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So this is the final posture episode of 2021. I'm going to be soaking up the rest of this year with

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my family off screen, but I do look forward to being back with you all on screen in the new year.

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Today, we are going to take a posture of peace by embracing the beauty of Jesus.

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Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything. Together,

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we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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In Hebrews chapter 12 verses one and two, it says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great

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cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles

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and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,

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the pioneer and perfecter of faith for the joy set before him, he endured the cross,

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scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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So in our last episode, episode 192, we talked about the practice and the privilege of joy.

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And I shared that I'm coming into a deeper understanding of how joy and peace partner

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together to raise our hope and develop our trust in the Lord. And knowing that joy is essential

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in order for me to be fully aware and activated by Christ in me, I just decided I'm giving myself

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over to the practice of joy. And I shared a definition of joy that I feel like the Lord

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gave me for the season just to give me a better handle on what it is that I'm practicing right

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now. I feel like the definition of joy he gave me is embracing the beauty, embracing the beauty

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in a moment, in a circumstance, in a season, in a person. Really, it's engaging with the redeemer

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who is living in me, Jesus, to live with his redemptive perspective of myself and of the world

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around me. And I see that this is what Jesus modeled for us when he came to earth and lived

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among us. Before he lived in us, he lived among us and he carried the eyes of the kingdom everywhere

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he went. He had a redemptive perspective about everything. When the religious spirit mocked him,

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when the political spirit challenged him, when the enemy tempted him, Jesus never allowed any

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of those things to change his perspective. He saw a world redeemed, always. And the Bible says here

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that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. Now Hebrews chapter 12, it starts

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off by telling us to throw off everything that hinders. Other translations say throw off every

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weight that slows you down and throw off sin, which is all rooted in unbelief. Sinful behaviors are

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just a symptom of unbelief in God. Not just unbelief in his existence, but unbelief in his

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essence, in his nature, in his character. It's refusing to believe he is who he says he is.

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And Hebrews 12 says throw off that filthy unbelief, throw it away so that you can run with

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perseverance, the race marked out for you. As I close out this year and I start to walk into the

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unknown of 2022, I want to do so embracing the beauty of Jesus. His perspective, his thoughts, his

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emotions, his attitude about everything. That's what I want. Now he is the head, we are the body, always.

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Jesus has preeminence. I don't want to be God, he is Lord. I just want to take him at his word.

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When the creator of the universe says to you, I want to be one with you, read his prayer in John 17

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for more on this. When he says, I want to be one with you, I don't want to hesitate taking him up

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on that invitation. I don't want to waste any more time being double-minded about his heart

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towards me. It's like, Jesus, if you want to be one with me, we're one, period. Now let's do this life

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together. Let's run this race in union. I'm not going to be double-minded about this anymore.

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I realize that you're not just for me, you're not just with me, but you're in me in this year that

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we're walking into. Colossians 1.27 says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you. Consider

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the possibilities of life in Christ and Christ in you. Now here's something so magnificent,

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so beautiful about Christ that you can start embracing today. Christ could have given us

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judgment, right? Like rightly so, he could have come to earth and dished out judgment on all of us,

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on this broken, evil, sinful world. But instead of dishing out judgment,

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He died to give us his fullness, his joy, his peace, his nature himself.

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He came here, he experienced everything firsthand that we're dealing with as humans today.

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Manipulative, religious and political systems, a culture given over to lust, greed, violence,

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broken relationships, threats on his life, betrayal, injustice, all of it.

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He lived it, right?

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And he could have at any moment called down fire from heaven,

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called down the angels to save him.

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At any moment, he could have just called it all down, had us all consumed, destroyed,

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been done with it.

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He could have stormed the throne room, the courts of heaven, and pronounced judgment

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on all of us.

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It was well within his power and authority to do so.

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But instead, he pled for our mercy.

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He laid down his life so a fallen world could be made full of him.

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And as he is, so are we to this world.

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When you read the headlines, when a politician flashes on your screen, when you read that

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Facebook post that makes you want to rage, when someone who broke your heart comes to

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mind, what do you do with it?

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Do we use our righteousness in Christ, our access to the throne room to storm the gates

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of heaven and demand fairness, demand judgment?

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Or do we lay down our lives, lay down our comfort, lay down our need for judgment,

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revenge, and do we plead for redemptive mercy?

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This sounds like a threat, right?

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It sounds like a setup to be taken advantage of.

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But Jesus wasn't taken advantage of.

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Jesus wasn't nice.

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He wasn't a doormat.

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He wasn't a victim.

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He wasn't silent.

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He didn't hide away from culture and society and wait for the rapture.

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He wasn't disengaged.

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He wasn't passive.

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He just knew that he wasn't subject to anything in this world.

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So he wasn't threatened by it.

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And he didn't build a theology around a wrathful God to feel justified or feel safe because

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he knew the father was his source in all things.

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And he knew that he was secure in his father's love for him.

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Do we feel secure in the love that God says he has for us?

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Jesus tells us in Matthew 11 that he is gentle and humble in heart.

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And he said, if we joined our life with his, we would find rest for our souls.

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And as a daughter of God who is one with Christ and filled with his spirit, I've just decided

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I'm not going to settle for judgment when I've been promised the fullness of his joy.

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I've decided I'm not going to settle for eyes that just look at something and see what it

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is when I've been given eyes to see what it could be.

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We belong to, we are one with a God of restoration, redemption, and reconciliation.

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What does that look like?

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This is what I'm asking.

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This is what I'm putting into practice.

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When it comes to the mess of this world, my head is not buried in the sand.

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My eyes are fixed on Jesus.

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And in order to carry his redemptive perspective, I realized I got to let go of some heavy things,

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things that hinder, things that slow me down, things that hold me back from laying down my life.

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Things like unbelief and past hurts and wounds, things like hopelessness and bitterness, regret,

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the need to please people.

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I've got to lay down shame and condemnation once and for all.

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My prayer for you in this new year is that you're able to let go too,

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so that you can fully, freely discover and embrace the beauty of Jesus.