
8:32
built into something beautiful. The New Testament talks that we
8:35
are individually are being built into the family of God, being
8:39
built up by God as a as a living temple for the Lord that we
8:45
together our lives interlocking and laid piece by piece together
8:51
is being built as a Tabernacle and a temple for the Lord.
8:56
In fact, when you get into the things like Ephesians chapter 2
8:58
where Paul says that that we are his workmanship, we are his, his
9:04
masterpiece. In other words, that our life is
9:09
a masterpiece by God when we are being fit and built together.
9:14
In other words, it's not that I personally am God's masterpiece,
9:17
although I'm made in His image. He's made me fearfully and
9:19
wonderfully. There are some scriptures that
9:21
allude to the unique beautiful design as an image bearer
9:27
individually, but Ephesians 2 is actually talking about the
9:31
corporate you all like your church, your people, the people
9:35
of God together are being built to be in this this Tabernacle
9:40
and an expression of the very presence of God in the earth.
9:45
And so I love that uses these cedar boards and cedar planks
9:50
and cedar trees as a as an illustration, because as a
9:53
church, we, we see that visual reminder everywhere we look in
9:58
our in our church and in our midst.
10:00
And I think that's just kind of a, a fun little thing, a little
10:03
wink by God to us. And, and I personally find great
10:08
just beauty and and I treasure that a little bit in in my
10:11
heart. The next big passage that we
10:14
looked at on Sunday was Romans 12.
10:16
And and I want to read it to us even on the podcast.
10:19
I know that, you know, we've probably heard it.
10:22
Some of you haven't memorized. I know I have.
10:24
In fact, when I was reading it on Sunday, I started to to read
10:28
a phrase, but it was actually a flipped around phrase because
10:31
the way I memorized it in the the new King James says it one
10:34
way. And I was trying to read in the
10:36
CSB but not look at my not actually look at the scripture.
10:39
And so I I read it wrong because I was quoting it really out of
10:44
another version. But let me read here Romans 12/1
10:48
and two says, therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of
10:54
the mercies of God, I urge you to present your body as a living
11:00
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
11:04
This is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age,
11:09
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that
11:14
you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will
11:19
of of God. Now a couple things here that I
11:24
wanted to point out. I said in one of the services
11:26
that I was a little shocked when I went back to the scripture and
11:30
the lowest kind of putting this Scripture is kind of like our
11:32
theme verse and piercing together the the whole theme for
11:36
our church this year. Because this is a verse that
11:38
like man, I'm really well equipped.
11:40
I've had it memorized. It has meant a lot to me.
11:43
I've studied it often and to be honest, I think there was a kind
11:47
of a silent arrogance or a silent assumption, if you will,
11:52
that like I had kind of learned all that I needed to learn from
11:54
this verse. Like, man, I've had it
11:56
memorized, I've taught it many times.
11:57
I wrote a book kind of off of it.
11:59
Like, like there's a lot, a lot of study and time that I've
12:02
spent in this passage. But yet the Lord had some other
12:08
thoughts. There was more than the Lord
12:10
wanted to show me in this, in this passage.
12:12
And it kind of kind of blew my mind.
12:14
The first thing I want to point out is that he's talking to
12:16
brothers and sisters of the faith, right?
12:18
He's not talking about the world.
12:19
He's talking to Christians and he says in view of the mercies
12:23
of God. In other words, when you get a
12:26
clear picture of the mercy of God toward you, the most
12:32
automatic, the most correct, the most honoring and the only
12:37
proper response in view and in light of the mercy that God has
12:43
given to you and given to me as bringing us into his family.
12:48
Well then the only response should be our whole life that
12:54
worships him. He's after all of who we are.
12:58
In fact, if you look at the end of Romans 11, there's this
13:03
beautiful hymn of praise that that Paul writes and even the
13:08
second-half of Romans 11, he talks almost exclusively about
13:11
like the the corporate mercy of God, how he how he orchestrated
13:16
a story that would allow for Gentiles to be a part of God's
13:20
family to bring us into his family.
13:23
How that is the mercy of God. So so Romans 11 is all about how
13:27
God orchestrated life in order that redemption could come to
13:32
the Gentiles or to those outside of the Jewish race and faith out
13:37
of outside of Israel, which is most of us like we've been
13:41
brought into the family of God. It is his mercy.
13:45
Therefore, in view of all of his mercy.
13:48
So if you want to kind of get an understanding of what does it
13:50
mean to be adopted and brought into the family of God and the
13:53
mercy of God, and why we call each other brother and sister,
13:56
it's because we've been adopted into the family of God.
13:58
We've experienced the redemption of God.
14:00
And Romans 11 kind of expounds on that a little bit more.
14:04
He says, Therefore, in view of that mercy that we've
14:06
experienced, in view of the mercy that God's given you,
14:11
there's not any part of your life that you ought not offer to
14:14
God. Like we don't compartmentalize
14:18
our life before the Lord. We don't have like our church
14:20
life and then our social life, right?
14:22
Like that's not how no God wants all of your life.
14:25
God is not after just your Sunday song.
14:28
He's after your Thursday daily life and an embodied way of
14:33
doing things. He wants you to take your whole
14:36
body, like everything that you do in your body and offered as
14:40
worship to the Lord. God is after worshippers.
14:43
He wants people who are worshippers of him who are
14:47
willing to take their whole bodies, their whole life, all of
14:49
the context of their life and make Jesus the center of it.
14:53
You know, Romans 12/1 and two is kind of our theme scripture.
14:58
If you're asking me what our theme worship song is our theme
15:02
anthem for the whole year. It's the song center.
15:04
We sing it on Sunday. You are the center of my life.
15:09
My heart belongs to you, my savior.
15:13
All in all, you're the one that I hold on to.
15:18
You're you're the reason for it all.
15:20
And so we, we sang this song center on Sunday and we're going
15:23
to sing it again multiple times I'm sure throughout the year.
15:25
It's it's one of one that just kind of like explodes in my
15:29
heart is like this anthem and heart cry and passion for the
15:34
Lord because Jesus isn't just the side piece.
15:39
Jesus is meant to be the centerpiece of all of our life.
15:43
So in view of the mercy that we've received as sons and
15:46
daughters, Well, then we present all of who we are to God as a
15:49
living sacrifice. So that means how we think about
15:51
politics, how we handle money, what we do with our sexuality,
15:55
how we raise our kids, our priorities and our schedule, the
15:59
things that we consume and think about the, the, the, the things
16:03
that we find humor. We're in the language that we
16:05
use like all of our life. We're saying we're offering it
16:08
to him as a, a living, living sacrifice.
16:11
In the Old Testament, there are lots of sacrifices, lots of
16:15
them. And most of the sacrifices have
16:18
to do with atonement or cleansing.
16:22
They have to do with this cleansing effect, that where you
16:24
cleanse yourself in this way or or you offer it to God as a way
16:28
of atonement or cleansing or redemption in that way.
16:31
Well, we know now in the New Testament that that cleansing
16:34
sacrifice was done by Jesus, which is why we have redemption.
16:39
But there is another kind of there.
16:40
There's one specific sacrifice in the Old Testament where the
16:45
Bible refers to it as worship. It's not just like a cleansing
16:49
that comes. But there is a sacrifice in the
16:52
Old Testament where it talks about where you take the whole,
16:56
the whole bowl, the whole animal, and you burn all of it
17:01
before the Lord. Like you let all of it burn.
17:03
You're not cutting out parts, you're not separating some here
17:06
and taking the blood here. No, to you, you take the whole
17:08
thing and you let the fire consume it.
17:11
Hebrews, I think, or James tells us that God is a consuming fire.
17:17
In other words, what Paul has in mind in Romans 12 when he says
17:23
offer your body as a living sacrifice, it's that sacrifice
17:28
that God counts as true worship. Where they would take the bull,
17:32
they would burn it in his presence, and the whole thing
17:34
would be consumed by the fire. And God says that's true
17:38
worship. So God is after your life
17:41
offered to him where he can consume you with the fire of his
17:45
spirit, and your whole life and body surrendered to him fully
17:50
belongs to the Lord. There's not a part of your life
17:53
that God shouldn't have lordship and ownership over because you
17:57
offered him as a living sacrifice.
17:59
The reason we lift our hands and worship isn't because we're
18:02
trying to please God. We lift our hands and worship
18:05
because all that's the instruction given to us in the
18:08
scripture that we lift up hands to the Lord and worship.
18:11
And so it's not about me, but I'm using my body as a way of
18:15
demonstrating, offering to him all of who I all of who I am.
18:20
I sing, I, I kneel, I lay, I dance, I, I, I shout, I clap, I
18:25
lift my voice in praise. I, I do spiritual practices
18:29
throughout my life using something physical in my body
18:33
and Ioffer it to the Lord as a sacrifice.
18:35
Ioffer it to him as, as somebody who has been redeemed.
18:40
I now bring all of me and say, God, you have it all.
18:44
There's not any part of my life God can't come down and give
18:47
instruction to give command to or give a formation and life to.
18:53
This is our life of worship. I love Romans 12 in the message
18:58
paraphrase. I just love how Eugene Peterson
19:00
kind of paraphrases this. He says take your everyday
19:04
ordinary life, your everyday eating, drinking, sleeping,
19:09
working, going to work, life, family life and offer it to God
19:15
as worship. In other words, everything that
19:18
we do in our life when offered to the Lord can become an Ave.
19:23
where we encounter His presence more.
19:25
It can be an Ave. where we experience His grace.
19:30
Everything that we do can be offered to God in a way that
19:33
allows His life to flow in us. But there are some spiritual
19:38
acts of protest that are like spiritual formation or spiritual
19:43
practice that help us to resist the natural tendency of the way
19:50
of the world within us. First, John two really describes
19:54
the love of the world in a in a really clear way because of the
19:57
lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
19:59
If I can break it down into the human trifecta of humanism, the
20:04
sinful humanism that we live with three categorical ways in
20:09
which we embrace the love of the world and the story of self.
20:13
It is through control and power. Greed and pleasure, pleasure,
20:21
greed and power power because we just take what we want.
20:25
We use violence. We, we do what we need to to, to
20:28
kind of force our way. It's this our own idea of
20:30
control, this pride that leads us to a powerful.
20:34
Then you have greed that just grows in US and it causes us to
20:38
to hoard things and to to take things.
20:40
It's that that greed that lives in US and then a pleasure.
20:45
We just do things that are just for us.
20:46
We do it sexually. We do it immorally, we do all
20:49
the things where we just are selfish and self seeking in
20:53
every in, in so many ways. And these three really become
20:57
idolatrous and false gods that we kind of offer ourselves to in
21:02
in wrong ways. And so when we come and we look
21:05
at some spiritual acts of protest, we're looking at ways
21:09
of intentionally protesting, resisting these things that
21:14
would move us naturally towards the way of the world.
21:17
Now, I said in the message, you don't have to try to be
21:20
conformed to the way of the world.
21:22
You naturally are moving towards the way of the world, like
21:28
moving in the way of the world and growing in the love of the
21:31
world. It's kind of the automatic
21:33
because we're born into it. And so we have to have some
21:36
intentional actions that we take to resist the way of the world.
21:42
Now I shared 5 spiritual acts of protest or five kind of bodied
21:48
activities where you could offer your body as a, as a worship to
21:53
the Lord that would help you to resist the way of the world.
21:57
I gave 5 to our church this year that I I really AM inviting
22:01
everyone who is willing to step into these with me.
22:04
These are five things that I'm committing to and these are 5
22:07
things I just invite you to commit to this year, to engage
22:12
in, to practice and allow them to be spiritual acts where you
22:16
are resisting and protesting against the way of the world.
22:19
Number one was to fast sunrise to sunset every first Wednesday.
22:25
Now, we picked first Wednesday because as a church, the first
22:28
Wednesday of every month, we gather in the evening for prayer
22:31
and worship here at the church from 7:00 to 8:00.
22:36
And so this year we're just saying, hey, we're already
22:39
gathering for worship and prayer.
22:41
Let's spend the day leading up to that fasting denying our
22:47
flesh and saying yes, yes to God #2 was to pray and walk for 15
22:52
minutes one day a week with no technology to go on a walk with
22:57
God for 15 minutes once a week. Now some of you are like, I
23:02
could do that every day, great, do it.
23:03
But at least once a week make a commitment with no podcast, no
23:08
music, no no other distractions, just you and the Lord. 15
23:13
minutes go for a walk outside with God #3 give regularly and
23:20
we taught a lot about how giving is a spiritual act of protest
23:24
and spiritual practice against the way of the world and it's.
23:29
And it's true because greed naturally grows in all of us,
23:31
and the only way to overcome greed is to begin to give
23:35
generously. It's, it's an opposite act.
23:39
It's an act of protest against and #4 read Scripture daily.
23:43
Get in the Word of God. Romans 12 tells us to be
23:46
renewed, that by the renewing of our mind, we are transformed.
23:49
And so when you read Scripture, you're getting God's mind
23:53
inundated into yours. You're incubating your thoughts
23:57
with God's Word. You're allowing the thoughts of
23:59
God from His Word to inundate and saturate your mind so that
24:04
you begin to see you become baptized with a holy
24:08
imagination. Read the scripture daily and #5
24:13
celebrate something every month. Celebrate something every every
24:17
month. Now we talk a lot about fasting
24:19
and there's a question that I'm going to answer in the Q&R
24:24
section of today's podcast. So I'm not going to talk about
24:26
fasting right now. I'll talk about it at the end to
24:28
answer someone's question. But why do we pray and we talk
24:31
with the Lord? One of the reasons we're doing
24:33
without technology is it helps us resist the the incessant need
24:36
to just have noise in our life and we want to silence and
24:41
createspace just to be with God, to be in silence and to be in
24:46
prayer as we walk. And there's something chemically
24:49
that happens in your body when you walk, especially when you
24:52
walk outside. So a 15 minute walk talking to
24:55
the Lord is going to have profound impact on your soul in
25:00
so many healthy ways, many of which we've talked about before.
25:05
Giving again. It helps us overcome greed.
25:07
Reading Scripture daily helps us get our minds renewed so that
25:12
we're, we're doing the spiritual reading and reading it slowly,
25:15
reading it out loud. It, it, it helps shape our mind
25:18
in a healthy way, creating new neural pathways in our mind and
25:22
our brain. And so it's, it's helpful for
25:24
our intellect and our mind to be retrained in the ways of God.
25:27
So we read Scripture every day to not be formed by all of the
25:31
information you're going to hear all day long, all of the things
25:33
you're going to read and see and consume.
25:36
We're going to say we're going to read the Scripture every day.
25:39
We need daily bread from God. And it's a spiritual act that
25:44
helps us resist the enemy in our lives.
25:46
And the number 5, celebrating something every month, This one
25:49
may have caught some of us by surprise.
25:51
Like why would we add that in just one find one reason a month
25:56
to have celebratory moment, whether that's a a special cheat
25:59
meal, whether you're having a meal with friends, you're,
26:03
you're doing something to like just celebrate.
26:05
We have we have a bell in our office that when we our staff,
26:09
when we make a movement and progress on a project that we're
26:14
working on or we accomplish something or we hear a story and
26:17
a testimony of God's faithfulness in someone's life,
26:20
we go ring the bell just as a fun way of celebrating and
26:24
signaling, Hey, let's celebrate together.
26:26
You know, in the Old Testament, when they would have feasts and
26:29
moments of celebration that were marked on their calendar, there
26:33
often would be like a celebrate like a noise that a trumpet that
26:36
would blast a shofar that would blow because there's a audible
26:40
sense. And so ringing the bell for us
26:42
is just kind of a fun way of audibly signaling.
26:45
Let's celebrate and find and find joy.
26:48
And so, but I want you to celebrate something every month.
26:51
It might, you might have a birthday in your family that
26:53
month that counts. You might not have any reason to
26:56
celebrate, you don't think, but at the end of the month, you
26:59
survived another month. So celebrate life in general.
27:03
Just find a reason to be grateful and celebrate.
27:06
Like make it a, a real deal, like make it a real celebrate.
27:10
Think of it like a birthday celebration.
27:12
Like how are you going to celebrate with other people?
27:14
What are you going to do? Do something to celebrate.
27:17
Here's why. Because when we don't
27:19
intentionally celebrate, we naturally grow critical and
27:24
cynical. Critical and cynical.
27:26
And it deteriorates the joy of God in our life.
27:31
We don't want to be formed in cynicism.
27:33
We don't want to be formed in a cynical spirit.
27:36
No, no, we want to be formed in the joy of the Lord, which
27:41
brings out the radiant life of God.
27:42
And so let's find any excuse you can, whatever it is, to
27:47
celebrate something and celebrate life and celebrate
27:50
with others at least one time every month.
27:55
And these five practical embodied physical acts will help
28:00
you grow in your resistance to the way of the world and
28:04
practice the way of Jesus more faithfully so that you are not
28:08
conformed to the pattern of the world, but you are being
28:11
transformed by the life of God in the renewing of your mind as
28:16
you offer your bodies as a living as a living sacrifice.
28:20
The last little bonus thing I want to share is comes at the
28:24
end of Romans 12, verse 2, where it says then you will be able to
28:29
discern what is God's good, pleasing and perfect will of of
28:33
God. Now growing up, I think that
28:39
there were, there was this thought that like, hey, listen,
28:43
God has a goodwill, God has a pleasing will and God has a
28:46
perfect will. And depending on how spiritual
28:50
you are and how great you are will depend on if you experience
28:53
or if you're walking in one of those wills.
28:56
Or sometimes it was this idea that like there are levels,
28:59
right? Like level 1 is good, level 2 is
29:02
pleasing, but Level 3 is perfect.
29:03
And like some video character, you're just like upgrading the,
29:08
the, the, the amount of will of God that you have operating in
29:11
your life, right? Like some people are stuck on
29:13
the goodwill of God, but others of us are experiencing the
29:16
perfect will of God and we're always healthy and wealthy and
29:19
blessed. That's not what the scripture is
29:22
saying here, here, here at all. In fact, I don't even think
29:26
there are three different choices, right?
29:28
Like sometimes I think that we, we look at that and be like, OK,
29:31
well, I, I, I married, I married so and so and that that was only
29:37
God's goodwill. I wish I would have waited for
29:39
the right so and so and then I would have married the perfect
29:42
one, right? Like, I don't think that's how
29:44
it works either, right? Like that's, that's not really
29:47
kind of God's not grading your choices as to whether or not
29:51
you're in his goodwill, pleasing will, perfect will, or you're in
29:54
his like beautiful will. Like it's not even part of God's
29:57
plan. Like you're like outside of it.
29:59
You know, I don't think that that's what Paul is trying to,
30:02
to help us see. Fact.
30:04
I had never really noticed it before.
30:06
But when you look at the rest of Scripture and you see that that
30:10
often it refers to God's goodwill in the context of
30:15
redemption and salvation, you begin to see that it is God's
30:18
good plan, his goodwill that all would come to repentance and
30:23
experience redemption. When you look at the phrase
30:26
pleasing will, and you look at this idea that what what pleases
30:29
God, what pleases God is a life offered to him in worship.
30:33
A life offered to him in worship is a life that resists the way
30:36
of the world that is pleasing to God and the the perfect will of
30:41
God will be made manifest at the renewal of all things, something
30:46
that God alone will do and you see that represented throughout
30:49
Scripture. I think Paul is saying, hey,
30:51
listen, God's goodwill is that you would be redeemed and as and
30:55
experiences mercy. God's God's pleasing will is
30:57
that you would be transformed into the image of Christ like it
31:00
it pleases God that you would be conformed to the image of Christ
31:04
through suffering and sanctification that that would
31:07
that pleases the Lord and it's his perfect will to make all
31:11
things new in the end through the renewal, renewal of all
31:14
things when Jesus returns. I think that is true.
31:20
I think he's also just saying, hey, listen, when you're living
31:23
in the general will of God, it's good, it's pleasing and it is
31:28
just perfect and like God is God is well pleased when we are
31:32
living at his will. Like, like again, it's not
31:34
levels that we're progressing in and this this idea of thinking
31:39
about God's good, pleasing, and perfect will as it relates to
31:43
the redemption that he provides, the resistance we live out, and
31:47
the renewal that he will bring about.
31:50
I think those things are just all of what God has for his
31:54
people in in our lives. And I want us as a church this
31:58
year to step into those things. Because when we experience and
32:02
we know God redeems us and we choose to live with resistance
32:06
to the way of the world and we know that God is going to bring
32:09
about the renewal of all things. It helps us move towards a
32:13
radiant life of faith. And it's going to be a good
32:17
year. Friends.
32:18
All right, let me take some time and respond to a few questions
32:21
that we had to come in over the over the weekend.
32:26
So here. Here we go.
32:27
Here's the first question. You shared a stat about people
32:29
attending church and not talking to anyone else.
32:33
Why would that be a bad thing? Yeah.
32:37
So if I remember right, it was something like 54% of people who
32:41
attend a religious service leave and come and go without talking
32:49
to anyone else there. In other words, like over 54% I
32:52
think is what it was of people don't interact with the other
32:56
people of God at the church gathering, at the church
32:59
service, which is really fascinating statistic.
33:02
Part of why that's not good. It's not that it's like the
33:08
exception to the rule, right? Like so when I say the exception
33:11
rule, I mean like there are some days like maybe you're in and
33:13
you've got to rush out to go do something.
33:15
Totally get that. But as a general rule, if you're
33:18
coming and going and you have no interaction with the people in
33:23
the gathering in the church, I mean, you're a part of that
33:26
church. I think you need to ask yourself
33:28
number one, why am I in this church And am I following Jesus
33:32
correctly? Because I don't believe
33:34
following Jesus is an individual isolation, kind of a personal
33:38
lone rager thing. In fact, we we said that Romans
33:41
12 verses 3 through 21. The remainder of it has all to
33:47
do with kind of what a radiant life looks like, right?
33:51
So if we're going to live out our faith, if we're going to not
33:53
be conformed to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by
33:56
radiant of our mind so that we can live out the good, pleasing
33:59
and perfect kind of will and plan of God for our life.
34:03
The very next thing it talks about is like gifts in the body,
34:06
like how to use your gift to build up the rest of the body.
34:10
Which means number one, you have a gift #2 that gift isn't for
34:14
you. And #3 because you have a gift
34:17
and it's not for you. It's designed to build the body
34:19
up. Then you need to be engaging in
34:21
the body to fulfill the purpose for which God has hardwired into
34:27
you. The gifts and the abilities got
34:29
placed inside of you are for the betterment, the edification, the
34:33
encouragement of others. In fact, verse 3 simply says
34:37
like this. For by the grace given to me, I
34:39
tell everyone among you, everyone among you, that you
34:43
should not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
34:45
which also means you ought not think of yourself less than what
34:49
you ought, discounting discredit.
34:51
Instead, think sensibly as God has distributed a measure of
34:56
faith to each one, and now as we have many parts in one body
34:59
talking physically, and all the parts do not have the same
35:03
function. We all have different things in
35:05
the same way. We who are are many are one body
35:08
in Christ and each individually a member of one another.
35:12
In other words, if you are a Christian, you are not saved all
35:18
all by yourself. In other words, that God saves
35:21
you and puts you as a part of his body, which means that if
35:25
you are a Christian, you are also part of the body of Christ.
35:28
And if you are part of the body of Christ, you have a role to
35:31
play, interaction to take and you're not in this by yourself.
35:35
You're in this with the collective.
35:38
So so the first, the 1st century here of this is not even
35:41
thinking individually. That's not even a thought
35:43
process for them. It's all about the understanding
35:47
of even the communal of this verse.
35:50
Verse 9 of chapter 12 continues to describe the radiant life.
35:53
It says let love be without hypocrisy, OK to test evil,
35:57
cling to what is good, love one another deeply as brothers and
36:00
sisters. You cannot take take the lead in
36:05
honoring one another. That's just verse 10, verse 10,
36:09
nine and 10, verse 9 and 10. Let love with the hypocrisy
36:12
detest evil, cling to what is good, love one another deeply as
36:15
brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one
36:17
another. OK theory.
36:19
You can't do that without interacting with other people.
36:22
So when I said the statistics of the average Christian, 54% of
36:27
people who attend church on the regular or a religious service
36:30
on the regular do so without interacting with anybody else in
36:34
attendance. And I'm not just saying like
36:36
saying hello, I mean like actually having a conversation,
36:40
actually caring about one another.
36:42
You cannot be a follower of Jesus and not love the people of
36:47
God and not give love to the people of God, not give love to
36:50
those around you. In fact, the love one another
36:53
scriptures aren't love the world.
36:55
They're actually love the family of God.
36:57
Please hear me any time you're reading the scriptures in the
37:01
New Testament and Jesus talks about loving one another when
37:04
the New Testament writers and 1st John love one another.
37:06
For love comes from God and everyone who loves is born of
37:08
God and knows God. He that doesn't love doesn't
37:10
love God and doesn't know God. John says so.
37:13
So again, the loving one another scriptures of the Bible are not
37:17
loving the secular world as a Christian, it's not, it's not,
37:22
it's not it. Go read it in context.
37:25
It's talking about loving the people have got brothers and
37:29
sisters in the faith. You can't love and express love
37:33
to people that you don't know, aren't willing to get to know,
37:36
and don't even stop long enough to have a conversation to care
37:40
about the people that you're in church with on the regular.
37:44
So yes, when I read that stat about the average Christian
37:48
churchgoer, and I said it's not a good thing, it's not the way
37:54
of God, First Corinth, Romans 12 tells us you love one another,
37:59
lead the way in honoring one another.
38:02
You can't do that in isolation and you can't do that in
38:04
silence. So if you show up my like head
38:08
nod, wave, grab your coffee, sit down and not really interact,
38:11
not engage with the people around you, you're not doing
38:14
church right. I think Scripture is really
38:18
clear on those things. Again, it's not that there
38:21
aren't moments, aren't Sundays aren't parts, There are there.
38:25
There's exceptions to all of those things, situations that
38:28
are unique each and every time. But by and large, like we, we,
38:31
we're not just attending a religious experience, we're
38:35
actually there to engage with the people of God.
38:38
That's part of who we are in our New Testament calling to be
38:41
prophets or to be priests in the Kingdom of God.
38:45
Like this is what we're called to do to minister to God,
38:47
minister to each other in the context of the family of God.
38:54
Next question was this Sunday was Vision Sunday.
38:56
So why is vision important? I think it's important for a few
39:03
reasons. One, as a, as a collective, it,
39:06
it's hard to all walk in unity if we don't know where we're
39:10
going. So I think clarity allows us to
39:15
be in unity. I also think that Scripture is
39:18
really clear that when we don't have vision, we cast off
39:24
restraint. In fact, I think it's Proverbs
39:27
that says where there is no prophetic vision, people cast
39:31
off restraint. In other words, you can't live
39:34
the resistance, you can't resist the way of the world if your
39:38
vision is not this, this understanding.
39:41
A prophetic vision is a vision that draws you back to the heart
39:45
of God. So on Sunday, we are casting
39:47
vision for where we're going as a church, some things that we're
39:50
going to be doing, new initiatives, things that we're
39:52
changing, all with the understanding that we want to
39:56
walk in the, the newness of God. We want to experience the
40:00
redemption, renewal and, and the resistance that that we need to
40:05
of the world. And so where there is no vision,
40:08
it says people cast off restraint.
40:09
In other words, we live unreserved, we go unhinged.
40:13
We. We don't live with purpose.
40:15
We just let life happen to us. And, and I think there's some
40:19
intentionality that we get to have when we have vision
40:23
together, being on the same page.
40:24
So the clarity of the vision allows us to walk in unity.
40:27
Having a prophetic vision allows us to connect to the heart of
40:30
God in this season and move with intentionality and with purpose
40:36
rather than being unrestrained in our own and our own behavior.
40:41
In fact, when we live unhinged or when we live and we cast off
40:45
restraint, we actually end up living the story of selfishness
40:49
then rather than experiencing the story of God.
40:54
Here's the next question. Can you please elaborate on and
40:57
the purpose of fasting? Like, and are you specifically
41:00
talking about food? Some people fast or abstain from
41:04
social media, television, etcetera.
41:06
Yeah. So I think that there are points
41:09
in time where God would ask you to abstain from engaging in
41:13
certain things. In fact, we see that in First
41:17
Corinthians 7 when Paul says that a husband and wife ought
41:21
not to deprive each other, but they ought to ought to be
41:23
intimate together. And then he says, unless you've
41:26
you've determined to abstain for a specific period in order to
41:32
fast or to consecrate yourself to the Lord in dedication of of
41:36
those things. And so there is a moment, I
41:39
think that's biblical of abstaining from things of this
41:42
life in order to engage with God more.
41:46
However, the primary and and by and large the largest way the
41:52
Bible talks about fasting is abstaining from food rather than
41:57
an activity. I'm going to fast, I'm not.
42:00
I'm going to deny myself food. I'm going to go without food so
42:04
that I can connect with God more.
42:07
And what we do is fasting and prayer are linked together.
42:10
We're fasting so that we can say no to our flesh, put our flesh
42:16
in, operate in self-control and so that we can engage with God
42:21
more. It's, it's a way of kind of
42:24
mortifying the flesh. The, the, the ancient church
42:28
would say it's a mortification of, of the flesh in that way.
42:31
In other words, we're, we're telling our flesh, you're not in
42:34
charge. We're telling our appetites,
42:36
you're not in charge. We're telling our hunger pains.
42:39
You're not going to use hunger in order to satisfy yourself.
42:43
Instead, we're going to allow our hunger to prompt us to
42:48
pursue God, and we turn our hunger upward, if you will, to
42:53
where our hunger creates a reminder physically to pray, to
43:00
commune with God that God is the satisfaction of our life.
43:03
In fact, going without food, fasting from food in order to
43:09
pray creates margin in your day so that you can interact with
43:12
times of prayer and fasting. And it is a way of cleansing,
43:16
not, not just physically, right? Like we know the health benefits
43:20
of fasting, intermittent fasting, those sort of things,
43:23
but fasting not only cleanses you on the inside, it's also a
43:26
spiritual act of cleansing. It says, I'm not going to let
43:30
anything come in my body that is foreign.
43:32
I'm just going to rely on the Lord.
43:35
And so in our fasting, it's not like we're starving ourselves in
43:39
order to get God's attention. That's not what fasting is.
43:42
Fasting is that I do this in order to win the favor of God.
43:46
That's that's not it. There's a fasting that allows us
43:49
to enter into solidarity of suffering and have have elements
43:54
of that. That's true.
43:56
But ultimately, I really do believe that fasting is a way of
44:02
just saying no so that you can say yes, saying no to physical,
44:08
physical things, things of satisfaction so that I can say
44:12
yes to God. And, and, and Jesus said it like
44:14
this. There's a certain element of
44:17
power and answer to prayer that only occurs through prayer and
44:21
fasting. In fact, when Jesus was so, so
44:24
some deliverance, like if you're struggling with a sin
44:27
habitually, you need to spend some time fasting and praying on
44:30
it. Get, go, go on a A2 day, three
44:32
day fast, no food, just water and, and seek the Lord and ask
44:37
him to deliver you ask him for the power to go.
44:40
So, so in other words, we're, we're not tapping into
44:43
willpower. We're actually trying to tap
44:45
into the spirit's power. There is this, this element that
44:48
says I'm going to, I'm going to deny my flesh so that I can say
44:52
yes to the Spirit of God. And so it's a, a physical way
44:56
that we enter into intercession with God or for towards God.
45:02
And so while it is OK to abstain from, I think it's really good
45:06
in an American culture where we live on excess, where we don't
45:12
like to wait for anything, especially food.
45:16
I think it's really good for the American psyche and soul to say,
45:19
no, I'm not eating and instead turn that hunger into hunger for
45:25
God into intercession for God into a physical way of reminding
45:32
and, and and and fasting. Food is a spiritual practice and
45:36
discipline that has been a part of the people of God from the
45:39
very beginning. In fact, I think it was the
45:41
early church that every Wednesday and Friday they would
45:44
fast and pray every so twice a week they were going without
45:48
food. There's, there's this assumed
45:51
element of the people of God that God has the New Testament
45:55
headers that we fast. It's a part of our culture that
45:57
we would do it intentionally in order to see God.
46:01
I think abstaining from other things can be good.
46:03
Like you might need a detox from social media detox.
46:06
I I think that is good. But biblical fasting primarily
46:11
is fasting and giving up food meals.
46:15
And often they would fast from sun from sunup to sundown.
46:19
And I think that's a a healthy rhythm of doing that for, for,
46:25
for your life. And it's a powerful thing there.
46:28
There's something transformative that begins to happen when you
46:31
build in a habit and a rhythm of a fasting.
46:34
And so again this year as a church, I'm inviting everybody,
46:38
I'm asking you to consider fasting from food sunup to
46:42
sundown every first Wednesday of every month.
46:47
And let's just dedicate it to the Lord.
46:48
Consecrate ourselves, say no to our flesh and say, God, we're
46:51
creating more room and more space for you.
46:53
We hunger and thirst for you, God, more than filling it in our
46:58
own, in our own selfish ways. Here's the last question.
47:02
How can I move from an average faith to a radiant growing faith
47:07
this year? Which spiritual practices will
47:09
most help me experience God's redemption, resistance and
47:12
renewal personally? Here's the one that's going to
47:15
help you the most, the one that you're willing to do whichever
47:20
spiritual practice you can engage in that that you know
47:24
that that's going to help you. So I would say this, if if you
47:27
have no problem with sitting in silence with God and you love to
47:32
walk, I would say that spiritual practice is already a part of
47:35
your life. Make sure you're doing the other
47:37
four. Which one should you do?
47:39
The one that you are most readily willing to avoid?
47:44
I listed 5:00 and you're like, man, I don't want to do #3 and
47:48
#5, but I'll do the others. Then you need to probably do #3
47:52
and #5 So which one do you not want to do?
47:55
That's one that you probably need to do.
47:57
Which one aren't you doing in your life?
48:00
That's the one you need to do. I, I think that if we keep doing
48:05
the same thing and expect different results, that's the
48:10
definition of insanity. I think what we are naturally
48:13
doing right now, our habits in our life are, are, are
48:16
delivering to us the results we're experiencing in our life.
48:19
So if the results you're experiencing in your life aren't
48:22
full of joy, you aren't really the radiant life of faith.
48:25
If it's not really flourishing your family and your marriage.
48:28
If you're really still struggling and and dealing with
48:33
poverty, mentality and and and greedus and materialism as a
48:37
part of your life. If you if you really have no
48:39
control in your life and you're you're just constantly sinning,
48:44
constantly giving into pornography, constantly living
48:47
with gossip, you need to fast some food.
48:49
You need to give up some things and say no to your flesh and
48:53
live discipline for a day or two days or three days.
48:57
I think it, it's great to be able to fast three days in a
49:00
row, 1-2 and three that that does something to you, build
49:05
some stamina. It really makes you experience
49:09
some things. I, I think if you're going to
49:11
move beyond average, you have to stop doing the average things
49:14
that you're doing. I show up to church when it's
49:17
convenient. I read my Bible when I have
49:19
time, I give when I have extra money.
49:22
I celebrate when I feel like there's a really big reason to.
49:26
And I pray when I need something.
49:29
OK, that's pretty average and it's not going to produce the
49:33
radiant life of faith that you want.
49:36
So if you don't want, if you want to experience the radiant
49:41
life of faith, do the spiritual practices that help cultivate a
49:45
life of faith to God. It's not that the spiritual
49:48
practices are magic or a formula.
49:51
Rather they are embodies embodied way of offering your
49:55
life to God as worship so that you can encounter his grace
49:58
more. That's what a spiritual practice
50:00
does develops a pattern, develops a strength, develops an
50:05
opportunity and Ave. offered to the Lord as worship as a as a
50:10
way in which we can encounter the grace and life of faith more
50:14
we can encounter the spirit more.
50:16
So which one is going to help you experience it?
50:19
Whichever 1 you most are resistant to do which one what's
50:24
going to help you get me on average, not doing the average
50:26
things that you've always done. Do something more, change it,
50:29
grow in it. Take a step further into
50:33
following Jesus into a life of faith and a life of discipline.
50:37
Listen, listen. We can resist the way of the
50:39
world or by default we can be conformed to the way of the
50:42
world. The choice is yours.
50:44
Average Christianity, as I read and talked about in the Message,
50:51
is a worldly, tainted version of Christianity.
50:57
And we don't want to be consumed by the world.
50:59
We want to be transformed by the Spirit of God into radiant
51:04
people of faith. And so this year, let's resist
51:07
the way of the world and move in the direction of God more than
51:11
we ever have before and watch the life of faith grow and US
51:14
watch our lives become trees planted by rivers of living
51:18
water that yield fruit in every in every season.
51:22
That's our prayer for you this year, friends.
51:24
Hey, thanks for listening today. I hope today's episode has
51:27
helped you. Have faith for today.
51:30
I love you. I'll see you next time.