WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.600 If you are a follower of Jesus, who you are in him is way more powerful than anything else happening in the world right now. 2 00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:20.240 When Jesus said in John 10 10, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. 3 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:30.360 Jesus was not talking about some future reality like, oh, when you die and go to heaven someday, then you'll have this abundant life. 4 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:35.320 But you have to kind of survive the world first in order to access that life later after you die. 5 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:42.080 No, maybe you've heard that quote unquote gospel before, but no, the verb tense here is present. 6 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:51.280 The life Jesus is talking about isn't merely like a good life, the abundance of material goods or physical well-being, it's so much more than that. 7 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.680 The Greek word is Zoe, and it means the very life of God himself. 8 00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:12.000 So Jesus is saying in John 10 10, I came that you may have my life and have it in abundance, not in small measure, not a little bit of Jesus right now to help get you to survive this world so that one day you can have all of Jesus in heaven. 9 00:01:12.080 --> 00:01:15.640 No, it's his life right now in fullness. 10 00:01:16.160 --> 00:01:17.440 And here's what's bothering me. 11 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.480 I keep meeting Christians. 12 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:30.840 I was this type of Christian, good people, sincere people, but they don't actually believe that this is possible, not for them, not now, not in this crazy world. 13 00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:33.720 We just got to get out and get to heaven someday. 14 00:01:33.720 --> 00:01:36.720 And that's when we can really be transformed fully. 15 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:40.640 No, Jesus did not just come to save you from hell. 16 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:51.880 He came that you would experience God's life, his power, his peace, his continual, never leaving presence that will transform you and transform the world around you. 17 00:01:51.880 --> 00:01:55.000 And if that is feeling out of reach, I get it. 18 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:56.560 I used to believe the same thing. 19 00:01:57.440 --> 00:02:03.320 But I think that creation is paying a price of unbelieving believers. 20 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:06.360 We're living in a unique cultural moment right now. 21 00:02:06.360 --> 00:02:08.440 People are not just struggling with life. 22 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.080 They seem to be genuinely afraid of it. 23 00:02:11.440 --> 00:02:13.680 And I think the statistics tell the story. 24 00:02:13.720 --> 00:02:19.520 Things like anxiety, depression, suicide rates, they're climbing, particularly among young people. 25 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.280 And it hit me that we could end up with a generation that's more afraid of living than dying. 26 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:37.640 And if we followers of Jesus are not aware of what Jesus actually came to give us, we could be preaching a, quote unquote, gospel that feeds that fear. 27 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.080 We could be believing a gospel that feeds that fear in our own hearts. 28 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.000 Jesus did not come to just give us hope for a better life when we die. 29 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:56.960 He came to give us his life, the very life of God, so that we can actually live victoriously in this world, not just in the world to come. 30 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:06.640 The gospel, the good news, that's what gospel means, is not Jesus died and rose from the dead so that one day you'll die and raise in heaven. 31 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:09.760 No, this is the gospel. 32 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.960 Jesus Christ died as you and you were raised as him. 33 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:17.200 Let's look at scripture. 34 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:26.800 Romans 6, it says that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. 35 00:03:27.160 --> 00:03:32.800 Zoe, the life of God himself, not someday, but now, present tense. 36 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:45.560 Later in that same Romans 6, it says in verses 10 and 11 that the death he died, he died to sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 37 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:53.440 And it says in the same way, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 38 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.720 And then the next verse, don't skip it, verse 12, it's important. 39 00:03:57.160 --> 00:03:58.080 Embrace it. 40 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:01.120 Embrace the power and the authority that the gospel gives you. 41 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:05.720 It says, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. 42 00:04:05.760 --> 00:04:18.560 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life. 43 00:04:19.760 --> 00:04:30.560 Right before the cross, Jesus is talking to his disciples in John 14, 20, and he says something that should rip every defeating thought from our head and every ounce of unbelief from our hearts. 44 00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:40.160 In John 14, 20, Jesus says, in that day, you will know that I am in my father, you are in me, and I am in you. 45 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:53.320 Okay, so get this, the same union that exists between the Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that perfect, unbreakable, intimate oneness, that's the union that you and I have in Christ. 46 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:58.760 So as he is, so are we in this world, verse John 14, 17. 47 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:06.800 He in you than he that is in the world. 1 John 4, 4. Christ is in you. It's in the Bible. 48 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:14.800 His life is flowing through you right now. Jesus did not come to simply cushion the blow of sin 49 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:22.480 for us. It still leads to death and perhaps at times even a longing for death. God is gracious, 50 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:29.760 sin is not. Sin punishes itself. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, 51 00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:36.480 Zoe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Before sin is a behavior, it's a belief, and the belief is 52 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:42.240 I am separated from God. And that goes all the way back to Genesis. The offer from the serpent 53 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:47.440 was eat this fruit, be like God. The lie that Adam and Eve believed was that they were not 54 00:05:47.440 --> 00:05:53.280 already in union with God and that they needed to become something else apart from him. And then we 55 00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:58.720 see all through the Old Testament how this belief plays out. When people hold fast to this belief 56 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.200 that they're separated from God and then they try to do more to get back to him or do something 57 00:06:03.200 --> 00:06:10.720 else to become something apart from him, it gets weird. It gets so destructive. If you and I, as 58 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:16.400 followers of Jesus, we have a belief that we're disconnected from God, life becomes terrifying. 59 00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:21.600 Every challenge feels insurmountable. Every failure feels final. Every risk feels like 60 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:28.400 it could, you know, destroy us. And here's what's so crazy. People in religion live that way. I used 61 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:34.880 to live that way as a Christian, so caught up in the rituals and rules to try to get closer to God. 62 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.520 But as followers of Jesus, we're not trying to get close to God because we're already one with him. 63 00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:45.120 You're not trying to access Christ's peace from the outside. His peace flows through you 64 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:51.040 from the inside because you are one with him. His joy is your joy. His strength is your strength. His 65 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:56.720 courage is your courage. Not because you're trying really hard to be like him, but because you 66 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:04.880 believe and you know the truth. There's no separation between his life and yours. When we 67 00:07:04.880 --> 00:07:10.640 preach that gospel, that's the good news that we get to share with others. If we, as Christ 68 00:07:10.640 --> 00:07:15.600 followers, are only living to die and get to heaven, the world is going to continue to live dead. 69 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:21.920 You cannot live disconnected from your union in Christ through unbelief and expect to restore 70 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:27.840 distorted identities to those in this world. We will only continue to enable more identity, 71 00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:32.320 confusion, and distortion if we live with that unbelief. And it's what James calls in 72 00:07:32.320 --> 00:07:38.480 scripture double-mindedness, and he says it will cause you to be unstable in all you do. 73 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:45.200 I don't want to live that way. So let's get practical. How do we actually live from union 74 00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:49.680 instead of separation? How do we break out of this sphere and step into the abundant life 75 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.960 that Jesus came to give us? Well first, we have to stop trying to get what we already have. 76 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:02.240 I used to be so exhausted in my Christian walk because I was trying to earn and achieve and 77 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:08.480 access something that God had already given me. So we should stop praying for God to give us peace 78 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.240 because he's already the Prince of Peace that's living in us. Let's stop begging him for strength. 79 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:19.120 Christ's strength is already flowing through you and I. We don't have to ask God to come close, 80 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:26.800 to come into the room, to show up. He's already in us. The question isn't, will God give me what 81 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:31.920 I need? The question that we need to really solidify the answer to in our heads and hearts 82 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:38.240 is, will I believe that he is who he says he is and I am who he says I am? So something I've done 83 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.600 instead of asking, I've started thanking the Lord for the things that he's already given me. 84 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.840 Second, we need to identify the lies that we're believing. I think that's helpful. We don't need 85 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:50.320 to spend a lot of time there, but what are we afraid of right now? What feels insurmountable 86 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:55.200 to you? What's making you anxious? What's keeping you up at night? Ask yourself, what am I believing 87 00:08:55.200 --> 00:09:02.240 about God or about myself that is making me feel so afraid? Because fear always reveals a belief 88 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.720 of separation somewhere. Like, I feel like God's abandoned me. I feel like he's not going to show 89 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:10.400 up. I feel like he doesn't like me. He's not pleased with me. If you're terrified, you're 90 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:14.960 believing a lie about who God is right now. So let's name it. Let's bring it to the light and 91 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:20.240 then speak the truth over it. Go to scripture. I'm not separated from God. Christ in me the hope 92 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:26.400 of glory. His life is my life. Nothing can separate me from his love. Another thing we can do is we 93 00:09:26.400 --> 00:09:33.360 can start to take that truth and begin declaring our union. This is not positive thinking, okay? 94 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:38.080 This is not like, let's just think a good thought. This is agreeing with what God has already said 95 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.920 is true about you. This is choosing to be true to the truth, choosing to trust the truth. So when 96 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:47.760 you wake up in the morning, before you check your phone, before you start going through your to-do 97 00:09:47.760 --> 00:09:51.520 list, before you brush your teeth, speak it out loud. And if you're like, I don't know what to say, 98 00:09:51.520 --> 00:09:59.040 go to scripture. Here's some ideas. Christ is in me. I am in Christ as he is. So am I in this world. 99 00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:00.000 Greater is he 100 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.520 that is in me than anything else in this world. I am more than a conqueror through him that loves me. 101 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:12.720 And this is not you trying to change your reality to match the truth. This is not declaring to make 102 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:18.880 something happen. This is reminding yourself of what has already happened. This is reminding 103 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:24.400 yourself of what is already your reality. And then we're going to practice living from it and 104 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:30.080 not towards it. So we're going to stop trying to live like we're trying to reach some spiritual 105 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:34.400 mountaintop, where we'll finally feel like we've arrived and we're close to God and we're full of 106 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:39.760 maturity. You're already there. We're growing in maturity every day, but we are already seated 107 00:10:39.760 --> 00:10:45.520 in Christ, with Christ in heavenly places, Ephesians 2.6. So when you face any challenge 108 00:10:45.520 --> 00:10:51.280 today, you are not doing it from the bottom, okay? You are raised and seated with Christ, 109 00:10:51.280 --> 00:10:58.000 looking at your situation and talk about it with him from that place, that perspective of being 110 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:06.800 above and not beneath. Practice doing life with Christ because you're one with him and his life 111 00:11:06.800 --> 00:11:12.320 is now your life. Finally, always look to Jesus, okay? When we don't know what this looks like, 112 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:17.920 I don't know what to do. Look to Jesus. How did he handle opposition? How did he respond to 113 00:11:17.920 --> 00:11:23.040 hostility? How did he love people? How did he confront sin? How did he rest in the Father? 114 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:32.080 He's not just our example. He's our life. And it says the same spirit that raised Jesus from the 115 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:38.480 dead now lives in us. It dwells in us. You are in Christ. Christ is in you. His life is flowing 116 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:44.320 through you right now. And that life is stronger than your fear. It's bigger than any circumstance 117 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:48.960 you're facing. It's more powerful than any news headline, any unhinged social media posts you 118 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:54.800 might come across today, anything trying to still kill or destroy. Who you are in Christ is bigger 119 00:11:54.800 --> 00:12:01.040 than that. Jesus came that we will have life and have it abundantly, not someday, but right now. 120 00:12:01.040 --> 00:12:02.960 So let's go live it.