Online Church: Turn your life around. Ever prayed, "Jesus turn my life around"? We look at how we have to change our thinking to change our behaviour and own where we are at in life.

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Welcome to the Crowd Church Livestream podcast.

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Can you really turn your life around in just 30 days as I have

titled this video, or am I just being a little bit controversial?

Well, actually I think you can turn your life around in about 30 minutes,

but that seemed a bit too grandiose.

So I want to get into it today and I want to have, uh, what, what I want to have,

I want to give you a warning ahead of time that whilst what I am talking about

today truly is the path to freedom, it is both challenging and dare I said, it's

probably gonna be a little bit unpopular.

And I'll explain why as we go through.

Now, there's a fascinating and well known ancient story called

The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

It's about a hardworking father with two sons, both of whom he left, but

it came to that time where, One of the sons, the younger of the two

sons, had grown tired of his life.

He was bored with the way he was living.

He wanted more than what he had.

He wanted to live life to the max, to his own true and authentic way.

And so he went to his father and asked for his inheritance a little bit early.

So the dad, uh, splits his assets off, don't get any ideas, kids,

uh, and gives his younger son is, uh, his share of the inheritance.

And within a day or two, this younger son packs up and heads off to far

away lands and pretty much waste.

Everything, uh, that his dad gave him.

The Bible tells us that he wasted on prodigal living, basically wine

and all that kind of stuff, right?

And then things get really, really bad for the son.

There's a famine in the land and it is so horrendous that he

has to get a job feeding pigs.

And I don't wanna gloss over that particular aspect because at the time

of the story, Believe it or not, this was pretty much the worst job you

could have anywhere on the planet.

The Bible tells us that he would've gladly have filled his stomach

with the pods that the swine ate, but no one gave him anything.

Not the farmer, not the landowner.

Nobody gave him a thing.

It's really not going well for him.

This rich, spoiled kid loses everything.

He's working the worst job in the world.

He is perpetually starving and no one, but no one seems to care about him yet.

Even here at this point at Rock Bottom, he manages to turn his life around.

So how did he do that?

And what can we learn from it?

Here's what we know from Luke's Gospel.

The story's found in Luke 15 when he, the son finally came to his senses.

He said to himself at home, even the hired servants have food enough

to spare, and I am dying of hunger.

I will go home to my father and say, father.

I have sinned both against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer

worthy to be called your son.

Please take me on as a hired servant.

So he returned home to his father.

Okay, so there are two things happening at this point that I wanna

point out because I think they're the keys to turning your life around.

Firstly, the son changed his mind, and secondly, he changed his actions.

It's where inward decisions become an outward action.

Now, there's a word that the Bible uses to talk about this.

And it's the word repentance.

Now, I think many of us over the years have probably have, uh,

bad experiences with this word.

We've probably had an adverse reaction, uh, to the word as it came out of my

mouth, and we file it under the bad column in our minds and it becomes

one of those words we try not to use and we try not to talk about.

But I think we've misunderstood repentance for a very long time.

Repentance, in my opinion, is life giving in so many ways.

It simply means to turn your life around to repent is to turn your life around

to turn your life around is to repent.

It's the same thing.

And just as the prodigal son discovered, it is changing your mind.

You have been living one way, you've been living hungry and amongst the

pigs and all that goes along with that.

You kind of know what I mean, and you come to your sense.

And you change your mind.

The way you have been living is not working and something needs to change.

And that change starts with your mind.

It starts with your thinking.

And that inward decision results in an outward change.

In an outward action.

In other words, your behaviors change when you change your mind and you change your

thinking about how you've been living your actions and your behavior turnaround too.

You start to live a different way.

. So if I want to turn my life around in 30 days, 30 minutes

or 30 seconds, I have to repent.

I have to change my thinking and my behavior.

That's what repentance is, and that's why it's life giving.

It's not something we should shy away from.

It's something that we can and should really embrace.

So in this story, the Bible tells us that the son who was working amongst

the pigs finally came to his senses.

I love that.

I love how it's worded.

Finally, we come to our senses.

You see for me, sometimes I can come to my senses pretty quickly,

but there are other times.

In fact, if I'm honest, probably most of the time, just like the

prodigal son, it can take a long old time to come to my senses.

And for this son to come to his senses, he has to do one thing and

one thing that I think is not popular at the moment in modern culture.

he has to own his mistakes, his sin.

He said that he'd sinned against both heaven and his father, and when he

has this revelation, when this dawns upon him, this is in fact him owning

the mistakes, owning the sin that he has committed, which makes sense.

You have to own where your life is at for it to change and turn around.

So this leads me to a question, why is this something that

we don't like to do today?

Why is it so hard for us to own up to our mistakes, to our sins?

Well, fundamentally, we don't like to be told that we are wrong.

Not in any way.

You can see that from the way kids behave, even the way dogs behave

when they realize they're wrong.

We just don't like it.

Not in the animal kingdom and not in the human kingdom,

and because we don't like it.

We spend many years I think, trying to change the things

that tell us we are wrong.

we don't, which if I'm honest with you, doesn't always make sense to me.

The modern day version of the Prodigal son would somehow rearrange the idea

that he had sinned to more like becoming the victim because of his father and

the farmer and field owner who owned the pigs, who weren't giving him anything.

Ryan Anderson said this.

He said The person was a creature of God who sought to conform himself

to the truth, to the objective.

Moral standards in pursuit of eternal life.

Modern man, however, seeks to be true to himself rather than conform

thoughts, feelings, and actions to objective reality, man's inner life

itself becomes the source of truth.

The modern self finds himself in the midst of.

Has described as a culture of expressive individualism where each of us seeks to

give expression to our individual inner lives, rather than seeing ourselves

as embedded in communities and bound by supernatural and natural laws,

authenticity to inner feelings rather than adherence to transcendent truths.

Becomes the norm.

That's quite a statement, isn't it?

And you know what?

When I read this and think about what he's saying, I find myself in agreement.

You see, I think I am that modern man.

. You see, this is true inside and outside of the church.

We are now a culture of expressive individualism where authenticity in

life is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance to our inner feelings.

And in one sense, if you follow it through, this is a form of repentance

where we are living one way conforming to God's truth, to objective moral

standards as Ryan called them.

And just like the prodigal son, we take our inheritance and decide to live a

different way, and our behaviors change as a result of that inward thought.

It's repentance, but it's all a bit backwards, isn't it?

It's all, it's all, uh, it's all a bit wrong and it just doesn't feel right.

What you turn your life from and towards then, well, that becomes really, really

important when truth is not based on the laws of God, but instead on how we feel.

You know, on one hand.

that sounds so appealing because all of a sudden nothing is right or wrong anymore.

It's how I feel about it.

That becomes important.

It removes the guilt that we feel when we think we have done something wrong.

We no longer have to deal with that, so we stop owning things

and we start projecting things.

The prodigal sin then didn't sin.

Instead, we should make him the victim of the story according to this thinking, and

it seems that I not only have to tolerate this view, but I also have to affirm it.

Otherwise, I become the oppressor.

I become bigoted, I become wrong, and I become, well, frankly, a bit weird.

So as a society, as a group of people in the way that we live,

we've stopped owning things.

We don't own it.

We project it.

It becomes somebody else's fault.

But you know what?

I think that that thinking keeps you trapped right where you are.

It does not.

Change your life one bit.

As Christians, you see we have the doctrine of original sin,

which is the fall of Adam.

You know, where Adam sins.

And as a result, humanity has this, in this innate tendency to sin and to break

the law when left to his own devices.

Now I appreciate many people reject this idea, one of whom is the, uh, espoused

philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Now, he claimed that humans were born essentially moral the opposite

way around to Christian doctrine.

It's the pressures on us from outside sources according to Rousseau, like

society, like the church that explain corruption, that sin is really

society's fault, not our fault.

And this was way back in the 1700s.

So his, this idea that we're talking about, well it's not a new.

Mind you, this revered philosopher also sent five all five, in fact

of his children to an orphanage shortly after they were born.

Pretty much sending each one to their own death.

No doubt, that was also somebody else's fault and not his.

Now there is some idea there, there is some idea, there is

some merit to this idea though.

And we do have to ask about do we become the product of our environment?

But when you take, uh, take it to the extent that Rousseau takes it, it can

actually be seen and found at the place of original sin when Adam and Eve sinned

for the first time when they did something that they just should not have done.

You see, the very first thing that Adam does when he is

asked about it is to blame Eve.

It's not my fault, God, it's her fault.

Uh, I saw this play in a really interesting conversation

on Twitter the other day.

One lady wrote this, she wrote that "God commands wives not to

deprive their husband sexually".

And I would actually go on to say it's also equally important for

men not to deprive their wives too.

Just wanna put that in there to clarify any ambiguities.

And so, yeah, "do not deprive their husband sexually so satan

won't tempt them, and she cites one Corinthians seven, five.

So if a wife continually denies her husband and he goes out and commits

a adultery, they are both to blame.

Women don't like this teaching, but it is what scripture clearly warns".

So em responds to this tweet.

Another lady, uh, wrote that, "Sex is complicated.

A loving wife habitually not in the mood, isn't in sin.

She's struggling with something.

It's worth it to help and support her so she can willing,

willingly participate again.

But we are never to blame for a partner's infidelity.

We are responsible for our own choices".

So here you have two different schools of thinking about

the, uh, ideas of scripture.

And this is where I joined in the conversation and I thought it's easy

to get into that it's the wife's fault.

Uh, it's the man's fault argument.

But the truth is there are a number of different things going

on that we have to look at.

Like why is the marriage sex sexless and what, what, what's going on with

the temptation to commit adultery.

What you can't do though, with all those nuances around it, is do what Adam did

and stand before God and say, God, it's not my fault I've committed adultery.

It's the fact my wife won't have sex with me.

That's just not gonna wash, is it?

That's just not gonna work.

Conversely, the wife also has to deal with, uh, why she doesn't

want to have sex with her husband.

Does she own that or does she project that?

I think that's something that they both have to own in this, but it's now our

default, like Adam, to not own things.

We don't like it.

We don't want to own things, so we project it.

It's somebody else's fault, and I become the victim.

And in that narrative we've got to the place where we don't even

like the idea that God will tell us what is right and wrong anymore.

And this is a problem Marks and Nietzsche saw.

So what do you do?

You just take God out of the equation because if there is no God, if we

are not God's image bearers created in His image, then we don't have

to act in accordance with that image, just like the prodigal son.

And if we are not made in God's image, then to what absolute

moral standard must we submit to?

Well, the truth is absolutely non, As it becomes meaningless.

All that matters in their worldview is our expressive individualism,

the right to live life, how we see.

So who's to actually say the prodigal son was wrong to live

the way that he did partying and gambling and all that sort of stuff.

Why did he call it sin?

Why should he feel as though he has to actually call that sin?

What if he was right according to his own inner thoughts and feelings?

What if he was just being authentic to who he was?

If he takes that root complains about the oppression of the farmer and

his father, then society has a moral obligation to affirm that in him.

There is no consequence then on him for the decisions that he has made.

He doesn't need to own it.

He doesn't need to confess his sin because he can project it.

And I say all of this, not to condemn, but to provoke.

I think we've gotten used to the idea that we are right all of the time,

that it is our thoughts and feelings that are the ultimate source of truth,

and that society has to affirm that otherwise we are victims and oppressed.

We have become like Adam in the Garden of Eden, blaming Eve.

It's not my fault, it's hers.

This is why I say it's an unpopular truth.

But if we want to turn our lives around, we first have to come to our senses.

We have to wake up and we have to realize that the best way

to live life is God's way.

It's not necessarily our way.

Unlike the prodigal son, we have to own as sin and not project it.

And like Jesus, we have to declare, Lord, not my will, but

your will be done in my life.

. But why?

Why do we do that?

Because I think it's only when we do, it's only when we own

it that we can be free from it.

Otherwise, we stay as perpetual victims and our lives don't turn around.

They stay stuck like we are somehow perishing in life as the Bible calls it.

I believe we are actually created in God's image.

You, me, everybody.

We are created in his image and our identity is to be found in him.

We can't escape that regardless of Rousseau's teachings.

Now that is not to say that people haven't actually wronged you, that

your feelings don't count or matter.

I'm not saying that at all.

People may well have wronged you.

They have me, and that's real, and that's pain, and possibly even trauma and abuse.

But if we are to turn our lives around and not stay in that prison, as the

Bible calls it, we have to come to our senses and realize that we can

turn our lives around according to the Bible, which is gonna be about

forgiveness and not bitterness.

In that situation, that's what repentance is.

It's turning away from our way, from the anger, from the bitterness, from the

resentment turning towards God in his way in saying, God, help me to forgive.

And your feelings, your emotions, your thoughts, will they all matter.

Very, very deeply.

Of course they do, and I'm not saying that they don't.

But there is something that we have to accept in all of this.

And it's found in the book of Isaiah where God says, my

thoughts are not your thoughts.

Neither are your ways.

My ways declares the Lord.

And if repentance is about changing our thinking and changing our

actions or our ways, This is what this verse is talking to.

There are times when our thinking is not in line with God's thinking, and in those

cases, our ways, our outer actions, our behaviors are not in line with God's ways.

Now, you know what?

I have never committed murder.

I haven't had an extra marital affair, but I have turned my own way.

I have been like that prodigal son.

And repentance is owning that, changing my mind and bringing my

thoughts and ideas back to God's.

And as a result, my outward behavior changes too.

I really don't see that as oppressive as some people would like to think it is.

On the contrary, it's the key to living in biblical freedom.

It's the key to turning your life around, come to your senses, change

your thinking, change your actions.

These are the questions I honestly encourage you to answer, especially

in the light of the gospel.

What do I need to own?

where does my thinking need to change and what behaviors need to change?

In other words, what do I need to repent of?

God?

Help me understand that.

Ask God.

God, where do I need to repent?

If you can answer that honestly, your life will definitely turn around.

You see there's a beautiful ending to the story that I open with.

Once the son got on his way and returned home to his father, we

read that while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming

filled with love and compassion.

He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

His son said to him, father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no

longer worthy of being called your son.

But his father said to the servants quick, bring the finest robe

in the house and put it on him.

Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet and kill

the calf we have been fattening.

We must celebrate with a feast for this son of mine was dead

and has now returned to life.

He was lost, but now he is found.

So the party began.

I love that he was lost, but now he is found.

His life had turned around and did you notice that the father was

looking for his son all the time?

Waiting for him?

He saw him while he was a long way off.

But did you also notice that the father couldn't go and fetch him?

He had to wait for his son to come to his senses, but boy, when he did, the

party began, his life was turned around.

Ah, it's amazing, isn't it?

If you are not a Christ follower, then repentance means turning away from living

life without him to living life with him.

You turn to him and it is he that welcomes you and transforms your life,

turning your life around and turning to God and letting him transform your life.

It's not about your hard work, it's not about all of that sort of stuff.

It's about letting Christ really be the king of your heart.

And if you are a Christian, repentance is turning back to God

and letting him transform your life.

It's not about saying sorry and then falling back into

the same repeatable patterns.

It's about renewing your mind to be in line with his and allowing the

spirit of God that is living within you to shape you into the likeness

of God that you have been called to.

When we repent, we turn to God and he turns our lives around and when we do,

he celebrates with us and the party.

While that really does begin,

Coming up, we have Conversation Street.

But before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast.

What's the story, which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps?

So my friend who saw this old man in refugee camp, she went

over and sat next to him.

She said, what's your story, old man?

And he was just there with an empty bowl praying.

So he told her how he, he was in his eighties and he'd seen his wife and

kids hack to death the previous week.

And he'd walked six days to get that refugee camp and he'd,

his house being burned out.

He had lost everything in the world.

And he had this horrific story of, well, he turned her, he'd said, Madam

there . I never realized that Jesus was all I needed until Jesus was I had.

Mm.

I never realized that Jesus was all I needed until Jesus was all I had.

To me, that's about the most powerful thing I've ever heard.

Yeah.

And I come back from Burundi and I land here and I come a bunch of people.

We got everything to live with and nothing to live for.

So there you go.

A little excerpt from What's the story, uh, the podcast, which talks

to ordinary people about their stories of faith and courage, and

I love it and I enjoy it so much.

We've got so many good ones coming up.

Uh, so make sure you are subscribed to that and the talk repentance.

What did you think?

What did you think about?

I'd love to know your thoughts.

Do leave them in the comments if you haven't done so already.

It's very hard with a talk like that, I have to say.

Right.

It's really hard with a talk like that to get everything in in the allotted time.

Normally, my talks were like 18, 20 minutes.

This one was a little bit over because I'm just like, I dunno what to leave out.

There's so much more I.

Say, um, it's a wonderful life giving talk, and I hope for you at the

start of 2023 that it really helps you set some things in order and

that God speaks to you through it.

Honestly, I, I, I hope you find life in it.

So.

ordinarily this would be the point of the live stream where we go into Conversation,

Street, we do look at the comments and stuff that you place, but at last,

today, it is a non-live, live stream.

So, uh, I'm gonna end the service pretty much around here and just

say to you, uh, God bless you.

Thank you.

And let me pray, uh, for all of us, uh, watching this live stream, that Lord.

we give our 2023 to you.

We place it in your hands.

And, and Jesus, we ask you to be Lord, to be king of our hearts, to show us

those areas where we need to turn around to repent, uh, and come back to you.

Bring us Lord to a place of celebration and rejoicing, I pray

in 2023 for all of us watching.

Uh Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us here at Crowd Church, and before you dash

off, uh, here are some other Crowd Church videos that you will enjoy.

So be sure to check them out and make sure you also hit the subscribe button

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why not come join us next week, uh, as we carry on our quest to discover

how Jesus really does help us live.

A more meaningful life.

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Now, let me tell you, it's been awesome.

It's been really great to connect with you.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Hopefully we will see you next time.

God bless you.