The Things You Do, Do Things to You
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here we are starting a new series today we just finished up the book of Philippians and we're starting a series today entitled three enemies uh most of the time we just work through books of the Bible and then about once a year or so we will take some time out to study a concept something that's found in the Scriptures but just kind of batch some ideas together something that we think we ought to consider and study together.
And so we for the next five weeks will be looking at our three enemies now this and then we're going to go into the Book of Revelation and so um we're going to study through the Book of Revelation together again and I think it will be a lot of fun and a lot of really helpful stuff and uh exciting and disappointing all at the same time because if you're looking forward to like charts and dragons and stuff we're not going to do that.
But there's a dragon but he won't be on a chart okay anyway sorry lost my train of thought here we are going to spend the next five weeks talking about the three enemies and just spending some time studying this concept together and in some ways this series is going to have two intros because this morning we are not going to talk about the three enemies Isaac is going to introduce that concept from the Scriptures next week what we're going to talk about this morning is formation specifically the idea of spiritual formation this idea that we are meant to be growing into and developing into something something and the reason we're going to start there is.
Because that is what our three enemies are stopping so we need to understand what we're trying to do so that we can then understand what the three enemies are Waring against because we're meant to be growing into Christ likeness that if you're a Christian you're supposed to be slowly and by degree developing to look more and more and more like Jesus as As Romans 8 says we been predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that we've been set as.
Jesus is at work in us to make us more and more and more like him and so that's our hope is that we would grow into looking more and more like Jesus now spiritual formation that phrasing isn't going to be found in your Bible but the concept is this idea that we would grow to be more like Jesus from the moment Jesus tells his disciples come follow me he's saying come pattern after me come know me come look like me and I want to show youall in 2 Corinthians as the passage we'll consider some the morning as we.
Look at this idea Paul's been talking about this concept of a veil that is in between uh the hearts of those who don't know Jesus and Jesus he's been talking about this thing that stands in between our ability to understand him he's been using an example from the Old Testament and this is where we pick up in verse 16 it says but when one turns to the Lord that's Jesus the veil is removed so there's nothing in between us and Jesus anymore that.
When we come come to Christ that's gone there's nothing in between us and it says now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom he's been talking about the law and he's saying we're invited into Freedom we're invited into joy and forgiveness and hope that that's what Jesus brings that he died on a cross to forgive our sins and that when we turn to Jesus we're forgiven that we're made whole that we're made new we're free 18 and we all from from this position of freedom from this position of forgiveness with unveiled face beholding the glory of the.
Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another so that you are slowly and by degree if you belong to Jesus and as you Behold Him and are en raptured with the Gospel you're becoming more and more like Christ you're being formed transformed into the image of Jesus and this is our hope that you would grow to be more like Jesus to be more patient more kind more joy filled more at peace that you would grow to set your eyes on.
Jesus more that you would know him more that you would love him more that you would turn away from sin and turn to him that we want this for ourselves and for our spouse and our roommates and the people in our group I'd love for them to be more like Jesus all the time but this is our hope and the reason we're going to focus on this idea of form formation this morning is because our three enemies are going to attack our formation they're going to work towards our deformation we're wanting to be formed in the image of.
Jesus but there's going to be this constant push to be deformed to be pulled in the opposite direction so we're from one degree or another being confirmed into conformed in the same image transformed in the same image as Christ and it says from this this comes for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit so as we consider this idea of formation this morning the first thing I want us to understand is that there is no neutral there is no sitting still I think sometimes we frame it up like I can be intentionally I can work to be formed into the image of.
Jesus or I can just kind of hang out sometimes I'm just you know just doing normal stuff and then you know I do some of the formy things I read my Bible or whatever like I can be doing that but a lot of times it's just normal stuff but the Bible doesn't really give us a neutal when it comes to formation that you are developing into something all the time you are growing into something all the time you're being formed into something all the time.
So that's where we're going to look at this morning we're going to consider this idea of formation this idea of deformation and we're going to try to take seriously what it means to grow into Christ likeness and at least understand this concept this morning so let's pray as we We Begin trying to consider this God we ask for your help um this concept is simple I I don't think there's too much that we will have a hard time understanding but Lord changing will be harder and evaluating Our Lives will be harder.
And so we ask for the grace and the work of your spirit to help Us in Jesus name amen if you will turn to Proverbs chapter 24 I want to show you an Old Testament picture of this concept of this there is no real neutral there is no sitting still it's found in the Proverbs there's a book about wisdom it'll be on the screen as well but it's Proverbs 24:34 he says this I passed by the field of a sluggard a sluggard is a lazy person who has rejected the weight of existence rejected the effort that is called out of them to have dominion and rule over the Earth that we were sent to have.
Dominion and to to bring uh order to chaos and a sluggard has rejected this so I passed by the field of a sluggard by The Vineyard of a man lacking sense and behold it was all overgrown with thorns and the ground was covered with Nettles and its stone wall was broken down so it's supposed to be a Vineyard but it's not being tended to so the wall is broken down it's overgrown it's not producing fruit it's not producing what would have been some life some Joy something production something to add to the value of existence it's not doing any of that it's all overgrown it's falling down.
Then I saw and considered it I looked and received instruction he said I I just saw the example and I learned which y'all if you can learn how to do that is wonderful I I have an older brother had the the wonderful experience of getting to be not the first one and so I saw and considered it I looked and received instruction I watched my brother go through high school before me and I'd be like yep okay don't say that that's what he's saying is he's looked at the life of the sluggard and he's saying I'm I'm learning from it.
And so let's do that today as well let's look and consider let's see here's what he says a little sleep a little sleep Slumber a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man what's the sluggard doing nothing if you texted him said what you up to he'd respond nothing and he would think he's sitting neutral nothing just not do anything I'm you know just hanging out but what's happening around him not nothing something.
Because the world's been subjected to futility we've been set loose into Decay we've been set loose into disorder things are falling apart without work without effort things get worse they don't sit still that's just how the world works it's spend the next month just doing nothing sit on your couch you would say I I just didn't do anything I just sat just hung out nothing but did your body do nothing or did you get stronger at sitting better at being weaker like I could go to work at nothing and they say muscle weighs more than fat.
But watch me I think I can lose muscle and gain fat and gain weight I think I can do it I think if you let me do enough nothing I'll get bigger somehow by just sitting and you say eating was involved yeah what else are you doing while you're sitting guys come on but we would be doing nothing we would just say I'm not doing anything but what's happening around us is our relationships are falling apart our house is falling apart and our bodies falling apart there is no real neutral that's not how sin works in the world that's not how the Brokenness works in the world that we don't just uh have things order.
Themselves and organize themselves without effort takes no effort to be disordered disorganized to have Things Fall Apart takes effort to fight that constantly and that's just a rule in the world and we develop and grow in these things we become better at them so that by doing nothing we can grow stronger at being weaker y' I love naps love them they are a wonderful gift to humanity it's like sleeping but just shorter and at any time you want it's excellent when I go on vacation I don't like sleeping in I hate sleeping in it messes up my whole life.
So when I go on vacation my ideal like vacation schedule is wake up at the same time that I've been waking up in general I want to beat the sun I want to be awake when the sun's coming up or right before it unless it's coming up too late and then I got to get up earlier but then I want to eat lunch and go to sleep I've always thought I could be a missionary wherever they have cestas because that's the schedule I want to operate on.
If you let me go on vacation for a week I'm going to do that if I get to set my own schedule I'm going to take a nap every afternoon and can I tell you what's going to happen to me Monday when I'm back in the office I'm G to eat lunch and go sit down at my desk and be like my body's going to be like time to turn off because I've practiced it I've trained it I've grown into something and that's how this works that the world around us is always falling apart and that we are always developing into something something is happening in us and this isn't just physically around us.
In us it's Also spiritually so the first thing I'm trying to help you understand is that there is real no no real neutral there is no sitting still and that deformation doesn't take effort chaos does not take effort but it's not just chaos in the world it's also in us the New Testament picks up this idea in Galatians 6 so Paul writing to a Church has been talking to them about the Fruit of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh which we'll get more into over the next over the coming weeks this idea that we have the spirit at work in us and we have our flesh at work in us our own physical.
Desires our own desire for sin our own desire for wickedness he's been holding this up and then he says this in chapter 6 he talked about that in chapter 5 chapter six he says this verse seven and 8 do not be deceived which whenever you see that in your Scriptures go ahead and know maybe you've been deceived this is an area where Paul thinks people can get tricked where you can whether or not the sentence makes sense to you be somehow tricked in your own mind that you're not operating like this is true.
So he says here's a good way that people often get tricked do not be deceived God is Not mocked for whatever one SWS that will he also reap that's just a agricultural analogy seeds grow a plant so what kind of seeds do we throw out that's the kind of plant we're going to grow whatever you sew is what you're going to reap I love the way I've heard uh Law Enforcement Officers say this you play stupid games you win stupid prizes it's the same thing what you're sewing something you're putting something out there you're planting something you're doing something what's coming back what are you getting out of that whatever you seow is what you.
Reap and this is what he says he carries this out for the one who SWS to his own flesh Will from The Flesh reap corruption but the one who SWS to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life and the way he's been talking about that in Galatians 5 this idea that the Flesh and the spirit are opposed to one another the way he says it here is look there's no real neutral we either growing in the spirit to be more like.
Jesus we're sewing to the spirit to get love and joy and peace and patience kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control we're either developing more to look like Jesus or we're swing to the flesh gratifies our gratify our desires we're growing in strife and anger anxiety frustration sin lust we're developing these things things in ourselves and so you'd say okay yeah but I'm not doing either one of those I'm just watching TV I'm right in the middle Netflix it's right in the middle and no there's there's no middle what's going on in your heart it's possible that that could fit in a zone of rest and joy and it's also possible that it.
Fits in a zone of gratifying the desires of the flesh there's no real middle we aren't sitting still and there is no neutral we're being formed into something we're growing into something we're developing into something one of the questions is I think worth asking for your life is what are you currently reaping you you've been building the life that you have no one has had more impact on your life than you now there are people people and things and circumstances that have an impact on your life certainly.
But a whole lot of your life is how you respond to those circumstances how you react to them what you do with them where you put them in your mind and your heart and your soul but nobody's had more impact on your life than you you have developed your life to this point in so many ways so what are you reaping are you reaping love and joy and peace patience and kindness gentleness is that what your heart does your does your life.
Look like a harvest of Joy a festival of peace and faithfulness or does your life look like you a whole lot of frustration a whole lot of constant anger a whole lot of sadness a whole lot of cynicism but a whole lot of sin what do we that's what he calls corruption in this passage Everything feels broken Everything feels corrupt Everything feels diseased what are we reaping now I'm going to go ahead and assume that if you got to pick which you were reaping we would want to.
When we're clear-headed choose love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gist we'd want all these things that come from the spirit we want all these things that come from Christ and if you're a Christian you certainly do you don't want to se to the Flesh and sin and lust and gluttony and all these sort of things that we could Chase off that way so how do we do this what's God's picture for formation what's his recipe.
For formation when he's trying to develop a character and a people what does he call them to and I think one of the best examples of that is found in Deuteronomy 6 and this is where we'll spend the rest of our time Deuteronomy chapter 6 part of the Bible Moses is telling the people a few things before he sends them into the land so he's giving them the law but he's now saying you're going to go be a people you're going to go develop into something you're going to go be formed and he gives them basically a game plan.
For formation Deuteronomy 6 starting in verse four here o Israel the Lord Our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might now when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is in the law he says this to love the Lord with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind with everything you have and so I also want you to.
See that even though they were given the law and they were being told to go practice the law their ultimate aim was a love for the Lord that their heart would be enraptured with a love for the Lord so their aim isn't different from ours they would be in love with the Lord and they would grow to be more and more like him and that's our hope is that we would love the Lord and grow to be more and more like him.
And so he's going to outline for them how to do that now they're talking about the law which ultimately wasn't effective in doing this and we needed Jesus to change our hearts we needed Jesus to come and rescue us from our sin and to be at work inside of us but here's what he says and these words that I commanded you today shall be on your heart so they need to be inside of you you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them.
When you sit in your house and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise eyes you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your Gates how do you form a people intentional repetition this is what you're going to think about this what you're going to talk about when you wake up when you go to bed.
When you're walking when you're sitting this is what you're going to put on your hand this what you put on your face this is what you're going to put on your doors it's going to be everywhere and it's going to be all the time it's going to be repeated do you run a marathon by trying really hard well once you go to run it you're certainly going to have to try really hard but I can't go out today and just try really hard to run a marathon you know that just kills you that's actually where we got marathons from the.
First person who ran one died and then we run them together to like laugh mock this child or whatever who had to go deliver that message just Flex on him year after year no you you learn how to run a marathon by training really hard you practice that's how we get good at anything my son recently started taking karate and he likes it and so I'm a good dad he was born in the 80s and so I was like you got to watch Karate Kid you're welcome I'm G to help I'm going to jump start your training have a seat.
So we watched Karate Kid and one of the best the best part other than like the sweep the leg and kicking the kid in the face or whatever whatever at the end uh the best part though is when he does he makes him do wax on wax off and paint the fence and sand the deck and all these different things where he makes him do all of this work at his house and if you've never seen the CATE kid first of all.
Second of all the the point of this is muscle memory it's repetition so he makes him do these things over and over again to finally the the main character Daniel is just has a fit and just says I've become your personal servant I'm not you're not teaching me anything and they have this little Showdown where he's like show me wax on wax off show me these things and he starts throwing punches at him and Daniel because he you know painted a fence or whatever.
Now it's how to knows how to block punches it's a bit of a stretch but he did practice the Motions over and over again he repeated it over and over again he repeated these moves over and over again so that his body would just respond and that's how you learn something it's through repetition that's how you get good at it and the reality is in your life you are a black belt in something you can do it without thinking expertly because you've done it over and over and over and over and over again and we're reaping our lives through our practiced habits.
So what are we repeating what are we practicing because you are building a life and you are being formed and you are developing into something you are working to become the person that you are what are you working on there's a a Catholic author who was considering this idea and the concept of formation and growth and his name is RJ Snell but I love this quote he says we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again I've heard it put another way the things you do do things to you.
So if you forgive again or you're becoming a forgiving person if you work hard again today work hard again today you're becoming a diligent person if you stick it out through the marriage again today this week you fight through again for another month you were becoming a faithful person we become Who We Are by what we choose to do again through repetition and through practice that we can become honest not by telling the truth once but by telling the truth repeatedly even.
When it's difficult that we can become people of in integrity and people of kindness and people of gentleness and people of grace through repetition we are knowingly or unknowingly developing a life cultivating it sewing and reaping so what are we repeating what are you repeating what are you practicing one of kind of a case study something that I would like to put out in front of you when we consider our habits and practices as people as adults age 65 and above watch more than four hours of TV per day Millennials watch an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes this says of AD supported TV per day.
So if you're paying to not watch ads that's not in here 15 to n year old 19 year olds watch less than two hours of TV per day but that doesn't mean that they're not doing something it says this according to a January 2024 survey the average American spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone each day which is about one day a week adds up to 70 days per year in 12 years of a person's life in total spend on their phone that's average.
So I'm assuming some of you are below average and you're like three and a half hours a day some of you are well above average and you're like eight or something I don't it says 7 hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily consuming media the average American 7 hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily y' cell phones like this this access to information the internet computers all of this stuff you know we're beta testing it for Humanity because this showed up in my lifetime we're the ones running a a a big test to.
See how it goes what's it like when we raise children like this what's it like when we spend eight hours a day consuming media how well does that work and I would just argue not so good but you're spending eight hours taking something in if there's anything that we're doing this with that we have when we walk by the way when we lie down and when we rise that's on our hand and in between our faces it's this I I would argue that we are I mean crushing this kind of command I mean we're we're making the Israelites.
Look pitiful by how good we are at this when it comes to our our media usage J.R Vasser I quoted uh no Jr baster says this he says we're trapped in consumption without contentment so we're consuming we're not content he said this and it stuck with me he said no one ever gets off their couch after scrolling through Facebook for an hour hour or two hours gets off their couch and says I feel so alive that is what I was made.
For I found my purpose it's like yeah no it doesn't doesn't seow joy and peace and life into US it doesn't consumption of media doesn't this isn't good for us it's not working towards joy for us uh Adam Gibson is one of the pastors over at Midtown downtown I've heard him relate this story a few times but he said he was talking to a a guy who just said he was struggling he said I'm just tired life's just too much it's just too much I'm.
So frustrated I spend the whole day just being frustrated I just want to not have to deal with people I want to not have to deal with frustration I want to not have to deal with difficulty I just want to sit and be not bothered I want to just be able to turn my brain off and be not bothered and as a pastor I talk to a lot of people who some form of that lament this everything's too hard it's too much I can't take it I don't want to do any more of this I can't live like this he said he was talking to the guy and he asked him he said.
Okay well how much TV do you watch per day the guy said none like almost zero he said I'm too busy I'm running non-stop having to do all the things I got to do to just exist finally Maybe by like 9:00 I can turn my TV on so every night he goes okay will you watch TV at 9: he said yeah he said till when he goes I don't know nothing really I mean I watch TV from like 9: till maybe I go to bed at midnight and she said.
Okay so three hours a day So Adam said he looked at him and said 'd do you think if you practiced anything for three hours a day you'd get good at it you just told me you want to sit turn your brain off and not engage well you're practicing that for three hours a day Y what are we doing for hours a day what are we rehearsing what are we practicing what are we developing in ourselves I am not musically talented at all honestly I have started playing a harmonica and I've gotten a little bit more to where I can hear notes and stuff I can start kind of picking this out on harmonica.
But I can tell you if I practiced it for three hours a day two things would happen one I would get better at the harmonica and two my wife would go to prison for murder and how good I got at the harmonica is just the gap of her patience but if we do anything for two hours a day three hours a day four hours a day pick a thing if you worked at the piano if you worked at stitching if you ran.
If you exercise if you practice karate don't you think you'd get good at it and y'all we have patterns and practices that we are running through for hours and hours and hours and hours what are they what are we sewing what are we developing into when we consider media when we consider the fact that average is eight hours taking stuff in what's it telling you what's it telling you about the purpose of life what's it telling you about how romance should work what's it telling about who you are and who.
God is what's it telling you about where Joy is found where life is found where hope is found where fulfillment is found because you're rehearsing these things in your mind whether you know it or not you're rehearsing these you're repeating them you're talking about them as you walk by the way as you rise and as you lie down this is what we've got going on and you may say well I read my Bible on my phone I watch sermons on my phone.
Listen to them I have a a missionary podcast I listen to whatever and I would just say that's great the phone as a tool is fine you might do something weird like make phone calls with your phone and I would say great it's good but I also know that for many of you used to just could leave your house without it you just walked out into the world like a free person and now I know that you've headed back home to go get it.
When you've left it on the counter because it's become a part of your soul and I would say I think if I had to guess that your positive interactions with your phone are lower than your time wasting nonsense of your phone where you're turning your brain off disengaging from the world or engaging in some things that actually aren't producing fruit that's just our phones zoom out we're becoming black belts and something we're developing something you've got habits and practices and things that you've rehearsed over and over again year after year after year are you frustrated are you angry you spend.
So much of your time being so annoyed with how aggravating everybody else around you is well what are your habits what are you repeating do you tell yourself continuously that you shouldn't have to put up with this do you when you're alone rehearse arguments in your mind things you should have said things you should have done what you're going to say next time do you do you repeat in your mind over and over again the wrongs that have been done to you that's your repetition that's your rehearsal do you talk about them to other people can you believe what they did can you believe this can you believe that do you understand what's going on.
Here is that what's pouring out of you that what you talk about as you walk in the way as you sit in your house how much of your TV watching is violence retribution Revenge they finally get what was coming to them is this what you're rehearsing for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and then you read your Bible for five minutes twice a week because you're so busy and then you say I don't know the Lord just hadn't taken this anger away it's like.
Well you've been painting that fence like a lot you're good at it we struggle with anxiety I'm just so anxious and not about things I just feel this constant anxiety but y'all we've set up our whole lives to be anxious you know people used to walk places Outdoors to get places you know it took a while you might spend an hour in traffic every morning well that's Ani anxiety inducing and if you're in traffic while listening to a lot of noise even.
If it's songs and stuff you like that still is a whole lot of input but maybe you're listening to like talk radio and it's telling you who's evil and who needs to be fired and I don't care if it's sports or politics it's telling you who's evil and who needs to be fired like it's these aren't joyful things that we're partaking in then you deal with normal stress like work and relationships and all these sort of things but on top of that you take in I don't know a thousand milligrams of caffeine you're like I don't know feel.
So amped up it's like yeah you're drugged like I mean you've wound yourself up you go home and unwind you take on more emotional stress than any normal human throughout the course of history would ever have to deal with because we watch good dramas this Show's so good but all it does is tie us into an anxiety knot and then release it a little bit but sometimes not even release it just to keep you going and so you deal with more do you know how much emotional stress humans used to have to deal with in the evening whatever your family was doing.
But they're already there doing that now and you're trying to watch some guy get murdered or whatever you watch a horror film and then you go lay in your bed and you take your phone and listen to a murder podcast and then you're like I don't know I'm having a hard time sleeping I've been having anxiety attacks it's like yeah you wound your body up as much as you possibly could we have practiced habits and I'm not saying that any one of those things on its own by itself and it one little time is bad.
But I'm saying that when we go for hours and hours and hours and hours and this is what our life looks like and we don't have slow time or calm time or restful time or time away unplugged from all these things and then we're just like I don't know feel like a crazy person it's like yeah this is we've actually when you watch like old like a movie from the 80s or whatever and they show how they would like brainwash or torture somebody they would have flashing images in front of their face we do that to ourselves go spend an hour on Twitter.
See if you don't seem uh X I don't know see if you don't seem TW Twitchy afterwards you get to where you don't even read a whole tweet it's like three sentences and then the next thing and the next picture and the next thing and then you feel amped up it's like yeah we're practicing it we're working on it we're becoming really really good at it and we're reaping it people who struggle with depression what are your habits what are your practices I know.
For a lot of you you constantly repeat to yourself how bad everything is how bad you are how much of a failure you are you constantly repeat to yourself all the horrible things that happened in your life how they've impacted you how they've caused uh markings in you that you can't get over how they how how uh you're going to fail at everything nobody loves you nobody wants you nobody wants you around everything's going to fall apart this is awful you're this is this is what you think about and whether or not you're talking about it I don't know.
But probably if people picked at you a little bit they could get it out of you this is this is what you're rehearsing I mean honestly if you had taken the Declaration of Independence and rehearsed it as much in your mind as you've told yourself all this stuff you'd have it memorized by now you you can work anything into your mind and get it there and have it sealed to where you would never forget it and and you think that you're saying maybe humble things about yourself.
But actually if you belong to Jesus you're lying about him we're going to talk about that more in the coming weeks but you're lying about who he is and what he does and what he's done for you and what he does for people and where our hope is if you had a friend that talked to you the way you talk to you maybe you'd see it you'd actually be like I got to hang out with them but when I get there they're going to tell me I'm stupid and that I'm the worst and that I'm going to ruin everything that I'm it's all going to fall apart and every time you try to talk about.
Something good you know like why don't we go to a a theme park and they're going to say something like sure it's fine eventually the sweet release of death will take us so maybe maybe we can do that on a roller coaster today I hear they don't check those things all the time you hear about what happened at Carwin it's like oh my goodness you could hear it from somebody else but this is what we're rehearsing in our minds and we're becoming really really really really really really good at it.
So if we're cynical we've practiced it if we're angry we've practiced it some of you do this in arguments you know the moves you're going to make as soon as something happens you know where you're going to go because you've practiced it and we've gotten so used to it that it feels normal to us and we're out of control in our eating and our habits and our lusting and all these things but we've practiced them over and over and over and over again and you have become what you've practiced to become you ever worked a job where you had to answer the phone all the time.
And then you answer your home phone the way you do it your job wacky ways a vacon go but you do that without thinking because it's rehearsed and we're doing that in our our lives in so many ways because we've rehearsed things that aren't true things aren't Gospel things aren't hope-filled things aren't Bible things they're just a bunch of things that are helping us reap corruption and we keep telling ourselves that a whole lot of them are just neutral when they aren't all these things promise you something they promise you some sort of solution some sort of cure some sort of hope they give you something to do.
But none of them actually deliver this is one of the reasons why we periodically will give people Gospel replace replacement homework for the thoughts that they're having and the things that they're repeating to themselves will say repeat these things that are true about Jesus it's not like some neat little trick it's that you don't believe these things and you need to begin to rehearse them because you're already rehearsing a bunch of other things so what do we do with this we'll go back to.
Second Corinthians where we began Second Corinthians 3 here's my hope for us from this week I want you to go evaluate your life I want you to go think about what what am I waking up with what's my morning routine what's my bedtime routine what do I talk about what do I think about what's in my heart what am I walking in the wayin what am I teaching to my children either verbally or through practice what am I teaching them about money and about life and about joy and about hope and about fulfillment and about.
Jesus what am I teaching the people around me what am I practicing how long do I I sit how long do I engage disengage reject enjoy what what's going on and then as we continue the series we're going to talk about practices things that we're supposed to practice repeat and do over and over again as Christians but one of the things I want you to see and understand is this Jesus does the work so it says and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the.
Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another so we need to practice things but our practice is all beholding practice for this this transformation this comes from the Lord who is the spirit he's the one who does the work he's the one who's at work in us to make us different to make us whole and to make us hope filled and all we're trying to do is Behold Him but so much of our Lives is not spent in any sort of position to.
Behold the Grand Canyon is it's not something you do it's something you see you behold it but you still got to drive there it's like a waterfall a waterfall will cleanse and refresh you you got you don't do anything but you got to get under it and if you were dry and Dusty and thirsty and exhausted and you said I'm dying over here and I said well there's a waterfall right there and you like well I I don't have the energy to Waterfall right.
Now no it's water it's falling we just got to get you over there you just got to be in position so the practices that are given to Christians are not things that are meant for us to build Our Own Strength they're meant for us to see the strength granted to us in the lord they're not meant to be things that forgive us and help us pay back our debt they're meant to be things that help us know our forgiveness and the debt that was paid they're meant to be things that help us.
Behold The Glory of Christ and so we're going to spend several weeks talking about what our enemies are and what are the practices that we get to combat our enemies with what are the things that we get to repeat but all of it will be beholding practice delighting in Jesus practice and then he goes to work in us but this week I want you to evaluate your time I want you to see what you're getting good at I want you to start knowing what you're a black belt in I want you to ask what reaping we're going to spend some time in our groups going through that as.
Well let's pray Lord we're being formed and so often we're being deformed that we're practicing things that do not produce joy and faithfulness and love and service and kindness we're practicing things that do not produce peace in us we're practicing things that are antithetical to the Gospel oh Lord I ask that you would help us to behold to Delight in you and your goodness and your glory we don't do the work you do but may we have practices that get us there that help us to.
See you to enjoy you to know you to participate in the work that you have accomplished on the cross we ask this in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up and we're we going to take communion which is a tangible practical reminder that's not about you we take communion on a regular basis because we want you to know it's not about you it's not about your work and your effort and your labor but it's about Jesus who forgives Sinners who died to pay your debt who rescues and brings hope.
So if you're a Christian I want you to take a moment to ask the Lord to help you this week to see what you're practicing some of you some of these things are in your mind now to ask the Lord to help you to repent to change and then I want you to come take communion and remember as best you can to Behold our savior on a cross who loves us enough to die for us but who doesn't stay there who Rises we're told that.
When we celebrate communion we Proclaim his death until he comes that we're in between two points that he died for us but he's coming back for us that we have a hope set eternally in Christ and so that we get to be people who are forgiven redeemed restored and one day fully free and rescued but may we grow to look more and more like him so as you take this take a moment to behold how good he is and if you're not a Christian communion is not.
For you because you do not yet have Christ but we would invite you to know Christ because all the things that you're chasing will not satisfy will not cure will not heal will not fix you can only reap corruption so when you're ready we would invite you to come and take communion.