Intimacy with God

Join Joe, Kelly and guest speaker, Pastor David Patterson from New Freedom Church as they discuss intimacy with God and prayer. 

This episode revolves around Philippians 4:8 whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praiseworthy meditate on these things.

What does meditation mean biblically?

How can you focus on those things that are true, noble and just!

Join us as we discuss these things and more.

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Transcript

Episode 14

Kelly: [00:00:00] Welcome to the blessings on hope road podcast, where we talk about life, family, and what it all looks like through the lens of our walk with God. As we step into our calling is his children.

Welcome to episode 14 blessings on hope road. We have a guest with us today. We have our senior pastor, pastor David Patterson, freedom church joining us this morning. Hi. 

Pastor David Patterson: Amen. It's good to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah. 

Joe: So. What are we jumping into? You were getting ready to talk, and I cut you off. My fault.

Nope. We're gonna talk about Intimacy with God. We're gonna talk about what we think on, what our hearts are set on. This is going to be, yeah, this is going to be good. It's going to be a lot more than just any one single thing. So, which most of the episodes are so buckle up pastor. Why don't you go ahead and share what it [00:01:00] was that was stirring in you?

Pastor David Patterson: Sure, sure. You know, we, uh, through life it's, you know, life comes whether you're ready for it or not. And, uh, it tends to be where thoughts will come, whether you're ready for them or not as well. You know, sometimes we can, uh, uh, we purpose in our heart and think on certain things, but other times it's like we're doing something and thoughts come and we don't even know where they came from.

Um, uh, and what, where, not necessarily where they came from, but what exactly, um, is behind it, like what spurred it on. And, um, you know, this is an area that most people wonder, I don't know how to control this. I don't know how to work through this. And, um, guess what? Join the club. Every single person deals with this issue of, um, you know, thought patterns, retaining thoughts, um, renewing our mind, getting our thoughts in line with God's word.

And, um, it's a, it's a daily. Thought that we need to [00:02:00] pursue this and understand it in a better way. So today we'll, we'll, uh, get into some word and some, some conversation here about maybe not testimonies of crazy thoughts, but we could all be on here for a long time to share the, you know, what goes on where our thought patterns.

But, um, you know, there's a scripture in Philippians three. Um, or excuse me, verse four, chapter four, verse eight, it says, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praiseworthy meditate on these things.

And I think to myself, the meditating on what we're meditating on is the key to what our thoughts come to or what thoughts come and go and how we can, um, kind of filter our thought pattern based off of what we meditate, because meditate is kind of the root or the foundation of where, what we think on.[00:03:00] 

Yeah, yeah. 

Joe: So it's, and that's where things can get confusing because we live in a day and age where. I think a lot of people, if you're not within the body of Christ, when you hear that word meditate, there is so many things people are gravitating towards to find some sort of peace, some sort of just tranquility to where they can take a deep breath.

Well, when you hear the word meditate, it's somebody is sitting somewhere in the middle of some garden with a waterfall in the background. They're sitting Indian style with their fingers, singing, Oh, like it doesn't, that's not. Meditation. Yeah, that is not what scripture is talking about. It's literally it's what are your thoughts fixed on?

What are you thinking 

Pastor David Patterson: about? Well, that that's the thing is when you get into biblical what biblical meditation is the word meditation means to mutter So it's actually, you're speaking things into existence, not, not receiving things. So when you, when Joshua, you know, do not [00:04:00] let the word depart out of your mouth, but meditate on it day and night that you're literally speaking into existence, what you want to think about instead of just going through life and allowing everything that's out there.

To, to come into your mind and into your head. So, you know, meditation is really the filtering of what you think about what you meditate on. So if you're sitting and you're frustrated and you're meditating on your bills and all the struggles that go on in the daily life, well, that's what your thoughts are going to.

attend to and grab ahold of. So there's an element, you know, as a Christian that as we meditate on the word, we are, we are making a decision, a conscious decision that. We are going to filter our thoughts through the word of God, and as we do that, it, it, it eliminates a lot of the lies and the accusations and the maybes and the ifs and, uh, you know, all the stuff that's not true.[00:05:00] 

Joe: Yeah, and it's, it's important to not just gloss over. It's look, if, if you're plugged into. A body of believers. Praise God. Don't sometimes in the whole churchy religious thought process, it's when you hear someone, so when you heard pastor say, you know, when you, when you speak certain things, you're muttering it and you're speaking into existence, what you want to focus your thoughts on.

That doesn't mean, and it seems to be people's knee jerk reaction to a statement like that, where they go, well, you're just ignoring what's going on and you're not being realistic and struggles happen and things are, and look, I, that is correct, but nobody ever said that they weren't happening. Nobody ever said that there weren't things that went down that frustrate you.

What, what Pastor is saying is that's not your primary focus. That's not the thing that you zone in on, you zero in on, because as you continue to speak in [00:06:00] that negative way, then things are just going to stay in a negative place. Why? Because you're speaking into existence, exactly what you're talking about.

We are made in the image and likeness of God. He spoke everything into existence. So our words have weight. His word tells us that the power of life and death are in our tongues. So what we're speaking, what we're muttering, what we're meditating on will in fact, establish what's before you. You speak to your circumstances and you stop letting your circumstances speak to you.

Pastor David Patterson: Amen. Amen. And it is interesting because if you look at life and you look at society, everybody has the opportunity and has to go through the same type of, if I can say it this way, things in life. So everybody, you know, has bills. Everybody gets a job. Everybody has, you know, is pursuing a home and everybody is going through life.

And it's what the difference is, what your decision to decide [00:07:00] what your life's going to be instead of allowing life to make you who you are, you know, are allowing the darkness and the sin of this world. And I know that sounds super spiritual, but are you allowing the affairs of life to become your life?

Are you allowing God's abundant life? To become your life and that's where meditation really draws a line and says, you know what I'm making a decision for the Lord And I'm believing that, uh, I don't want the, the God of this world to be my meditation. I don't want the affairs of life to be my meditation.

I'm going to meditate on what is true and what is holy and realize that that has the power to, to transform me and renew me in a way that I can see my life differently than the way the world sees my life. So, you know, this thing about meditation is a, it's a powerful thing, but it's still a decision.

Yeah. [00:08:00] It's still something we need to say, you know what? Uh, I know this, this, this and this are happening. We have bad days and we have, uh, maybe a list of five things that are we're working through or some days it may be 15 things or one day it may be one big thing, you know, like the loss of a loved one.

And you're like, how am I going to deal with this? Or the loss of a spouse. Yeah. Or a loss of a child. I mean, big things people deal with and people deal with that. You know, it's not like, um, God is like, well, I see where you're at. So I'm going to give you a double portion of negativity. You know what I mean?

It's like life, life is full of sin. Life is full of opportunity to sin. Absolutely. Meditation 

Joe: makes a difference. It's everything. And that's the, that's the hope behind all this. As we talk about this, we pray that it encourages you, that it lifts your heart, that you, it makes things simple because it really is that simple.

What you focus your thoughts on hard. [00:09:00] Things happen. Nobody's saying that there aren't hard times. What makes us, scripture says we are a peculiar people. What makes us peculiar is when everything around you looks like it's going to hell in a handbasket, you have the ability to take a deep breath and go but God.

Not everything's wrong, but God, why are you doing this? Okay, everything is going crazy, but God is with me. God is in me. God will work through me to carry me through this, and it doesn't make sense to the world. Paul said, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

That's, that's your starting point. That is your starting point. When stuff starts to get anxious, okay, where do we go? You know what? I know where I go. I go to my dad. I go to my father and I say, dad, I'm struggling with this. I don't want to, I don't have to, your word tells me I shouldn't. So I'm going to give it to you and focus my thoughts on you right 

Pastor David Patterson: now.

Amen. And it's funny, I was getting ready to read that, but that's Philippians 4, two verses above what I just read. You know, it's be anxious for nothing, but in [00:10:00] everything, but even if we go to verse 4. It says rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice. So these things, all of this starts, you make your life, don't let your life make you.

So what I'm saying is don't let your thoughts dictate who you really are, you know, that would be like saying, well, I'm going to let this world dictate who I am, or I'm going to let my job dictate who I am. Now you're beautifully and wonderfully made God created you in his image and his likeness. You don't have to succumb.

To what the world says you have to succumb to. So when it says rejoice in the Lord, always. So, so that tells me I need to make a decision that I'm going to be full of joy. Yeah. You know, and I know that may, that may offend certain people and people get upset when you're smiling or you're happy, but it's just being biblical to make that decision, even though it doesn't rejoice in the Lord always.

And again, I say rejoice it isn't, it doesn't give the details of life with that. It doesn't give a [00:11:00] disclaimer like only if. This, this, and this happened only if my budget is in the black, am I going to rejoice now? It says rejoice always and again, I say rejoice and he says that because we have plenty opportunity not to right, you know And but as you it was just funny you've reading that I was gonna write quote that exact scripture in verse 7 It says in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus So, you know, if we can meditate on God's word and get anxiety out, what does it say?

The peace of God that surpasses everything we can think of 

Joe: is under control. It's literally bypassing your brain and going straight to your heart to where it just washes over you. And that's the key to it. It's funny because. One of the things I was reading this morning before we got into this, just in my time spending with my dad and just reading through the scriptures, it's the story of when Jesus is, he's [00:12:00] ministering to the masses and at one point there's a lame man who cannot get to him and his friends brought him, they take him up on the roof.

They open up the roof. They drop him down on the mat. It says that Jesus was just, he was amazed at their faith to do that. And he looks at the man and he says, man, your sins are forgiven you. Now the religious people in this, right after that, it says the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason. Saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies?

Who can forgive sins but God alone? And it says, but when Jesus perceived their thoughts, so, because I'm sure the looks on their face were insane, there was, and he knew, Jesus knew it immediately. He was like, okay, I know where these guys are going. I know where their thoughts are, but he called them out.

Point blank, why are you reasoning in your hearts? God just did a miraculous and beautiful thing by healing someone and now they're mad and trying to make sense of it. Naturally, their thoughts are not fixed on God. [00:13:00] Their thoughts are fixed on what? Their emotions, their jealousy, the situation. Well, this isn't how I understand things to be.

This isn't how I think it should go. Their thoughts and emotions have led them right out of the blessing. God wanted to, because God wanted to bless them in that. He wanted them. God's desire is never to strike you down. It's always. It's not God's will that any man should perish. It's not. He wanted them to be just as blessed, but because of their hard hearts, they missed it.

They completely missed it. Instead of saying, my God, this is the Messiah. It's Him. He just forgave his sins. He healed a lame man. He's walking out of here. This is what we've been waiting for. Nope. This isn't the way I thought it should happen. This is dumb. I don't like this. As a matter of fact, I don't like you, Jesus.

That's, that is not a fight you're going to win. 

Pastor David Patterson: You're scratching on something that's pretty, um, pretty intense is, you [00:14:00] know, people's mindsets, you know, we're talking about your, your meditations. They, they dictate your mindset. And once you can get something in your mind. Um, you know, you can ask my wife and, and, and many people, but man, you get something in your head, you're, you're going with that, you know, like I'm all in for, even if it's not the right thing, it's like when you get a mindset, that's the way it's going to be.

And we see that in, we see that in churches, we see that in ministries, we see that in, in, in marriages. You know, a man, he has a mindset because why mindsets are established based off of what you've heard or experienced prior to. And, uh, that's where these, the religious people, Jesus dealt with, they had a mindset based off of the law and how they don't heal on the Sabbath.

You know, don't do this. Don't do that. You can't talk to the Samaritan. Don't go near the lepers. You know, all these things are rules and regulations and mindsets that the, you know, in Romans 12. [00:15:00] It says, um, that we need to renew our mind. So, uh, that tells us that. There's mindsets already there, but when I, when I, when you meditate and think about what renew means something was already there, you're just bringing it back to its original state.

Yup. And that's where I think Jesus does talk about, I know he talks about, but he emphasizes, if you can come to me as a little child, this is the kingdom of God. And that's what renewing our mind is getting back to childlike faith to say, you know what, that the world's not going to. Infiltrate and plug up and dirty my mindset.

Yeah. And I'm not going to get into religion. I'm not going to get into to false teachings. I'm not going to get into anything but what the word of God says. I'm not going to get 

Joe: into past experiences. Yeah. Things that have happened in the past that have caused me. Because that's what, that's the difference with the kids.

That's the, if I tell [00:16:00] my son right now. If he were to come downstairs and I were to tell him, son, I guarantee you, we can go out and let's go out. We're going to move some stuff around today. Get some, some deer blind set up, get ready to go hunting. And I, if I go tell him, son, we can do it right here. We can let, we're going to set this blind up right here.

He's immediately going to start gearing his mind towards, okay, whatever it takes to get in that spot, that's where we're going. He's not going to go in there. Look at me and go, dad, um, there's a briar in the way. Um, dad, there's some brush in the way. He's just going to start moving because, well, dad said, this is where we're hunting, so that's where we're hunting.

That's where we're going to go. He doesn't try to rationalize it in his head and come up with, well, you know, the last time I ran through that area, I had a briar snagged me and cut me. I don't want to be there. I don't want to, and I'm sorry, it might not be a very good analogy, but that's life, bad things happen to you.

And it's like, no, that hurt the last time I was there. Stop. Yeah. But God, yeah. But God focus on him. Go into that situation. The [00:17:00] very thing that you're avoiding typically holds the very breakthrough that God has for you because no longer is it about the problem. It's about the God. 

Pastor David Patterson: Yeah. Well, you touched on a good point that your past.

Influences your decisions in the future and that like, if your son was cut by that Briar, that that could be a memory that if he chooses to, to put his mind on that, that becomes his focal point and you lose the whole, whole day of what you're going to do because your mind was set on something in the past.

You know, Paul talks about that is forget the past. There's nothing in the past worth, uh, worth holding on to, you know, the only thing in the past that we should look at. Is, is our testimony is what the Lord did, you know, not what the, not what the enemy did or not, you know, thought thought patterns of the past or what my parents did, you know, the age old story about, you know, why do you cut both ends of the ham [00:18:00] before you put it in the pot?

Well, yeah. My mom did it, so I'm going to do it, you know, in, in someone don't live your life based off of someone else's experiences and that that plagues people so often that God created them with a purpose and a plan to fulfill. And. But if they do not see it or have the mind behind it to say, you know what God made me for who I am and God has gifting and calling in my life, you'll never get to that place based off of someone's natural decision that they made, you know, 50 years ago.

It's plaguing your life because your mind is fixed on that instead of on him. Mm hmm. So. Man, 

Joe: it, it, as we were talking and just having that little discussion and Pastor brought up that, you know, cutting off the hams, er, cutting off the ends of the hams, it, um, when Braden was little, he was terribly allergic to poison ivy.

Yes. Like I'm pretty [00:19:00] sure the wind could blow. From the direction of some poison ivy and if he was within 50 feet of it, he was covered in it, but this dude would keep going in the woods and he didn't care. It didn't matter how much he itched. It didn't matter how much it bugged him. His heart was set on being in because he loved it.

He loved being in the woods. So it was like. Yeah, I don't if that I'm thinking about that as a 43 year old father Like if I go in the woods and I get covered head to toe in poison ivy I'm staying out of the woods while everything is green. Yeah when everything dies then I can go this dude. He wasn't like that He's like, I don't care

So if our heart if our thoughts Are set on God. It doesn't matter what's in front of us. We have the ability to say I'm not going to allow the problem to keep me from God. I'm going to do whatever is necessary to press in to God because that's where my heart is. That's what I want. 

Pastor David Patterson: Yeah, yeah. I [00:20:00] mean, that's, that's really the bottom line is when you were sharing about, you know, going to the woods in the briar, you know, you didn't, you thought the story was not, not that good, but it's really speaking, you know, that another, there's.

Uh, facet of this is he understood authority, you know, he respected, and that goes to your mindset is based off of what you put authority on, you know? So if you put authority on the government, if you put authority on the system, if you put authority on your finances and you worship money above God, that becomes your authority.

So your mindset gravitates to what your authority is. So when your authority is the Lord. Then it doesn't matter the persecution, right? It doesn't matter the struggle, you know, it does. It's not difficult to, to, to tithe and to give because your authority is him, you know, and the truth is rooted. So not just in a spiritual sense, but even going to work when you know, you may not love your job right now, [00:21:00] you know, but you're going to go because that's the authority that's there right now.

And so the Lord moves you out or changes it. That's, that's where you're at, even though it's not your favorite thing to do. And, you know, there's times in our lives, even as Christians where, you know, things may not be our favorite thing to do, you know, serving the Lord in a capacity of sweeping and cleaning isn't necessarily what people call a high calling, but the faithfulness there in the mindset to know that I'm, I do my work unto the Lord.

Exactly. That puts that mindset in you that if your mind is fixed on God, the things around you don't move you. They 

Joe: become completely unconsequential. You don't even care anymore. You're like, whatever. Mm hmm. And that is a big deal. That is a no longer. Is it pastor touched on the money, all these different things, what, what your thoughts are stayed on established how it [00:22:00] establishes how you live your life.

Your life becomes based around that thing. So if it's making enough money, everything you do, everything you think about, everything you set out to do, you plan your day around that thing. I need to do this. If it's making sure people see you, It's because we live in a culture now with social media and things like that, everything you do, there's not going to be a moment you live in your life that is not going to be based around.

Let me take a picture. Let me put it on the Internet. Let me put it on Facebook. Let me put it on Instagram. Let me put it on Snapchat. Let me put it on TikTok. Why? Because I need people to see me. I need people to see me. It does. Okay. All right. But what, how's that going to work out for you when the hard times hit?

Yeah. How is money going to help you when the bottom falls out of everything? How is it? It's all these things are temporal. It's not to say that they aren't important, but what it is to say they're not everything. They are not. They, they were never meant or created to be the [00:23:00] center of your existence.

They're told money is a tool. Our relationships with people build into us. They encourage us. God actually uses our relationships with people as a tool. In his toolbox for us. Once we come to him, he uses these connections we have to minister through us to other people. It's just this ever interwoven tapestry of life that everything is connected and goes back to him and when we're not connected with him.

It turns into a big old mess. It's a picture that doesn't make sense, but when we allow it to be tied into him on now, all of a sudden, even the things that we don't understand while we're walking through it, we'll have the ability. Sometime later, maybe short, maybe long, I don't know, but you'll have the ability to look back and go, man, look what the Lord did there.

That's insane. That didn't make any sense to me. And I didn't understand, but now I get it because they're all building blocks, all these things he'll use for your good. [00:24:00] 

Pastor David Patterson: Yeah. Yeah. It's seeing, it's really seeing the truth of the matter. It's seeing what, what is the truth. You know, we look at these things in life and you brought up money and material things.

And that scripture comes to me, you know, gain the whole world and lose your soul. Well, the soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions, you know, and it's like, that is the area. If we can, if we can narrow down the Christian life and this is after we, you get born again and accept the Lord, the, the, the main focus is mind renewal.

It is, it is keeping your heart and your mind and your intellect fixed on God and realizing that. These, like you said, the, the system, the, the things around us that we visually see in the natural. They're there as a, a tool and a source to fulfill the mandate and the call of God, you know, and when you use money as a, a tool to be used in the kingdom of God, it, it, you look at money totally different.

Yeah. It's [00:25:00] not a, it's not a tool. It's not, it becomes an idol to people when their mindset is fixed on money that becomes our idol and everything, every decision revolves around the money. You know, I mean, everything, but when your, when your mind is fixed on God, every decision comes out of what the word of God says, what's the spirit speaking to you in this time.

And that's, that's the phenomenal thing that as a Christian, we can partake of that is, man, that's a wonderful gift, the gift of the Holy spirit to, to indwell us and guide us and comfort us that when we don't know what we're thinking, when we don't know what the answer is, you know, it says when you don't know how to pray.

The Holy Spirit comes and intercedes for you when you don't understand a decision to make, what do you do? You don't get anxious about it. You go to the Lord because you know, he has the decision and you know, it's just Down in Philippians verse 9 chapter 4 where we were it says [00:26:00] these things which you learned and received So the ability to meditate you have to learn and receive it to be able to meditate on it.

So you got to see it So if you never hear about it, you're not going to be able to meditate on 

Joe: it. Exactly. And it's, I know Kelly and I have talked about it. I know Pastor Dave, you and I, Pastor Lacey, we've all talked about, even after we're saved, even after we come to God and we know these things, if your mind is not being renewed, I didn't say if your mind has been renewed, I said, if your mind is not being.

Renewed because that is constant. If it is not being renewed, you will never, you will still run into a brick wall of frustration because the experiences that you have had in your life, the things that have happened, create thought patterns. And it doesn't matter how much good you see through the eyes of a believer, because you can see good things.

But if your thought processes don't perceive them the way God made you [00:27:00] to perceive them. Then you're walking amiss in those things. It's going to become an emotional response to it instead of Hey, why did God do this? Why did God make this to be this way? It's it's and that's you have to be renewed and you really it Pastor was talking about it before we even got started You can stop with that very first thing that Paul said finally brethren, whatever things are true Okay, hard stop.

Whatever things are true is what's happening is what I'm thinking about the truth is the thought that runs through my head right now in light of what's going on in my circumstances. Is it the truth? And I mean the truth according to what God says, I don't care what anybody I don't care what your grandma said.

I don't care what your dad said, how close you are with your dad. If what they said doesn't line up with what God said, it's not the truth. And that is hard, but it is the truth, and it's why so many of us, and I'm talking about myself because I can go down this, I, I am a high emotion, [00:28:00] I run at a high fire, but I have learned that even in my excitement for the things that God is doing, I have to slow down and say, okay, dad.

What do you want me to take from this? What is it you're trying to show me from this? We go sit in a revival meeting. I hear a wonderful word preached and brought forth. That doesn't mean that it's my job to take off running and do exactly what they're doing because boy, that got me all fired up. Okay. Uh, no, stop.

Slow down. It might be he wants to do something in that area, but it might also be, he was just trying to get me to learn something that's going to draw me closer to him. Right. But if I just take off running and now what's happening? Well, I'm actually running away from him because no, I'm just, look, I'm doing this.

I'm doing this. I'm doing, come on, man. Slow down. 

Pastor David Patterson: Yep. Yeah. See the word helps renew your mind. It doesn't mean that's what you need to do. Yes. You know, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, but that doesn't mean You, you're doing everything that you hear the minister say, [00:29:00] and I'm going, I want to go back to that word true because just to ratchet this up a little bit, get us thinking a little deeper here is there's, there's truth of God's word and there's true things that happen in society in life.

Like, you know, I talk to people and they're like, if they want to gossip or share about someone, they're like, well, it's the truth. Well, yeah, maybe it was the truth. Maybe this person really did do that, but, but if you read on, is it noble? Is it just, is it pure? What you're talking? So truth has to. You can't take truth just in what the natural says or the world says, because yeah, you can have a cold and you can, pneumonia can kind of attach itself to you.

Yeah. Truthful. You know, you have a call for a sneeze, a true statement, but is that the final truth? Right. Right. Word of God is so you can have those thoughts about sickness and disease. They can come your way. But as you renew your mind to the word, Jesus paid, paid it all, paid for [00:30:00] that, you know, just the same thing with sin, you know, the Christian can mess up and slip and sin.

True statement really happened. But the truth is, you're not a sinner when you repent, right? You know what I mean? And I think people have this mindset and they get, I go back to mindset because that's kind of how we function in life. Um, they have this thought pattern that, Man, if I mess up, then I, then I'm condemned, you know, and, and judgment comes and condemnation and they get into this place of, of funk, but if they would realize that the truth is God's love doesn't pull away just because you slip, you know what I mean?

God didn't pull away from Peter when he stepped out of the boat and started sinking. You know, he started looking at the things of the world started saying, Jesus didn't say you tried Peter. I give you credit, but hope you make it buddy. Yeah. Good luck, pal. Yeah. And I think we need to really serve some grace with people and realize that that's why the preaching and the teaching of the [00:31:00] truth of God's word has to come out and has to be our meditation.

Yep. Because if it's not our meditation, then we can believe a, Uh, a half truth or a partial truth and a half truth is a lie. Yeah. You know what I mean? If God says, I'm saved, I'm born again. And somebody, and I slip and somebody says, I don't think you know Jesus. Well, that's not their, that's their opinion.

Yeah. But the truth of the matter is your relationship with Jesus Christ is the key, you know, and when you meditate on God's word and the truth of God's word, it will filter out very finely all the junk that society tries to put on us. And 

Joe: Jesus, Jesus, he said it himself, I did not come to condemn the world.

But that through me, the world might be saved. It's didn't, he didn't, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I messed up. Oh no, God doesn't love me. I messed up. Oh no. Am I really saved? Oh no, I messed up. Am I going to hell? Guess what? When I was living for the [00:32:00] world. Christ or God already sent Jesus to cover my mistakes.

He did not send Jesus based on the sinfulness of my saying, okay, well, you know what? Jesus came and died for everybody, but because you were kind of foul and you were kind of, he didn't do that. It was, he looked at it and in his compassion when he looked on me, he said, I don't want you to stay stuck there.

So I'm going to give you the means and the ways to come to me and learn, take my yoke upon you, learn from me. Yeah. So now I gotta come now I gotta learn because everything he's literally has to teach me. He has to unteach Everything I've taught myself. Yeah in life so I can be yoked and walk side by side with him Not try to take off running.

Amen. Not try to get stuck in my hurt and go No, I'm not moving from here because you just don't understand how bad that hurt me. Okay, you're right. It did hurt It's not none of it is ever denying those things It's saying, in spite of those [00:33:00] things, what did God say? What does he say about my thoughts? What is it?

Who is he placed around me? The pastors, the leaders, the ministers who come in and speak the word. That is not just because they woke up in the morning and thought, you know, I don't have anything else to do. I think I'm just going to go preach today. God has these people in place for a very specific reason and it's for our edification.

It's for building us up It's for the perfecting of the Saints. That's why we're here So as we come into there's never it's perfecting So we're constantly digging in learning renewing building up being edified and we do it for each other 

Pastor David Patterson: Yeah, and and that's the thing about adjusting our mindsets Is realizing that we may have had all good intentions, but then we get revelation of God's word.

And it's like, wow, you know what? I thought I knew. What this meant, or I thought I knew what God was saying here. I thought I knew what Jesus was doing. And [00:34:00] I'll be honest with you. You know, I can look at some of my sermons 10 years ago and think to myself, why in the world did I preach that, you know, based off of revelation of what I know now, you know, the more you, the more you dig in God's word and the more you unearth the gems that are in scripture, the more you realize one, there's a lot that you didn't know.

And two, there's a lot more to find out. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like the, the deeper you dig and I, and as you were talking, I, I can't. Meditating on this, you know, Philippines for, and it's like, I look at true and noble and just and pure and lovely. And it's like, what I see is I see two parts to that.

I see God's part of true, noble, and then I see the world standard of true, noble and pure. And you can see it, you can see society as lawlessness and these things abound in perilous times. The, the noble is shrinking in society's [00:35:00] terms. What is true is, is what we thought was true or was a half truth has become more of a lie.

You know, it's like the enemy is ramping up what is, what is pure. You know, the, you talk to a nonbeliever and they think, well, I'm a good person. You know, I don't cheat on my spouse or, you know, I pay my taxes, you know, and they give reason after reason why they're good enough, you know, or why they're pure enough.

God loves me. God's a loving God. He wouldn't do this to, you know, and they have this mindset based off of what they heard from somebody else or what society is doing. But when you become a new creature, old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And then, then that's when. You're, you're kickstarting the renew the mind renewal process because you're starting all over again as a new creation.

So you're learning how to walk with the Lord instead of just walking in the natural, you're learning how to, to process things and [00:36:00] understand the kingdom instead of the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of light. So, you know, this, these mindsets, uh, it's interesting how the Lord is Promoting. And the, the true and noble and the preaching and the teaching is coming in a strong way in society now, but yet society is shrinking the other way, shrinking back, you know, in, in our culture, in the U S you know, it just is.

So that's that, that's all the more of why the believer needs to take time to meditate on the other believers, continue in the apostles doctrine, breaking bread, fellowship and prayer. Why? Because that's establishing. Your meditation. Yep. 

Joe: Yep. Your life becomes based around it. What it's in part of this is as your mind is renewed and we don't ever focus too much on it because there are there are some.

Teachings where it's you hear 90 minutes of all about the devil and demons and evil spirits And so I I [00:37:00] hate focusing on that stuff, but to a degree you need to know your enemy And you need to understand that the devil will in fact be the devil. He comes to steal kill and destroy He's not here to be your friend He's not a little red cartoon character running around with horns and a pitchfork and a ponytail going.

Ah, i'm gonna get you He doesn't do like this dude means business However, he's been defeated. His way of, his way of meaning business is to continue to lie to trick you so you don't know exactly who you are and what God's done for you. So now, in light of that, it is why it is so vital to allow your mind to be renewed by God.

Because everything this world throws at you is just trying to distract you from that. I want you to stay stuck. The enemy does. I don't want you to stay stuck. God doesn't want you to stay stuck. But the enemy, he does. He wants you to believe that he's got all this power and you need to be afraid of him.

It doesn't say anywhere in scripture that I need to be afraid of the devil. It says pay attention, beware, pay attention to, look out for. [00:38:00] So if something comes my way and it strikes fear in my heart, hold up. God, everywhere I turn around, God says do not fear, do not be afraid, be of good courage. So, fear is not from him.

If you turn on the news and you're afraid of whatever is happening, throw a dart, there's a lot of stuff happening. It'll end on something that they're trying to get you afraid of. Why? Because fear and faith cannot exist in the same space. So, if fear is what is in your thoughts, fear is what you're going to live in.

But, if you can focus that thing on God and say, Okay, this is what God, exactly what pastor is saying, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report, lovely, that is the exact opposite of what you hear when you turn the news on.

So, I need to ask myself this right now. How much news do I need to take in in life? How much do I need to pay attention to? It's not to say you stick your head in the sand and be ignorant. We do need to go on, but how? How [00:39:00] does, I think a lot of Christians, they get stuck in this spot. Well, how am I supposed to make a difference?

Well, you live out what God said to live out. You press in, meditate on Him, and He'll do the rest. It's not up for Kelly and I to sit down and make a strategy guide of how to do all this and say okay We do this. Yes, there are certain things we need to be diligent of and say, okay We're gonna set aside time to record.

We're gonna set aside time to focus on these things, but How that all plays out that's up to God It's up But I'm gonna meditate on what he says to do and on what his word says and I'm not gonna be swayed by anything else And I'll allow him to work out the details. That's why I'm yoked to him because obviously I can't pull the load by myself, but he's going to come beside me and say, here, let's go.

Don't focus 

Pastor David Patterson: on all that. Yup. And his yoke is easy and his burden is light. It is very light. [00:40:00] So, you know, you can take this subject. And it just infiltrates the whole scripture, everything you can talk about faith, you know, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word that's meditating on the word. You know, you talk about prayer, you know, praying to the Ephesian prayers, you know, we're going to talk about that today, but that's another day, you know, praying on these things and, and meditating on these things allows us to, you think about, you know, David before he was king.

When he fought life, he didn't base it on the circumstance, right? All through scripture, you know, men and women of God did not base the circumstance on, you know, how big God was, right? God was big to them in their circumstance may look big, but in their mind and in their spirit. No problem because God is the one, you know, so I, it's, it's interesting how, um, we can view things based off of our past, but when we become a new creation, old things are passed away.

[00:41:00] Behold, all things become new. So I encourage people to, you know, as you, as you press into God, or maybe you don't even know the Lord come to know Jesus, ask him into your heart, you know, because what that does is that breaks the curse. of mindsets that breaks the curse of past generational things. And, you know, there's people that teach on that, you know, watch out for this generational curse.

It's in my family. It's well, when you become part of the family of God. You take on a new family, you're adopted in, you take on new DNA of Jesus, and you become a new creation. And from that point forward, that's why when you get saved, you feel so free. Yeah. You feel so light because the burden's been lifted.

The sin has been lifted. So if you find yourself heavy, There's some type of, the enemy's trying to bring something upon you to, to, to break you down. And I, I tell people all the time, I'm like, you know, the only fight we need to be fighting is the fight of faith. That's it. We were against, [00:42:00] not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.

And when we fight the fight of faith to believe in Jesus Christ, you know, we just go to God in prayer and he, he deals out the, the, the whooping, if I can say it that way. 

Joe: Uh, that's one of my favorite parts about scripture. It's mentioned, it's talked about, Paul describes it, how he shamed them publicly, the spirits of darkness, the evil, the enemy, like he shamed him publicly.

It literally, when Jesus rose up out of that grave, he gave his life on the cross. He was buried, and when he rose up out of that grave, it was almost, and look, this is not scriptural, this is merely an image that Joe has in his head, so I apologize if it offends anybody, but it's literally Jesus rose out of that grave, and it was like he had the keys to death in the grave in his hand, and he was shaking them right in front of the enemy going, what now?

What are you going to do now? Because the only thing you had, I just took it from you. You have nothing. That's, that's my brother. [00:43:00] That's my dad in flesh right there going. I've done everything for you. Don't don't even listen to that punk. He's nobody. It's the equivalent of like when you go to school and there's somebody picking at you nonstop and what do parents do parents that we don't You don't just come out of the gate and say, well, son, what I want you to do, or daughter, what I want you to do is go back tomorrow and punch them in the face as soon as they say something.

Some parents 

Pastor David Patterson: do 

Joe: say that. Some parents do say that. But a loving parent, your first reaction is to say, don't listen to that. Yeah. That's garbage. That's a lie. They don't know you. I know you. You are not those things. Well, that's what God is saying. Don't listen to that punk. Don't listen to him already beat him.

He's got nothing. Nothing. Yeah. 

Pastor David Patterson: Just listen to me. Yep. And out of that meditation of what you're saying, just listen to me. It'll give you a heart of compassion to be able to pray for that person. Exactly. Instead of go punch him in 

Joe: the face. Because what happens, you look at it and you go, man, what happened?

Yeah. What happened with that person that they're [00:44:00] that, cause that's just lashing out. That's nothing I did. Something happened to hurt that person to bring them to that place. So you have that compassion like pastor said you pray for him. You pray for your enemies You bless those who curse you the scripture didn't say Jesus didn't say yeah that when somebody curses me I should get angry and have a physical altercation or go gossip about them Yes, he said pray for him do good to them, which was everything opposite of what the Jews in that day They didn't want to hear that If they curse you, you curse them.

You're my enemy, Jesus said. 

Pastor David Patterson: No. Yeah. Just like the Samaritan. Yeah. Don't talk to them. You know, they're, they're not, they're not of your report or as good as you are. So don't, don't go near them, but you know, just in meditating on all this that we're talking about, it, it stirs your spirit and I'm believing it stirred the spirit of people listening today.

Um, but it's interesting how. [00:45:00] You know, we talk about fruit and things like that and what we produce and it comes out of what we talked about today, you know, that's it's the vine where the branches so our fruit production is what we're meditating on that. That really, that is the fertilizer to produce the fruit of the kingdom of God in our life is our meditation and you know, not to not in a judgmental way, but the Bible says you can know them by their fruit and it's very simple to know.

How someone's been meditating and what they've been meditating on based off of what they're producing exactly. And like I said, I'm not saying that in a, in a judgmental way, but I'm saying it for my own life. That how I react to things and handle things is based off of my meditation. 

Joe: Yeah, you, you, you have to, you have to understand that it's literally it's don't miss that.

Do not miss what pastor just said. Your thoughts are the fertilizer. That's what it is. That's what you're [00:46:00] sprinkling over every area of your life. So if That is a gigantic dead giveaway. What kind of fruit am I producing? If my fruit is worry and anxiousness, and I'm walking out and all's I'm seeing is this stuff, then something is amiss.

My something in my thoughts is taking me down this road. Let's go back to square one. Let's Philippians 4, 8, when he starts out. I think it's eight. I need glasses. I'm believing for God to give me complete. That's what I'm saying. I'm believing for that. Um, 

Pastor David Patterson: but, go ahead. No, please. I was going to say that, you know, growing up farming, I think about fertilizer and seed.

It's all through scripture. You know, seed is planting. And, you know, the world, your meditation on worldly things is like putting a herbicide.

On yourself, you know, allowing you kills and zaps and burns literally. [00:47:00] You know, your fruit and your fruit becomes rotten and your fruit becomes, uh, on, on the edible, you know, and people wonder why people pull away from people well, when you're producing negative fruit per se, or rotten fruit, nobody wants to eat rotten fruit, right?

You know, nobody wants to hang around. It stinks, right? You know, and I'm not trying to be, I'm just giving a perspective in the natural realm that, you know, people you hang around if it's like, The rotten apple, it penetrates the other apples, you know what I mean? So it's like what you meditate on, who you hang around is part of meditation.

When you hang around Jesus a lot, you, you produce Jesus, you produce the fruit of the spirit. But I'm telling you, when you are, are meditating on the things of the world in negativity all the time, the fruit, mmm. It's going to give 

Joe: it away. It's going to be good. Yeah. At all. That's what we were made to do.

We were made to reproduce God's [00:48:00] goodness. We're His vessels. Spirit, or the temple built without hands. God made us that's that's what we are for. So if You have heard all this and you are asking yourself right now I don't know what these people are talking about but um, I know something's got to something's got to give something's got to break in my life like I need that What you are looking for is God, and He has drawn near to you as you're drawing near to Him.

So, if you're in that place, and you say to yourself, Self, I need to change. I want to know this God that they're talking about. It is very simple. Don't overcomplicate it. All you have to do is say this prayer. God, thank you for your goodness. I believe that you sent Jesus to die for my sin. Sins, and I believe that through his sacrifice, his blood has washed me clean.

I received that sacrifice as my own. I thank you, God, that you have made me new, that you have called me a child of God and that [00:49:00] I have the abundant life that you paid for at work in me. Now, after praying this prayer, I repent of my ways and I want to receive all that you have for me. Thank you. For saving me.

Thank you for making me new. Thank you for bringing me into your family. Thank you that I am on my way to heaven and that I have a hope in a future. It's that simple. It is that simple. Thank you, Lord. Congratulations. You're a child of the Most High God. You have been washed clean. If you prayed that prayer, let us know.

Blessings on Hope Road at gmail. com. Um, we are on social media, Instagram, Facebook. Check out, I talked about this last episode. I will talk about it again. Look up New Freedom Church. On Facebook, find us on Instagram. Kelly knows those exact names better than I do. I don't know if it's new freedom church.

So I will let her tell you [00:50:00] about those. 

Kelly: Um, so online on the website, it's new freedom dash church. com and on Instagram is new freedom church and Facebook is new freedom church. So you can find us at all those places. 

Joe: Yeah. And if you're looking for a YouTube, yes, we are on YouTube. We are live every Sunday.

At 10 a. m. Um, well, well, it's more like 11. It's more like 11 a. m. Yeah, because we have but I listen, I encourage you if you are looking for a church family. Turn off the TV, turn off your phone, turn on your vehicle and drive to 140 Sally's Delight Farm Lane in Sellersville, Maryland at 10 a. m. Be there. I promise you, you will never leave disappointed because God shows up every week and has something for you.

So please come out. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Pastor, thank you for sitting in with us. This is, uh, this is going to be one of many, [00:51:00] I do have a feeling because this is, this is not my platform. This is not Kelly's platform. This is God's platform. And that is our desire and our heart truly behind all this is to take God and put him on full display.

For his goodness and his mercy. So thank you for tuning into episode 14. I think it was episode 14. Yes. Thank you for tuning into episode 14 and we We'll see you guys on the next episode.

Kelly: Thanks for listening to the Blessings on Hope Road podcast. If you'd like to support the show, click on the link in the description and don't forget to follow the show to get notifications whenever there's new content.