The Surrender Diet
Notes
Transcript
Picture of Spiritual Health
Picture of Spiritual Health
TRUE/FALSE - see separate sheet
Tomato is a fruit - OK, now we fight?
God will take you just as you are, He’s not judgmental (??)
One that always got me, until I was 34…Baptism saves you from sin, with a misused Bible passage in John 3, and lots of people still believe that, today, in this town, maybe in this church
1) Truth is Truth
1) Truth is Truth
Difficult statement, hard sayings
Doesn’t matter what I think, what I’ve been taught, etc.
Jesus - Eat flesh, drink blood
Jesus - What about ascension, will you believe that? (precursor to Acts 1:9)
Can’t come to Jesus except granted by Father
And the Father HAS granted the access - “I Am the Way”
The Father was an enemy, because mankind made Him an enemy
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And it is ONLY by God’s grace and His mercy that we can come to Him - but it MUST be His way!
“Good enough for me” doesn’t cut it
Feel good about a belief? Good for you…what if it’s wrong?
Comfort zones are very powerful
What if the BIBLE truth says you are wrong?
People have left here because of that
People left Jesus, when the truth did not match their beliefs
Show somebody that they are wrong, they might just walk away
Christianity is for the humble, to accept Jesus as the Way, not my way!
Some ignore the call, the invitation (many, actually), push back against the conviction of the H.S.
2) Repent vs Regret
2) Repent vs Regret
Maybe an aside… but note the difference in perspective, focus on world vs focus on Jesus
Peter’s Response to the truth -
With a foreshadowing of Judas in v. 70
Peter vs Judas
Going got tough for each of them
Peter – denies Jesus out of fear - then repents
Personal fear, lacking faith, and He will grow
Judas – betrays Jesus out of frustration - then takes his life
Personal frustration - truth did not line up with belief, lacks faith, and refuses to change perspective and grow
The disciples grumbled
Jesus reminds them, I’m giving you life, offering life
But He knows some will not believe, do not believe
Peter - where else would we go? - You speak TRUTH, words of eternal life!
Check out the relevance of Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The choice, when faced with truth
Conform to old way of thinking (world and its lies)
Transform to the way of Christ, renewing one’s mind
3) The Gut-Brain Connection
3) The Gut-Brain Connection
Life is to be surrendered to Christ
Christ is to be “internalized”
Starts with a decision
Physically
Decide you want to be healthy
If you stop here, just a decision, no change occurs
You know you want to be healthy, because you should, but no action gets taken yet
This means making a change - HUMILITY
This means paying attention to what you eat
This means deciding to STOP eating what you have been
“This is a difficult saying!” - choice, stop or keep going
Know this - our brains need to be healthy, our brains need some renewing
And that comes from what we fuel our body with
Hang on, this is a difficult saying, but it’s TRUE
(moment to pause, let people think)
Once you change your diet, your brain heals, and the cycle continues, and you are transformed
Spiritually
Decide you want to be spiritually healthy, grow stronger
(Yeah, yeah, Bible, church, prayer....)
If you stop here, just a decision, no change occurs
You know you want to be healthy, grow, because you should, but no action gets taken yet
This means making a change - HUMILITY
This means paying attention to what you take in, what you “eat,” what you ingest, internalize
World, media, news, etc., FALSE TEACHING
This makes your spiritual mind unhealthy
It’s very hard to discern the truth at times
(HINT - WE HAVE THE TRUTH)
This means to STOP taking in what you have been
“This is a difficult saying!” - choice here, stop or keep growing
Know this, our minds, our spiritual minds, need to be healthy - they need some renewing
And this comes from what we fuel our spiritual selves with
Hang on, this is a difficult saying, but it’s TRUE
(Let people pause to think)
Once you change your diet, your spiritual diet, your mind begins to heal, the cycle continues, and your mind is transformed
Replace what is in you, with Him - This is “abide”
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is more than a heart transplant - it’s a total body and mind makeover!
TRUTH - your gut is connected to your brain
What you take in physically affects your brain function
TRUTH - what you take in spiritually will affect your mind
What are you taking in that is affecting your spiritual walk?
(positive and negative)
CLOSE
CLOSE
The times are tough - how will you respond, how are you responding?
It’s time to humbly decide to heal your mind
Decide to “eat and drink” Jesus
The surrender diet!
Total surrender to Him
Takes a strong mind, spiritually strong, to navigate the world in a God-pleasing manner
This world has the words of eternal death
Jesus has the Words of eternal life
The WORD has the words of eternal life
Jesus spoke truth
And people walked away
Jesus did NOT
Change His message
Compromise truth
Make Himself more inviting to avoid hurting feelings
We, the church, are the representation of Jesus here on earth
We must speak truth - Prov. 23:23 “Buy truth” (SLIDE)
That may mean some people walk away - that’s OK
This means some here need to decide to renew their minds
We cannot change the message
We cannot compromise truth
We cannot just be more inviting to avoid hurting feelings
There IS truth
So, church, we need healthy minds to navigate
Battles are not won by sick, unhealthy soldiers
This starts with each of us having healthy minds
Transformed by the renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Rom 12:2 again) (SLIDE)
The world will oppose us
That just tells me we are on the right track
The world opposed Jesus, too