Faith Matters Podcast

#529 - I Declare War; Day 4

The Game Before the GameWhile cleaning out a closet in our house recently, my wife and I stumbled upon a collection of my old sermon notes from when I first began preaching. In the earliest of days I would actually pace around and record the message into a little hand-held tape recorder and play it back so I could hear how it was going to sound, and then sometimes if I didn’t like it, the process would start all over again. Looking at those old materials, I was instantly transported back sixteen years in time to the days where I would get physically sick before taking the stage. I relate to Eminem who is puking in the bathroom of the club before his first hip-hop battle in 8 Mile. It wasn’t my mother’s spaghetti (I could never preach with something that heavy and rich in my stomach) but I would almost always end up dry-heaving before speaking, and it went on like that for a year or so. I would feel shaky, light-headed, and absolutely terrified that I would go blank as I tried to remember the key points of my message. I usually felt better after throwing up and I always felt instantly fine the moment I took the stage. All the jitters would dissipate and I would be a duck in water doing what I was born to do, it was just agony to get there. Here’s the deal. The bridge between all that practice and the performance is the pre-game routine. The same is true in nearly every endeavor. You have to win the war inside before you can win the war outside. Now, I will never speak without going through an important ritual. It involves being on my knees in prayer and admitting my weaknesses so that I can enter into Christ’s strength. Some things I have integrated into my preparation have come from athletics. The best athletes know how to quiet themselves as they get ready to compete. The Brazilian Pele is considered the greatest soccer player of all time. In his book “Mental Gym” Gary Mack interviewed Pele about his game before the game ritual. He would go into the locker room and grab, not a soccer ball, but a couple of pillows. He would go lie down somewhere all by himself. He would put a pillow under his head and a pillow on his face. This is so weird, but it gets better. He said he would go back to his childhood in his mind and imagine himself playing soccer on the beach, because that's where he first started to love the game. He wasn't playing for money, he was just playing because he loved the sport. Then he would flash forward and start to remember the highlight reel of his career. He would picture the best moments when he had performed exactly like he had wanted to. After watching all of these great moments in his career, he would flash forward now to what he had come to do, the reason he was in the stadium he was in. And he would then begin to think about the way he wanted to play and he would actually feel himself watching himself in the movie theater of his mind doing what he had come to do. Then he would get up, join his team, do some stretching, and he was ready to enter the stadium as an unstoppable force. He would be cool and calm—he'd already watched himself win, now all that was left was to do it. When I read this, I immediately thought of something Peter said. He wrote, “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.”I see this in Moses. Moses knew what he was supposed to do. Make a nation out of slaves, unite the clans, bring God’s people into the promised land. But he wasn’t winging it. He was given the steps: stick to snake, hand to leprosy, water to blood, and he did this twice before he got to Pharoah’s court on game day. He prepared his mind for action and made sure it was locked in. When it comes to unpacking what God has put inside of you, we can’t overlook preparation. What if instead of referring to your time with Jesus in the morning as “quiet time” we just referred to it as getting your game face on. Take a pause, take a breath, hear from God, spend time in His word, let His truth wash over you.No matter what is in front of you today, be it a stadium full of people you will be performing in front of, a rocket launch to Mars, a classroom of students you will be speaking to, or a toddler you will be parenting, this much is true: You’re not ready to face the game until you’re ready to put on your game face. Questions to ask yourself:What things should I remove from morning routine to start my day strong? What things should I add?What is something God has put inside of me that I might be hindering from coming out by not preparing my mind for action?

#528 - I Declare War; Day 3

If You Say SoThe year was 1997. I'd just finished my homework and downed a peanut butter sandwich made with Eggo waffles, and the burning desire for milk kicked in. I hopped over the back of my sofa at the commercial break of Saved by the Bell, flung open the fridge and began gulping down cold milk straight out of the carton. I was satisfied for about 0.3 seconds until I realized...this milk had turned, this milk was not my friend. It wasn’t a day or two old, it was over a week old. Needless to say, I puked so hard I dislodged gum that had been in my small intestine since the second grade, and I learned on that day what Matthew speaks of in Matthew 15:10. (How’s that for a segue? TMI?) The gospel of Matthew tells us that there is something more dangerous than taking in something bad, and that is speaking out something that is bad. When God hears you speak about your meeting as terrible, your car as crappy, your kids as ungrateful, your husband as lazy, your town as small, your house as cramped...His response is: If you say so. You will feel how you speak and find what you seek. Likewise, there is power in speaking out something that is good. At creation, God spoke the world to life. At the incarnation, God spoke Jesus into our world. That tells you something about the weight of words. And it should humble you to know that God has given you the same power of speech. That is part of the terrible privilege of being made in His image. You have great power in your speech that can unleash a forceful fury that can create, tear down, build, heal, or hurt. One of my favorite stories in Scripture shows what I am trying to communicate. It is from Matthew 8, when a centurion came to Jesus for help because his servant was seriously ill. In response to this man’s plea, Jesus immediately agrees to come to the man’s home and treat the boy. This is where it gets really interesting. The centurion protests that there is no need for Jesus to enter his home. For one, it would be inconvenient for Jesus to have to travel, and secondly, if He entered the house of a Gentile He would be ceremonially defiled and have to go through a cleansing ritual before His daily life could continue. Translation: He would get Gentile cooties. He didn’t want Jesus to be put out while doing him a favor. When Jesus heard this He marveled, because the centurion’s faith was noteworthy. Jesus then turned and spoke 3 incredible words of wisdom that were original to Him long before they were sung by Paul McCartney and John Lennon: Let it be. Matthew 8:13 “as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” This is actually where we get our word AMEN. Amen translated directly into our language means “let it be.” When we say amen we are saying, “may what I have prayed come to pass.” But in light of the response of what happened in this interaction between the centurion and Jesus, our goal should be to pray such a gutsy prayer that with raised eyebrows God would say to you: Amen, let it be. It is up to you whether the self-fulfilling prophecies you articulate become a delight or a dungeon. God’s response to the way you speak is: If you say so. Questions to ask yourself:How do I speak to myself and others? In what way is my speech positive? In what ways do I have a hard time controlling my tongue?Think of an area of your life you tend to complain about or speak negatively of. Challenge yourself this week, every time you are tempted to complain, to find a way to thank God instead.

#527 - I Declare War; Day 2

I Declare War: 4 Keys To Winning The Battle With YourselfI The Secret to a Miserable LifeGrowing up, I was never allowed to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. I wasn’t even allowed to go to those church-y trunk-or-treat hallelujah parties. My parents told me that Halloween was a night where pets were being sacrificed to the devil. So while you were out enjoying your pillowcase full of Butterfingers, I was at home praying that your chihuahua would make it to see the light of day. Regardless of how you choose to spend the 31st day of October each year, I have a theory about Halloween, one I think we might all agree on. My theory is that although Halloween is the only day we wear a mask on the outside, we actually wear masks on the inside all year long.At the root of the matter, the reason we wear masks is that we feel insecure and we buy into the lie that we aren’t good enough. So, instead of dealing with the lie, we wear a mask as a defense mechanism to cover up the insecurity. But let me tell you this: Living out of your insecurity is the secret to a miserable life.Look at the life of Gideon and his journey from miserable insecurity to vulnerability and, finally, power. Gideon was haunted by a low opinion of himself and it made him uncomfortable with who God called him to be.The story of Gideon comes in the book of Judges at a time when a people called the Midianites had taken control over the Israelites, God's people. They were super stressed out, as you can imagine, and they did something they hadn’t done even in their days of prosperity: they cried out to God. In response, God raises up what the Bible calls a "judge." Gideon, 90 pounds soaking wet, was the deliverer God chose for his people. And what was he doing when he got called? He was threshing wheat in a winepress.Perhaps you don’t live on a farm, so let me explain. Threshing wheat is an activity where you take a pitchfork, get a scoop of harvested wheat, and throw it up in the air. You’d always do it in a windy place so the wind could come through and separate the chaff from the wheat. The chaff would be carried away and discarded. Because the kernel of the wheat is heavier, it would fall to the ground and you could collect it and have it to eat. The problem is that Gideon was doing all of this indoors in a winepress. Do you see any problems with this plan? Why didn't he go out to a hill where they would normally do it outdoors? The text was clear: the reason was fear. It is in this cowardly moment that the angel of the Lord (Bible code word for Jesus) shows up and greets Gideon as a Mighty Warrior...the opposite of how he looked and felt. You would think that would be enough to convince him that he was the one for the job, but it is at this point that Gideon’s insecurities pop up hardcore. To make a long story short, Gideon accepts the challenge and raises up an army. God planned on stacking the deck against Gideon in such a way that it would be unmistakable as to who the credit should go to when he was victorious.There is a valuable lesson to be learned in Gideon’s story. One that took place in the threshing floor: Before the battle of the fist comes the battle of the mind. The cure for insecurity is understanding your true identity. That is to say that when you know who you are, it doesn't matter who you are not. That’s why God told Gideon he was a mighty warrior. Don’t focus on what you aren’t, focus on what you are! You are loved by God. You are loved by God. You are loved by God. Hello! And the good news for us insecure mask-wearing phonies is that if we were the ones who put the mask on, we can just as easily take it off and begin to walk in the power and the purpose set out before us.Questions to ask yourself:What insecurities do I see in my life that I would be willing to address so I can begin to tackle them?What “mask” do I wear to cover my insecurities?What are three statements I can tell myself when I need to flip the script in my mind and remind myself of who God says I am?

#526 - I Declare War; Day 1

In the words of Warren Wiersbe: "The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground, and we must be on our guard at all times." Before we even jump into this idea of declaring war, we have to acknowledge this reality: whether we want to admit it or not, we are in a war, and you can’t win a battle you won’t admit you are in. The Christian life is a war of fighting to live in the spirit and not in the flesh. Paul put it this way in Romans 7: "For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”If that Dr. Seuss tongue twister doesn’t perfectly exemplify the internal struggle bouncing around in all of our minds, I don’t know what does. We are masters of getting in our own way. Yes, the devil hates you. Yes, the world is out to get you, but you’ve got enough going on under the hood to take yourself out of the game.Your self-sabotaging mechanism might be your negative thoughts, it might be your actions (or lack thereof), your bad behavior or short temper. It might be your harsh speech or the way you mindlessly turn to social media or food to distract yourself from what is really going on. We all have a vice. The problem isn’t that we struggle with these things, the problem comes when we refuse to acknowledge them, when we decide it is easier to go quietly into the night instead of putting up a fight.I don’t believe that we don’t desire victory in our lives; no one wants to be stagnant - stuck in a rut of the same ol’ roadblocks. It’s just that we don’t want to put in the hard yards or commit to God’s instructions that show us the way we can live as victors. Let me tell you, our world offers lots of distractions to thwart the chaos caused by our unruly actions and thought lives, but these “fixes” at their best are simply that: distractions. Jesus offers something better.So this is the day. God brought you to this moment to declare war. On your darkness, on your demons, on your self-sabotaging tendencies, on the version of yourself that you don’t want to be, to throw off the gloves, and rise to the fight, to commit to leaning in as we tackle vital components of the inner struggle.There is freedom in this declaration: I / De / Clare / War

#522 - Faith Matters; Book of Signs - Ch 2 Europe

Faith Matters with Brian and Andi HaleEurope, Chapter 2 in The Book Of Signs by David JeremiahThe second international sign focuses on Europe and the vision that God gave to Daniel. We recognize the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream as the most comprehensive prophetic insight ever received. The stage is now set in Europe. Israel is back in her land, and the nations of the ancient Roman Empire are reunifying. It is time for us to awake and realize that things will not go on indefinitely as they are now. Things are coming to a head and events are moving us toward the moment when warnings will be too late.

#520 - Can You Still Trust God? Day 5

Your relationship with God is not based upon your good deeds. It is not based upon your offering of a blood sacrifice at a designated shrine, your doing a series of charitable acts of kindness, or your belonging to a particular denomination. It is not based upon anything that you produce, achieve, or earn.Rather, your relationship with God is based upon belief—your believing that Jesus Christ is God’s Son come in the flesh and that Jesus Christ is Lord.Behavior is the substance of religion. Belief is the substance of this relationship.You don’t have to wonder if you have done enough to get good enough for God. You can say, “I believe in You, God, as the Giver of life. I believe in what Jesus did on the cross to give me life abundant and life forever. I accept Your plan!”So many people I know live under a terrible cloud of “I hope I’ve done enough to please God.” They hope they’ve read enough of the Bible and prayed enough. They hope God will forgive them. They hope they’ll be considered worthy of heaven.Such hope isn’t true hope.True hope lies in saying, “Thank You, God, for saving me! Thank You for loving me! Thank You for Jesus Christ and what He did for me on the cross! Thank You for giving me Your Holy Spirit to guide me and comfort me!” Be very clear in your spirit on this point: your behavior and the state of your soul are two distinct things in God’s eyes. Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and have accepted God’s love and forgiveness, you are His eternally. There is nothing that can separate you from Him.Your relationship with God is based upon what Jesus has done, not what you have done, do now, or will do. Your relationship is solely based upon what Jesus did on the cross. You may make mistakes, but Jesus does not. You may be imperfect, but He is perfect. God’s forgiveness is based upon His plan that has been fulfilled through Christ Jesus.