Participants: Charles Byrd (Host), Andrea Endries, Levi Longoria, Stephen Fowler
Series Code: THL
Program Code: THL000009
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00:01 In our study entitled
00:02 "The Radical Repentance of Christ." 00:04 We discover that one of the most profound truths 00:07 that Jesus lived out was His own baptism of repentance. 00:11 In fact, the first formal act of His ministry 00:15 was to announce to the world 00:16 the importance of true repentance for everyone, 00:20 for anyone who would be righteous. 00:23 And that's where the problem begins for many people 00:26 who catch a glimpse of the wonderful love of Jesus, 00:30 Who died for us. 00:31 They choose to live for Jesus 00:33 and then all hell breaks loose, literally. 00:37 They begin to wonder, 00:38 if following Christ was a good idea. 00:42 First, let me assure you, 00:44 following Christ is a great idea. 00:46 And the rough water totally normal and to be expected. 00:51 The reason that you get buffered about 00:52 when you start to follow Christ 00:54 is that you're now swimming upstream 00:56 against the current of own personal habits, 00:59 against the counter culture of the world. 01:01 The influence of old friends 01:03 and against the wiles of the devil 01:04 who has no intension of giving you up without a fight. 01:08 By contrast there's a littler turbulence 01:11 or struggle when you drift downstream. 01:16 Okay, enough with the analogies for the concrete thinker, 01:19 here it is straight up. 01:21 No one gets to heaven without saying, 01:23 yes to the Lord with all their known choices. 01:27 And here's one doctrine or teaching of Jesus 01:30 that we need to say, yes too. 01:33 "Be ye therefore perfect," Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, 01:37 "Even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 01:41 For anyone who's tried to say yes, 01:44 to be obedient to this command, you know how impossible that is. 01:49 And that's why Jesus gift of repentance is causing 01:52 so much thunder because now 01:55 He's given us everything we need to obey this command. 01:59 He's taken away all our excuses. 02:55 Here's the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7:21. 02:59 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 03:02 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, 03:04 but he that doeth the will of my Father 03:08 which is in heaven." 03:09 Solomon told us that 03:11 "The upright shall dwell in the land, 03:14 and the perfect shall remain in it." 03:18 Only perfect doers get to enter that new heaven in new earth. 03:22 And since nothing is going to enter there 03:24 that would defile its bliss, 03:27 how then should we live as His end time people. 03:31 In this study, let's take a look at 03:33 some of the real world places, Jesus and His disciples 03:36 invite us to exercise the gift of repentance 03:40 that is "Feeling about things the way God does, 03:43 and acting accordingly." 03:46 The first place is TV. 03:48 Yeah, I got to start there, why? 03:50 Because there's virtually all fraudulent 03:53 and if you want to be fed lies then watch TV. 03:56 If you like people training you to lies and believe lies, 03:58 then watch TV. 04:00 And I'm not just talking about the shows, 04:02 even the advertises make the bottom-line 04:04 the more benchmark for what is promoted. 04:06 The purpose of Jesus coming to this earth 04:08 was to destroy the words of the devil. 04:11 Let's let Jesus himself 04:12 tell us what the work of a devil is from John 8:44. 04:16 "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, 04:19 for he is a liar, and the father of it." 04:22 Some folks pine for the good old days of TV, 04:24 with shows like, "Leave it to Beaver," 04:26 "Father Knows Best," "Andy Griffith," 04:28 and "I Love Lucy." 04:29 Back then it was safe to watch. 04:32 But if you take the time and compare 04:33 those shows with the Bible, 04:35 you discover that many of those very programs 04:37 were planting the seeds of our present day television. 04:40 Lucy was always telling Ricky some story that wasn't true 04:43 and the industry is still forcing lies upon us, 04:46 integrity, honesty and righteousness 04:48 are not the bedrock of our media and entertainment industry. 04:52 So what should be our north star, 04:53 the safe guideline 04:55 for those who would follow Jesus in regards of TV? 04:58 Well, when it comes to what you watch for your entertainment, 05:01 I believe Psalms 101:3 should be your model. 05:04 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." 05:07 Because the great law of the mind states, 05:09 "By beholding we become changed." 05:13 Most of what is shown on TV, God will call wicked, 05:16 but that doesn't stop me for liking it. 05:18 So what do we do if we still like it? 05:20 That is where the choice to engage 05:22 true repentance comes into play. 05:24 First, we spent time focusing our hearts 05:27 and affection on His goodness, 05:29 then we ask Him for a change of heart 05:31 and those things we know are harmful for us, 05:33 our friends or our families. 05:35 If you pray that prayer, 05:36 it's important to keep your eyes open to see 05:38 what He'll do in your life. 05:39 I assure you, you'll notice a change 05:42 for He keeps His promises. 05:44 You notice He does change your heart, 05:46 you start feeling guilt. 05:48 And you notice that He promised you with new heart impulses. 05:52 When that happens choose to act, 05:54 turning away from sin and toward God, 05:56 so He can pour His joy and comfort into your life. 06:00 Yes, Steven, TV has certainly altered 06:03 the moral fabric of every society it has touched, 06:06 eroding overtime all the qualities 06:08 that make our society good, safe and blessed. 06:12 Purity of thought and life is another area, 06:15 TV is working to annihilate. 06:17 And there's a young person who was keeping myself 06:19 for the one man I'll share my life with, 06:22 I'm deeply concerned with a medium 06:24 that makes women mere objects. 06:27 In a typical viewing session 06:29 sexual content appears in 64% of the programming. 06:33 In these programs portrayals that included sexual risks like 06:36 STDs or becoming pregnant, 06:39 abstinence or the need for sexual safety 06:42 are depicted only 15% of the time. 06:45 Consequently, sexual content 06:47 on TV is far more likely to promote sexual activity 06:51 among adolescence than it is to discourage it. 06:54 And one other statistic 06:56 from a study of the year's top 25 films. 06:59 Sexual activity between married couples 07:01 only appears 15% of the time 07:04 versus 85% of the time with those who are not married. 07:09 It is no surprise that where society calls entertainment 07:12 flies in direct opposition to the culture of heaven. 07:16 Paul told the folks in Ephesus that, 07:18 "It is a shame even to speak of those things 07:21 which are done of them in secret." 07:23 But we not only talk about it, 07:25 we broadcast these perversions, 07:27 casting them in a light of normalcy. 07:30 God invented sex 07:32 and it's wonderful to enjoy this gift 07:34 that God has given in its proper context. 07:38 The Bible teaches this gift is only to be exercise 07:41 between a husband and a wife not with every person 07:44 who grabs our emotional attention. 07:47 We can learn that 07:48 from the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:28. 07:51 "I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust 07:55 has already committed adultery with her in his heart." 07:59 The good news is God's gift of repentance 08:01 can fortify your heart. 08:03 When you say yes to Jesus with all your known choices, 08:06 His gift can make you hate what you once loved 08:09 and love what you once hated. 08:12 And let me give you a personal experience 08:14 of how this mind and heart altering repentance 08:17 made my life sweater when I was a litter girl 08:20 and set a tone that helped to lead me to where I am today. 08:23 My dad loved football, his heart was definitely engaged 08:28 but the Holy Spirit spoke to him, 08:30 brought conviction to his heart just like Jesus' promise. 08:34 And when I was 7-years-old, 08:36 he made the choice to listen to that still small voice. 08:40 Every time a game came on TV 08:41 that he wanted to watch instead he went out 08:44 and put his time into building a play house for me. 08:48 And let me tell you what that did. 08:50 First, it helped my father put value 08:53 on the truly important things of life like family. 08:57 Second, it kept him from becoming attached 08:59 or even addicted to the things of this world. 09:02 And last, it helped in instilling me 09:05 a better place to put my values. 09:08 Yeah, repentance works great in the real world. 09:13 You know, Andrea, 09:14 when you deliberately choose to participate in repentance, 09:17 when you spent time each day 09:19 looking at the life of Christ by holding His love and mercy, 09:24 it starts the process of change in the heart. 09:27 And the heart or right brain definitely need some change. 09:31 According to the Prophet Jeremiah, 09:33 "The heart is deceitful above all things, 09:37 and desperately wicked." 09:38 Let me illustrate this point 09:40 with something ubiquitous, tobacco. 09:43 And tobacco is the one product that when used according 09:46 to the manufacture's instructions cause death. 09:49 It says right on the package, 09:51 "Smoking kills," and that is true. 09:55 Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. 10:00 In fact, tobacco kills up to one half of its regular users. 10:05 Smoking kills more people each year than AIDS, 10:08 legal drugs, illegal drugs, road accidents, 10:11 murder and suicide combined. 10:15 Worldwide smoking related deaths exceed five million annually, 10:20 that's one death every eight seconds. 10:24 So why do people keep smoking? 10:26 Because of the war that's constantly going on 10:28 between their ears. 10:30 The mind tells him the facts. 10:32 Smoking causes lung cancer. Smoking ages the skin. 10:36 Smoking hurts those around us. Smoking causes impotence. 10:41 But in spite of these warnings, the emotional side of us 10:44 that heart says, "But I want to." 10:49 Smoking to many as a friend and constant companion. 10:52 So with these two sides of the brain at war, 10:55 who usually wins, the heart. 10:58 And that's why the Wiseman tells us, 11:00 "Keep thy heart with all diligence, 11:03 for out of it are the issues of life." 11:06 How do we keep the heart? 11:08 By doing step one of repentance 11:10 which is remembering the goodness of God. 11:14 And Jesus made the same point in Luke 11:34, 11:17 "The light of the body is the eye, 11:20 therefore when thine eye is single, 11:22 thy whole body also was full of light." 11:26 When we're keeping our focus on God, 11:28 His goodness, His promises, His grace, His love, 11:33 then our life is guided by the light of truth 11:36 and our emotions begin to cooperate with our mind. 11:40 We begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. 11:45 Repentance is indeed the premier tool to use 11:48 if you want to overcome the addicted 11:50 influence of tobacco, alcohol, drugs or any other addiction 11:55 that the devil wants to use to destroy you. 11:59 God's idea for His children is higher than the highest 12:03 human thought can reach. 12:05 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 12:09 which is in heaven is perfect." 12:11 This command is also a promise, 12:14 because God's plan of redemption 12:16 contemplates our complete recovery 12:19 from the power of Satan. 12:21 Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. 12:25 After all He came to destroy the works of the devil 12:29 and He has made provision 12:30 that the Holy Spirit should be imparted 12:33 to every repentant soul to keep Him from sinning. 12:38 This was the message Christ left 12:40 with the disciples and this message 12:42 they repeated in their letters to the believers. 12:46 "He is also able to save to the uttermost 12:49 those who come to God through Him, 12:52 since He ever lives to make intercession for them." 12:56 As a pastor, I'm often called upon for comfort 12:59 when someone is dying in the hospital. 13:01 I've never met one dying person who said, 13:04 "I wish I could smoke one more cigarette before I die, 13:07 I sure miss them." 13:09 I've never met one person who said, 13:10 "Wow, if I died tonight, 13:12 I'll miss the next Simpsons program." 13:15 Worldly things lose their lustering appeal 13:18 in the face of death. 13:20 Paul told the folks in Corinthians, 13:22 "Godly sorrow worketh repentance 13:24 to salvation not to be repented of, 13:28 but the sorrow of the world worketh death." 13:32 What I see in this verse is that 13:33 our emotions are all messed up. 13:36 We're sorry, we missed the TV show. 13:39 Sorry, we missed the night out with the girls. 13:41 Sorry, we missed the cake party. 13:44 Sorry, we didn't score on the first date. 13:47 Sorry, when any constraints are put on us by family 13:50 or church which limits our freedom. 13:54 But this sorrow leads to eternal death. 13:58 God's repentance, His heart transplant 14:01 actually makes us feel good about 14:04 walking away from worldly things 14:06 and positive about doing the right thing. 14:09 This is the biggest part of the battle. 14:11 If you hate what He hates and love what He loves, 14:15 doing the right thing 14:16 becomes more than just the duty of obedience, 14:20 it becomes our own desire. 14:23 God tells us through the Prophet Ezekiel, 14:25 the reason He gives us a new heart. 14:28 "That they may walk in my statutes, 14:31 and keep mine ordinances, and do them, 14:35 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." 14:40 If we want to be His 14:42 then we must follow in absolute obedience to His laws of love, 14:48 that's why we need repentance. 14:51 It sure is, Charles. 14:53 The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, 14:56 "Be not conformed to this world, 14:58 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, 15:01 that ye may prove what is that good, 15:04 and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." 15:07 To prove something means to demonstrate the truth 15:09 or existence of by evidence or argument." 15:13 By not conforming to this world 15:15 but adjusting our life to God's kingdom, 15:17 we become a living proof, the evidence 15:20 that there truly is an all powerful life transforming God. 15:24 That is why I say, he throws these temptations 15:26 and harassments at you. 15:27 He can't force you to disobey him, 15:29 but if you can get you of your own free will 15:31 to turn aside from God, 15:33 then you willingly come under his control. 15:36 The Prophet Hosea talks about two other things 15:38 Satan uses to lead us astray. 15:40 "Whoredom and wine, they take away the heart." 15:44 Satan is still using those two things very successfully today. 15:48 And thanks to the internet, 15:49 the red light district is now just a click away. 15:53 And this light sells well, over 400 billion each year 15:57 but it whops the moral fabric of the mind. 16:00 Then the devil offers us alcohol 16:02 which clouts the frontal cortex of the mind, 16:04 thus lowering the inhibitions. 16:06 And suddenly we have a deadly cocktail 16:08 resulting in debauchery, depravity and wickedness. 16:12 But walking around among us are people who are repenting, 16:15 they're asking for God's will to be their own. 16:17 He's giving them a pure heart like Joseph of old. 16:21 Joseph certainly has proved that 16:22 human beings can be obedient 16:24 when they allow the divine nature to become their nature. 16:27 When we ask Jesus for the same repentance, 16:29 He exercises the repentance He promises to give us. 16:33 He'll do a miracle in our hearts as well. 16:35 And just like Joseph and Jesus, 16:37 we can turn away from sin in heart and life 16:40 before we stumble into sin. 16:44 People who follow Christ as the true messiah 16:46 live different than others around them. 16:49 And there's a reason for this, 16:51 they had chosen Christ as their example in all things 16:55 just as he directed in John 13:15, 16:58 "For I have given you an example, 17:00 that ye should do as I have done to you." 17:04 If you look carefully at the context of this verse, 17:07 the example Jesus left was an example in humility 17:11 of humbling self for the good of others, 17:13 no matter the cause to self and pride. 17:16 This lesson was not lost on His disciples 17:19 for their letters teach the same lesson. 17:22 "For even hereunto were ye called, Peter tells us, 17:25 because Christ also suffered for us, 17:29 leaving us an example, 17:30 that ye should follow his steps." 17:33 As the young lady growing up in a modern society, 17:36 I have followed the culture of the world 17:38 around me in dress and adornment. 17:41 But since choosing to follow Christ, 17:43 I've had to look at what example He left me 17:46 and this look open my eyes to an area of my life 17:49 that needed His gift of repentance. 17:52 Dress and adornment are big issues for us girls, 17:55 as well as for many guys. 17:57 One of the lines bantered about is, 17:59 "if you've got it, flaunt it." 18:02 And I guess as a model I qualified for that axiom, 18:05 but as a Christian, as a true follower of Christ, 18:09 His goodness compelled me to go back 18:12 and to take another look at His example. 18:15 Jesus created everything, including the gold, pearls, 18:19 diamonds and other precious stones and metals, 18:22 those things are not sin. 18:25 But when Jesus left heaven, 18:27 He didn't bring any of that gold with Him, 18:30 He didn't come wearing a golden crown, 18:32 He wore no rings, not a promise ring 18:35 or school ring or even a signet ring. 18:38 Careful investigation and prayerful study 18:40 opened to me the reason why. 18:43 Blink is not what's important. 18:45 Oh, it's nice and I'm sure that God has a lot of it. 18:49 But what makes heaven, heaven is not the stuff. 18:53 What makes heaven a place that you'd want to live in 18:55 forever is care shown to others, 18:59 death to self and love for God. 19:03 Since sin enter this world, 19:05 self is considered most important. 19:08 Self-esteem, a code name for pride is protected 19:11 and encouraged as a right. 19:14 In the present culture of this world 19:16 adornment is really worn for just one reason, 19:20 pride or look at me. 19:23 So Jesus didn't bring any of that with Him 19:25 and He never wore any of that while He was here. 19:28 He wanted to make absolutely sure that nothing would distract 19:32 from His message of death to self and living for others. 19:37 "If any man will come after me, 19:39 Jesus said, let him deny himself, 19:42 and take up his cross, and follow me." 19:46 My study revealed that Jesus' true followers will look 19:49 different than the world in dress and deportment. 19:53 And that was the teaching of Peter as well 19:55 in 1 Peter 3:3 and 4, "Do not let your beauty be that 20:00 of outward adorning of arranging the hair, 20:02 of wearing gold, or of putting on fine apparel, 20:06 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, 20:09 with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, 20:13 which is very precious in the sight of God." 20:17 The jewelry Jesus wants us to 20:19 put on is that of a sweet and gentle spirit, 20:22 a kindness that compels others to notice Him. 20:27 This is His teaching from right here on the Mount of Beatitudes. 20:31 "Let your light so shine before men, 20:34 that they may see your good works, 20:36 and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 20:40 What I learned was that when I distract people 20:42 from seeing Jesus by my outward adornment, 20:46 I'm not following His example 20:48 or the teachings of His apostles. 20:50 Paul tells us in 1st Timothy 2:9, and 10, 20:54 "I also want women to dress modestly, 20:57 with decency and propriety, 20:59 not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 21:03 but with good deeds, appropriate for women 21:06 who profess to worship God." 21:09 The problem really isn't the gold or pearls. 21:12 These are the things that God made 21:15 but because of sin these things tempt us to pride 21:19 and there are few who escape that lure. 21:22 For every truly humble, godly and Christ like manner woman 21:26 who wears jewelry now, I'm sure there are thousand 21:29 who can't avoid the temptation 21:31 to self and pride that adornment brings. 21:34 And even if I can't avoid the temptation, 21:37 what influence am I having on others. 21:40 So I chose to take off the outward adornment for now. 21:43 I don't want anything that I chose to wear 21:46 to distract people from His message lived through my life. 21:50 I've chosen to wear modest clothes 21:52 that won't cause a brother to stumble to lust in his heart, 21:56 leading him away from God's plan for real men. 22:00 But that choice doesn't change my heart. 22:03 For that I need repentance, 22:06 I need the gift of feeling about things the way God does. 22:10 That's why this repentance model is so important, 22:13 it really does work. 22:15 The more I spend time looking at Him, 22:18 His love and His goodness, 22:20 the more I ask for His will 22:22 and His impulses and His desires to be mine, 22:26 the more He changes my heart. 22:29 In heaven I will be wearing gold once again. 22:32 Jesus Himself would put a golden crown on my head. 22:36 But it still won't be for me, for my glory. 22:40 And I'm pretty sure just like the 24 elders, 22:43 I will be casting my crown at His feet saying, 22:46 "You are worthy, O Lord, 22:48 to receive glory and honor and power, 22:51 for You created all things, 22:53 and by Your will they exist and were created." 22:57 Then He'll picked it up 22:59 and place it back on my head saying, 23:02 "But I want you to wear this. 23:04 You wearing this crown will bring glory to Me." 23:08 Thanks, Andrea, for being sensitive towards guys 23:10 who really do want to follow God 23:12 and because the devil really does use women to get at us. 23:15 I don't know why they call them the weaker sex though, 23:17 considering the power they have over men. 23:20 And come to think of it that scenario 23:22 we men could use repentance in. 23:25 If we'd allow God to give us the heart and mind of Christ, 23:28 we could put women, 23:29 well, everything in its proper God appointed place. 23:34 Of course, for some things that's harder than others. 23:37 Our hormones are harder because they more easily bypass 23:40 the reasoning centers of the mind. 23:43 Music is like that too and PET scans revealed 23:45 that music involves just about every part of the brain 23:49 and but it only involves the frontal lobe and cognitive 23:52 or moral center of thought if you choose to go there. 23:55 And music is probably one of the most powerful 23:58 avenues to the soul as it can make you feel in certain ways 24:02 without even choosing too. 24:04 The movie industry knows this very well. 24:06 They can have you scared 24:08 before anything bad even happens in the movie. 24:11 As a musician myself, 24:12 I'm very much aware of the controversy 24:14 that's caused every time 24:16 standards are discussed about music. 24:18 So let me bypass all that by just asking you 24:20 a few inspired questions. 24:23 And first, "Do you think God has a preference in music?" 24:27 My answer is, He's a being with thoughts and feelings 24:30 so I'd imagine He does. 24:32 And my second question is 24:33 "Do you think Satan has a preference in music?" 24:37 As a creative being with thoughts and feelings, 24:39 I'm sure He does as well. 24:41 One final question, 24:43 we've been told that in the end time 24:44 Satan will appear on earth and personating Christ. 24:48 As the masses prostrate themselves to 24:50 who they think is Christ. 24:52 I'm sure they'll sing songs of praise to him. 24:55 "And what music will Lucifer prefer 24:57 that people use to sing his praises?" 25:00 The real purpose for music is to lead 25:02 people to true worship and away from an adulatory 25:06 So if you think that choice we make in music 25:09 doesn't really matter, 25:10 if you choose to believe 25:12 that the highway to heaven is broad enough 25:14 to allow for all music to be included, think again. 25:19 This is an area in which we desperately need 25:22 the gift of repentance. 25:24 So let me finish by simply asking you to do what I'm doing, 25:28 I'm seeking to put all of my focus 25:31 on the goodness of our Sovereign God. 25:34 Then I'm asking Him to make me 25:36 feel about things the way He does. 25:38 Next I'm watching to see through His providence 25:41 through added knowledge 25:43 and through the Holy Spirit's promptings 25:45 what music God would prefer. 25:48 Then I'm choosing to embrace that music. 25:50 And so I like Him change my heart and my preferences. 25:54 If we let the Lord of all be Lord of our music choices, 25:58 I believe you'll find what I'm finding. 26:01 Music when not abused is a great blessing 26:05 because the music of heaven imparts strength and courage 26:10 which the Christian can find only at the throne of grace. 26:15 Thanks, Levi. God knows everything. 26:19 As the creator, He knows what is good for us. 26:22 He also knows what will harm us bringing sadness, pain and loss. 26:26 And that's why God gives us council, 26:29 warnings and commandments. 26:31 But what if we don't like what He likes 26:33 or what if we love what He hates. 26:37 I'm happy to report that God can change our hearts, 26:41 our right brains so that we love 26:43 what He loves and hate what He hates. 26:46 And because He is the creator, 26:48 we know that He can also recreate our hearts. 26:52 So we pray with confidence, 26:53 the same prayer as the Psalm as David. 26:57 "Create in me a clean hear, O God, 27:00 and renew a right spirit within me." 27:04 Our part is to take the time to remember His goodness. 27:08 It is His goodness that leads us to repentance. 27:12 It is our part to ask Him to bring our emotions 27:15 into conformity to His stated will, 27:18 for us to choose His will for our lives. 27:22 Then He does the hard part. 27:24 The heart part by giving us a new hearts 27:28 that we feel about things the way He does 27:31 and then from this new heart paradigm, 27:34 we turn away from sin not just outwardly, 27:37 we turn away in heart as well. 27:41 So my friend what are you going to do 27:44 with Jesus and His gift of repentance. |
Revised 2014-12-17