Beings In Me

Intro

Change.

What do you think. feel when you hear that word??

Most of us have a love hate relationship with it.

We love change for other people, hate it for us!!

Not sure about you, but I’m the worlds best critic.

I can enter any room and find something wrong and something that could change.

Especially in the world were in today, it’s not hard to look around and find things that would be better if they changed.

Wifi coverage, finding the end of the roll of scotch tape, division, political unrest, financial crisis etc...

It’s also pretty easy to find things that could change about other people...

If they would just do… if they would stop…

Change is necessary. It has to happen. Something has to be different.

Where does the change we need begin?

Driving Story

Driving along, people passing me up, looking at me. I’m getting frustrated.

One person flashes their lights at me, another person points at me. Getting angry.

I’m not driving crazy, I’m going the speed limit.

What is their problem!

Pull over at a gas station, get out of the car, realize i have a tire that is almost all the way flat.

Everyone I was mad at was actually trying to tell me.

the issue, was me.

It’s easy to think that the problem is always outside of me somewhere. somebody else, something else.

And even though there may be issues with things and people around me,

the change I need is inside of me.

Change begins with me.

I tend to overlook and avoid the one thing that creates lasting changes, the one thing that I actually have control over, ME.

Matthew 7:2–3 (NLT)

For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

Samuel finding the next kind of Israel.

House of Jesse lined up all of his sons, except one David.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

This is the default of humanity, look to the outside and outward, but God’s default is about what’s within.

It’s a real revelation for living when i realize that change doesn’t start with them.

Change begins in me.

But this is the hardest kind of change.

A Professor asked his class, “Who likes change” a large number of hands goes up.

“Who things you would change if your life depended on it” a lot of hands go up.

Shared the state that after a major heart attack only 1 in 5 people actually make any changes in their lives.

Shocking.

It’s easy for us to recognize the need for change around us, but seems really hard to implement it within us.

Not sure about you, but I have a reason and excuse for almost everything I do. I can rationalize event the worst behavior, in myself.

We tend to judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions.

My Prayer: God change me first.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

Galatians 6:4 (NIV)

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

Here’s the reality:

YOU NEED TO CHANGE (and so do I)

Have you ever walked into a kids room and caught a wiff… Had a friend growing up that used the sniff test to the extreme.

How long have you been wearing that… it’s time to change.

Every single one of us have things in our lives, that in order to grow and progress forward in who God has called us to be have to change things.

Growth cant happen without change.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Made new and becoming new.

Universal Law of Decay. 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Basically says that anything left to its own eventually decays and falls apart.

What is hot, without intervention, will grow cold.

Change is continual and natural with or without our effort.

Positive change happens on purpose.

Without intentionality, things don’t just get better.

This isn’t just nature, but our lives on every level.

Our relationships, our finances, our knowledge, skillset, leadership potential, faith.

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU NEED TO CHANGE?

examine ourselves

There is probably something that you have made excuses for too many times.

We all need to change.

YOU CAN CHANGE

Maybe think, Ive tried before.

It’s just the way I am.

You can change.

But most people don’t.

Often were too comfortable to change.

Too stubborn.

Too afraid

Too trapped

Too hurt...

So we stay in the same condition. same place.

Never really going and growing.

because you can grow or change, but not both.

Real change requires 2 things.

1)URGENCY

We resist change when we don’t see the need to make it.

Most of us in the the daily don’t see the urgency/need to change.

i’m just fine. It’ll work out.

You need to create urgency.

Play the movie forward.

I’m bad about tense spots in movies, I like to fast forward to see what happens and then go back...

Play forward the way your life is right now.

Your finances, habits, relationships, most importantly your faith

Our brains will do anything to keep us from any type of pain. And change can be painful.

change can look more painful than staying the same. Unless you fast forward.

What will like look like if things don’t change?

Do you remember motorola? I loved my razor flip cell phone.

In the mid-nineties they decided to not change.

They had the opportunity to go to 3g technology and they refused.

And At&t asked them to make a digital phone.

What will it look like if I do change?

What are the future benefits.

Create urgency, because it is urgent even if we don’t feel it right now.

2) PATIENCE

Real change requires patience

Real change isn’t a destination, it’s a process.

It requires patience.

We will never fully “get there”

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

never see results fast enough and think it’s not making a difference.

How do we see lasting change in us?

The Church in Ephesus had been acting in easy that didn't reflect that of Christ and Paul writes this as instruction.

Ephesians 4:20–24 (NLT)

But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

1. Start Right

Real lasting life change doesn’t start with habits, good vibes, right thoughts, or resolutions.

Real change beings Jesus.

Jesus what do you want in and for my life?

He transforms us from the inside out.

doesn’t just make us better but makes us different.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Word for transformed is the same as metamorphosis. He creates his in us as we set our eyes on him.

Too often Jesus become part of the change but not our source of change.

It’s all about him. Only he can truly change us.

It’s all from and for him.

Has Jesus just been a supplement instead of the substance of your life?

2. Let Go

Throw off your sinful nature and former ways

To honestly see change, there may be some things you need to stop.

Are there some things you need to confront, let go us and give to Jesus that you know are keeping you from becoming the person Christ is calling you to.

Fast forward, this thing is destructive.

Habits, hurt, sin.

It’s carried into too many seasons of your life.

You can’t change what happened before, but you can change what happens next.

3. Grab Hold

Put on your new nature

We have a part in the process.

What are the things we need to stop making excuses about and start now?

How many things do we keep saying, I’ve been meaning to do that...

Fast Forward, Create Goals, Create actions steps.

I want to be more loving, forgiving, kind, Christ like.

Everyday I create time to spend with God.

I want to be in better shape.

What do you need to do every day?

tomorrow is created by what I take hold of and do today.

What are we putting on everyday? Is it time to change?

What are some things you need to begin?

People live and die with great intentions, let’s turn that into actions.

I will pray not just talk about it, I will create a plan for the bible not just think about it, I will eat healthier, get into counseling, speak encouraging words…etc

start today.

CONCLUSION

Change is hard.

Especially when is the change we really need, inside of me.

Let’s reflect, examine and say God, begin with me.

God begin in me.

Change begins in me

we can make excuses or changes, not both.