Celebrating Life
Join Clint Byars and Mike Crane as we celebrate the overturning of Roe v Wade. We also have a visit from our new friend, Brian Essary, who talks about his crusade work overseas.
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“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Join Clint Byars and Mike Crane as we celebrate the overturning of Roe v Wade. We also have a visit from our new friend, Brian Essary, who talks about his crusade work overseas.
Clint and Sara Byars - Forward Ministries
Sara and I pray our resources are a blessing to you. If Forward Ministries has enriched your walk with Jesus, please consider supporting the work and help us continue to Change The Way The World Sees God!!
Transgenderism, Homosexuality and Other Sins Have One Solution
People are trying to express their identity through gender, sexuality, political views, careers, fitness, and other facets of life and culture. But there’s one problem, those are not our true identities. Instead, who we are in our spirit determines our true identity.
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“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
You live in two realms, the physical and spiritual realms. You exist in both, and both exist in you. The spiritual realm is not far removed, it’s all around you and in you. Your inner man is in constant contact with the realm of renewal and can receive strength and wisdom from it whenever you choose.
People are trying to express their identity through gender, sexuality, political views, careers, fitness, and other facets of life and culture. But there’s one problem, those are not our true identities. Instead, who we are in our spirit determines our true identity.
When society anchors identity in those carnal constructs, it’s no mystery we’re seeing such confusion around simple biological ideas like sex and gender. Those are aspects of physical reality, but there is a greater truth - who we are in our inner man.
In this message, I walk through the process of how to anchor your identity in your spiritual, inner man. I also address how to have hope for your loved ones who are caught in the carnal-minded trap of anchoring their identity in their feelings and temporary realities.
Clint and Sara Byars - Forward Ministries
Sara and I pray our resources are a blessing to you. If Forward Ministries has enriched your walk with Jesus, please consider supporting the work and help us continue to Change The Way The World Sees God!!
How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs That Keep You From Growing and Succeeding
When you try to grow and move beyond your current place in life, you may experience limiting beliefs that try to keep you stuck. The good news is, if you know it’s coming, you can be prepared to face and overcome those internal limitations.
Insecurities, past failures, things said to you by parents, fear about money - all kinds of things may rise up in your thinking and attempt to derail you from growing and moving forward. The key is to know who you are in Christ, remember that you’re forgiven, and be honest with yourself. What do you do when you try to move forward and face internal opposition?
When you try to grow and move beyond your current place in life, you may experience limiting beliefs that try to keep you stuck. The good news is, if you know it’s coming, you can be prepared to face and overcome those internal limitations.
Insecurities, past failures, things said to you by parents, fear about money - all kinds of things may rise up in your thinking and attempt to derail you from growing and moving forward.
The key is to know who you are in Christ, remember that you’re forgiven, and be honest with yourself.
What do you do when you try to move forward and face internal opposition?
Peter teaches a valuable principle in living by faith. He essentially encourages us to live by faith and do it well. He suggests making sure these specific character attributes are present in your lives as you seek to live by faith, following Jesus.
The interesting thing about it this, if you don’t have these godly attributes in your life, his solution is not to try to do better or work harder to be a good person, his solution is for you to remember that you’re already forgiven. Peter suggests that you have forgotten that your sins have been cleansed if you aren’t seeing these godly traits in your life.
Why would remembering that your sins have been cleansed develop godly character traits in your life?
You’d remember that you’re forgiven
You’d remember that God has cleansed you with the life-blood of Jesus
You’d remember that because you’ve been forgiven and cleansed that you’re holy before God because of this cleansing
You’d remember that you’re now in right standing before God because of this cleansing
You’d remember that you have a new heart that that has God’s character traits encoded within it
You’d remember that His spirit is in you
You’d remember that God is not holding your sins against you, even the sin of not being godly enough
You’d remember that you’re free from the law and that you’re not saved by works
You’d remember that you’re under grace and God is seeking to continually transform you into the image of Jesus
The list goes on…
Because you’d remember those things you mind would be renewed to your true eternal identity in Christ and you’d naturally bear the fruit of the character traits Peter suggests should be part of your faith.
The conclusion is that if you aren’t living godly, remember all these things, and it will renew your mind to the point that you experience transformation and naturally live how God would lead you to.
It’s a beautiful thing when you recognize the power of our freedom in Christ and how God’s spirit works best in us when our hearts are free from the condemnation of not being good enough. It may be paradoxical but powerful for certain.
Then What?
Keep in mind we’re talking about growth in your personal life. We’re also talking about moving forward in your assignment from God. I just know that all kinds of things will come up to keep you down and I want you to be prepared to overcome them when they do.
Once you have this process as part of your faith-walk in Christ you can face and conquer anything. This process will not allow you to stay in sin. This process will not allow you to stay in a place of debilitating limitations. It will remind you of the power that works in you and compel you to follow God freely and boldly!!
From then on you’re only limited by your unwillingness to remind yourself of how free and unlimited you are in Him!!
Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right ~ Henry Ford
Practical Example
So let’s say you need to add more self-control to your faith walk with Jesus. You may need more self-control because you keep sinning. It would be important for you to go to God and confess your sin but you must do it from the attitude that you’re already forgiven, you’re not going to him for forgiveness, you’re acknowledging and remembering that you’re already cleansed and in right relationship with him.
This process promotes personal responsibility to guard your freedom and not slip back in to sin.
When you go to God with your sin as a believer, you aren’t seeking to be forgiven, you’re seeking to be reminded by God that you were already forgiven. It is incredibly powerful to know that you have not lost standing with God, that it was all in your own mind.
Now - because of your failures you may feel a sense of remorse for your sin, which is appropriate. As you recapture the reality that you’re already cleansed in Christ, it repositions your mind to walk in what’s already true of you.
You can’t become more virtuous, but you may forget that you already possess that character trait in Christ.
You’re not confessing sin to become forgiven, you’re doing it to be reminded that you already are. As you remember who you are in him, you will begin to display those attributes.
Know That It’s Coming
If you experience an old emotion, an old sin or something else from your past as you try to move forward, just remember that your heart is serving things up to you something that you need to process and let go.
If you bury something in your heart and never deal with it, when you go digging in there to get rid of it, the aroma of that thing may resurface. You may not have been equipped with the transformative power of the Gospel when you stuffed that issue away in your heart.
Now you have the knowledge and the grace to get rid of it for good!!
So be ready. As you seek to grow and step into your calling and assignment from God, you may be your own worst enemy. You may have such deeply rooted beliefs that try to hold you back - BUT - now you know how to deal with them. Now you know who you are in Christ. Now you know the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, and you can face anything about yourself and come out victorious in Christ!!!
You stand in a place of connection with the father that’s based on the finished work of Christ. He loves you, he has forgiven you, and you’re safe in him. From that place you can deal with anything, no matter what comes up, you can get it out of your life and get rid of it for good. No matter the limitation, you can take it to God and experience the power to be free.
Emotionally Invest in the Word of God for Transformation
Knowledge doesn't produce transformation. Truth alone doesn't produce transformation. But when you internalize truth to the point of invoking an emotional response, you have engaged true mind renewal that can and will produce deep, healthy, profound and lasting transformation. So how do you emotionally invest in the Word of God? Look at Joshua 1:8.
Knowledge doesn't produce transformation. Truth alone doesn't produce transformation. But when you internalize truth to the point of invoking an emotional response, you have engaged true mind renewal that can and will produce deep, healthy, profound and lasting transformation. So how do you emotionally invest in the Word of God? Look at Joshua 1:8.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Joshua was the young man that took over for Moses. Joshua had watched Moses slay giants, speak to God on a mountain top and strike a rock which gushed water for millions of his people. Joshua had to feel a bit inadequate to take over for such a mighty leader so God spoke to him directly. God's instruction wasn't what to do, it was what to think.
"The Law" on this side of the cross is essentially wisdom and instruction. Through the New Testament writers, God continually reminds to keep our minds on Jesus and to put on our new identity in Christ. While there is direct instruction for the New Covenant believer, the instruction we are to engage in the most is mind renewal in our identities in Christ. It's hard for us to accept sometimes but changing the way we think is the only prescription to make actual changes in our lives. Performance based religion makes us think that we change by behaving better but changed behavior only lasts once our thoughts are in alignment with truth.
If we look a little closer at Joshua 1:8 we can see a process:
Keep His instruction in your mouth
Meditate on it day and night
Do what is written
Then you will be prosperous and have success
You can be prosperous and succeed when you follow this process.
Where would you like to experience prosperity and success? How about your marriage, your emotions, with temptation, in parenting, in ministry or even financially.
Find God's instruction that relates to the area you'd like to prosper and succeed then engage this process. It's easy to speak God's instruction and think about it but to meditate on it requires commitment. Not just a time commitment but an emotional commitment.
Keep in mind that transformation is the result of mind renewal. Personally, I see a correlation between Romans 12:2 and Joshua 1:8. They're both saying the same thing, Joshua just gives a little more detail about the process.
God instructs us to speak His Word, think about His Word and emotionally experience (meditate on) His Word. He knows that this is the process of transformation. So I have to ask you, when you meditate on His Word, do you feel it? Do you see yourself in it? Do you gain insight on how to act on it? Are you uplifted and encouraged to have hope for a better future? Does the Word of God touch you in your inner man?
If not, it's time to get to know God a little closer. If you're a believer you're already one with him but you may not presently be experiencing your relationship with him. It's up to you. Take His instruction and do something more with it than just read it.
This message brings my Becoming Limitless series to a close, This series is about eliminating those internal limitations that keep us from following God. This series is not about getting rich and living your dreams, this series is about living FROM purpose and fulfilling those God given assignments in your life.
You are complete in Christ, doing things for him do not define you, but God does have things he wants you to do for him and his kingdom, and the fulfillment of those assignments increases his kingdom and brings great joy and fulfillment.
So what does he want you to do?
I personally think you can discern those assignments in an environment of love for others. In this series I suggest that you define who you love for your own understanding, and then take practical steps to act out that love for that people group, bringing the Gospel, meeting practical needs and prayerfully affecting them in such a way they turn to Jesus.