Well, uh, so I'm Cherish Knudson and from Ely, way up north.
And I've known, um, Pastor Mary for, I don't know, a year?
Has it been almost a year, not quite?
So not a terribly long time, but, um, it's an honor.
It's an honor to know her.
And I haven't even met Vern yet, right, Vern?
Is that his name?
I haven't even met him yet.
I want to make sure I got his name right.
Um...
Like, two weeks or something like that.
And so we've had Mary to our church once.
So I passed her Oasis International in right next to the Canadian border.
Uh, I mean, right next to it.
You can literally drive a couple miles and you're there.
Um, so we're right in the woods and it's hard spiritual territory, but I love it.
Um, there's a lot of physical rock.
So it's lead rock and I think it's beautiful as that is.
I think it kind of is the spirit realm too.
It's a lot of hard rock to bust through.
But my parents, um, started the church that I'm now pastoring.
And, uh, then they turned it over to me in 2008.
And they went and bought a fishing camp in Canada.
And I was single and 30.
I had just turned 30.
Uh, I didn't get married till I was 37.
So, um, yeah, I had been traveling and ministering for years already at that point.
I was the primary worship leader.
I did teaching in the church.
So it wasn't foreign to me to minister when they turned it over to me.
But, um, it was a lot of years of, uh, God working, but really learning a lot.
And so then I got married in, um, 2015.
And so Patrick and I have two children, uh, Judah Benjamin,
who is, uh, eight and a half and, uh, lots of energy and work and effort.
But he is very gifted.
He's learning the drums and, um, he's got a lot in him.
Business and music.
Uh, he loves to work.
If you ask him, Judah, what's your favorite thing?
He'll say work.
Uh, he literally knows, since he was three years old,
he could drive an excavator and a skid steer and all kinds of stuff.
So he, my husband does hardscape in, in construction and things.
We have several businesses.
We just bought a resort.
Um, we have a rental.
We have, we have many things going on.
And I used to do the books and I've been, uh, released of that mostly by a new admin.
So that, because I homeschool our kids and then run the church and do a bit of traveling ministry and then the business.
So I'm never bored, similar to, to Mary.
There's always a million things to do, um, from morning till night.
And you still don't have enough time, but, uh, but God is doing great things, uh, at our church.
We bought our own, we used to rent and so we bought our own building in, um, 21 and paid it off in three years.
And it was a miracle because, you know, we're smaller than you guys were about, I don't know, between 80 and 90 people.
And, um, we have a lot of, uh, new believers coming in.
Um, yeah, which is awesome.
We, uh, you know, church growth is an interesting thing.
You know, you're plowing ground and, um, there's times where it's going great and you're like, wow, we're growing and God's moving.
And then there's other times where it's like, you know, it's harder and people leave and some stay and ups and downs.
So I've been through all that, like all churches do to a point.
But, um, we have, since we got our own building, I knew that was going to be a big shift and we've been steadily growing since then.
So we're, uh, you know, one of the larger churches in Ely now, but we're looking to build a second story on our building now that it's paid off.
Um, and so I like the idea of what Mary was telling me about going in debt free.
Uh, we'll see, excuse me, we'll see what God, you know, what his plan is for us.
We already have the architect designs and everything ready for the second story, but it's a matter of timing for finances.
So we're believing God for that.
But, um, yeah, we've got, you know, the people coming out of meth and, um, my goodness, people coming out of a Methodist church.
We have a whole family that just one by one, they all started coming.
The son-in-law and then the grandkids and then the grandmas and, and they all left the Methodist church.
And so it's interesting.
We got the meth family that just their row gets bigger because they keep bringing in more.
The ones just out of prison and the ones that, you know, all the unchurched, which is fun.
And then we've got the ones coming out of religion that fill up this row over here.
And it's, it's fun to see.
And then everything in between, of course, um, just what God is doing.
We really do a lot of deliverance and I do a lot of mentoring and, um, that kind of a thing.
So, uh, very busy and just trying to train up people to do what I do.
Um, disciple, you can't do it all.
So I never wanted to do it all, but, um, but, you know, when you're plowing territory, you do a lot.
Uh, in the beginning until you can get things under foot.
So I've been mentoring some people for years and they're the ones teaching the youth group now.
And they're the ones doing the children's ministry.
And they're the ones, you know, training people for counseling and deliverance stuff that shadow me all the time.
And so, um, it's growing, it's strengthening and it's very exciting.
We have our youth band, we have a youth band now that's new, which my son is the drummer, of course.
And, um, yeah, so it's awesome.
We have a drummer, a bass player, guitar player and a couple of singers.
And so they're just starting out. It's really fun.
Anyway, that's a little bit about me.
So, um, the topic today is consecration.
And I was, I was telling Mary that, um, my goodness, I feel, has anyone heard of Graham Cook?
Yeah, I used to follow him.
Pastor Jennifer and I have known each, you guys know Pastor Jennifer.
Yeah, so her and I have been close friends.
Oh my goodness.
For a long time.
Uh, decades.
Um, since we were very young, we found a picture the other day, we're like, oh, look how young we are.
We'd, we'd feel young still.
But anyway, her and I used to always listen to Graham Cook way back in the day.
He mentored us through his teachings and things. We went to his conferences.
And, uh, Graham Cook has this saying that I've been in ministry since Noah was a boy.
And just funny, um, it's, I'm, I'm getting close to 50.
I'm a little bit, uh, almost to 50.
And I can't believe that.
You know, I think I've been, I've been ministering since I was a teenager.
And so I was telling her over a lot of her brunch that I just, for some reason on this trip down here,
I've been reminiscing about my life so far in God.
And consecration is a big part of that to me because I have this reputation,
uh, at least in Ely and for those who've known me for a long time.
Since I was a teenager and my husband says it now too, um,
that I have this reputation of having really given myself to the Lord
and not having gone the normal way of a lot of people.
And at least in our region.
I think you, I can feel when I drive in to your guys' region
that the atmosphere feels very different than when you come into our region.
It's, so it just, it feels a little lighter here.
Um, so I'm used to just constantly pressing and, and, um,
always seeking God about how do we break through
and how do we get the lights to turn on in people's hearts and all of that.
It's just a, um, a constant press.
And, and I realize every area has different spiritual things that we deal with.
But I'm just used to the atmosphere that I live in and what, um, I want to see God do.
But I think about all the, the process that God takes us through
and this reputation that people say, oh, cherish. Yeah.
She's, she's always lived for God.
She's always done it God's way.
And I mean, that's not entirely true, but that's how people see me.
Uh, because like so many, I have had times where I've been mad at God,
uh, that people didn't know about.
I've had times where I've struggled to have faith and to trust God
for healing that wasn't coming and wasn't coming and wasn't coming.
Um, I believed for a husband for a long time.
I wanted to be married and, uh, had many opportunities to be married,
but not to the right one and waited for God's best.
And, um, so just looking at the faithfulness of God and the power of consecration
that we continue to see more clearly as we seek Him.
We continue getting mad at God is so not even a thing on my radar,
but I mean, I've been there and done that.
Um, because when you change in your understanding,
you should change in your outlook and you should change in your lifestyle.
It should be a domino effect, um, where things that you used to think you don't think anymore
and ways that you used to speak, you don't speak anymore.
And so consecration is an ongoing process. Amen.
It is an ongoing process. It's not one and done.
You stick yourself in the spiritual microwave and you come out consecrated.
You know, it's the, that you, in our, in, in human nature,
we so prefer the microwave version of everything.
If I could believe for healing, boom, there it is.
If I could, you know, believe the mountain would move, boom, there it moves.
I mean, we would be probably a bunch of spoiled brats and we'd have no spiritual muscles.
Um, it takes a process.
You know, the Bible, we're going to get into, we'll see which scriptures we go to.
I have quite a few, but um, the Bible is full, right?
Of so many scriptures about trials, about what our perspective is supposed to be in the trial
and recently there's someone in ministry that is close to me
that I have watched go through some really intense trials.
And it's, you know, we've all gone through different trials,
but this, there's been a lot for this particular person.
And it's made me ponder even things in myself to say, wow, God,
no matter what we know in God, we don't always live out all that we know.
The trial exposes our weakness. It always does.
So we think, oh, I've got this and this and this going on,
but nobody has it all set in stone, you know?
So again, reminiscing as I did on the way down,
I'm thinking about where I was, where I've been and where I am now
and where I can feel God is shifting things and taking me again.
And so now I'm, I'm ministering and have been more with people
that I used to just only sit under their ministry for the most part, you know?
And so there's this shift of mentality.
And so when you start rubbing shoulders more with leaders,
you hear more about what they're going through and what they're learning.
And I've been in that season for a while,
but I keep, I don't know how to describe it,
but it feels new to me right now all over again.
And so as we, we can look up to ministers,
but we always have to realize that, wow, we're all in this process.
We're all in the refiner fire.
We're all going from glory to glory.
And until we get to heaven, we're not fully going to be in the glory.
But there are people that I definitely admire,
that I think that more of us have the opportunity,
well, we all have the opportunity to be like people like Dan Moeller.
Anyone know Dan Moeller?
Yeah, so he came and stayed at our house a couple of years ago.
We had him for like three days. It was awesome.
I'll never forget it.
But he's been one that continually speaks into my life,
not one-on-one anymore, you know,
but there was a time where I was with him physically when he came to minister.
But there's certain people like that that I go, wow,
they have mastered something that we all can
in mindset, in lifestyle,
but I see a lot of the church, we don't.
Many of us, as many leaders I know and others,
we're moving in this direction to be like Christ, right?
Jesus is the consecrated one.
And we'll read scriptures about that.
He was the one that was set apart in his lifestyle on earth
in a way that no one before him quite like that had ever done,
and no one probably since exactly like that.
He was perfect, he was sinless,
and yet he said, follow me in my example.
And so when I think of certain people that I admire,
and including Dan Muller,
who I is probably one of the most,
if not the person on earth that I admire the most spiritually right now,
that's just me personally,
because I see in him something that is so solid
in every category of his life,
that God is so present and he has been so consecrated
in the fullest extent of what I see in scripture.
And I go, wow, God, that is the example that we can all follow.
And you know, he travels to a different church
every weekend, just about.
And he's busier than he's ever been doing that.
And so he sees a lot of the body of Christ continually.
Different denominations probably in lots of different states.
And what he continues to say is what he sees in the church.
And he comes to encourage people, he comes to challenge people.
But he says, what I see a lot of is,
we're living here as a body of Christ,
and we're called to live here.
And so we have to continually watch our mindset
to get from here to here.
What's possible to live and to follow after the life of Christ.
And I know in my own life, how many have been going through
a certain thing, you're trying to master a certain truth
and it feels like it's been years.
You're like, I mean, okay, say that it's faith.
I've been on the journey of faith for eight years, right?
Maybe it's because you need healing
or maybe it's because of someone you know needs healing
or maybe it's because it's not about healing,
it's about faith and some other thing, an expectation.
And so you feel like you're working on something for so long
and you feel like God's going through the layers
of all your unbelief and the layers of all of your perceptions
and shifting it and changing it and it just takes time sometimes.
And it's like, God, why does this have to take so long?
But I don't know that it always,
some things I do believe just take time.
They just do.
And other times, I think that we slow it down
maybe unintentionally
because of distraction, because of believing little lies,
little foxes that come in to destroy the vine.
And so there's different things that we do.
I think I know myself that I've done things to slow things down,
wanting this but just not getting my act together
in order to really allow God to speed things up
if that's possible in certain areas.
And so our goal though is
if I didn't see it before, I want to see it starting right now.
If I've been missing something before,
I don't want to miss it starting from this point on.
And that's always my mindset.
And so let's look at a couple of scriptures here.
Let's start in Ephesians.
Ephesians, oh yeah, I'm going to do one verse three
and I'm going to speed up a couple verses
and then jump down and highlight one further down.
Okay, so Ephesians one and I have the amplified version.
So if it gets a little wordy, maybe just want to listen
but at least you know where I'm reading.
May blessing be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
Even as in his love he chose us,
he actually picked us out for himself as his own
in Christ before the foundation of the world
that we should be holy, consecrated, and set apart for him
and blameless in his sight, even above reproach
before him in love, for he foreordained us
and planned in love for us to be adopted
as his own children through Jesus Christ
in accordance with the purpose of his will.
That we might be to the praise and the commendation
of his glorious grace which he so freely bestowed on us
in the beloved. I love that.
So I don't know what your version of the Bible says there
in verse 3, but it says that we should be holy,
consecrated, and set apart for him.
And that's what consecrated means is to be set apart
to make sacred something, to set something
aside for a higher spiritual purpose.
And he told us to be holy and he set us aside
for his glory. Now, I have been a Christian
since I was four years old.
I grew up in a Christian family. I remember being
four years old. We lived on a lake.
I remember four years old standing on the dock
talking to God. And I remember him talking to me.
I heard him as clear as day.
I went to a Baptist church at the time,
even though my parents were very Holy Spirit-filled.
It was just the only decent church nearby.
You have less selection when you're in northern Minnesota
of churches to go to and we were in the Cook area.
Anyway, so we went to a Baptist church.
I heard the salvation message. I understood it,
but I was standing on the dock.
I remember just loving on God, thinking about
what Jesus had done, similar to what we just read here,
that Jesus picked me. He chose me.
He set me apart for his glory.
And I remember just thinking about this
in a four-year-old mind and understanding it
and being in awe of it.
And I remember starting to cry
as I just felt his love wash over me.
And so I remember even leaving church one day
and I think they'd shared the salvation message
in an even more explicit way.
And I remember my dad carrying me.
I remember hanging over his shoulder
as he's carrying me out of church.
So I was little enough for him to do that still.
Him carrying me out of church
and I'm crying and crying and crying
because I'm thinking about what Christ has done.
So being so aware
of God's choosing of me and his eye on me
from a very, very young age,
but that he set me apart for his glory.
So even though I started out that way,
I grew up in church.
We went to lots of different churches.
We moved around a lot when I was young
until we finally landed in Ely
and then we stayed put.
Finally, I was about the age of 12 then.
But I had already experienced a lot of church life
and in church you discover a lot of sincere people.
But people who I started,
even as I got into my teenage years
and I went to Bible school and all this,
you hear things and you learn things the wrong way.
Because it's the religious version,
it's not the life-giving version.
And there were so many things that I picked up
that diluted just that clean, fresh passion,
that consecration.
And so we all grow up in life, obviously,
with different experiences,
some harder than others and all of that.
But these things influence us in a way
where even if you start out at a young age
as a true believer,
you can start to catch this wave,
this religious wave that's in a lot of churches
of I'm saved so that God can help me.
It's kind of an unspoken, it's spoken,
but it's subtle in how it's released
and how it's preached.
So that people come to God because they're in need.
I mean, I'm sure you have seen it in your church.
I know I've seen it in mine.
People come in crisis to church.
They know where to go when they're in crisis.
And they're like, my marriage is about to fall apart.
I just broke my arm.
You know, I need God to heal.
I need God to restore.
They come.
I pray over them.
They've gotten healed.
They get their marriage restored.
They get deliverance.
God gives me words of knowledge.
They get ministered to.
They come a couple of Sundays and then they're gone.
And so this human nature thing, right,
that people that God is here for me,
but I'm not really consecrated to him.
I'm just looking for him to help me,
because I know that he's a loving God,
because I know that he's a powerful God
and he can do things for me that I need.
And it's not that people mean,
I don't think, always to be insincere,
to be flippant about God.
But I think that, you know,
even when you say to someone,
so how are you doing today?
And they say, oh, they go right away
most of the time to their circumstances.
Well, let's see, how am I doing?
Well, my dog just died.
And I'm not feeling that well.
I've had a digestive thing going on.
And our finances are kind of tight this week, whatever.
And a lot of people tend to speak out of their experience.
And this is how I'm doing.
So then the need for prayer
or the need for counsel or whatever
comes out of that need.
So I need the church maybe to help my financially.
I need someone to pray over me for healing.
My heart's a little discouraged about my dog.
You know, whatever it is.
And God cares about all those things.
Obviously we know that.
If he knows when the sparrow falls,
he cares about it all.
But the thing about consecration
is it's a mindset that is radically different
than what we can go around
and experience in any number of churches.
It's a mindset that is,
I am set apart, I belong to him.
Let's turn to 2nd Corinthians,
chapter 5,
and verse 18.
But all things are from God,
who through Jesus Christ
reconciled us to himself,
received us into favor,
brought us into harmony with himself
and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation
that by word and deed
we might aim to bring others
into harmony with him.
It was God
present in Christ,
reconciling and restoring the world
to favor with himself,
not counting up and holding against men
their trespasses,
but canceling them and committing to us
the message of reconciliation
or restoration to favor.
So it was God present in Christ
bringing us back to him.
It wasn't, I mean God was rescuing us
from our sin, yes,
but the whole thing was
him rescuing us to bring us back to him,
into relationship with him,
to be consecrated back to him,
to belong again to him
and no longer to ourselves.
Because we were belonging to ourselves
in our sin.
We were lost,
as soon as Adam and Eve ate of the tree,
who did they think about, themselves?
The God of self
was what Lucifer became.
Then he tempted Adam and Eve
into the same deception
where self is on the throne.
Self is the focus.
So Adam and Eve,
because Adam right away,
he's blaming Eve, you know,
and right away everyone's pointing the finger
at someone else because all of a sudden
everyone's in self-preservation.
Something that Brand knew that they had never
felt before, that they had never
thought about before, but they'd just
eaten of that fruit that opened up their mind
to another God.
And the God was self.
And so,
what I see that we have to watch
in Christendom
is that
we, yes, we're those here
that have chosen Jesus Christ today.
I believe he's my Lord and Savior.
We understand the basics
of salvation and we've come
to that place of understanding very clearly,
but what I believe we always have to watch
out for is that deception
that Lucifer, that Satan
brought in even to Adam and Eve, that it
doesn't come into us in our current
salvation experience.
That that selfishness
that was so obvious at the
fall of man,
that that doesn't seep in
to my current relationship with God.
So that I don't
somehow slowly slip into
a selfish mentality
that's really about me on the throne instead of
him in a deceptive way,
because how many...
I mean, we all know Satan's deceptive.
His devices are deceit
and trickery. He's an evil genius,
the Bible says. So it says
be on watch because he's always
going around looking. We know this.
So it's constantly
taking like a monitor
of myself and saying, God,
am I living consecrated
or am I still getting into
focus of me
when the whole
picture of God's saving
us was from ourself.
That's water baptism, right? You're dead.
You're dead. You're in
everything about you
preserving yourself, caring for yourself.
I don't mean self-care. Yes, take
a shower and feed yourself and those kind of things.
Don't neglect those things. I'm talking about
the soulish things,
the things in our mind, our will and our emotion
that she looked at me wrong
and what do you mean
by that and all the different
attitudes and the self-care
that's unhealthy that can
seep in. There's so many scriptures
in the New Testament about how we're to
give out and love each other and forgive each other
and that doesn't always
happen well in the church. My goodness, we have
one church in Ely that
I think they've had church split
four or five times. I've lost track
and they were the largest church
probably most of those times
and then they would split because of
animosity in the ranks
and they just went through another bad one.
It might have been the worst ever. I don't know
but
you look, how does this happen? It can only
happen. I mean there's a few
reasons it can happen. I think there's a
literal demonic thing over
that church that needs to be broken that
no matter what leadership is there, elders
are in place that they just keep going in this cycle
so it's spiritual and it keeps
finding people to land on. That's the problem.
Is there still new
people to land on even when
the leadership is shifting over the
decades? And so
I realize that that's a thing
there too but it's like, well what's
we should all be dead
to ourselves. We should all be about Christ.
So this unity and everything that we're
supposed to be able to function in
to see heaven come to earth
Satan is looking to
wreck that. He's looking to throw
a wrench into that so that God
can't be glorified because that's
the whole reason we need to die is so that
God can be glorified. So that he comes
and lives on the inside of us
so that like Jesus said
my words are his words, my actions
are his actions.
And that level of consecration
I don't know about you but
where I travel a lot it's hard to find.
It's hard to find people
we have many in our church but
it's not common to
talk to Christians
that understand true consecration
and truly
are laying their lives down in a
sacrificial way.
So God was
in Christ, we just read here
to bring us back to himself
to take us away
from the detour, from the path
that we had been on to bring us back
to that fellowship with him where now
we are put into Christ
the life we have
is now in Christ.
Alright let's turn to
the main one I want to get to here
which is 1 Peter chapter 4.
This is so good.
1 Peter 4 1
So since
Christ suffered in the flesh
for us
arm yourselves with the same
thought and purpose
to suffer rather than fail to please
God. For whoever
has suffered in the flesh having the
mind of Christ, so you've suffered with
having the correct mind of Christ
is done with sin
has stopped pleasing himself
in the world and pleases God
for that he can
sorry so that he can no longer
spend the rest of his natural
life living
by his human appetites and desires
but he lives for what God
wills.
So good. I know that's kind of
simplified. But this is awesome.
So when we talk about suffering
it's saying here that
we need to, like Christ
he suffered it says arm
yourselves.
Arm yourselves. So this is about
now you know if you go into
battle and you're not armed
that's going to be bad.
You're probably going to die very quickly
right? You go in without
armor, you go without a shield, you go without a weapon
you're probably going to
your end is coming very quickly.
So I love this. Arm yourselves.
So this is about protection.
This is about
our good. This is about us lasting
for the distance.
To arm ourselves with what?
The same thought and purpose
that Jesus had.
Patiently
to suffer rather than to
fail to please God. Now the hardest
thing I think for our human flesh
the part where we come so alive when we're
not supposed to be so alive is in
suffering.
Now we know the story of many
Coryton boom and I mean many many
many who have suffered well
suffered very well
but this is
I'm always aiming for oh lord I don't
see enough of this in myself or
the church at large so we need to keep hearing this
word. Most of us really need to keep hearing this
word. To suffer well
is to have
the mindset I'm protected
when I'm not about me
complaining
is the opposite of faith
it's the opposite of trusting God
and you know I
have dealt with me and my family
for the last I don't know it's been
seven or eight years or so
some physical issues
not as bad as most
not as bad as many but just a long duration
where we got exposed to something
in our bodies and it's just caused
lots of money and lots of
We have inconvenience and just yuck.
Anyway, I'd sum it up as yuck.
And so, me having a mother's heart for my children and seeing them go through these things,
it's like, Collie, this is so dumb, you know.
But we're in the world where there's contaminants and there's things,
and our bodies get exposed to things.
Now, I've suffered many things before, you know,
and been healed, pressed in for healing, seen healing happen.
I know Mary shared about how she was healed of cancer when she was at our church.
Awesome. I've been healed of things the doctor said,
no, that'll never go away. And it did.
You know, I prophesied to it and it would go.
I've seen healing. I've prayed over people. Many people have been healed.
But this has been a long, suffering, seven or eight-year thing.
And it has... I haven't...
I've suffered well at times and not so well at other times.
It's been very long.
And so, it's easy to complain when things go long.
It's easy to, at times, not feel trust in God.
Like, God, how much longer is this going to go?
And how much longer do I have to watch my kids go through this?
And how many more thousands of dollars is it going to take for us to just keep us up to par
and functioning and healthy and whatever?
You know, we got busy lives. We can't just stop for all this junk.
And so, lots of...
You know, I've learned to trust God in things,
but how many know there's always something new that comes
that maybe you went through the last trial well,
and you learned lots of things there,
but then this new trial is going to bring out some more stuff
that you need to throw to the garbage can spiritually
and some new mindsets that you need to get
in order to really become what this verse is saying.
Because arming ourselves with the thought and purpose,
so I don't want to complain.
I don't want to fail to please God.
For whoever has suffered in the flesh with the mind of Christ
is done with sin.
I love that. Whoever suffers well,
pleasing God the way that Jesus did,
it says that he was reviled and he didn't revile in return.
Right? He was betrayed, and yet when he came back
and after he died rose from the dead
and he walked through the wall and appeared
to where the disciples were, he was like,
peace be to you.
He could have been like,
Peter, I'm going to wring your neck first.
You know? He could have...
He was betrayed. He knew.
He said, you know, you're going to do it.
I've already prayed for you. He was already okay.
He was already unafended
before Peter had even done it
because he knew he was going to do it.
But all the disciples ran.
All of them were hiding in fear.
And Jesus, the first thing he does
when he appears is he says, peace to you.
So when we have this mind,
it says that if we suffer
and we're not complaining
and we're not going, God, where are you?
And God, why don't you hurry up?
And God, why is this happening to me?
Which is all about me.
It's all about me.
If we don't do that, then we're not sinning.
It says that the person who suffers well
has not sinning.
He's not pleasing himself or the world.
He's pleasing God.
He can no longer spend the rest of his natural...
This is verse 2.
He can no longer spend the rest of his natural life
living by his own human appetites and desires,
but he lives for what God wills.
This is my heart saying, God,
I don't want to complain.
I just want to know what is the truth.
How do you see this?
And I want to please you.
I want to please you.
I want to find out what does consecration
look like in my situation?
What does it look like with my mouth?
What does it look like?
Of course, we know out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
What's going on in my attitudes?
What do I need to sort out if there's lies
that have gotten in there about who God is?
Now, the subtle thing is as much as I,
in all the different years of me
walking with God and seeing God's faithfulness,
doing it right, doing it wrong,
all of that up to this present time
even when we know truth,
the enemy can sneak in in our soul
and get into areas that throw us off
so that we're not...
there's parts that aren't pleasing Him.
There's parts that are showing it's not consecrated yet.
All of this maybe is looking good.
All of this in this part of our life
and this part of our soul is good,
but now this part's getting worked on.
We know that God can delay things,
that God can allow, if you want to say it that way,
God can allow things and suffering
so that you get things worked out of you
that literally might not get worked out any other way.
They just might not
because human nature can be really stubborn sometimes.
And I'm gonna tell on my husband here for a minute
because he... and he's okay with it,
I know because he's shared this publicly at our church.
But, you know, he hasn't been saved as long as me.
And just, you know, hasn't had the longevity and things.
And so he's had to learn a few things in our marriage.
But his heart has always been radical and awesome for the Lord.
And that's why I married him.
His heart is humble and he's after the Lord.
Well, he had... there was an area that we...
we've never been really arguing or fighting in our marriage.
We've had a great marriage for the most part, pretty easy, I would say.
But there was this one thing that we...
if we fought, and you call it fighting, we fought on this.
And it was because he had an old mindset that came...
because he was wild before he gave his heart to the Lord.
I mean, wild.
So, you know, I told you from four, I was like in the church going,
I love you, Lord, in crime. Well, he was not that.
He was in the world living straight up for the devil
in every form and category that there was to experience.
And so he was in jail and he did it all.
I mean, try to... you know, it was opposite of me, okay?
So then he gets radically saved.
So an old mindset, it was a subtle one, right?
I mean, the obvious ones, he'd already gotten free from those a long time ago.
But this one subtle one, he was like,
no, I can do this. This is okay.
And I'm like, no, you can't. It's an open door for the devil.
And he's like, no. And he'd give me some medical,
scientific, whatever, whatever about, no, it's okay.
And I'm like, no, it's not.
So we had our intense fellowship about, about that.
And I'm like, don't, and I said, you promise me you won't.
Now he, I knew he didn't agree, but he promised me that he wouldn't.
Well, but then he did.
And I found out about it.
And I, and to make a long story short, we were on vacation in Florida.
And he, he broke my trust and he went and he got some.
And he took it and it had fentanyl in it.
And he had, he had no idea that that was a big problem in Florida.
I think it might still be. I mean, it was just, is it?
I know it's everywhere, but they had a lot of it.
This is a couple of years ago. They had big problems.
It was at a all time high or whatever in Florida.
He had no idea. I mean, we were in Northern Minnesota, you know, he,
but had fentanyl in it. Thankfully, my parents were with us on that vacation.
And he started acting weird and there were, and I, and our son saw it.
And I was like, what is going on?
And the ambulance came.
My dad's like, you need to call the ambulance.
And so they came and they took him.
And I was sitting, it was close.
There was an officer sitting in the waiting room with me guarding a lady.
And he saw Patrick there hooked up.
They were already flushing out his system or whatever with what they do for that.
And they, and I, they hadn't even told me what it was yet.
And the officer looked at him and he said, is that your husband?
I said, yeah, he said, that's fentanyl.
He said, you are so lucky he's alive.
He said, I have found so many dead people on the streets here.
And it's too late.
He's, and he asked a few questions and I answered.
He goes, yeah, he just about died.
You were probably half hour or so from him dying.
And I was like, what?
I mean, and Patrick couldn't move.
He's sitting there completely out of it hooked up to whatever they were pumping in him.
It took him a whole week to detox.
It was bizarre.
He could hardly, he couldn't function.
He could hardly walk, could hardly talk or do anything.
It was really intense.
Well, all of that was because he didn't listen to what I said about that open door.
Now, here's my point.
He had dealt with a generational thing prior to that and had been asking God for freedom.
And I think he's already said this to us.
I'll say it publicly.
He was anger from his, and he didn't, he just knew he had it.
He never, we never talked about where it came from or whatever.
So when after this near death experience, I mean, I was a little ticked at him because when I found out how he got it,
that he did it by breaking the promise to me that he would never go after this other thing.
And then he got fentanyl in it.
And then that's how he almost died.
I was, I was a little tick, but I was thankful he was alive.
And so when we got back home, of course, we, I'm like, Calvin, we got it.
We did some couple of counseling sessions with Calvin, which were great.
And after one of those sessions in my office, Patrick, all of a sudden,
because I'd always told him when I could tell that demon of anger and stuff was like, I'm not talking to my husband.
I'm talking to a spirit.
It's right there.
And he's like, no, you're not.
It's me.
I'm like, no.
He was asking for freedom, but because pride and resistance was still there in a blind spot,
the freedom wasn't able to come.
So how many know that sometimes we're stubborn?
And it takes some and my husband just because of his personality, you know,
just because of who he is.
He's strong.
He's gifted.
He's a runner.
And that's what God did so powerfully in him when he was newly saved is because his heart was just all in.
He got delivered of things so fast as soon as he was saved.
He heard the Holy Spirit talking to him.
It got filled with the spirit when he didn't even know what that was.
I mean, he just was accelerated in his learning.
And yet years into his journey, all of a sudden he hits a spot where he's like, no, I'm going to think this, you know.
And so God knew that just because of who he is and whatever it took.
I mean, obviously that he left the open door to the enemy.
The enemy did what he did.
God saved him.
But as we know, God uses things.
And so none of that was God's plan.
But God knew that's what it needed to happen because that is what broke everything.
It broke that mindset that was an open door that had to be shut.
And it delivered him of anger.
Because after one of those sessions with Calvin, he knelt down in front of me
and wrapped his arms around, put his head right here and just started crying.
He said, Cherish, help me.
And instantly I went into a vision.
The Lord showed me a number of different things that were keys to his freedom.
I had him repeat some things and it left in like two minutes.
And he's never been the same since.
He literally stood up and he shook himself like this.
And he goes, he's gone.
It's awesome, amen, to see freedom.
But this is how sometimes when I'm talking about in process of consecration,
sometimes things can happen easily with us.
It doesn't have to be hard, amen.
It doesn't have to be a near-death experience.
It doesn't have to be as digging our heels in.
But other times God knows what it takes for some people.
What it takes for the consecration to come in.
And he, my husband, has been a different man since then.
Since that freedom, his seeking of the Lord, his fear of the Lord.
His fear of the Lord, his awareness of how dangerous it is to allow mindsets
that can totally even take you out.
You know, it seems like a small thing.
He thought it, it wrecked him for months.
Like his mindset, it was embarrassing for him.
But then he did finally share it publicly, which was totally his choice.
And he was very vulnerable about it with our congregation.
They all know.
But it was humbling for him.
He's like, my goodness, how could I, why was I like that?
Why did I push it to that point?
That I almost made you a widow and left our children.
And you know, what a mess that would have been.
And so, but I have had my own times like that.
Where I'm like, God, why did I have to make that so long?
Why did that process have to take so long?
Why, what was it in my mind that just didn't want to shift?
I wanted it to, but it just didn't want to shift.
Now let's turn to, I want to get to something here, Philippians.
Philippians chapter two.
Oops.
Philippians two.
I've loved Philippians two for years.
It's, if I could find it now.
There we go.
Philippians two.
I want to start in verse five.
Let this same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you,
which was in Christ Jesus.
Let him be your example in humility.
Now the verses before this is all about, excuse me.
No, I'm missing.
Oh yeah, yeah, here we go.
I thought it was before it, but it's after the same attitude.
Okay, then it talks about in verse six,
who although being essentially one with God and in the form of God,
did not think that equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,
but stripped himself of all the privileges and rightful dignity.
So as to assume the guise of a servant and that he might become like men
and was born a human being.
And after he had appeared in human form,
he abased and humbled himself still further
and carried his obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore, because he stooped solo,
God has highly exalted him and has freely bestowed on him
the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus,
every knee must bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
Amen. And every tongue openly confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
So it says, have this mind in you.
Now the Bible says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Right? In the spirit of your mind.
Now we know God is a spirit. We're a spirit.
Isn't it interesting that it doesn't just say your mind,
it says the spirit of your mind.
So spirit to spirit.
That means the spirit is our eternal part.
But the spirit of our mind has to have something go so deep
that's of God that we're changed in that place.
And so be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
having a new mental and spiritual attitude serving the Lord.
So we need to come into this place of communion with him
where we take on the mind of Christ.
We take on his mindset. His humility is...
I just love it. I love reading...
This is, I think, one of my favorite sections of the Bible
where it says that he set aside...
I mean, this is God.
He set aside his royal dignity in all that came with that
to become a human. I mean, that was humble enough.
That was humble enough.
Then it says he humbled himself still further
to die and then not just die
as if dying would be enough in a human body
but to go to the cross to die.
And it says, let that mind be in you.
And then you see what I talked about earlier
about how we can be so living for ourselves while we're saved.
And then it's talking about, but let this mind be in you.
And so it's not a condemning thing like,
oh God, I can't do this.
It says that this is what we should aspire to
because if you can't ever become something you're not looking at.
Isn't it 2 Corinthians 2 or 3
where it says that we have to behold him
and that as we gaze at him
that we were transformed into his image
and the veils are taken away.
And that's repentance.
The veils are taken away with repentance.
So it's like, oh God, I don't want to see that way.
I want to see, I want to put on the mindset of Christ, the humility.
So I repent and go, God,
why am I thinking about how long this is taking?
Why am I thinking about, well, God,
what are you going to bring the manifestation of what I need?
Instead of those things to just put on this humble,
which is faith, faith is humility.
God, I'm putting on the mindset of Christ
that it's like, I'm here for your glory.
How about I just focus on that?
If I'm consecrated, I should be focused on
how can he get the glory through me right now
instead of how can I get my answer right now?
Because the, why do we go?
I'm not, please hear me.
I'm not saying you can't go for prayer.
But let's watch.
Sometimes why do we go for prayer?
Are we going for prayer because I'm so obsessed about my need?
I'm going for prayer because I'm so obsessed that I need freedom
or that I need this to shift or my spouse to get saved
or the finances to have a breakthrough.
Or am I saying how many people get in a prayer line?
I mean, and I don't mean to kind of chuckle when I say this,
but I mean, it's just, it's just kind of common.
For how, what if people got in a prayer line?
They'd probably shock the person who's there to pray
if they got in the prayer line,
because it just doesn't happen enough,
and say, hey, I got all this stuff going on,
but I just want you to pray that I can just be more like him
and shine in my trial.
Don't pray about my trial.
Just pray I can shine in my trial.
I'm sure people get in prayer lines to do that
because there's great hearted people, and maybe you're some of them.
That's awesome.
But a lot of times it's not that.
If anyone is ministered for longer than five minutes,
you just know it's not common, right?
A lot of the times, and again, God doesn't condemn us in that.
Please hear me. God doesn't condemn us in that.
But a lot of times we're looking for the prayer
because we're looking for the exit.
Instead of looking for him to be the answer in us.
And for him to consecrate,
because if I'm consecrated, then I'm all for his...
That's what consecrated means, is I'm set apart.
Regardless of how my life goes,
I'm set apart for his glory.
For a higher purpose.
Well, how does he get glory?
Not from my complaining.
Not from my, you know, the...
Like the Bible says, when you're fasting,
don't look like you're fasting.
We were talking about fasting.
Oh, God, I'm hungry. Is that a sandwich?
Oh, that looks so good.
You know, it says, wash your face.
And don't look like, you know, you need some attention
because I'm fasting.
Or for anything else that people do
to get spiritual attention.
So, again, if it's all about,
God, I just want to be like you,
then our desire for prayer,
even our prayer with him in our personal time
should be like, God, you know what I need.
You know what's in my heart.
You know the changes that I want in my life
or my family or whatever it is.
I'm saying, God, shine through me now.
Shine through me so that no one can tell
that I have no money.
That no one can tell
that I am getting a verbal lashing
from my spouse every day.
That no one...
You hear me?
That no one can tell
that I feel sick to my stomach
because I have some digestive stuff.
Whatever it is,
that we say, God, I saw...
This is Jesus.
This is Jesus.
That he put on this humility.
He had a whole different mindset
that he was prepared to go and suffer
for us by choice.
We don't usually go, pick me to suffer.
I'll suffer.
Send me into the wilderness, Lord.
I'll go.
I mean, to just say, God,
take me in to be tested by the devil.
People don't want to volunteer for that.
It's going to come.
It's going to come to us all,
trials and tribulations.
But what I'm saying is,
our human nature, if it's too alive,
it's always looking for the exit,
not to go through something.
It's just a natural tendency,
so we have to always check ourselves
and say consecration means
I'm here to just shine with him.
Which means I need my...
I can't shine if my mentality is not right.
If I don't have the mindset of Christ,
if my heart isn't bent on his glory,
it's going to be bent on my help.
My getting help, or I'm not getting help.
I'm not doing well today
because I'm not getting help.
I'm doing better today because I got help.
Not that.
Not that.
But that we can live from a higher place.
That's what set apart means.
I'm living from a higher place.
A place of consecration
where I doesn't matter
whatever my dreams,
hopes and aspirations are.
It shouldn't matter if they're happening or not.
What I am focused on is
am I pleasing God with my inner life?
Is he pleased like we read in 1 Peter?
What was it?
Yeah, 1 Peter 4.
The first verse.
I'm not sinning
if all I'm about is his glory.
That's what it said.
It said that I'm not living for myself.
I'm not living for the world.
That means I'm not sinning.
Because sin is living for me.
Which was the first temptation.
Oh, I think that tree might have something for me.
I know God said not to eat it.
But it might have something for me.
It might help me.
The Bible says that Eve looked at it.
She's like, well, it looks good.
It looks good.
And she chose to have some.
That mentality took them away from the Father
when God had to, through Christ,
restore us back to the Father.
Back to him.
So look down.
Now, how do we do this?
I've kind of been talking about it.
So we left off in verse 11 in Philippians 2.
Look at verse 12.
Therefore, my dear ones,
as you have always obeyed my suggestions,
so now, not only with the enthusiasm
you would show in my presence,
but much more because I'm absent.
Work out your own salvation
with reverence and awe and trembling.
And this is something years ago
the Lord had me in for probably months.
In the Amplified it says,
working out your salvation with reverence
and awe and trembling means self-distrust,
with serious caution,
tenderness of conscience,
watchfulness against temptation,
timidly shrinking from whatever might
offend God or discredit the name of Christ.
The self-distrust thing was literally
a season he had me go through
in like the early 2000s,
where I meditated on that part
and parentheses of this verse.
Self-distrust.
Because we naturally grow up
in this earth where everything's about self.
Self-trust? Well, what do I think?
Trusting myself, helping myself,
looking out for myself, defending myself.
All the self things.
And all of that is what took us away
from the Father.
So if I want to be consecrated
and I live for him, then I'm saying,
okay, my life is yours.
I don't want to have a thought
that I follow or act on or agree with
unless it's yours.
I love this, whatever might offend God,
timidly shrinking
from whatever might offend God
or discredit the name of Christ.
Because again, if I'm consecrated
and I'm for his glory,
I don't want to discredit him
with my mouth.
I don't want to discredit him
with my actions so that no one
is drawn to him in me
because they see so much of me
going through my suffering
and I'm not going through it well.
They're like, I'll talk to you next month
and hopefully you're doing better.
I don't want to hang with that.
It can be the natural tendency of people.
We want people to be seeing us
in suffering and not even knowing
we're suffering because God
is getting the glory from it.
Okay, so it says,
verse 13, the answer is
how do we do this? Not in your
own strength. For it is
God, this is so encouraging.
For it is God who is
all the while, effectually
at work in you, energizing
and creating in you the
power and desire both to
will and to work for his good
pleasure and satisfaction and
delight.
So good. So he's at work
in you to do it.
He's creating in you
the desire, the power
and the desire to will
and to work for his good
pleasure.
So it doesn't come from us.
As we know, it is continually
his ability on the inside.
I was...
Again, we have a lot of new people
at Oasis. And so I'm starting
from the ground level of teaching
a lot of Sundays for these
people. And I was telling them
recently that
if you're struggling with
something, then ask. Because the Bible
says, as you know, ask. Keep on
seeking. And so
if we don't have something, we
ask him. And here he's saying
that it's not in your own strength.
I'm going to create in you the power
and the desire. So when we know it's
right, we just ask.
Because sometimes we're resistant, just
like that story that I told with Patrick.
Sometimes we're resistant
to even the change, because
we have such a strong mindset, or we
want what we want so badly
that we just can't
get past that. And so it's
ask. Say, God, I know
that I need to get off this
thing that I'm just obsessed with.
And so God, I'm asking,
created me the power and
the desire to want
what you have for me. And that's what the Bible
says. You have not because you ask
not. So we have to
ask him sometimes for that shift
to happen in our heart because we need his power
to do it. We cannot do it
in our own strength. And so I've always
loved that scripture. That this is
how he does it.
And we know
how much time do I have? Is that
the right time? 12, 30? Okay.
Yeah, I'm almost done here.
So, Romans 8 talks
about how Jesus is the first born among
many other brethren.
That he's the first born.
He's our example.
We follow him.
My daughter just naturally
she's at that age where she's like
copy brother, follow
brother. He's the leader. I'll follow him.
Which sometimes is okay.
And a lot of times
I go, dear Jesus
and I tell her, don't copy
don't copy him.
Don't copy his. I try to
challenge him. Look, she's copying you know
she's talking like you. Now I have two to deal
with that are mouthy.
Two of you that are
doing the wrong thing because he's not always
the best example, but he's getting better.
But it says that
Jesus is the first born. My son
is the first born. And then
my second born, they do that.
They just naturally look up to the first
born. And so
isn't that interesting language in Romans 8
that Jesus is the first born among many
brethren and so we're supposed to copy
him. We're
to copy his example, we're to look to him
he's the first born
among many brethren.
And the
the thing
that I know
for me and I think
that we're all human here today, right?
So
you're probably similar to me.
Yeah, yeah.
There's no Nephilim here or anything like that.
That
in our
human nature, we know
what the devil goes after a lot
and I'm just going to wrap up with this thought.
What the devil goes after a lot
is when we
see this truth, everything that I've talked
about, but we're not maybe doing well
in it, that
the guilt, shame, and condemnation
even in subtle
is again back to that word subtle
back to those subtle ways
can man when am I going to get it
man why am I not getting it
and the guilt, shame, and condemnation that the
enemy can bring
and yet again
even myself recently
didn't realize I needed it, but God
came and just washed my soul
and he reminded me cherish
it's like you know when
when we're all women here
probably most of us have had children
even if you hadn't
you know how what I'm about to say
that when a toddler is learning
to walk, if you're a
decent parent
you're like you know how we get down
and we get this stupid look on our face
and we're like
come on, come on
and we just get a little
silly about it and we're encouraging them to walk
when they're first learning
they always fall down
but then we help them
do we go oh you bad kid
what is wrong with you get your act together
I said walk
you know it's we don't do
that right we help them back up again
and and we're
still with this look on our
face come on and we
get right back to it
this is always the picture
that our heavenly father has
it's always the picture
of it's
It's from glory to glory. And he's not focused in what you're getting wrong.
But see this, we know that nobody can grow well outside of love.
That even in parenting, oh my goodness, this has gone so deep in me.
Like, I feel like raising my son is pulling every ounce of religiosity out of me.
Which I praise God. I really do. I mean, I'm truly thankful. Religion I didn't know was there.
You know, again, having lived in the church and grown up in the church my whole life.
So that, you know, you think, okay, well, when a child does wrong, they need consequences.
Right? So they need to understand there's consequences. You can't do that.
But then you also need to give them the love and say, you can do it. You can do this.
And so with my son, because he's been naughty a lot.
And sometimes, like, it doesn't stop. It's just...
I mean, I start to feel the stress in my chest of like, you're already grounded.
You already lost all your... everything with wheels. You already lost all treats for the day.
You don't get TV or tablet. Like, there's no other consequences to take away.
And we're only at nine o'clock in the morning.
You know what I'm like? So there's this thing in me of, okay, there has to be consequences.
But I'm given he's very loved. And he's very encouraged.
And so he's got all that going on. You know, when you think of spiritually,
what does someone need, child or adult, to grow and to do well?
But there's been demonic stuff working on him, too.
And so I have to... a generational stuff that Patrick had that hurt Judah.
Now he's coming out of and getting healing bit by bit.
But what I'm saying and that is pulling religion out of me is
because there's times where I just want to ring his neck.
And I'm like, God, I don't love him right now.
I don't even want to look at him right now. I mean, I've been to those places.
Like, it's been severe. Not recent, but in past years. It's been a thing.
And so I have been like, wow, God, all my love is gone.
And I've had to go back and say, I am so depleted from the warfare here
that God, I know this has been my suffering, you know, part of it.
God, in this suffering, this is hard on me, but I need to get your heart
because it's like the toddler falling down and me wanting to slap him.
Well, that's not... he's learning. He's learning. He is who he is.
And so how God has been teaching me at a whole new level with my son
how to have the consequences, how to have the love,
but how to work through and work, get beyond this thing,
this cycle that we've been in that I'm like, I'm just so ready for it
to be on to the next season.
But it's been working something in me that I know I'm going to look back
and I'm going to go, Judah, let me just shake your hand.
Thank you so much for being my hell on earth for a little while
because it's going to be so good that I've already learned so much.
Because this is our grace grower, right?
Because if we don't have... I mean, I never would have thought
that my son would provide my biggest challenge.
But Graham Cook always said, you have a grace grower, at least one.
And if you don't like that one, well, then God will just give you one that's worse.
Because there has to be something... there has to be the refiner fire.
There has to be something that puts the old self in our face.
And we go, oh my God, I got to be like you.
I've got... how do I get... how do I live consecrated, set apart and holy like this?
How do I get your heart enough to get this religion out of me so that I don't...
How would Jesus wouldn't have a problem raising my son?
Jesus wouldn't, you know, and he continually has given me wisdom.
I mean, I feel like most of me and Patrick's date nights are talking about, you know,
how do we do this? Well, let's try this. Let's do this.
And the Lord gave us insight. I mean, it's really been a big thing in our lives.
And so, but this child has a leader call on him that is just intense.
And we know this. We know this. He's probably going to, you know,
be the one to throw the devil in hell himself. I don't know, but he just...
I say that as a joke, obviously, but I mean, the kid is strong.
He is just strong-minded and whatever he does, it's going to happen.
And so when he gets it fully on the Lord, because he does love the Lord,
it's going to be just incredible. But God has entrusted him to us.
So he's given us the grace to do it. But there's times where I've wanted to...
I never swore growing up.
But I have gone in the bathroom and sworn in raising him at times, you know,
where it's been like, God, I'm at the end of myself.
And so this, the guilt and condemnation, you know, we're...
I mean, it's funny to tell, because, you know, we're in a better place than we were.
But I'm saying we're years in the, you know, a couple of years ago, it was...
I don't have words for it. It was a lot.
But it has so caused me to seek the Lord and to see guilt, shame and condemnation.
And how is God with us? And how do we help a little soul walk out of things
and come into the purpose to go from glory to glory?
How do I teach him how to be consecrated?
And how do I not be legalistic and very churchy with my son?
How do I release the presence of God?
Which I seem to have no problem releasing any other person.
And yet in my own home, it hasn't been a problem except I was like,
God, this isn't working, because there's no receiver.
It's a wall. And it's just throwing punches at me in a wall.
And there's no receiver out, you know, and so I'm not used to this God.
Like, you know, I usually can work with something, you know,
because someone is like, I need help.
But he's like, I don't need help, but I don't want your help.
Just leave me alone and I'll be my own leader.
So it's been a whole different, whole different thing of how do we do this.
But do you know, I got to tell you a funny story,
just to really put this in a positive way of the Lord's humor.
I don't know when this was a while back.
I really sought the Lord for like a whole day.
My mom took the kids and I literally, for an entire afternoon,
got to spend time with the Lord.
And I spent it all talking to him about Judah.
And I was like, Lord, I cried out to him.
And he took me to the scripture in the Old Testament where I kid you not.
I turned there from what I felt the Lord tell me to do.
And it said, oh Judah, what shall I do with you?
Old Testament. I forget where it's found.
I forget what's profit.
Talking about the tribe of Israel.
Oh Judah, what shall I do with you?
And I went, there it is.
There it is. I laughed like you're laughing right now.
I'm like, Lord, you are funny.
I did not, I mean, I knew you talked to the Jews like that,
but I mean, it's literally, it's right there.
That's my question. What do I do with them?
And then the Lord, so I wrote it all down.
I journaled it.
And then I said, okay Lord, so what's the answer?
There's the question, but the answer wasn't in that passage.
It's just the question.
So then the Lord had me turn to the Valley of Dry Bones.
And prophesy.
Prophecy, which I already knew, but you know,
sometimes what you already know, you got to,
the Lord's got to say it again a different way
or dig it home a little bit deeper or whatever it is.
And so anyway, how we, how we see the Lord in our process
is so hugely important that in our consecration
and in our whole journey with Him,
it's noticing what the enemy's trying to do
to prevent me, keeping me in mindsets
that keep me locked up so that I'm condemned
so that I can never really get the mindset of Christ
because it feels like I'll never get there
because my answer is never coming.
Well, just, just die.
Just be consecrated and just die
and trust Him enough that He's got your life.
And really the only reason for our lives
and really break it all down is just for His glory.
That's it.
You know, we talk about callings,
we talk about gifts, we talk about dreams
and God cares about all of that.
He's the one that puts things in us.
So of course He's gonna complete it
but don't we love that scripture that says
He who began the good work in me
is faithful to complete it.
So He started it.
Why am I worried He's gonna finish it?
It's a promise that He says,
I'll complete what I began.
But you have to keep the vision,
the main thing, the main thing.
That I'm for His glory.
I'm not for me and yet so many times
when I'm ministering to people
in the vast majority of my life as I look back
it's a lot about people saying,
well what can God do for me?
And really the message of the gospel has always been here
is that it's not what can He do for me.
He already did everything for me.
What am I gonna do now
through His power for Him?
What am I gonna do now by His grace
for Him?
Because there's nothing else He can do for me
that He hasn't already done.
And if you read,
I didn't read that, that was in Ephesians 1.
If you keep reading,
we started out that consecrated
that He set us apart for Him.
If you keep reading all the way down to verse 12
it says all the things
that He's done for us.
I mean, He seated us in heavenly places
and He's crowned us with wisdom and understanding
and He's put us in equality with Jesus Christ.
Put us in the sun with Him, made us one with Him.
He can't go any higher than that.
He can't go any higher than being in Him.
So what else can He do?
There's nothing else He can do.
So then our only problem is how we're seeing it.
I don't really have a problem.
It's just how I see my life.
It's just what I think the problem is.
Maybe the problem is just how I'm thinking.
I'm just thinking the problem is
that I need this and this to happen.
He's like, no, that's important,
but that's not actually the problem.
The problem is that you're not all about me.
You're still holding on to your control.
You're still...
And even just maybe a part.
A part.
Maybe it's not...
Maybe you've given it all to Him in this part of your house
of your heart.
But over here, you're still holding on to this one
and saying, well, I'm still holding...
I still want this to happen.
I'm not really willing to fully trust this to Him.
And I've done that.
And that's where we become self-deceived.
Because we think, I am giving it all to Him.
It's like, well, let's talk about this topic.
Ah, you hit a button. Don't talk about that.
And I've been there.
I've been there, done that.
But I know better now.
So, it's all about transformation.
Let me just say this.
That if we are not yet where we want to be,
but we can see in Scripture, we can see where He's called us,
here's how we can gauge our heart
if we're actually already in transformation
and we can be encouraged instead of feeling guilty
or condemned to where we're not.
We can say, well, I...
You know, even the example I gave of my son.
Okay, I'm not parenting exactly like Jesus would probably yet.
But I know that I've changed a lot in how I'm parenting.
So, instead of saying, well, I'm just a failure.
I'm just... I'm failing at raising my son.
I'm not doing that, but I could.
If I'm not seeing enough results or whatever over years,
you know, you can feel that.
The devil can come and tell you that.
Oh, you're totally failing.
So then he can take that failure and say,
well, then how can you pastor a church
if you can't even raise your own son in the Lord?
Because isn't that the devil?
He would totally do that.
And I don't think...
If he's done that, I haven't let that have a place.
So it's kind of foreign to me to say that,
but he might have said it,
because it would make sense for him to say it.
Or at least try to see if I'd take the bait.
But see how that works.
What instead I can say is, and what I do say is,
hey, I've learned a lot.
I know some things I used to do,
some things I used to think, even in my inner heart,
that now are clear to me.
I can see Christ's way now.
I can see God's heart in it.
So I might not be doing my parenting with him
as well as I will one day.
But I know I've come a ways from where I was.
So that means I'm in the funnel of transformation.
I'm in the funnel of transformation.
So I'm encouraged because I'm at least not where I was,
and my heart doesn't want to stay even where I am.
That means his power and desire is effectually at work in me.
So I'm encouraged that I am in momentum,
and if I don't stop,
failure would just be stopping at this point.
I cannot fail if I continue to see with him helping me
what I'm still missing
and what I still have yet to walk in this of Christ,
taking the mindset of Christ.
It takes so much humility to be a mom.
It takes so much wisdom to be a mom,
whether it's a natural mom or spiritual mom,
same thing.
It takes so much.
It takes the same and similar kind of grace.
So to encourage ourselves,
I'm not going to be guilty about what I've missed up,
messed up, missed or messed up,
or what I think I'm currently not getting.
I'm going to say I can just be encouraged
that I am in the transformation funnel,
that he's completing in me what he began,
because I can at least see where I'm going,
and I know I want to get there.
I know I'm not going to stop,
and by his grace I'll get there.
And I praise God that I can look back
and say, well, I'm not back there anymore.
Do you know that the Bible,
well, you do know this figure speech.
Do you know that it says,
with that scripture,
neither height nor depth,
nor anything present, things to come,
it says neither the present nor things to come
can separate us from the love of Christ,
the love that's in Christ Jesus.
But it doesn't say the past.
It says things present or things to come.
So that means the past can separate us
from his love if we let it,
because the past will keep...
what did Lot's wife do?
It's the looking back that keeps us in bondage.
It's the, oh my God.
This is where someone called me
and distressed the other day,
someone even not in our church.
They were all distressing about their life
and I could feel as I was ministering to them
the swirling of the things of the past
that were in the present
and were keeping her in knots.
And just in the little bit that she said,
I could feel it.
And so I told her,
and I said, you've got to let go.
Stop seeing what happened back there
in your present situation.
Stop seeing, because it says
things present and things to come,
but the past is something
that can cut you off
from receiving what you need
of the love of God if you let it.
So we have to just look at the present
and the things to come.
That's where we need to be.
Present and things to come.
Present and things to come.
And knowing this is the transformation,
it's this direction,
it has nothing to do with going back
and looking back that direction.
Amen.
All right, let's pray.
Father, I thank you
for your truth that brings
freedom as we believe it.
As we agree with it.
As our minds come into agreement
with what you say,
we get free.
Sometimes we don't need prayer
because we just need to change how we think.
And Father, I thank you that you,
by the Holy Spirit,
are continually working
in all of us.
Lord, to show us how to agree with you,
to show us how to abide in you,
to show us how to continue
in transformation
to become more like you
into the image of Christ.
This is a Christ-centered message
and I thank you, Lord,
that you're working in your bride
because as a whole
we are going to be beautiful
without spot or wrinkle
when you marry us.
And so Lord, I know
that that day is coming
and that you are eager
for us to appear like you.
Father, I thank you for these dear women
in their hearts for you,
their desire for you.
And Lord, I thank you that
anything that would be holding them back today
from stepping into the high calling
that's in Christ Jesus,
I thank you that today
they would be free from it
in Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.