Today, I want to start with a section from the book, Waking the Dead. 

Oh, I’d love to wake each morning knowing exactly who I am and where God is taking me.  Zeroed in on all my relationships, undaunted in my calling. It’s awesome when I do see.  But for most of us, life seems more like driving along with a dirty windshield and then turning into the sun.  I can sort of make out the shapes ahead, and I think the light is green… After a while, the accumulation of event after event that we do not like and do not understand erodes our confidence that we are part of something grand and good, and reduces us to a survivalist mindset.  - John Eldredge 

What has been your life experience?   What have you concluded about your life and why it’s filled with so many challenges?  Have there been an accumulation of events that you don’t like or understand in your life?  Do you believe that you are a part of something grand and good when you give your life to Jesus?  Have you been reduced to a survivalist mindset?   

Most people come to one of two conclusions.  Some believe that I am blowing it somehow.  Life is hard because I didn’t pray hard enough.  I could have had more courage.  I should have made better decisions.  Somehow, I am a failure, that’s why life is hard.

Others conclude that if God is all-powerful, He is holding out on us.  If He is all-powerful, God could have [fill in the blank].  God could have healed me or my loved one.  God could have answered my prayers when and how I wanted.   God could have protected me from hurt or trauma.  But He didn’t, so that’s why life is so hard.  What have you concluded about life?    

I want to share what Jesus told us.

John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life - life in all its fullness. GNT

Jesus told us we are in a war.  You have an enemy, and he is coming to steal, kill, and destroy you.  But Jesus reassures us, I came so you can have life.  

Paul talked about the spiritual war we were born into. 

Ephesians 6:12-13 This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. MSG

We are in a war.  A spiritual battle.  This means you didn’t blow it.  You didn’t come up short.  You didn’t fail.  You have an enemy who is at work against you.  It means that God isn’t holding out on you.  God sent Jesus to offer us life.  Here is what I want you to see today.  The offer from Jesus is life, but you will need to fight for it.  

Let’s stop right there and talk about this.  Did you know that?  When you grew up, did the church or your parents tell you that?  Chances are that you learned about sin.  You learned about Jesus, the crucifixion, and resurrection.   You learned about the forgiveness of your sin.  But did you learn that you need to fight for life, real life with Jesus?  Did you hear that you have an enemy trying to take you out.   You probably did not hear that you need to cling to a relationship with Jesus for life and joy.  You probably did not hear what the battle is all about.  I want to read it for you.

Psalms 8:4-5 What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. NLT

It’s true.  You were created with God’s glory and honor in you.   That’s what your enemy is after.   And that is what Jesus came to restore in you.  Do you see it?  Do you see that battle?  Do you see what is at risk?

Now think about that.   This means you didn’t blow it!   You didn’t come up short!  You didn’t fail!  You are in a battle you didn’t even know about.  God didn’t hold out on you!  God sent Jesus to give us life!  The reason life is hard, and you doubt who you are, is because God’s glory in you has been the object of a long and brutal war.  Let that sink in for a second.

What does the battle look like?  It doesn’t look like the Civil War.  It doesn’t look like WWII.  It doesn’t look like the computer games we played.  It isn’t like Missile Command.  It’s not like Call of Duty.  It’s so quiet, it’s so small, it’s so slow, we don’t even see it.  Your enemy comes and drops lies for you to believe.   And if we believe those lies, he can steal everything Jesus has done for us.  The result is that, instead of seeing that we were created with God’s glory and honor, we live life with a spiritual limp, thinking we just aren’t good enough.   It’s heartbreaking.  We can be Christians who sing worship songs, we can read our Bibles, we hear about God’s power in our lives, and we walk with a spiritual limp, believing we aren’t good enough.  How is that possible?  We believed a lie.

Here are some of the lies we talked about.

The lie from regret and guilt sounds something like this, “Look at what you did in the past; you blew it, you don’t deserve God’s grace until you prove to God how sorry you are.  Now you have to live out God’s plan B for your life.”

The lie from people pleasing sounds something like this: “You need the approval of others, so make sure you keep everyone happy, even if it damages yourself and your relationship with God.”

The lie of self-doubt sounds something like this: “Look at what happened to you before, it’s going to happen again, so it’s better for you to not even try.”

The lie of entitlement sounds something like this: “Don’t admit your hurts or weaknesses, you don’t need anyone, not people, and not God.  You owe them nothing; they owe you.”

The lie of feeling unlovable sounds something like this: “God loves me if I am good.   That means God’s love is dependent on me, so I must earn God’s love.”

Do you know anyone who has believed these lies?  And have you seen the damage these lies have done in their lives?  How about you?  Have you believed any of these lies?  Do you clearly see that you have been created with God’s glory and honor?

I’ve battled my own lies over the past 25 years at MRC.  These thoughts have been consistent and repetitive.  Before I share those thoughts, I need to give you context.   When we had a chance to start and build a new church, we decided to create a church that was passionate, relentless, and unapologetic about reaching people far from God.  We wanted to be the place for our family and friends to discover God’s grace.  My challenge for the launch team was that we needed to have strong personal relationships with Jesus through the week so that we could focus on others on Sunday morning.  I told them, church isn’t about us, it’s about people far from God.  I was so excited,  I was giddy with passion, I could have run through a brick wall.  I thought, ‘People are going to love this place.   It’s going to be awesome.’  Do you know what I discovered in 25 years?  When we invited people into a personal relationship with Jesus, many walked away.  I was stunned.  It wrecked me.  That’s when the thoughts came.

They sound like this, “You suck.  You are a huge disappointment.  Nobody cares about what you say.  You should quit.  This place would be so much better and bigger if it weren’t for you, your leadership, and how you talk.”  Those thoughts have tormented me for 25 years.  What made those thoughts worse was that those thoughts really hit hard when something bad happened.  These thoughts weren’t based on something invisible.  They were based on real things that happened.  Someone I thought was a friend leaves MRC, and those thoughts hit hard.  Giving is down MRC, and those thoughts hit hard.  I spend time with a couple to help them fall back in love.  Instead, they get a divorce, and those thoughts hit hard.   So, I lived believing, somehow, I had failed, and I walked in that.  And nothing I ever do is good enough.  Remember, I said most people conclude that it’s either their fault or God is holding out on us?  I went down the road of, it’s me, I failed.

Does that sound like a fun way to live?  It’s not.   It’s horrible.  Can you connect with that?  Have you experienced thoughts and lies that are so intense, so loud, so real, that it seems easier to give in to them?  It feels stupid not to believe them.  Sometimes it just seems easier to believe the lie and check out.  What is going on?  We are in a spiritual battle.  …a life-or-death fight to the finish…  And in the past, honestly, I didn’t win all those battles.  I walked through many weeks dazed and confused.  Now, get this, after singing the songs and reading scripture, I walked with a spiritual limp.  I lived with the lie, ‘I’m not good enough, nothing I do is enough.’  And those lies stole my courage.

What do we do?  How do we fight through these lies and live in freedom?  Let’s read the scripture Sam gave us in week one.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. NIV

The Christian faith isn’t a playground; it’s a battleground for your mind.  

What you think about on repeat about yourself is what you will believe about yourself, and it’s what you live out.  This makes what you allow into your mind super important.

Proverbs 4:23 Be very careful to keep your mind safe. The thoughts that you think make you the person that you are. Easy English Bible

How are we transformed into a new person?  We take captive every thought.  Remember the study Sam gave us?  We all have 60,000 thoughts a day.  40,000 of them are negative.  20,000 of those are repeated daily.  The day we are transformed is the day we understand this and do something about it.   Remember, the offer from Jesus is life, but you must fight for it.  The reason many Christians are ineffective in life, why many don’t enjoy life, why many fail in life and relationships, they don’t want to intentionally renew their mind.   They are comfortable allowing their feelings and assumptions to take over, leading them to very wrong thoughts.   They allow lies to stay in their minds.   They aren’t aggressive in placing God’s truth into their minds.  They treat Christianity like it’s a playground, not a battlefield.  Instead of being intentional, they are unintentional, and they are taken out.  They walk with a spiritual limp.  They believe they aren’t good enough.  They lose all courage.  And I want to add, these can be people who sing the songs and see the scriptures at church, like me.

Remember, I shared with you that these thoughts can be so real, so intense, that it just seems easier to believe the lie and check out.  But we can’t be lazy and check out.  We stay in a relationship with Jesus.  We get really close to friends with whom we can talk and pray.  We take every thought captive.  If we don’t, we may lose the spiritual battle.  This is really important because no one can change your thoughts.  Only you can change your thoughts.  Other people can’t.  Satan can’t.   God doesn’t.  We must feed ourselves with truth.  Just like good nutrition for a healthy body, truth is needed for a healthy mind.

And I must remind you, the people you love are in the same spiritual battle.  It’s so quiet, it’s so small, it’s so slow, they won’t even see it.   You must see this. Your wife, your husband, your kids, those around you right now, are in this spiritual war.   And the best thing you can do is go out of your way and let them know how much you love them.  Let them know how special they are.    

1 Thessalonians 5:15 Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out. MSG

So today we stop to focus on Jesus.  We focus on what He has done.  Today we need to take captive of our thoughts.  We need to take the lies that are on repeat and demolish them.  Give them to Jesus and remind ourselves what God has said about us.

Let’s quickly recap.   You were created with God’s glory and honor.  And that is the object of this war.  Your enemy is working at taking you out.  Jesus is working on restoring you.  That is why life is hard.  It’s not because you failed, and it’s not because God is holding out on you.  It’s because you were born into a spiritual war.   And for you to experience the life Jesus promised, you will have to fight for it.  How?  It starts with taking every thought captive.

Today, we want to end with communion.  In communion, we remember the price Jesus paid for our freedom.  We think about and embrace what God did by sending Jesus.  

Galatians 3:12 The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him.  MSG

So today, stop and embrace what God has done for us.  Fully embrace that Jesus has come to restore God’s glory and honor in you.  I want you to take the thoughts and lies that are on repeat, take them captive, and demolish them as you embrace what God has done for you.