Mission Sent
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Mission Sent
Don't Just Do Better: Think Better!
This week we dive deep into the theme of transformation through the renewal of the mind, anchored in Romans 12:2. The conversation explores the necessity of changing our thoughts to align with God's will, rather than merely modifying our behaviors. We challenge assumptions about faith and encourage a deeper examination of how we engage with the teachings of Jesus.
- Importance of renewing the mind for spiritual growth
- The faulty GPS analogy reflecting our inner motives
- Distinction between behavior modification and true transformation
- Role of prayer and scripture in reshaping our thinking
- Addressing personal challenges to enable growth
- Encouragement to seek a deeper relationship with God
All right, and I knew it was a long time coming. I knew it was a long time coming, but last week it finally happened. Since we have planted, that was the first time I've ever ran out of time while I've been up here preaching, and I started it by saying there's so much to get into in just this one statement. So I hope it proved it. My goal this week is to not run out of time, so I'm just going to jump in. We're jumping right back into being transformed by the renewing of our minds, so I will pray and then we will jump into that. Father, I ask and I pray that as I go through this this morning, that God is not my words I am preaching, but yours, that Father, you are speaking to your people, and that we are transformed from one degree of glory to the next. Father, I ask and I pray this in Jesus' name Amen, all right, so we're back to looking at Romans 12.2. Paul says this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And I know I said last week that we were going to be into the will of God this week Again, wasn't planning on running out of all of that time, so I'm just going to give a quick recap and then we will look at that.
Speaker 1:My main point from last week was this is that we are not perfect the way we are, that there is something fundamentally flawed in each and every one of us, that, as humans and as sinners, we do not perceive or interact with the world around us in the way that we're supposed to or the way that we were created to. We also talked about being led by logic and not by feeling, that we remember that our heart is wicked and deceitful. Above all things, think about it this way If you had a broken GPS so you had a GPS system when you typed in the address, that never got you to where you're supposed to go, how many times would you use it? To where we would go? Maybe one time, right, we were like, hey, cool, like trees got in the way or the satellites might not have triangulated the correct way, but if it happened a second time, most of us would be right back at the store going, hey, I paid a lot of money for this, it doesn't work. I want to trade it for a new one, but yet we follow the GPS of our heart. It doesn't work and no one in here is sitting here going, hey, I want a new one. See, and because I didn't get any emails or texts from anyone going, hey, I disagree with your presupposition of starting that we are all flawed from the beginning. I'm going to spend this whole sermon just worried about how and why we need the transformation of our minds.
Speaker 1:So last week we ended with this that, as a counselor, there are two things I tell everyone you can either change a situation or you can change how you perceive the situation. Now I'm going to be honest. The one that is most often used is this Change how you perceive the situation, because very few times are we able to actually change our entire situation. Think about a job, just, for instance. Okay, 87% of Americans hate their job.
Speaker 1:It isn't as easy I mean, I know it sounds easy to sit here and just go. Hey, just quit and go get a job somewhere else. That's not always the easiest thing, especially if we're living paycheck to paycheck to begin with, like especially if we ain't got money like that, it's not always the easiest thing to go. Okay, that's it, I'm just going to go in and quit. Now. Sometimes, yeah, you should do that, right, like if it is making you that completely miserable, absolutely go in and do it.
Speaker 1:But for the most part it's not that easy. Most of us don't have it like that where we can just go in, and that's when we need to change how we perceive the situation. That's when we need to look at it from a different perspective, with a changing of our mind. And that's what Paul is really driving at here that in order for us to change, in order for us to live the life that Jesus has actually called and created us to live, it starts by changing our minds, by looking at it differently, by seeing it through a different perspective, like that's why we do all the things that we do. It's really to change our mind. We looked at last week and it said this that our thoughts become our actions and our actions become our lives. So if we change our thoughts, then how is our life going to be changing?
Speaker 1:Theologically speaking, this is a big word called sanctification. Like, this is that process, and sanctification is the spirit transforming us to look sound and act more like Jesus. The first place we have to start with is our mind. See, it's very easy, and some of you probably grew up in churches where it was this Just do better. Just don't sin as much. Just stop listening to that kind of music. Stop dressing like that. Women, please stop wearing makeup. Dress with modesty, clothe yourself, and they would just walk through. You know all of the different. Stop doing this, start doing this in scripture. You know how long that lasts, as long as you're strong enough to stop doing that.
Speaker 1:Now, what happens when you're not strong enough, though? In law enforcement we say this you always go back to your least level of training. You never go to the top level. You always fall to your least level of training and see in, behavior modification only works while you're strong enough to modify your behavior. What happens when you have a bad week, though? What happens, like when you have a bad month? You kind of fall back into the old habits. We have right, everyone in here does it. Like what is the first thing you run to when you have a bad day? And I almost started singing that song Like what is that? What is the first thing you go? Hey, this is what I need.
Speaker 1:For some of us it may be a drink. For some of us it could be a night out. For some of us it could be so many different things a night out. For some of us it could be so many different things. Because we haven't changed our mind. We've just modified our behavior. We're not running towards the cross, we're not running towards Jesus. We're sitting here going no, I have to be better at this, I have to be stronger at this. I have to conquer this, and we spend our time trying to conquer things that Jesus has already conquered. That's why Jesus says in John in this world, you will have trouble, things will go wrong. He doesn't say it might. We live in a sinful world, surrounded by sinful people. Things are going to go wrong. Crap is going to hit the fan and he says but take heart, for I have overcome the world. Here's what he's saying. You don't need to Like. Just a perfect example Last night.
Speaker 1:All week long I knew I was going to go out shrimping last night. Jt is my fishing buddy, so he's normally the one that I go. All right, you ready, let's go. Let's get the boat packed up, let's get everything ready to go and let's go. Last night, jt went hey, daddy, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't want to go Like I would rather just sit at the house and I went right. I was just as shocked. I was like, whatever, okay, however, debbie, upon hearing that there is now an opening in the boat, goes, I'll go To which I go. Cool, I get to spend my entire night with Debbie and I learned from last time we went shrimping that I can't yell at her when she misses shrimp because she doesn't respond like that.
Speaker 1:Now, needless to say, we go out, have a great night, caught a lot of shrimp. You know who gets to eat that shrimp JT. He didn't go catch it. He didn't help me pack up the boat. Chances are when we get home today he's not going to help me clean the boat. He had to do nothing, but he still gets to eat that bounty. Why? Because his dad did it all.
Speaker 1:That is the same thing Jesus did for us. That is the same thing Jesus did for us. We bring nothing to the table, but Jesus went. No, I have overcome, you don't have to. And when we see Jesus rightly, when we see Jesus for who he is, literally change everything else about us. So you don't have to worry about changing all of that. The only thing we have to worry about doing is seeing Jesus, for who Jesus is.
Speaker 1:We get so caught up in behavior modification, why? Because, as the church, that's our litmus scale, right Like. That's where we can go, who's holy and who's not, that's how we can separate the sheep from the goats, because we can see what is happening. And if you struggle or you are caught in sin or you have that habit, it's easy for us to stand up now and go see, I knew you weren't as holy as you thought you were. You got some work to do.
Speaker 1:But really the only message we should be preaching is this you can't do it. Jesus already did it. So what are you trying to do? Because the more I fall in love with Jesus, the more all of those other things come into line. That's why, in Matthew 6, jesus says this seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. And we take it as a priority list, right? Okay, first I got to seek Jesus, then I do this, then I do that, then I do this, and what Jesus is actually saying has nothing to do with that, because this is all coming on the heels of do not be anxious for anything. And so what Jesus is actually saying is hey, just seek me. If you seek me, all of these other things will work themselves out.
Speaker 1:I was counseling a young man this week and we were talking about there are three questions that every young man has to answer. Number one who is Jesus? Number two what kind of man do you want to become? And number three what man or men are you modeling your life after? And as we're sitting here talking about and they wanted to talk about the other two questions because those are easier questions to answer Like it's easier to sit here and go, hey, this man right here, this is who I'm trying to be. That's an easy question. It's also an easy answer to sit here and go, oh, Jesus is the ultimate man. I'm going to try to be like Jesus and those words sound good. But the first question is actually the most important, because, when you can go, this is who Jesus is, this is who Jesus is to me. The other questions fall right into line with that, because how am I to be Jesus if I have no idea who Jesus is? See and understand.
Speaker 1:When Jesus came, he didn't come with a list of do's and don'ts. Jesus brought up two things that we should do Anybody Love God with all our heart, mind, body and soul, and love others the way that you love you. Jesus said if you do these two things, you will keep all of the commandments, you will keep all of the law of the prophets. Just do these two things. Have you ever like read through scripture and went like, let's look and see how Jesus actually lived his life, like how Jesus's ministry actually went? Do you know who Jesus spends the majority of the time like being harsh with and correcting? It wasn't the lost. In fact, think about it.
Speaker 1:Jesus catches the. Or when they catch the woman in adultery and they bring her out naked, now understand they caught her in adultery. This isn't like oh, I heard like she is in the act of adultery. They drag her from the house out into the street. I doubt very seriously. They went hey, get dressed first. She's in the street. They're like hey, the law says we should stone this woman. Jesus says very famously even non-Christians can quote this right. He, without sin, cast the first stone.
Speaker 1:You notice how gentle he treats her. She's laying on the ground. He gets down face to face with her. He's like where are they who condemn you? They don't condemn you, neither do I, and he's just so gentle. The lady who reaches out and touches his garment, the lady with the bleeding, and he feels the power. Leave him. He doesn't turn around and go. Hey, who do you think you are trying to touch me? He's very gentle with her.
Speaker 1:The woman at the well, and I don't know why. All women are gentle. Examples are with women, but the women at the well. When Jesus shows up and she's talking, yeah, he calls her out. Yeah, the guy you're living with isn't even your husband, but again, you see how gentle he is with the lost.
Speaker 1:He is not the same way with the religious, though. Is he? You brood of vipers? You whitewashed tombs. You look good, good on the outside, but you're dead on the inside. I mean, he literally goes to the temple, sees what's happening, leaves, goes and fashions a whip, comes back and runs everybody out of the temple. Why? Because you should know better. Think about it. It's the same thing I tell my kids all the time, right when they have gotten in trouble for the umpteenth, millionth time for the same exact thing. At this point, you should know better See. That's what Jesus spends most of his ministry doing, if we look at just the Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 1:So we're looking at Matthew, chapters 5 through Matthew, chapter 7. We're looking at two chapters. Do you know how many times Jesus says you have heard it said? Six times in just two chapters? And almost half of one chapter deals with nothing but the Beatitudes, and half of chapter 6 only really deals with do not be anxious. So we're really talking about a chapter and a half. Six times he says you have heard it said. But I say to you, and you know why, because he's sitting here going, you don't get it. Yeah, you know what the Bible says, you know the words, you have the information. Sure, you could pass a Bible quiz, but you don't get it. And he's trying to get them to understand that there's something deeper, that it affects your mind, that he isn't sitting here just going. There's a deeper, that it affects your mind that he isn't sitting here just going. There's a rule you should follow. He's sitting here going. You have to transform how you look at the whole situation, all of it.
Speaker 1:The example I gave in my notes I'm going to change so you're not going to see the screen up here or the words up here, but in Matthew, chapter 7, jesus is talking about anger and retaliation, and he goes you have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now what that means is exactly what we use it for. Right, like you hit me, I'm going to hit you back Eye for an eye, but I tell you, if someone slaps you on your right cheek, you know what you do. Give them your left cheek. Great words, right, raise your hand. If that's how you would handle it, though, why not?
Speaker 1:And I've said this many times, you guys do realize we teach our kids the antithesis of the gospel, the opposite of what jesus actually says, because you were probably taught the opposite of what jesus actually says, too right, because all of us in here go you shouldn't start the fight, but it's okay to end it. That is the opposite of what the Bible says. You know that, right. And yet what have most of us taught our kids? And then we wonder why they didn't turn out the way we thought they should have, because what we're trying to do is just be good people the way we thought they should have, because what we're trying to do is just be good people. Jesus didn't call us to be good people, though. He called us to be transformed people. He called us to be different people, and yet we don't want to go that route. See, jesus is sitting here, going. It's more than just a rule to follow.
Speaker 1:I'm asking you to change everything about how you view the situation. Think about it. How many of us in this room you still look at everything the same exact way. Some of you have been here from the beginning. We've been doing this thing for five years now, and yet you still look at everything the same exact way. Why? We have studied I don't know how many different books already, and yet you still struggle the same way. There's no growth. There's no changing. Why? Because we don't want to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We just want to believe what we want to believe and we don't want to challenge ourselves to believe anything different. Like, do you guys realize that in September which I know is what? Like? What month are we in? February, six months away. We have been in Romans for over a year and a half already. Like we're, we probably still have quite a bit before we get out of it.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of time to devote to one book. That's only 16 chapters that you can read in a day. Why do we wait or not waste? But why do we spend so much time? Because we are never changing our minds, even though we know better. We don't want to. Why challenge what I already believe? I'm pretty good at it, I'm a good person. Obviously, you weren't paying attention to Romans, chapters one through three. But that is why, because all of this should be causing transformation in us.
Speaker 1:Now, how do we transform our minds? How do we actually do this? Well, the first place we start is prayer, because you heard me just say a little bit ago that sanctification is an act of the spirit. Yes, is there some willpower and discipline involved in this? 100% Luke 9, right. Jesus said if anyone should come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me daily. Here's what that means. Sometimes it's willpower. Sometimes you need to be devoted. That is what faith is. Faith isn't saying I believe this is true. Faith is saying because I believe this is true, I will do. Every single one of us should be looking at oh, I don't want to jump ahead because that's going to come in later. So, yes, the first place that we start is prayer, because it is the spirit who changes the heart. It is God who replaces the heart of stone with the heart of flesh. So the first thing we do is pray.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you, when it comes to prayer, how much time do you spend complaining about something compared to how much time you spend praying about that same thing? Because I imagine if we prayed as much as we complained, some of us would be like prayer warriors. If we prayed as much as we sit here and try to figure it out, some of us would be prayer warriors. I've even like. This has happened in my own life. Me and Debbie were going through some things and she was like, do you want to pray about it? And I legit looked right at her and went no, because I know what's going to happen when I pray and I'm not ready for that and I don't want to change my mind on this and I don't want to change my heart on this, and I know that prayer is powerful. Number two we understand that the only thing powerful enough to change our sinful condition is this the word of God. That is it. How are we transformed by the renewing of our mind Through the word of God.
Speaker 1:Let me ask how much time do you spend a week in the word of God? How much time do you spend studying? And when I say studying, I mean studying, I don't mean like, oh well, I read through a chapter this week. I have no earthly idea what it says, but hey, I'm done with that chapter. That does you no good. You could spend a week on one verse if you really needed to. You could spend a month on one word. There is so much like understand when Jesus says I am an inexhaustible well. That means you can't get to the bottom of it. So how much time do you spend studying? How much like? Okay, I don't know about you, but YouTube, if you were to look at, like my phone I don't use my phone a lot, but I can guarantee that the most used app on my phone is YouTube how many of those videos are like building you up and encouraging you? How many of those videos are like building you up and encouraging you? How many of them I watch a lot of apologetic videos like. How many of them are are about jesus. That's why every week in the announcements there's an announcement for missioncentorg.
Speaker 1:Guys, I don't waste my time to stay up here and podcast and do all of this stuff for no reason. It's to give us things to disciple us even then when we're not together like this. It's the whole reason we podcast. What about Wednesday nights? How many of us are sitting here going, hey, like I am going to dig in with my brothers or my sisters, like I'll tell you, if you weren't here last Wednesday, you missed a good one on loneliness.
Speaker 1:And here's the deal You're lonely and you can look at me and go no, I'm not. I have plenty of friends. No, you don't. You may know plenty of people, but how deep into relationship are you with actually other people? Well, I don't need to be. I'm a man, I got it. That's what most of us think, right. But here's the deal I can be man enough to go. No, I don't. Like there's a reason why when God created Adam and Eve and looked down, or created Adam and then looked down, we get our first. This is not good of scripture. Because it is not good of scripture, because it is not good for man to be alone. Why Do you know the thoughts that run through my head? It is really not good for me to be alone. That's why he created a helpmate for me, because then I can bounce things off of Debbie and she can go.
Speaker 1:Not your best idea, because it happens a lot. But how much time do we spend studying? Think about it like an athlete. You can't have days off. If you're an athlete, like it is a seven-day-a-week thing. Now, I'm not saying my workouts on Saturday and Sunday were just as hard as my workouts during the week, but it's a seven-day-a-week thing. Think about it. If you were to work, if you were to work out one day a week, can you compete with someone who does it seven days a week? Most of us would go no. But yeah, that's what we try to do, right?
Speaker 1:You think the devil takes time off? You think the devil stops and goes? Hey, like you know what, I'm going to give you a break. Peter would say this that he's a roaring lion seeking only to kill, steal and destroy. Right? Do you think he's like you know what? Joe's had a rough week. Let me lay off of him. No, not at all. He's not sitting here going. You never kick a man when he's down. He's sitting here going. Hey, I finally got him down. Let me pounce and kill, but yet we think we can take time off, something I tell my kids all the time.
Speaker 1:Anybody in here know what separates a winner from a loser, because most people think it's a potential thing. Well, they're just naturally better. Therefore they're a winner. Mindset, how hard you're willing to work. That is what separates, I go. It's very easy, like if you have a gifted child. It's very easy to gloss over that child. Why? Because they never struggle, like academically. They're not the ones that are coming needing help. They're not the ones that are like hey, you know, can we go to a tutor? It's very easy to just put that child off to the side and go oh well, they're smart, of course they get it. And go oh well, they're smart, of course they get it. And it's very easy, as that child, to just kind of go into cruise control mode at that point and instead of pushing yourself to be the best, it's very easy to just kind of go all right, I can just kind of ride the clock out. And how much further along could that child be if you actually were to like, push on them To go?
Speaker 1:Hey, let's dig deeper into this. What separates a winner from a loser is how hard they're willing to work. So let me ask how hard are you willing to work? How hard are you going to read or study or listen? How hard are you going to be looking for someone? Like, if you get to a chapter in the Bible and you're like, hey, I don't know what this is talking about, you just skip right over it or do you actually go find out what it means? I'll tell you right now. I've had people come up and go, hey, like I need a commentary. I have bought the commentary for them and been like here, study. If you still don't get it, let me know, we can sit down and talk about it. That's why I spent so much money and went to school for so long.
Speaker 1:But if you were not doing it, if we're not studying it, how on earth are you going to get it in? Because, understand, you get a lot of stuff in your head throughout your week. Whether it's music or movies or podcasts, or books or whatever it is that you do, you get it in your head. Just what is it that you're filling your head with? You want to transform your mind, transform what you're putting into your mind, because you are what you consume. And lastly, how much do you really apply to yourself?
Speaker 1:In Matthew 7.3, jesus says this why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but you do not notice the log in your own eye? I will tell you right now. Every week I see one thing and it always makes me chuckle all by myself because I get to see all, all of you, and you guys can only see like the people around you, right, but every week I'll say something, usually like one or two things Doesn't happen a lot. I will say something that the person sitting next to you thinks applies to you and here's what you'll see. Like you're quiet about it or what you don't know.
Speaker 1:Some of you spouses again, I get the vantage of up here, so you're looking at me and the whole time your wife is looking at you like this. You don't even see it because you never look over to the side, because you're paying attention and I appreciate that. But I'm telling you that's what's happening and what Jesus is saying here is we have the spirit for conviction. He doesn't need your help with it. Like it makes me chuckle when I see the elbow, but understand. Jesus has got it. Like it makes me chuckle when I see the elbow. But understand, jesus has got it. He'll work on the heart, because chances are you already know where you struggle. Chances are you're already sitting here going. I know this is. I know he's talking to me, I get it okay.
Speaker 1:In fact, if that would ever happen one day in here, you would throw the rest of my sermon off, because I wouldn't be able to stop laughing at that If, like your spouse just like kind of elbowed you and you're like no, I already knew, like that would just be the best. But see how many of us are being log chippers for our own eyes. How many of us are looking inward, how many of us are sitting here and going hey, I do have work I need to do, because do you know what step one to solving any problem is? Identify the problem. Like. It never fails for me to be like blown away when I assign a bunch of word problems in math, because it's always the same reaction, right, and it doesn't matter if you're dealing with older kids or younger kids. I don't know what it's asking. No, you don't. Did you read, though? Because if you were to read and do a little bit of digging, I'm sure you could figure out what it's asking you to do. It's the same thing in a marriage.
Speaker 1:What's the problem? First of all, we spend a lot of time looking at symptoms without ever going deeper and going. But here's the actual problem. See, like again and I was telling Joe before service I was working on my boat yesterday and, being in it and cutting in the wrong direction, I got my finger and I mean it's like super deep and, being the responsible human being that I am, I used a paper towel and some electrical tape to stop the bleeding. So Debbie finally wakes up and comes outside and I'm telling her what happens and and At this point the electrical tape didn't hold as well as I thought it would have. So that has come off, but the bleeding has like kind of subsided, so I wasn't really worried about it. So it's covered in dirt. So Debbie looks at me and she's like what's wrong with you? Like normally you're a pretty bright person. That's going to get infected. And I was like I was just trying to finish up so I could be done, and then I'll deal with this.
Speaker 1:Now let's say, hypothetically speaking, that something did get in and like tomorrow I have a fever. What am I going to do? I'm going to take some medicine. Right, I have a fever. I'm going to sit here and go. I kind of got a headache, my jaw is kind of tight, so I'm going to treat those symptoms. I'm going to just chug some DayQuil and let's go. So I'm going to treat those symptoms. I'm going to just chug some DayQuil and let's go. Or I chug some NyQuil and then go. Debbie, I can't come into work, which would probably be better. Now that I think about it. I accidentally took the wrong medicine. Okay, got an idea for tomorrow, but anyway. But if I never treat the actual problem and all I do is treat the symptoms of that problem, is the actual problem going to get better? No, and then we're going to wind up being stuck in this circular conversation having the same argument over and over and over and over again, because we're not treating the actual problem, we're just treating the symptoms of that problem.
Speaker 1:So how many times do we look inward? How many times do we go hold on spirit? Do I need this and understand? I'm not just talking about sin, like, I'm not just sitting here going hey, what are you in sin about? I'm talking about good things too. Like, think about it. How many of us in here invited someone over for dinner this week Anyone Now I'm not even talking about like someone from church. I didn't either, and shame on me. Should we be doing that? Absolutely 100%. We should be making time in our schedule to reach out to the world around us. So my goal this week is to intentionally make time in my schedule to reach out to the world around me, to invite someone over for dinner. Maybe I don't want them to come to my house. Maybe we ain't friends like that. Cool, let's go to a restaurant Like maybe and that? Why? Because that's what we're called to do. That's how you love others. Another example is how many of us take time that we're going to be intentional and study this week, or we're just going to gloss right over that too. See, paul would word it like this In Philippians 2,.
Speaker 1:He says this Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What does it mean to work out your own salvation? It's sitting here, going. You have to look at you Because, let's be honest, you ain't coming to me every week going like we don't have confession. I know some of you have dealt with that and gone through that because you're part of that, but you didn't come in this morning. We didn't sit in those two chairs over there in the corner and you go? Forgive me, josh, for I have sinned. It has been 17 years since my last confession and now I'm going to go ahead and catch you up on everything. There ain't no candles in here for you to light. There ain't no. What is it? Rosemary? No, rosemary's, rosary. Rosemary's a part of witchcraft I was going to say a spice, but like we don't do it like that, right, and it's real easy to fly under the radar.
Speaker 1:Just go, hey, if I just come in, sit in the back row, all you back rowers. If I like, come in late, leave early. I don't actually have to interact with anyone. Understand, you're only hurting yourself. Though, paul goes, work out your own salvation. Here's the deal. I will be judged for what I teach you. You will be judged for what you do with what I teach you. In school we call that grades. Like I have to go through an evaluation. No one else has to come in and go. Okay, are they teaching what they're supposed to be teaching. But understand, as a student, you have a responsibility too, because if you're not learning, that's on you, and so we have to understand that if we want to see different in our lives, we have to do different in our lives, because if you keep doing the same thing, you're going to keep getting what you've always got. Paul is sitting here, going do the things I told you to do Pray, study, apply, and I promise you, if you do these three things, it will change.
Speaker 1:James 4.8 says this if you draw near to God, god will draw near to you. Some of us are like well, I don't feel God, how are you drawing towards God? The best example I can give of this is this Right when I got, a couple years after we were married, we got our first house and everything and Debbie's parents like they have no boundaries, so they would literally just show up whenever, like we could be. It could be like 8 o'clock Sunday night getting ready to go to bed, because you know you got to wake up at 4 to go to work the next morning and all you hear is ding, dong and it's like you're kidding. Right On the flip side, my parents did not show up without calling ever.
Speaker 1:And one day I was feeling a certain kind of way. See, started with a cuss word, right, and I was talking to my dad and I was like, dad, how come you never come over to my house? Like, why am I always coming over to your house? You never come over to mine? My dad just kind of looked over at me and went when was the last time you invited me over? And I went well, you did come over when I invited you because we smoked that brisket. And he goes Josh, when have I ever said I wouldn't go to your house? But if you think I'm just sitting around all day pining for you like and going, hey, I'm going to come over. You got another thing coming, son I got. I got stuff I got to get done. God looks at us the same way. When are you inviting him to come over? Not that he needs your permission, just like my dad didn't need my permission to come to my house.
Speaker 1:But understand, and James has said, if you draw near to God, he will draw near to you Part of the problem is you ain't drawing near to God. You're sitting here, spending Monday through Saturday in your own world and then going. I don't understand why God doesn't show up. I don't understand why I feel so alone. I don't understand why Prayer, study, apply. So, as we close this week, ask yourself what are you going to do to be transformed? What are you going to do to apply to yourself the things the Holy Spirit has been tugging at your heart to do? How are you going to pray? How are you going to study? How are you going to apply to transform your mind this week? If you were sitting here today and you're like I don't know, I don't have a clue, just come talk to me before you leave. Like there are things we can do. I can point you in the right direction of books you should read or podcasts you could listen to.
Speaker 1:Faith, family Fit is a really good one. Just might be biased, but other than that, at some point, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Father, I ask and I pray that, as we close today, that you do continue to work on our hearts. That Father, you call us into God, a relationship with you, and that Father, we continue to dig into that relationship, that we get down lower into it. That Father, we continue to dig into that relationship, that we get down lower into it that Father, we stop being superficial and surface level on everything. Father, I ask and I pray for the continuing renewal of our minds that we are transformed, father, by not conforming. Father, I pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen.