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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
When The Mirror Lies
We often look in mirrors and see distorted reflections of ourselves—seeing shame, failure, and brokenness instead of our true identity in Christ. The mirror lies to us when we believe these false images about ourselves, making us see ourselves differently than God sees us.
• Sin is not just about behavior but about having a distorted self-image that contradicts how God sees us
• The gospel is truly "good news" that lifts people up rather than condemning or beating them down
• We've already put off the old self and put on the new self in Christ—it's not a process we're still working toward
• True repentance (metanoia) means changing your thinking, not just changing your behavior
• When we see sin as a distorted image rather than just behavior, we understand that our actions are symptoms of how we view ourselves
• We are being transformed "from glory to glory" as we align our minds with our true identity
• Even when we fall, we remain children of God—our mistakes don't change our identity
• Each of us is called not just to understand this for ourselves but to help others see their true identity
Our ministry is one of reconciliation—helping people understand who they truly are in Christ rather than letting them remain trapped in distorted images of themselves.
Have you ever looked in a mirror and not liked what you saw? Okay, now, I'm not just talking about because you had a bad hair day or you know. You look and say, well, I'd like to lose a few pounds or this or that. I'm talking about something deeper than what's looking back at you. Maybe you saw shame. Maybe you saw failure. Maybe you saw disappointment and weakness. Maybe you saw a version of yourself that when you look in the mirror, you see somebody looking back that's broken so bad that it's beyond repair.
Speaker 1:There's people every day in this community right now that's looking in a mirror and they do not like what they see Looking back at them. But here's the truth. As the title says, when the mirror lies, the mirror is lying to you. Okay, that's something I want us to get in our head and I want us to kind of comprehend this morning. Everything you see in that mirror, everything you are believing about what is reflected back at you, is not the truth. Now, there's people in this room that has been through some stuff. I say this all the time because I know on a personal level. There's people that's been through something in here. Ok, so you don't always like what you was looking back at you because your mind automatically goes back to where you used to be, what you used to be, how you used to view yourself or, more importantly, how other people view you. But that is not the truth Sin.
Speaker 1:We talk a lot about sin, but we talk about the definition, the biblical definition, of what sin really is. I know we say this enough. You ought to notice by heart Now. We're not talking about a behavior. We're not talking about something you've done. We're talking about an image the way you view yourself. When I have a distorted image, I have a sin problem. When I see myself in a way that God does not see me, that's sin. We're going to go deeper into that today and look at it. But we got to understand what that really is. Sin doesn't just make us do wrong things. Sin makes us see ourselves in the wrong way. So it's not about doing. It's not about because I said an ugly word or I've done something I shouldn't have done. It's not about behavioral stuff, but it's about you looking in a mirror and seeing something looking back at you that totally is opposite of the way that God sees you, and there's a lot of people that look at ourselves that way Every single day and I told you last week I feel like we're teaching messages right now.
Speaker 1:That is not just a message for you I hope you get something out of this, I believe you will but it's not just for us as much as it's saying how can we take this message? How can we understand it and then take it back to other people that's not here this morning, other people in our community, in our schools, in our workplace, in our community that need to hear the truth, listen when somebody's struggling with addiction, you don't need to walk up every day and call them an addict. You don't need to walk up every day and call them an addict. You don't need to look at them every day and talk about how bad their drug problem is. We don't need to look at somebody who's going through a broken relationship and just say they failed again. They know they feel these things, but a lot of times what we do as a church is we automatically look at what they're going through and what they're experiencing and we label them. We put a label on them and that's what they're known as, but it's not what God says. It's time that we get back away from what people are saying and get back to what God said, and that's what we're talking about. So if this is not a personal message for you and I believe it will be I believe we can all take something out of this. But it's also saying what can I do when I walk out into this community and I'm around people that don't go to church here and people that are stuck in an identity crisis because every day they know the Word, they go to church, they're born again, but every day they look in a mirror and they don't like what they see, because there's something underlying there that's going on. How do we talk to those people? How do we communicate with them and just tell them the truth? I'm not talking about throwing a Bible at them all the time. You ain't got to come up with 15 Scriptures and start spitting Scripture out at them. How do we just build relationships and let them know what God really thinks about them, because that's what's really important.
Speaker 1:So sin distorts our image of the way we see ourselves. It convinces us that we're someone that we're really not, and for some of us, we've been living under this false reflection for a number of years. I don't care how long you've been in church. It don't matter how long you've been saved. There are saved people today that don't know who they are in Christ. They're in church, they're good people, they're going to heaven, but they are lost as far as understanding their identity in Christ. Okay, so the first thing we've got to understand is we've got to take the salvation part out of it.
Speaker 1:When we talk about people who are lost in their identity, we're not talking about salvation. We're talking about they just don't understand the way that God views them. They're focused on the way they view themselves and the way other people look at them. So it's time that we understand, so that we can help others and we can help ourselves understand the good news. We talk about the good news. We always say go out and preach the gospel. There's a lot of people preaching the gospel, but it ain't good news. Okay, let's just be honest about that. The gospel means good news.
Speaker 1:If we're going to preach the gospel, I need to be telling somebody something good that can lift them up, that can make them feel better, that can bless them, that can encourage them and not beat them down and condemn them. If my words is condemning somebody and making them feel more horrible about themselves. I don't care how many Scriptures I use. I am not coming with the good news of the Gospel Because it should not beat somebody down. It should not make somebody feel so bad that they don't even want to come to church because they're afraid how people are going to look at them. And I'm telling you, I've heard firsthand people say that that they don't want to go to church because they're scared of what people are going to say and how people are going to view them.
Speaker 1:The gospel tells a different story. The gospel does not beat down. The gospel does not kick you when you're down. The gospel does not make you feel bad about yourself. The gospel does not try to present fear so that you'll do the right thing. That's tactics that we use in the church.
Speaker 1:Come on, we scare people. We tell you if you ain't right with God by the time you leave here, you can walk out and you don't know what's going to happen. Something may happen and you're going to wind up burning in hell because you didn't come to an altar and say a prayer. Sometimes I think I look at y'all's faces when I say stuff like this and I think I be too real sometimes. But it's just the truth. It's just the truth we have taught people.
Speaker 1:We have put people in a place of fear. He's not a God of fear. He's not a God of fear. He don't give us that spirit of fear. But we have put people in fear, thinking that if we can scare them enough, then they'll come running down here and jump down at the altar. Why don't we just tell them how much God loves them? Why don't we just tell them that it don't matter what they went through, it don't matter how bad they messed up, it don't matter what they've had to experience, that God loves you. He chose you before the foundation of the world. Why don't we draw them in with love instead of fear? But we've got so used to the fear tactic. You know why? Because it works. It works.
Speaker 1:The problem is that when they get up they don't always know who they are. They're still stuck in a different place. It will get people. Scaring people will get people to the altar. Y'all remember the old things they used to have. They had it years ago Heaven's gates, hell's flames Great program, if you like that kind of stuff. It brought a lot of people to the altar.
Speaker 1:So I'm not knocking a type of program like that from the standpoint of presenting a specific message. But is it the message that Jesus presents? And that's where I'm at now. I'm trying to say okay, I want to preach what Jesus preached If I'm to follow Him, if I'm to come here, and he's given me everything to do what he done, and even more, I want to preach the message that he preached. I want to say things in the way that he said them. Now I'm not trying to say I'm jesus, I'm just as I'm his brother, okay, but but he's given me everything to be able to teach and help and love in the same way that he did, and we have to embrace that.
Speaker 1:So in Colossians 3, it tells us that you've already been, that you've already put off the old self. Listen to this. Some of this is going to sound very familiar, because I say this all the time. I don't like repeating myself, but I don't mind it either, because it's important. Sometimes we, as adults, we need to hear things over and over and over again for it to really sink in and mean something to us. So it's talking about putting off the old self. You've already been made new.
Speaker 1:Now it's time to stop living according to a lying mirror. It's time to start living in light of the image that we've been restored. I already put it up here, verses 9 and 10. I want you to read this Do not lie to one another. Since you have put off the old man with his deed and have put on what A new man. Okay, you've put off the old, you've put on the new, who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of Him who created you. The image I should see when I look in that mirror should be the image of Christ. We're created in the image and the likeness of Him. So when I look at that mirror, anything that I see that is contrary to that is a lie. It's a lie. It's not who you are. It's not who you are. It's not what you represent. It is a lie. When you read these two verses here, it's very specific. I'll pull that little part out that we put off the old man. We put on the new man in the image of Christ. But you've got to look at this a little bit deeper as well. Viewing Colossians 3, 9 and 10 through the lens of the finished work unlocks a much deeper and much liberating, more liberating message.
Speaker 1:Paul is not telling believers. Now you've got to remember. Here I always say who's talking, who's he talking to and why is he saying it? We know Paul's talking and he's talking to the church, to the Colossians. He's talking to believers. He's not talking to these people, this outcast people out here. He's talking to a group of believers. He isn't telling the believers to try to be better, to try harder, to be better that's not what he's saying but to live in light of what has already been accomplished. He's not telling them, he's not getting on to them and then giving them instructions of what they need to do to look better. He's saying the old man is gone. You are a new creation. Now live in light. See yourself as what christ has already done, not what you can accomplish, but what he's already done in you. You're not becoming new. How does this verse relate to us? Because, paul, this might hurt your feelings, but Paul wasn't talking to you right here. He was talking to the Colossian church. But what can we take out of it? You're not becoming new. You are new.
Speaker 1:That part is not a process and your mind is being renewed to live accordingly. What he done on the cross was done. We're not still in the process of him going through this. That's why I use the words it is finished, complete, done. What we're in the process of now is renewing our mind to get my mind to line up with what my heart already knows. I got to get my mind to line up with what Jesus has already completed Enough.
Speaker 1:So you're not trying to put off the old man. Come on, I hear people say that all the time. I'm just trying every day to stop doing this and stop doing that. I'm just trying to be better. You're not trying to put off the old man. The old man, according to this verse, has already been put off. If you're still trying to do that every day, what you're doing is contrary to Colossians 9 and 10. Verses 9 and 10. Because it's already been put off. The old man is gone. The old man died with Christ. The old man was buried and a new man resurrected. You're not earning identity. We're not trying to do something to become something. You're learning to live from this place. That's already happened.
Speaker 1:I don't want to get into that, but sometimes we get lost at the cross. He's not on the cross anymore. That don't diminish what happened at the cross. He's not on the cross anymore. That don't diminish what happened on the cross, but guess what? We are not there anymore. He left the cross, he was buried and he rose again. We died with Him at the cross. The old man died on the cross. It was co? -buried with Him at the cross. The old man died on the cross. It was co-buried with Him and there's Scriptures to back all of this up. It was co-buried with Him and we rose with Him. And it says we are now seated with Him in heavenly places. This is not a physical thing here. I did not physically die 2,000 years ago but it's a spiritual thing. What he did represented all of humanity. What Adam did represented humanity when he sinned. And what Jesus did represented all of humanity when he died and rose again.
Speaker 1:So you're not earning, you're not trying to earn your right into heaven. You're not trying to earn your right to be a son. You're a son because you were born that way, not because you try to earn it. So sin is not just bad behavior, it's living out of a false hear that, a false and outdated self-image. I hear people all the time say well, man, we just need to get Jesus, needs to come back because we got a sin problem. No, we got an image problem. We got an image problem. You have to change your mindset to look at it like this and to really embrace that we can find sin. I can find sin in everybody's life. I can look at somebody and say they're doing this wrong and they're doing that wrong and they're not really living up to what they say. They come into church and they're doing that wrong and they're not really living up to what they say. They come into church and they look good and they talk good. And I start trying to pick them apart. Christians are so good at that.
Speaker 1:I remember preaching a message one time and in part of the message I said Christians will hide behind the bushes in the parking lot to try to find you doing something wrong when you walk out so they can call you a hypocrite. It don't make sense, but it's the truth. Who beats Christians up more than anybody else? Christians, we beat ourselves up. We beat up on each other. It don't make sense, but it's not about the behavior. We beat ourselves up. We beat up on each other Don't make sense, but it's not about the behavior. It's about living out and getting out of that false place.
Speaker 1:Let's look at one of the lies that we've been taught over the years. I know I've heard this so many times. So many people preached it. I'm sure at one point I preached it. If you really repented, you wouldn't do that again. If you really truly repented, you wouldn't do that again. Come on, how many times have you heard that? Maybe I'm the only one, but I've heard people preach that and you know what it made me. Maybe I'm the only one, but I've heard people preach that and you know what it made me feel I'm not good enough. Am I really saved? Because if I was really saved and I really repented, then I wouldn't keep doing this stuff. So maybe I'm not saved, or maybe he don't love me, because I know what I meant. When I got saved, I knew I was sincere, I knew I really meant it. But now this guy's up there telling me that if I keep doing this stuff, then I haven't truly repented.
Speaker 1:And now I'm walking around all confused. Am I really a Christian? Am I really born again? Am I really born again If I died today? Am I going to heaven? All these questions start to swirl in my head. And now I'm walking around confused. He tells me. He says I'm not the author of confusion, but we walk around confused and lost. See, that sounds really good. It sounds really spiritual, like I'm looking out for you. It sounds like a strong message to present to somebody.
Speaker 1:But here's the problem with it. Listen to this now. It's not biblical. It's not biblical. It's not biblical. You won't find the theme of what this is saying anywhere in the Bible. It's not there. Here's the thing. It's rooted in false understanding, both of sin and repentance.
Speaker 1:When I don't understand what sin is, I'm going to take verses out of the Bible that talk about sin and I'm going to misinterpret those verses. If I don't understand what true repentance is, I'm going to take verses about is? I'm going to take verses about repentance and I'm going to misunderstand them and I'm going to try to apply them to my life and to your life. Okay, if I think repentance means that I come to an altar and I got washed clean of everything through the blood of Jesus and nothing's ever going to go bad again, man, you are dead. You're setting yourself up for disappointment because you're not perfect. So, if that's what I'm thinking, when I come to the altar and give myself to God and there's just a cleansing that's supposed to take place and there is spiritually Okay, here's the problem. And there is spiritually Okay, here's the problem. There is spiritually.
Speaker 1:But now I've got to walk out on Monday morning and let my Monday morning brain catch up with my Sunday spiritual place. I get saved on Sunday, everything's good, I feel good. And then Monday arrives, the work week gets here, all hell breaks loose in my life and I'm like but I thought I got saved on Sunday, I thought everything was supposed to just be perfect, because that's what we're taught and that's not the truth. So you see what I'm saying when we're taught and that's not the truth. So you see what I'm saying when we're teaching things like that, we're putting people in a place of feeling like they failed. Jesus did not fail and I have not either, and you have not failed either.
Speaker 1:But I have to change my mindset to be able to see that Repentance is not about messing up again, it's not about making a mistake, but about returning to your true reflection in Christ. Repent again is to change the way I think, not change the things I do. It's change the way I think, not change the things I do. It's change the way I think, to truly understand this, we have to view sin. I said this a while ago. We have to view sin differently.
Speaker 1:If I view sin as a behavior rather than a distorted image, there's a lot of misinterpretation that's going to happen. I'm going to misinterpret a lot of Scripture. Does that mean you're not saved? Absolutely not. I'm not saying that. Does that mean you don't love God? I know you love God, but if I'm looking at stuff as a behavior rather than a distorted image, I'm going to look at these Bible verses in a totally different way. You take two people who have two separate views and you give them the same Scripture and tell them to write a report on it. It's going to be totally different, totally opposite. That's why pastors today can stand in a pulpit and there's other pastors that's preaching Colossians 3, 9 and 10 this morning. That's saying something totally opposite than I am, because we're trained up different. Our belief system is different. Our theology, the way we see the Father is different. So the view that we have on other people and ourselves is different. The view that we have on other people and ourselves is different. So again, repentance is not about messing up, but returning to your true reflection.
Speaker 1:Look at this as a distorted image and not just bad behavior, for a number of reasons. Number one behavior is just a symptom. If you have the flu and you're coughing up all kind of junk and somebody comes up to you and says, man, what have you got? You don't say I've got the cough, you say I've got the flu. Coughing is what comes along with it. It is a symptom of the flu.
Speaker 1:Sin is a symptom of a distorted image. I see myself in the wrong way and then I do the wrong thing. That's why, again, I don't ascribe to the idea of going and sitting in a circle and saying I'm brown and I'm an alcoholic, over and, over and over and over. Why? Because if I see myself as that, I will think like that, act like that and portray myself as that. I will think like that, act like that and portray myself as that. Maybe I used to have a problem with alcohol, maybe I used to have a problem with drugs, but that's not who I am anymore. I'm different now and if I keep putting that label on me over and over and over again, I will begin to act out those things. I've got to change the perception of myself. It's only a symptom Sin. I want you to get this. Sin is only a symptom.
Speaker 1:That don't make sense to somebody who sees sin as behavior. You cannot understand what I'm saying there. You can't grab onto that. If you see sin as a behavior, you can only make sense of that if you see sin as a distorted image the way I view myself and then I act out. What am I acting out? The way I view myself and then I act out what am I acting out? The way I see myself. That's why image is so important. I will act out what I see, how I view myself. So we often treat sin like it's just things we do, but God always goes deeper. He always goes deeper.
Speaker 1:Sin is what happens when we live out of a false version of myself. I say it all the time when you don't know who you are, you'll act like somebody you're not. I will live out a version of myself. That is not the truth. If that's the way I see myself Now, the truth is what happened on the cross.
Speaker 1:The truth is the old man is dead and I am a new creation. You can't live out of new creation mentality. If you don't see yourself as a new creation. You can't do it. You have to see yourself as a new creation, and the only way I can be a new creation, the only way I can be born again, is when the old one died, the only way I can be resurrected in Christ. You can't have a resurrection without a death. So there's a lot of people that keep saying I'm resurrected in Christ and I want to say when did you die? And they say well, I didn't die. Well, you can't be resurrected in Christ if you haven't died. We are dead in Christ, not physically In Christ. We died with Him and I'm resurrected now as a new creation and I am born again Through the Spirit, not through the flesh. When I was born the first time, I was born of flesh. My mom and daddy come together one day and they done their thing and then, nine months later, there was breath and I was born through flesh. But now I'm born through spirit.
Speaker 1:There's a difference in that Adam and Eve didn't just eat the fruit. How many times have we heard people say that or we've said it ourselves that the sin, the major sin, was it would have just left the fruit alone. If they wouldn't have ate an apple we always think it's an apple they just would have left it alone. But see, here's the thing. They believed the lie. What was the lie? You're not enough. God's holding out on you. Think it back. I didn't go, I'm not going to go into this, but think back to what the serpent, when he went to Eve to try to convince her to eat this fruit, what he said to her. He said if you eat of this tree, you'll be like God. She was already like God. That would have been the best response. I'm already like God. But now there's something that gets in her that says God's holding out on us. God's at a different level than we are and if I eat this fruit, then I'll be up here with Him. That was the lie that the serpent planted in her. God is holding out on you. If you eat this fruit, you'll be just like Him. That was a lie.
Speaker 1:The sin was not eating the fruit. The sin was not eating the fruit. The sin was the belief that I'm not the same as God, that I have a distorted image and that he's holding out on me. That was the lie. That was the sin. What happened? Because of the sin, because of the distorted image, he ate the fruit. That's what happened because of it. Think about this Every time we have a distorted image, it is an agreement with a lie about God or a lie about ourself.
Speaker 1:Anytime that my image is distorted, my thinking is distorted. I'm believing a lie about God or I'm believing a lie about myself. I'm not good enough. Really, you were created in the image and likeness of God and you're not good enough. God's just trying to do this to me to get my attention. He's a God of love. He's not hurting you, he's not causing you to be sick. He's not causing bad things to happen in your life just to get your attention. He don't have to do that. So that was a lie that we believe about God. And then I believe a lie about myself that I'm just not good enough. I'll never be good enough. I've been through too much. Too much stuff's happened in my life.
Speaker 1:Repentance is simply seeing things clearly again. It's about image. It ain't about behaviors. It ain't about behaviors. It ain't about stopping doing this or stop doing that. That stuff will stop automatically once I understand who I am. We spend too much time trying to get people to stop doing something instead of just helping them learn who they are, and when they know who they are. I don't have a need to do this anymore. Work from the inside out.
Speaker 1:The Greek word for repentance is metanoia and it means change your mind, change the way you think. Okay, okay, we've got to understand what that word really means. It's about renewing the mind. It's about a return to truth. In Romans 12 and 2, everybody knows this verse, but I can't talk about this without adding this verse in there. It says Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by renewing of the mind that you may prove what is good, that is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Do not be conformed, shaped after, molded, like the world, but be transformed by renewing of the mind, not the body or not the spirit. This is not a verse about salvation. This is a verse about getting me back out of that place that I'm in so that I can see myself the way that God sees me. So when we look at that word transformed and I said repentance a while ago, I'm sorry metanoia was transformed Change the mindset, change the thinking. Okay, it actually comes from the word transformed as metamorphic, change form or change shape. Metamorphic it doesn't mean fix yourself. What it means is you are being reshaped by truth, by the Spirit, into what Christ has already made you to be. He's not still working on this. He's already made us into the image and the likeness of Him through the cross. Now, what I'm trying to do now is I'm trying to transform my mind so that I can believe what he's already done. I can grab on to it. It's not a self-help project. This is where counseling and everything you know. Some people don't like to teach this because it's so close. I teach the same thing in counseling that I teach from a pulpit, because there's no difference.
Speaker 1:Most people that's going through addiction. You know what the problem is. They got an image problem. They don't have an addiction problem. They got an image problem. They're doing it to change something. They view themselves a certain way. Therefore they act out with drugs or alcohol.
Speaker 1:The true repentance is when you start saying that's not who I am. You know how hard it is to be in the middle of doing something. I keep using addiction because addiction is so rampant in this area. Can you imagine what it's like and how difficult it is for people who are still actively using to sit there and say that's not who I am? Why? Because that's the way they see themselves. They see themselves as an addict. They see themselves as not being able to wake up and not have this every day. It's become a part of them and it's got to get me through the day. Some people they've got to start their day with it and they have to end their day with it. It's become a part of their identity. That's why I don't like saying I'm an addict, I'm an addict. I'm an addict. That's not who you are.
Speaker 1:You are a child of God with a drug problem, with an identity problem, and I'm acting out with drugs, I'm acting out with alcohol, I'm acting out with all these other things, simply because my identity is distorted. I don't see who I really am. That behavior doesn't match my true reflection of Christ. How many times you heard people in addiction say that they're caught up in it? What's the good news is that I can go and in the midst of them being caught up in that. I can look at them and say this this is not who you are. You are not reflecting who God created you to be. True repentance also says I've been looking in a broken mirror, but now I see clearly again. Anybody ever looking in a broken mirror. But now I see clearly again. Anybody ever look in a broken mirror, all distorted. I don't care how pretty you think you are, you're going to look distorted in a broken mirror. Okay, I'm going to get ready.
Speaker 1:To close, I'm going to read just one more verse to you Colossians 3 and 10. Look what it says. This is talking about being renewed. What does that really mean? To be renewed? Colossians 3 and 10 says Be renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator and have put on the new man.
Speaker 1:We talked about this a little ago. The old man was put off. You put on the new man. And after having put on the new man, I like that because you've already put it on. You're not waiting to put this on one day. Oh, I can't wait until I get to heaven. I'm going to have a new body and I'm going to have a new. No, you've already put on the new man. We're not talking about one day when you get there. We're talking about right now, because of what Christ's done. You've already put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge.
Speaker 1:According to what? According to how intelligent you are, according to how much money you make, according to what your education level is no, according to the image of Him who created you. This is what it's about. This is where we're getting renewed in our mind. This is not instant perfection. This does not mean all of my problems are going to go away. It's image restoration over time. My image changes and shifts over time.
Speaker 1:You are not failing because you fall. You're not a failure because you made a mistake. Well, I used to go to church, but, man, I've just backslid so far. You're not. No, get up. Get up, realize who you are, get that mess out of your head that you ain't good enough, that you fell too far, and come back to your identity. You are not disqualified see somebody's here this morning. You are not disqualified if the distortion creeps back in. I've been going to church for six months, man, I'm doing good. Disqualified if the distortion creeps back in. I've been going to church for six months and, man, I'm doing good. Everything seems to be going right in my life and I'm just blessed and highly favored.
Speaker 1:And then, all of a sudden, one day, that distorted image creeps back in and you start getting in this depressed mood because you start seeing yourself back in the way that you used to see yourself. And then, all of a sudden, you think man, am I really? If I was saved, I wouldn't be thinking like this. If I was truly born again, I wouldn't be having these negative thoughts, these distorted thoughts. So what's going on? That thing creeps back in there and guess what? It's okay. That's why the Bible teaches us take your thoughts back to Him.
Speaker 1:Listen, you wouldn't want to know some of the things I think throughout a day. I probably don't want to know some of the things that goes through your head throughout a day. We're not perfect. Let me save you the time. You're not going to be perfect in the flesh, but we're perfect in the Spirit. We're born again in the Spirit and as I get a better understanding of that, this outside stuff starts to change as well. So I'm not saying just live how you want to live. That's what you heard. Let me backtrack a minute. I'm not saying that you're born again, but go out and live however you want to Do whatever you want to do. That is not what we're saying, but we're saying. But we're saying worry about the most important thing, first the inside, and then let the outside take care of itself, because it will.
Speaker 1:So in 2 Corinthians it tells us. We're being transformed. It says transformed into the same image in 2 Corinthians, from glory to glory, which tells me that I may be down here at some point. And then I'm here, and then I keep going. I keep seeing myself in the image and the likeness of God, and then I get here if there's another step. I keep going on up because I'm progressing and the image and the likeness of God, and then I get here if there's another step. I'd keep going on up Because I'm progressing, I'm transforming, I'm getting to a new level. I'm not staying where I'm at. So that debunks the whole thing of what people say. He's just saying go out and live however you want to live. No, I'm not. I'm saying as you understand your identity, you will progress to different levels. Your mind will transform you to different places.
Speaker 1:Oh, let's see, let me finish Last verse, right? No, I got two more verses Romans 7 and 15. I got to show you these two verses for this to make sense, and I'll end right here. Romans 7 and 15 says this For what I am doing, for this to make sense, and I'll end right here. Romans 7 to 15 says this For what I am doing. Listen to this now For what I am doing.
Speaker 1:I do not understand this. Is Paul speaking right here. I do not understand For what I will to do. I don't practice, I don't do it, but what I hate to do, that's what I find myself doing.
Speaker 1:Anybody ever been there with Paul? Come on, we've all been there. I know the right thing to do, but I just can't seem to make myself do it, all the things that I know I shouldn't do. Man, I'm jumping in their head first and it don't make sense. And you know what I do.
Speaker 1:After that I condemn the mess out of myself. I beat myself down and say you can't be a child of God, there's no way. And then when other people see you do these things too, oh Lord, they're going to wreck you over the coals. You are a hypocrite. You go to church every Sunday morning and you get up and you worship and you stand at that altar and then look at you on Monday and Tuesday.
Speaker 1:Paul done the same thing. Paul struggled with this. Paul wasn't faking repentance here. You got to understand this. Paul done the same thing. Paul struggled with this. Paul wasn't faking repentance here. You've got to understand this. He was fighting a distortion. He was fighting an image of himself that was not there anymore, but it was still there in his mind.
Speaker 1:I don't know everything you've been through, but you do and you know. Sometimes my mind goes back to that place. I don't know everything you've been through, but you do and you know. Sometimes my mind goes back to that place and I have to come out of that and say that's not who I am. There's danger in performance-based repentance. If I feel like I have to try to perform, to be something, there's danger in that. Okay. When we believe that real repentance means never doing anything bad again, we tie our spiritual worth to our performance. I'm as holy as the things that I do. I'm as righteous as the good deeds that I do. We also hide instead of confess. What did Adam and Eve do when God walked with them in the garden? They hid. We sometimes feel like we're being fake. Instead of being a son, we're just putting on a show for people. We're putting on a show for our Christian brothers and sisters. That's what we think sometimes.
Speaker 1:Last verse right here 1 John, 1 and 9. Let me figure out how to 1 John, 1 and 9. I want you to read this 1 John, 1 and 9. I want you to read this verse because the Gospel is not about proving ourselves. It's about receiving who we already are in Christ. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Now, the only reason I put this verse up here is I want you to see one thing in it. It did not say, if you never do it again, man, that pastor's giving us a green light to go and do whatever. No, I'm not. I just want you to see this. It does not say if you never do it again. It says if you confess, if you confess. We want to get in all that, because I love teaching on confession and homo legeo speak the same thing.
Speaker 1:What are we confessing? We're confessing the truth of the Word Too many times. What we're confessing is the lie. We're believing a lie. We're believing a lie. We're living a lie. Why? Because when I believe something about myself and I believe I'm not good enough, then I'll walk that out in life.
Speaker 1:But if I confess the truth of the Word, no matter what my behavior is, no matter what I'm doing, I still wake up every morning and say you are a child of God. This is not who you are. You were created in the image and the likeness of God. You may be in a bad place, but in the Spirit you are a child of God. What am I confessing? I'm confessing the Word, even in the midst of the bad behavior. I'm not aligning with the behavior. I'm not agreeing with the behavior. I'm agreeing with what the Word says. So I'm coming into alignment with that.
Speaker 1:We've got to return to a true image. Repentance is not trying harder. Please get that in your head. Repentance is waking up to the truth, turning back to the image of God, refusing to let the old mirror define you. Don't be defined by it anymore. I'm not the distortion. I'm made new in Christ.
Speaker 1:So last thing, how do we apply this? Because if you just hear this today and walk out of here and say I don, how do we apply this? Because if you just hear this today and walk out of here and say I don't know how to apply this to my life, it does you no good. Come on, stop judging yourself and judging your repentance based on how many times you fall. Instead, ask am I turning back to truth after I fall when I make a mistake? Am I staying there? Or am I turning back to who I really am, and getting up and getting out.
Speaker 1:You can stay in the pig pen as long as you want to stay there Still don't change the fact that he chose you before the foundation of the world. It still don't change the fact that you died with Him and you rose and you are a new creation in Christ. Problem is, when you're in the pig pen, you got mud in your eyes and you don't see it, just like the prodigal son. See, I always picture the prodigal son getting up out of the mud and cleaning his eyes out and saying, looking around and saying this ain't me, I belong in Daddy's house, this is not who I am. And then he got up and left.
Speaker 1:That's what we got to do, even in the midst of the junk still confess the truth, practice identity-based confession, know who you are in Christ. I can't practice confession, identity-based confession, if I don't know what the Word says about me. I can't do it If I don't know how God views me. I'm going to keep viewing myself in the way I always have. So I've got. That's why I repeat these verses over and, over and over again You've got to know what the Word of God says and I'm not making excuses anymore. Father, that wasn't me. That's not who I am. Thank you for reminding me who I truly am. And I'm getting up and I'm dusting off and I'm going on. This is not a license to sin. This is an opportunity to realize your true identity in Christ and love. Preach this to other people. Love people.
Speaker 1:Too many times we see somebody come up out of the mud and we push them back down in it, or we pick some up and we start throwing it at them. Why not help them get clean? Why not help them see who they really are? I'll leave you with one verse 2 Corinthians 3 and 18. I'll give you one verse 2 Corinthians 3 and 18.
Speaker 1:But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror We've been talking about a mirror, so I want to throw this verse in there Beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord Transformed. It's not immediate. I'm lining up, I'm getting my brain to catch up with my Spirit for what I'm trying to do. God's not expecting perfection out of you, because he knows we're human. God's not expecting perfection out of you Because he knows we're human. You are not going to be perfect. If you are, please come help the rest of us. He's restoring your reflection of yourself. You're not being tested just because something bad happened. You're being transformed.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, when something happens that we look at as a test, a lot of times it's not a test from God. It's because what we have on the inside of us is already there to get through this. It's an opportunity. If I can stop looking at it as a test and look at it as an opportunity. It's an opportunity for I can stop looking at it as a test and look at it as an opportunity. It's an opportunity for me to show who I really am and to get through this.
Speaker 1:Stop agreeing with the distortion and turn back to the truth. Don't let people agree with that. Don't let the people around you agree with a distorted image of themselves. Turn them back around. How do I do that? I turn them back to the truth. I present the truth to them in light of what they're believing. Y'all understand I'm six minutes late. My goal was 12 o'clock. Y'all understand that. You're right. I think Cindy pointed her watch out a little bit About 30 minutes ago.
Speaker 1:Again, let me remind you what we're, because some people may walk out of here, and I know how easy this is to do. I think this is the problem in a lot of churches. Pastor wasn't talking to me. Don't know who he was talking to. There's probably somebody in there he was talking to. He ain't talking to me.
Speaker 1:No, take this and learn from it, if not for yourself, for the people around you. Learn how to teach it. Learn how to walk in this for yourself, but also learn how to take somebody else that's down there. And how do I pull them up, rather than leaving them down there and saying, well, come join us when you get out? How do I get down there and pull them out of the mud and get the mud off of them? How do I help clean them up? How do I let them know that they're loved, regardless of what they've been through, regardless of what they're doing right now, that you are loved, you are chosen and you are in Christ.
Speaker 1:You have been reconciled, and I said this the other day when we read that verse on reconciliation the only ministry that the Lord has given us in the Word, actually given us, is the ministry of reconciliation. Now, if you don't understand what reconciliation is. Look it up. I'm not being funny, I'm being serious, because you really need to understand. What does that mean? That he reconciled us, because now we have the obligation and the opportunity to reconcile and help other people. That's the goal. I hope you got something out of it. If you didn't, go back and listen to it when it gets on Facebook, watch it. Listen to it with the intent of not just yourself, but helping other people, because I don't know why I keep saying this and why I feel this right now, but even last week, I felt the same thing.
Speaker 1:We're at a place now of teaching to teach. Teaching to teach, not just because I'm in this or I'm in that or I need some help with this. Yes, we all can use this stuff in our daily lives, but now we're teaching to teach. It means everybody in here will go out. Why? Because you're all ministers. You may not stand behind a pulpit, but you're all ministers of Christ. There ought to be somebody, and I'm going to pray every day that God will bring somebody in your path.
Speaker 1:That as soon as they get there, you say that's what Pastor Brown was talking about. This is the one they need you. They need what you got on the inside of you. They got problems and you got the answer. And so many times we walk right by them and so many times we walk right by them Instead of giving them what they need. Maybe one day they'll get in church, maybe one day they'll find God. Why don't you be the Jesus they find? Maybe they will find it, maybe they'll find it in you. That's right, father.
Speaker 1:God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your many blessings. We thank you so much for the Word that You're teaching us. We thank you for the prophetic Word that we're being taught to teach. Father, that is just stirring my spirit right now that we're being taught to teach and we're in a place right now to not just transform ourselves and continue this process of transformation, but we're being taught how to walk this thing out so that we can go into the community and begin to help other people, begin to teach other people the truth of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Not the religion, not the tradition of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the religion, not the tradition, but the truth of who we really are in Christ and what our true identity is, no matter what we're going through, no matter what somebody may be facing, no matter what they're dealing with in their daily life, that you love them, you're not angry with them, that you love them and that You've chosen.
Speaker 1:And, father, that you sent them and that you chose them. And, father, that you sent your Son to the cross and he didn't just go for us, but we went with Him and we're now seated in heavenly places. Father, we thank you. I thank you for every person that's in this room right now, father, and if there's any distorted image, anybody's battling that going through a distorted image, I pray that you'll show them every day, father, who they truly are in Christ and what you've done for them, what Jesus has done for them, what it really means. We thank you for the forgiveness of sin, but we also thank you for the opportunity to see ourselves in the image of Christ. And, father, we'll be careful to always give you the praise, the honor and the glory for everything, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.