Speaker 1: 0:01

All right, I have a question for you. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself this question? Have you ever just caught yourself doing something and you said, and you stopped and you asked yourself why do I do what I do? Why do I do? The question I have for all of us today why do you do what you do? Why do we do the things that we do? Because, chances are, in similar situations, you often respond with similar actions. Why is it that you generally do what you do, even if the situation is different, different situation, but you kind of have the same response to it? For example, I'll give you three kind of common scenarios. Okay, and what do you do in these three common scenarios? In the morning time, at a restaurant or with your finances? Okay, here you go, raise your hands. Raise your hands.

Speaker 1: 0:55

How many of you hit the snooze button when your alarm goes off? How many? Okay, all right, all right. Okay, no judgment, no judgment. Okay, how many of you get out of bed before your alarm goes off and you're ready to take on the day? Yeah, come on, come on, yep, all right, all right. Have you ever wondered why do I do that? Why do I snooze so much? Or why do I get out of bed?

Speaker 1: 1:20

Another one A restaurant. You're at a restaurant, okay, I get out of bed. Another one, a restaurant. You're at a restaurant. Okay. Who in here? You almost always go for the healthy choice. Okay, all right, go for you. All right, where are you eating? You need some details of this, okay, okay, who here? You almost always go for the better tasting option. All right, all right, there you go. Okay, some people healthy choice is chicken. Better tasting option All right, all right, there you go. Okay, some people healthy choice is chicken. Better tasting choice is chicken. Fried steak Come on, it's better.

Speaker 1: 1:53

Why do you choose what you choose when it comes to finances? You don't got to raise your hand with this one, okay, when it comes to finances. I wonder how many of us say, man, I'm going to put God first in my finance, I'm going to practice the principle of first things by giving God 10% and then from there, you manage your finances wisely and you see that, well, every month I have something left over, like many people in our world today. I wonder how many of us we spend all that we have, and even a little bit more, at the end of the month. Do you ever stop and think about? Why do you almost always do the same thing? Why do you almost always do the same thing? Why do you tend to do what you do?

Speaker 1: 2:38

Before I hit the primary reason on why we do what we do, I want to highlight three secondary reasons. There's actually a lot of secondary reasons, but three secondary reasons I really want to highlight because I think we probably all can relate to it. So here is one of the secondary reasons of why we do what we do. One reason is you do what you do because you feel obligated to do it. There's an obligation over your head. You feel like, well, I have to do this. Even if you don't want to do it, you do it anyways. You know, maybe you're like, well, I want to be a good mom or a good dad, or I kind of have to be a good friend to this person, even though they drive me crazy. Or I need to be a good worker, I'm obligated to obey God, you know. But there's not a lot of life in it, there's not a lot of passion in it, right? Another reason why you do what you do is because you actually want to do it, and that's a good reason. You really want to do it, you want to please God and you want to be disciplined and you want to show love and you want to make a difference with your life and you want to help people. And then there's a third, secondary reason on why we do what we do, and this one is because we want to be liked, we want to be accepted. Sometimes we do things just to be liked. Especially if you're in here and you're raising anyone in high school or middle school, how often do you see that you see your kids. They do stuff like man. You think why are they doing that? Well, most of the time they want to be liked. But even as adults, we do the same thing, don't we? We want to be accepted, even if it's not really them, even if it's not really them. So we do what we do because we want to be accepted. And there's many different reasons on why we do what we do, but I want to hit on a primary reason today. I want to hit on a main reason why we do what we do, why we behave consistently the way we behave. So what is this reason? What is one of the biggest reasons that you do and that I do and that we do what we do. If you're taking notes, write this down. Do. If you're taking notes, write this down. You do what you do because of what you think of you. You do what you do because of what you think of you.

Speaker 1: 4:59

The biggest driving force of our behavior is our identity. It's our identity. We do what we do primarily because of what we think of ourselves. In the Old Testament, the scripture says it like this For as he thinks in his heart. Isn't that interesting that he thinks in his heart? Isn't it interesting that the scripture tells us as we think in our heart, not just in our head? And did you know there is a relentless assault against your heart? Did you know that oftentimes, when we make decisions that we wish that we didn't make, before we made a decision that we wish that we didn't make, there was an attack against your heart? You felt rejected, alone, abandoned, frustrated, angry, and because of that you made a decision that now you wish you can take back. For as he thinks, as she thinks in her heart, so he does. Our identity, how we see ourselves, drives our behavior.

Speaker 1: 5:52

There's a study that talks about three questions that all of us subconsciously ask ourselves in any given situation. When you face any type of situation, in your mind, without even knowing, you subconsciously process three questions that end up determining what you do. The first question you ask yourself is this what type of person am I? When facing any kind of situation, you kind of categorize yourself Well, what kind of person am I? You know, if you're a Jesus follower, you may say well, I'm a Jesus follower. If you're someone who's trying to be a good person, well, I'm a good person. I do this. You kind of ask yourself what kind of person am I? Second, you ask yourself what kind of situation is this? What kind of situation? You don't even realize it, but your mind, in a split millisecond, is kind of who am I, what kind of person am I and what kind of situation am I dealing with right now? And then the third question that we subconsciously ask ourselves what does someone like me do in a situation like this? So, and that determines what we do over and over and over again what kind of person am I, what kind of situation is this, and what does someone like me do in a situation like this?

Speaker 1: 6:58

And you'll find yourself in any different, many different types of scenarios and you'll do the same thing, taking a test. You don't know the answers, but the person next to you knows the answers. They have all the answers on a sheet of paper next to them. You start to peek over. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. What kind of person are you? Or maybe you're tempted to be generous and give to someone. You see a need and you're tempted to be generous and you say, man, I'm going to buy that person groceries, I'm going to help that person because that's just the kind of person you are. That's the kind of person you are. Or someone hurts you. You may actually choose to forgive and you do what you do because of what you think of you.

Speaker 1: 7:41

What kind of person am I? What kind of situation is this? What does a person like me do in a situation like this? For example, in the morning time we just talked about this the alarm goes off. What kind of person are you? Are you the type of person that hits the snooze button seven times? You wake up, snooze. Wake up, snooze. I know if I get up right now, it's going to be a way better. Start to my day Snooze. You hit the snooze again. What kind of person am I? What does a person like me do in a situation when my alarm goes off? Or just like I said earlier, maybe you're the person that gets up and you try to attack your day off, right In your mind. That's the type of person you are.

Speaker 1: 8:22

Here's another one. You may relate to this. You're driving down the road and somebody cuts you off. What kind of person are you? What kind of person are you when this happens? Some of you are the type of person that says you cut me off, I'm ready to bring justice to you. You drive up behind them and then, at the stop sign, you get next to them and then you peel the banana. He's not going to bring justice, but some of you some of you the more kind people in here you're maybe the kind of person that someone cuts you off the road and you think to yourself well, you know what I accidentally did that to someone the other day too and then you say, well, maybe they're in a hurry because maybe their wife is in the back seat about to give birth to a baby. You say, maybe they just got to hurry up and get to the hospital. I'm actually going to pray for them right now. I'm not that person. But what type of person are you?

Speaker 1: 9:24

Someone brings in donuts to the office. Are you the person that elbows everyone out of the way to get the jelly-filled donut? Are you the person that says you know what? I'm trying to eat healthy. I'm going to resist the temptation. What kind of person am I? What kind of situation is this, and what does a person like me do in a situation like this? What does a person like me do in a situation like this? Years ago don't judge me. I'm about to tell you a story. Sometimes I get vulnerable up here. You guys can't be judging me, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Years ago, when I was a youth pastor and I wasn't as mature as I am now, I was picking up some kids for church. I used to fill up my whole car with kids right after school. Let out, I would go to the house, pick them up, bring them to church They'll do homework before youth night started. But anyways, there's this one particular time. I was on my way to pick up a kid from church and let's just say he lived in a rougher part of town. He lived in a rougher part of town and as I'm on my way, I see these three high school kids and they're clearly arguing. Things are getting kind of heated. And so I'm driving my little Pontiac vibe at the time and I see these guys kind of you know, and I can tell it's heating up, it's getting kind of intense. Then the backpacks come off. I was like, oh shoot, it's about to go down, you know, and I'm kind of driving and watching about to go down, you know, and I'm kind of driving and watching.

Speaker 1: 10:45

And then a fourth kid came and then they started to beat up this one kid it was four on one. Don't judge me, church. Because in that situation I said to myself well, what kind of person am I? Well, I'm a Christian and I am a youth pastor, Christian. And what kind of situation is this? Students fighting, no-transcript. Well, in retrospect I knew what I should have done, but what I did do is I drove off. Don't judge me, because those kids look big and I was scared if I went and stopped the fight they may beat me up too. So after I picked up the kids I was getting, I drove back around. I said, hey, guys, I think there was a fight going on. Let's go see and make sure everything's okay. I drove back around and then the four guys that were fighting were all sitting on the curb talking. I guess they worked it out. They didn't need my interjection, but in that case I was the kind of person who was scared to get beat up. That's the kind of person I was. See.

Speaker 1: 11:50

In every situation, your mind goes through these questions. In every situation. You know you do what you do because of what you think of you. Here it goes, here it goes. This is what I want you to think about. You may ask yourself how come I can't change, how come I still lose my temper, how come I still look at things that I don't want to look at? How come I still find myself going back to the same bad habits again and again and again? Here's a key thought, and I don't want you to miss this If you want to change what you do, change what you think of you. If you want to change what you do, change what you think of you. If you want to change what you do, it's time to get rid of your false self. That's what the enemy tells you to do and learn your true self, who God has designed you to be, and I wonder how many of you are like me. How many of you say great things about other people? You can encourage other people, but you're so hard on yourself. You always point out your own flaws. That's one of my biggest weaknesses. I can point out my flaws and I can hang on those way too long.

Speaker 1: 13:01

It's easier to believe the bad things than the good things. Why is it that we can attend to? Why is it that we tend to believe the bad things about ourselves? And I'm going to shoot it straight to you. You want to know why. And we often tend to believe the bad things about ourselves.

Speaker 1: 13:18

It's because the devil is a liar. The devil is a liar. Now, this is not a message about the devil made me do it, but I want to be honest with you guys. The devil is a liar and he has been lying to you since the day you were born. He's been lying to you since the day you were born. Jesus says this in John 8. He says the devil has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies. It is consistent with his character. Why? Why does he do what he do? Why does the enemy do what he do? It's because he is a liar and the father of lies. So why does he do that? That's because that's what he thinks of himself he is a liar.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Now watch what Jesus says next. I want you to catch this. Jesus says the devil is a liar. And watch what he says. So when I tell you the truth, you just naturally don't believe me.

Speaker 1: 14:09

This is Jesus talking to the disciples back then, and I think his words for them are relevant for us today that we have believed a lie for so long. Your spiritual enemy has lied to you for so long. When Jesus comes through and he tries to tell you that you're more than a conqueror, when we sing songs about him running towards us with this aggressive grace, this hug and embrace, it's hard for us to believe it, because we have built our lives on believing a lie about who we are, about our worth, about how our love is only conditional, how we are not as great as we hope to be. And Jesus tries to tell us these things, but we have been so pre-programmed by the lie of the enemy. It's hard to believe the truth Because you're used to hearing that you can't change, that you're not, that that you'll never be faithful, that you aren't a real man of God that you aren't a real woman of God, that you'll never be financially free, that you cannot overcome that, that you will always be addicted to something and you're always going to be stuck. It's easier to believe the lies oftentimes and I know this because I've dealt with it. I'm with you, I'm in the same boat Now.

Speaker 1: 15:29

I had an interesting moment the other week that I wasn't. I wasn't feeling very good. Like physically I wasn't feeling good, and I am the kind of person that when I feel sick, I kind of like muscle my way through it. You know, I just say I'll be all right, I'll get, I'll get over it, and. And so it was last. It was actually last week and we were watching, aaron and I. We were watching our youngest niece. Aaron's sister just had a baby not that long ago and we were watching her at the house while Aaron's sister and her husband went to a wedding, and so she's only a few months old. So Aaron was mainly watching her and I had our three kids, which is normally fine. I always watch our kids all the time, you know, by myself, whatever.

Speaker 1: 16:06

But my normal level of hypness wasn't there because I wasn't feeling good. So I was short with the kids. I was grumpy, I wasn't my normal self. So it was dinner time and I knew I should have just ordered some pizza or something like that. But I already promised the kids that we'll make breakfast for dinner and all, and you know, and they were so hyped about some waffles so I was like, dang, they really want waffles. Okay, so, all so all. But here's the thing All my kids love to help me cook, which I normally love. Actually, I set up little stations for them and they help me cook. It's kind of a bonding time that we do, but this particular day I just wasn't feeling it. I wasn't feeling my best and I wasn't, you know, my head wasn't in the game as much. Long story short.

Speaker 1: 16:48

Kingsley's scrambling the eggs. She's mixing the eggs and then when she goes to pick up the bowl, she dumps half of it out on the floor. Horrible Egg yolks on the floor is horrible. Hayden, our youngest. He's just trying to run to the pantry and get chips because he's just hungry. He just wants to eat every snack there is in the house.

Speaker 1: 17:02

And then poor Jameson, my middle son, poor Jameson. He's on his stepstool helping me with the waffles and I take out the first waffle and all the kids are so excited because the first waffle came out. And then Jameson, out of nowhere, reaches and puts his fingers on the hot waffle iron, and I mean he screams. Luckily I was right by him, I was able to pull his hand out real fast, but he screamed as loud as possible. You know, in his poor little hands, poor little fingers, and in that moment, because I was being short with them, I was grumpy. You know, I was as attentive as I normally am.

Speaker 1: 17:38

You want to know what I felt in that moment. I felt like I was the worst dad in the world, like I just felt like the worst dad in the world. That's how I felt and that's why we don't want to always just live by what we feel. We live in a society that tells us do what you feel. But I felt like the worst dad in the world and what I thought was at that moment. What I thought was at that moment and I'm not trying to be dramatic, but this is what I just felt in that moment I felt like man, I suck, I am a terrible dad and I thought in that moment real life, man, my family would be way better if they had a different dad. That's just how I felt. You know. That's how I felt in that moment. You want to know why?

Speaker 1: 18:15

Because when you do something you're not proud of, the devil doesn't tell you oh, that's just a momentary thing, and God is still really with you and the Holy Spirit is still going to come through. The enemy doesn't tell us that. You know what the enemy tells us. When you do something you're not proud of, the enemy doesn't say you did something bad. The enemy says you are bad. You are bad. The devil. I want you to be. I want us to be clear.

Speaker 1: 18:49

The devil always attacks your identity. The devil will always attack your identity. You're not worthy. You should be ashamed. You are pathetic. You are not the real thing. You are a hypocrite. You are an addict. You are a loser and this is why you are what you are and what he's trying to do. He's lying to you about your identity and what happens, and you can write this down. Your distorted identity starts to sabotage your success. Your distorted identity starts to sabotage your success. Your distorted identity starts to sabotage your success. Your distorted identity starts to sabotage your spiritual success and your spiritual breakthrough along the way and you start to think well, I am just this addictive person.

Speaker 1: 19:26

The other day I was volunteering at my daughter's school for field day and you know, and I was volunteering with the kindergartners and the second graders and it was crazy. My job was I had those big bouncy balls and my station was dribbling the big bouncy balls up and down the cones. That was it. Simple, fun, simple. And it was crazy to me.

Speaker 1: 19:43

How many of the little kids would just say, well, I just can't do that, I'm just not able to do that. I'm like of course you can do it. I'm like you know, I'm champion. I can't do that. As little as six years old, the enemy will begin to plant seeds in your heart that you can't and you never and you won't. Come on, let's get real today. Let's get real today.

Speaker 1: 20:03

And then we see people how many people do we know that? They just say, well, I'm just clumsy and I'm just not that smart and I just got this going on. I'm just an addict, I just have an addictive personality and I just got this going on. I'm just an addict, I just have an addictive personality, it's just me, and I have to pop the pill or drink the bottle or buy stuff, to deal with my junk, my stuff, because that's just who I am. We meet people like this, we see people like this. Or they think I just suck at handling money and I'm always going to be broke, you know. So that's just me. Or you may think, well, I can't make good friends because people don't really like me and that they really knew me, they wouldn't like me anyway. So I'm just not. I'll make a front on social media, but in real life I'm going to stay shallow to people, I'll put them at a distance and you never let anyone in. And there's this deceptive, this very deceptive cycle that the enemy tries to do in your life.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Another story I was at Busch Gardens a long time ago and I was at the ride for Bolton. I don't know if you've ever been to Busch Gardens, it's a fun ride and I was with a bunch of people and I'm in the line and there's this woman who's sitting in the carts with her family and they're trying to put the headset on the buckle on her, but it wouldn't go down because she was overweight, she couldn't do it, and you can see it's very awkward. You can see she just feels ashamed of herself and she had a wonderful family. Her family was like, no, we'll get off the ride. And she's like, no, no, no, you guys have fun, you're going to see the embarrassment, you know, and all this. I felt so, my heart felt so bad for this woman. And now here you go, we end up, you know, the ride goes on, we do it. About 10, 15 minutes later, we're walking around the park and I see the same woman and she's eating one of those giant funnel cake, ice cream, things, right. And so for me, because I'm just such a compassionate person, what I saw in that moment was she felt an experience and that she was hurt, and that reinforced her identity that I am this. And in order to deal with what she did, she went back to the same destructive habit.

Speaker 1: 22:15

And the cycle continues and it's easy to point it out with something like that. But you in your life, how many times when stress comes up, when situations happen and you find yourself doing things that you say why am I doing this? To cope with that thing? And friends, may I just be honest today, may I just throw it out there today, and I don't know where you are in your spiritual walk or you know what, may I just throw it out here today that perhaps there is an enemy that is lying to you to keep you on that destructive pattern, to keep you on that cycle, because what he does is this If he takes your distorted identity and he uses it to create destructive habits, he takes your distorted identity and he uses it to create destructive habits, and your destructive habits reinforce your distorted identity, and that's where we find ourselves and you think poorly of yourself. Therefore, you go and you do the wrong thing, and the wrong thing confirms that you really aren't a God-honoring person the whole time.

Speaker 1: 23:25

So how, how do we, as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers, how do we break the devil's destructive cycle? Well, if you want to change what you do, you have to change how you think, and that's why I'm going to tell you, and that's why I want to tell you you are not what the devil says you are. You are not what other people, negative people in your life, say about you. You are not even what that little critical voice in your head always tries to whisper to you about. Jesus is speaking the truth about you and you need to believe the truth because, because the truth come on, the truth will set you free. And when you have a Jesus-centered identity that breaks the destructive cycle, write this down. A Jesus-centered identity leads to a Jesus leads to Jesus-honoring habits. I want you to get this. I want you to get this. A Jesus-honoring identity leads to Jesus-honoring habits, and that's why we have to spend daily time with God. We have to spend daily time with God.

Speaker 1: 24:30

It's good to hear good preaching and it's good to watch some videos online of a sermon or whatever, but you got to get down in the nitty and gritty with your relationship with the Lord. If you want freedom for your life, you want hope for your life. Because here's the thing your spouse doesn't know everything that's going on in your heart. Your best friend doesn't know everything that's going on in your heart, but God does. He's not intimidated by the things. What makes his love for us so grand and so great and so amazing that he knows the deepest, darkest things about us that nobody else knows. Yet he loves us all the same. Let me let that sink in for a little bit. He knows the thoughts that you have about people that you keep to yourself. He knows the thoughts that you have about yourself that you haven't shared with nobody. He knows the secrets that you've been keeping on to. He knows all those things. Yet His love for you, it doesn't change. He accepts you and he wants more of you.

Speaker 1: 25:44

Because when we have Jesus-centered identity, it leads to Jesus' honor and habits, and then Jesus' honor and habits reinforce a Jesus-centered identity. So why do you tend to do what you do? You do what you do because of what you think of you, and if you want to change what you do, you have to change what you think of you. You are not what your spiritual enemy says you are, because when you believe that you live out the wrong habits which reinforces the wrong identity you are who Christ says you are, and when you start with that identity, it brings about God-honoring habits, which reinforces God-honoring identity.

Speaker 1: 26:32

Real fast, let's have some fun. I want to take this story of Jesus. I want to modernize it a little bit for us, okay? Because, believe it or not, jesus has stressors. Jesus had things that could have caused problems and anxiety in His life. So here you go. Jesus is ready to do some of His miracles, he's ready to teach one of his best messages, called the Sermon on the Mount. And just for fun, let's have some fun.

Speaker 1: 26:57

Imagine if Jesus is getting ready to do this Sermon on the Mount, ready to preach to all these people, and then, out of nowhere, a PR guy runs up to Jesus and says hey, jesus, jesus, hey man, I see you're doing some cool stuff here, but hey, let's actually do a YouTube live event and you can reach more people if you do this. And Jesus is like what, what are you talking about? I want to preach to the people that I got in front of me. And the PR guy's like no, no, jesus, you got to think big man, go bigger man, you got to think big, do it like this. And Jesus is like no, I'll set up the event anyways. And the guy sets up the event, they start selling tickets and they sell more tickets to the Jesus Sermon on the Mount concert than Taylor Swift sells to her concerts. You know. They sell all these.

Speaker 1: 27:42

And then Jesus is teaching. And while Jesus is teaching, the Pharisees are outside the venue with picket signs saying please, cancel Jesus, cancel Jesus, now, you know. And then at the end of the event, at the end of the event, everybody's there. Security says to Jesus hey, jesus, we got to get you home. We got to get you out of here. There's a lot of people and Jesus is like no, no, I don't, you don't have to. I want to pray for the people, I want to pray for them. And so he goes to pray for the people, but most of the people want a selfie and they don't want prayer. Most people want to say they went to church, but most people don't want to spend daily time with God. And he's like what? And this makes Jesus upset. He's kind of like what the heck is going on. Then he finally goes back to his team, he regroups with the disciples and he says hey guys, how do you think that went? And that's kind of weird out there. How do you think that went? And how do you think that went? And then Peter is mad because Jesus didn't tag him in his Instagram posts. And then Jesus is like man, I'm done with y'all, I'm done Now. This didn't really happen. Just in case you were wondering If you're new to church today, they're like YouTube's in the Bible, you know? No, it's not. It's not.

Speaker 1: 28:49

Jesus goes home. Right, he had a long day at work. What does he do? He's physically exhausted. Some people have let him down. Maybe he feels discouraged because they won't respond in the way he hoped they would. What does he do? Does he veg out on his favorite Netflix show? I probably would. Does he sneak into the kitchen and finish off all the brownies? Does he take a nice bath with some soft music and turn all the water into wine? Not a bad idea. What does he do? What does he do? He's tired, he's frustrated. His body is tired. He's maybe discouraged.

Speaker 1: 29:41

Well, he asks himself what kind of person am I? He would say well, I'm the type of person that, when I'm discouraged, I need intimacy with my heavenly Father. And then he would say what kind of situation is this? Well, I'm physically exalted. I'm emotionally drained. What does a person like me do in a situation like this? A person like me in a situation like this goes and spends time with the Father.

Speaker 1: 30:07

And so what does Jesus do? Come on, I want you guys to get this, because Jesus was all God, yes, but he was 100% man, meaning he felt what we felt. He went through the same tensions that we went through. He went through the same problems that we went through. And what does he do? According to Scripture, he goes to the Mount of Olives, and that's just not any place. It's a beautiful place, 330 feet above Jerusalem, a gorgeous view of the city, but it also overlooked the people that he would eventually be dying for. And he resets himself in his purpose and he resets himself with the Lord, and Scripture tells us how often he went there to pray. Check this out. Luke 21 says this Each day, jesus was teaching at the temple and check this out, and each night, he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives. So what did Jesus do when he was discouraged, when he was upset, when he was having some low moments? His habit was to teach in the day and His habit was to pray at night. Luke 22 continues and it says and Jesus went out. Jesus came out and went as what? As it was his habit to go to the Mount of Olives. What I want you to see is this Jesus isn't like oh man, I better just try to pray, I better just try to do this. No, no, no. He was the type of person that prays, and his prayer habit reinforced his spiritual identity, which therefore strengthened his habit.

Speaker 1: 31:36

How do you change? If you want to change what you do, you got to change what you think of you. And here you go. Please write this down. Please write this down what I'm about to say. If you want to change what you do, if you want to change what's happening, you got to start with the who before the do. You got to start with the who before the do. You got to start with the who before the do. You got to start with the who before the do. You got to start with the who before the do and I'm going to be sounding like Dr Seuss up in here you got to start with the do before the who. Instead of focusing on what you want to do, you got to start asking who do I want to become? What kind of person do I want to become? I'm going to ask you right now what kind of person do you want to be? Start with your identity. Who do you want to become? Who do you want to be? Who do you want to be for the glory of God? Because what you think of you determines what you do. So we're not starting with the action, we're starting with the spiritual, jesus-centered identity first. I'm going to give you some examples. Okay, here you go.

Speaker 1: 32:46

Who do you want to become? You might say I want to become a mom who is fully present and wholly attention. How do you? That sounds like a good thing to me. That sounds good. You may think about this. I'm a teenager who's found purity in Christ and doesn't look at porn. That's a good one to have. You may say I'm a man of God who will lay down my life. Lay down my life to serve my wife and my children. That's a good idea. That's a who. Do you want to be Another one? I'm someone who is sober and is a testimony to the power of Christ to see a changed life. That's a good who. Man, come on, that's a good who.

Speaker 1: 33:22

It's not just a do. This is who I am. I am changed by God. I am transformed by God. You might even get specific and you can hear some specific ones. You can write your own and you can hear some specific ones, and you can write your own. You may say I'm a person who doesn't skip workouts. Come on somebody. You may say I'm a Jesus follower who spends daily time with God. You may say I'm a person who puts God first in my finances and with everything else in my life. You might say I am disciplined. Christ in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me. Come on, you got to start proclaiming those things over your life. You got to start saying them, because there is an enemy who wants to tell you the opposite, who wants to say the opposite to you. Start with the who before the do Last thing I'll say.

Speaker 1: 34:18

Ephesians 4, 21 says this Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, watch this, check this out. Throw off the old sinful nature and the former way of life. That's not you anymore. I'm throwing it off. You're forgiven, you're transformed. Paul continues. He says, which is corrupted by lust and deception, saying your old self believed the lies for too long. Scripture goes on and says instead, I love that. Instead, what do you do? Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and your attitudes. Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You don't believe the lies of the enemy, but you let the Spirit of God renew your thoughts and your attitudes. You throw off the old nature, but what do you do? You just don't throw off the old nature and that's it. You put on the new nature. You put on what you're created to be, like God, truly righteous and holy. So you throw off the old self and you put on the new self, and when you start to believe who he says you are, you start to live how he says you can live. Remember this this is not behavior modification, this is spiritual transformation. This is spiritual transformation.

Speaker 1: 35:54

Scripture says that you are God's workmanship. You're His poetic statement, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, but he prepared for you in advance to do. Scripture says that you are the light of the world, a city on a hill. You are an ambassador of the Most High God. You are the highest ranking diplomat sent from heaven to earth by God to declare His kingdom principles to this world. You are not what the devil says you are. You are not what other negative voices have said that you are. You are who God says you are. And so, friends, let's step into the truth. Let's step out of the old nature and step in to the new nature, who God had designed you to be. So why do you do what you do? You do what you do because of what you think of you, and scripture tells us. I set my heart and my eyes on things above. I think about Jesus and all that he has for me and friends, I'm telling you that life change will happen. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your goodness, we thank you for your favor, lord, for your goodness. We thank you for your favor, lord, and we say more of you, jesus. We say more of you.

Speaker 1: 37:24

We dial down for a second. Come Holy Spirit. There's some father wounds. Yep, things said about you. A father who left you, an earthly father who left you, abandoned you. God, I pray for healing right now in Jesus' name. Healing Lord in Jesus' name. Healing Lord in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Not good enough. That's a phrase I'm hearing that's been attached to someone's heart for way too long. You can't get it right. It's another phrase Come Holy Spirit. We're breaking down those things today. Lord, you have to be perfect, you have to be perfect. It's another one. I'm all by myself. Come, holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. More of you, god. We give you these things. We say have your way in us. We are who you say we are. Scripture says who the Son sets free is free. Indeed, scripture says that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. Jesus says come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. So, jesus, we come to you weary and burdened and we say we want the rest that you promise, the peace that you promise.

Speaker 1: 40:19

If you're in here today, you don't personally know this Jesus that I've been preaching about, or maybe you have and you kind of walked away from faith. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life, just right where you are, I want to lead you in a prayer. I'm not going to call you out or have you come up front, nothing like that. Just right where you are, I want to lead you in a prayer. I'm not going to call you out or have you come up front, nothing like that. Just right where you are. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life or commit your heart back to him again, just pray with me, right where you are. Just say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new Today. I trust you Today. I trust you Today. I follow you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.