Latest / Mental Health and the Mission of the Church / 8-Minute MindShift Wk 36

Transcript

8-Minute MindShift Wk 36 · Mental Health and the Mission of the Church

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everybody.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: How y'all doing?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I uh looking forward to what we're gonna talk about today.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I remember back a while ago, years ago, my son used to ask me, Why did I shout, why did I holler, yell when I preached?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, let's face it, back in the 80s and 90s and the flow I was in, that's kind of what you did.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: But underneath that, this the just the stylistic stuff was um I was just so excited about the changes that had taken place in my life.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited about Jesus.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited about how the life that I was feeling and enjoying and experiencing.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so we're gonna talk about something today that that I just it's gonna sound so familiar to some of you, it's gonna sound uh odd to some of you, maybe, because you haven't heard it quite put this way, but uh we're gonna talk about being born again and what it means and what it is and and why it's such a big deal.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Man, it's such a big deal.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, what makes you special?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: What makes me special?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: What why can I see amazing things about myself and say amazing things about myself?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, number one, I believe we can, and number two, I believe the reason is because of what the Bible teaches about our restored relationship with God.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I believe there's two great tragedies in life.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: One is not believing and accepting the gift of eternal life offered in Jesus.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not believing and accepting the gift of eternal life.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number two of two great tragedies is continuing to live the same way you did before you received the gift.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, not receiving the gift's tragedy number one, living the same way after you receive the gift is the second great tragedy.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's such a shift that's taken place in you when you receive Jesus.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I just want to talk a little bit about that.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I want to look at is in the two great tragedies, I said, not believing or accepting the gift of eternal life.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about eternal life, we throw it around.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Most people think, oh yeah, you know, when I die, I'm gonna be with Jesus forever.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the correct way to understand what the Bible, the New Testament, is talking about when it talks about eternal life.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, again, questions to make you think.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: When does eternal life begin?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: When does eternal life begin?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's some people, Christians, that would say, well, it begins when you die.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't think that's a helpful way to look at it.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when does eternal life begin?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Who has it?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Who has eternal life?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have eternal life?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and what is it?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: What is eternal life?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's important to ask why is it such an important concept for us to understand?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it so critical?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just read you a thought I wrote down.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: When I became a Christian, when you became a Christian, something in the deepest part of us changed.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: We literally entered into a new reality with new relationships, new resources, and new reasons or purposes for every breath we take.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a but though.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: All the cool stuff doesn't just happen instantly or automatically.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: God created us in three parts, and only one part of us changed in that moment when I said, Jesus, please forgive me and come into my life.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Our journey from then on, my journey and your journey from then on is bringing the rest of me, spirit, soul, and body, spirit changed, soul, body didn't.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of my journey and your journey is bringing the rest of you into alignment with your recreated, reborn spirit.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let's walk through some cool scriptures that kind of lay out why I believe some of what I believe, about the new birth, about this amazing uh thing that makes us so special.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: John chapter 1, and I really would encourage you, whether you do it right now while we're talking or you do it later, um, look up these scriptures.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you mark in your Bible or on your iPad or iPhone or whatever you use, um make a note of them.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: John chapter 1, verse 11 and 12 says this He, Jesus, came to his own, and those who were his own, which would be the children of Israel, um, did not receive him.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: But as many as received him, oh, some people say there's nowhere in the Bible that it talks about receiving Jesus.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they're talking about.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: But as many as received him to them, I received Jesus.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Did you receive Jesus?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Born of God, not anybody else.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was given the right, privilege, and authority to become a child of God.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: The famous interaction between Nicodemus and Jesus.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is John 3, 1 through 6.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a ruler of the Jews.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: He came to Jesus by night.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Rabbi, we know that you've come from God.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reading fast to get to certain parts.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, kind of, Jesus is trying to say it's sort of important.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Unless one is born again, born again, born again.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a weird phrase.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: He cannot see the kingdom of God.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Nicodemus said, How can a man be born when he's old?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a perfectly legitimate question, I think.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, what uh what's this born-again craziness, man?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus' answer was, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water, we talk about when a woman's pregnant and about to give birth, her water breaks.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I would put in there.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I think Jesus is referring to two births.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, the born-again piece.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're born of water when we leave the womb of our mother, and then at some point later in life, we're born of the Spirit by the Spirit.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe it's when we accept the work of Jesus on the cross and beyond.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 of the same chapter.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus talking.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now listen to this whoever believes in him will have eternal life.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, I believe in him.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have, not going to have, I have eternal life.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him, who?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus the Son, shall not perish, but have eternal life.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Couple more verses, and then I'm going to say some things about eternal life.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: 1 John 5.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: 1 John 5, 11 and 12.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: God has given us, that's past tense.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: God has given us eternal life.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: This life is in his son.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: He who has the Son has the light.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Alright?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: I asked Jesus to come into my heart, into my life.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I have the Son.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: This verse says, if I have the Son, I have the life.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of life?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Eternal life.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: He who does not have the Son does not have the life.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want to dwell there, but let's just be honest.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a fairly exclusive phrase.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: He who doesn't have the Son doesn't have the light.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want to say a couple of things.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: What this is saying is this.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: When did I get eternal life?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: The moment I was born again.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: When was I born again?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: The moment I accepted Jesus as the savior of my soul, my spirit, my life, the forgiver of my sins, etc.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I have eternal life.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: When does it start?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I believe I have it, so it's already started, but here's what's so important to me.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's important that you understand eternal life is not just a quantity.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm going to live forever.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a quality of life.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a kind of life.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, when I became a Christian, when you became a Christian, God birthed a new life inside of us that has potential and capabilities beyond anything you can imagine.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the trick.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't automatically instantly learn to walk in all that.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have to bring your soul, mind, will, and emotions, and that's kind of why we're talking about all this, because that's really for the twice-born believer, Christian, the real action takes place in your soul, where all the memories and experiences you've ever had are stored, and where you really either enjoy the ongoing process of salvation, the the outworking of this amazing potential he's put into your spirit, or you kind of just hang around until you go to heaven.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, ma'am, but I don't want to do that.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Bumper sticker?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Don't like it, man.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Don't like it.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're not just forgiven.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am forgiven, thank God.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm also born again.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've also had placed within me a spirit that has the capacity, the capabilities to act just like Jesus Himself.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, am I doing that perfectly yet?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it's my endeavor to allow my spirit to rule and run the show.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Practice saying this.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I am a spirit.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have a soul and I live in a body.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And my spirit's been recreated in the image and likeness of Jesus.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: All right, man.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Look forward to seeing you next week.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Bless you.