Today we are going to take a posture of peace by tuning into our real lives.
Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.
Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
All last week we talked about making a lens change. Choosing to view ourselves,
our circumstances, the world around us, through the lens of God himself, his nature,
his ways, his perspective. Instead of the alternative which is viewing God through
the lens of all that may be happening to us and around us. So an example of that is,
you know, when you choose to view God through the lens of your circumstances,
you might be deceived into believing that bad things are happening in the world right now
because God is angry with us and he's punishing us. But when the nature of God is your greatest
reality, then you know and you trust that he has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's 1 Thessalonians 5.9 by the way. And with that
awareness, you can then partner with his nature and see the world through a redemptive,
restorative lens and be empowered to bring hope and solution. Your freedom in Christ,
it's not confined to just what you have been freed from. Your freedom in Christ
must be seen in light of who you are now free to become. Everything about this nature of freedom
is learning how to live with a constant and consistent awareness of the life of Christ in you.
It is wrong. We would say in the southern United States, it ain't right. It is wrong as a Christian
to look at this broken world and be consumed by how its brokenness is affecting you.
You know, to live your life obsessed with this question of, you know, what is all this
brokenness going to mean for me in my future? No. Instead, you have been empowered and equipped
to live out the answer to this question. What does my life in Christ mean for this broken world?
You know, what is now possible because I'm present and the presence of God is in me.
Colossians chapter two, verses nine and 10, it says, for in Christ, all the fullness of the
Godhead lives and bodily form. And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. Are you even aware
of just how full a life of fullness in Christ really is? One page over in Colossians chapter
three, verse three, it says, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
You died. Your old sinful nature is dead and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
And this is such good news because it means your real life is not hidden in a place. You can't find
it. It's with Christ and Christ lives in you and he's always with you and he's never going to leave
you or forsake you. So you and I, we can never lose our real life in Christ, but we can lose
our awareness of it. And this often happens when we become more enamored by or more
overwhelmed by what is happening around us than by the one who is living within us.
God has offered us his unchanging self so that we too can become unchanging in our nature
and character, no matter what is occurring. Genesis one 26, God's primary purpose is to
make you into his image and likeness. You are being made into his image and likeness. You're
not being made into the likeness of a broken world. You're not being made into the likeness
of your political party, not the likeness of your favorite girl boss or social media influencer,
not the likeness of your pastor.
however wonderful he or she may be.
You're not being made into the likeness of your parents,
however wonderful or chaotic
your relationship with them may be.
You are not made in the image and likeness
of your family's generational dysfunction.
You're not made in the likeness of your worldview,
not in the likeness of your mistakes
or your accomplishments, and praise the Lord,
you and I have not been made into the likeness
of other people's opinions of us.
God is making you and me into his image and likeness.
And if you have surrendered your life to Jesus,
and I hope you have, your real life is in Jesus.
Why would you ever wanna settle
for a lesser identity than that?
Don't.
We will adhere most to whatever identity
we choose to be most aware of,
most tuned into.
The life that we choose to tune into every day,
either our old, dead, sinful selves,
or our new life in Christ,
whichever life we choose to tune into,
that determines whether we are going to live
more than conquerors,
or whether we're going to live conquered
by negative circumstances or vain pursuits.
What we choose to live aware of,
who we choose to live aware of,
is a very big deal.
So that's why this week, starting on Wednesday,
my friend and mentor, Graham Cook and I,
we are tackling this,
because we have both been so radically transformed
by tuning into our real lives in Christ,
and we wanna share it with you.
We wanna share what we've learned,
we wanna share what we practice,
and we wanna share how you can cultivate
a lifestyle of sensitivity and awareness
to the presence of God in your daily life,
because it will not only just transform you,
it'll transform the world around you.
And so we're doing this
by hosting a three-day live challenge.
It's like an equipping,
and it's happening in a private Facebook group
starting this Wednesday, October 27th, the year 2020,
just in case you're watching this a year from now.
And I'm gonna put the registration link
with all the details in the description of this episode.
I hope you can join us,
because, because,
you haven't been placed into this world
to be broken by it.
You have been born into this world
for such a time as this,
to bring kingdom hope and kingdom solutions.
And it starts with an awareness
of the life you have in Christ.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26.3.
In Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom,
meaning complete wholeness,
nothing missing, nothing broken.
This is who you are in Jesus, because of Jesus.
You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win.
With every step you take today,
you're putting Jesus's victory on display
and Satan's defeat on replay.
And I'm gonna put the registration link
with all the details in the description of this episode.
I hope you can join us,
because, because,
you haven't been placed into this world
to be broken by it.
And it starts with an awareness of the life you have in Christ.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26.3.
In Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom,
meaning complete wholeness,