Gospel Application
At this point you might be wondering how do we create this culture where it is normal to speak the gospel to one another regularly? We have to realize that every sin and unfaithful thing we do is ultimately a gospel issue since sin is the outcome of unbelief.
John 16:8-9
And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
The Spirit is here to convict us unto the righteousness of God so that we worship him in truth. So we need to understand that all sin is connected to a particular unbelief in God. Therefore the culture we create in our community is vital. Creating a gospel centered ministry and being a gospel centered individual means we have to rehearse the truths of the Gospel regularly. This means we have to regularly ask:
1. How is what I am believing in alignment with the Gospel of Jesus and who he is?
2. Am I taking all thoughts captive to the truth of the Gospel?
3. What is it that I am believing and what does it say about who God is in my life?
Therefore the gospel isn’t a technique it has to come from the overflow of your own heart. One cannot just begin to speak stuff we don’t believe. The truth is if we don’t understand the gospel, then gospel fluency will not happen.
One thing we need to continually do is always be asking each other, “What is the Gospel?” “What did God do?", “What is God doing?” and “What is God going to do?” all the time to continually reminding each other of the power and truth of the Gospel.
One thing I often here from others is people saying stuff like, “I am doing the gospel?”. But let’s be clear. We don’t do the gospel, the gospel does you. The gospel is the good news of what God has done, not of what your doing? Therefore, no one does the gospel, we live lives in light of the gospel. The gospel is working itself through you.
It about what he is doing not about what your doing. Paul stated this is the hope of glory Christ in you, not you for Christ. So we need to understand that if this order isn’t correct then we move out of the power of God and into our good deeds.
The implications of the gospel are we receive a new life, we are new creations in Christ, we receive the Spirit of God, we become sons and daughters, the spirit shows forth fruit of the new life we are living, and we beginning to be sanctified in life.
We need to be aware that sanctification is not moving from what I was doing to good works, but moving from unbelief in Jesus to belief in Jesus in all areas of life. Thus, the more you see Jesus for who he is the more we will believe in him all areas of life the more you are getting sanctified. It is not I used to be a bad person, but now I am a better person. That is the wrong definition of sanctification. The gospel, in reality, will not show you how good you are, but will show you how awesome Jesus is. In light of that, we really see how bad off we really are and how much more of Jesus we need. We rally are evil.
We really are not good. We really have impure thoughts. We really do celebrate things God hates sometimes. We really are selfish. We really do have bad motives. We really seek to be popular.And this list goes on and on because in light of Jesus he shows the areas where we straight up are not believing or live in unbelief and worshipping incorrectly. Therefore, the more we grow in Jesus the less impressed we are by ourselves the older we get. That is called humility. Humility is an acute awareness of God’s kindness and graciousness of how we look like next to Jesus. It leads us to cry our for his love and to want more of him. So the more we see Jesus for who he is and the the more we see ourselves for who we are not, the closer we draw near to him in love and humility.
John 16:8-9
And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
The Spirit is here to convict us unto the righteousness of God so that we worship him in truth. So we need to understand that all sin is connected to a particular unbelief in God. Therefore the culture we create in our community is vital. Creating a gospel centered ministry and being a gospel centered individual means we have to rehearse the truths of the Gospel regularly. This means we have to regularly ask:
1. How is what I am believing in alignment with the Gospel of Jesus and who he is?
2. Am I taking all thoughts captive to the truth of the Gospel?
3. What is it that I am believing and what does it say about who God is in my life?
Therefore the gospel isn’t a technique it has to come from the overflow of your own heart. One cannot just begin to speak stuff we don’t believe. The truth is if we don’t understand the gospel, then gospel fluency will not happen.
One thing we need to continually do is always be asking each other, “What is the Gospel?” “What did God do?", “What is God doing?” and “What is God going to do?” all the time to continually reminding each other of the power and truth of the Gospel.
One thing I often here from others is people saying stuff like, “I am doing the gospel?”. But let’s be clear. We don’t do the gospel, the gospel does you. The gospel is the good news of what God has done, not of what your doing? Therefore, no one does the gospel, we live lives in light of the gospel. The gospel is working itself through you.
It about what he is doing not about what your doing. Paul stated this is the hope of glory Christ in you, not you for Christ. So we need to understand that if this order isn’t correct then we move out of the power of God and into our good deeds.
The implications of the gospel are we receive a new life, we are new creations in Christ, we receive the Spirit of God, we become sons and daughters, the spirit shows forth fruit of the new life we are living, and we beginning to be sanctified in life.
We need to be aware that sanctification is not moving from what I was doing to good works, but moving from unbelief in Jesus to belief in Jesus in all areas of life. Thus, the more you see Jesus for who he is the more we will believe in him all areas of life the more you are getting sanctified. It is not I used to be a bad person, but now I am a better person. That is the wrong definition of sanctification. The gospel, in reality, will not show you how good you are, but will show you how awesome Jesus is. In light of that, we really see how bad off we really are and how much more of Jesus we need. We rally are evil.
We really are not good. We really have impure thoughts. We really do celebrate things God hates sometimes. We really are selfish. We really do have bad motives. We really seek to be popular.And this list goes on and on because in light of Jesus he shows the areas where we straight up are not believing or live in unbelief and worshipping incorrectly. Therefore, the more we grow in Jesus the less impressed we are by ourselves the older we get. That is called humility. Humility is an acute awareness of God’s kindness and graciousness of how we look like next to Jesus. It leads us to cry our for his love and to want more of him. So the more we see Jesus for who he is and the the more we see ourselves for who we are not, the closer we draw near to him in love and humility.
In the above picture we see what our view of sanctification should be. At the point of conversions we have a degree of awareness of God’s holiness and our own sinfulness. However, as time moves forward and we learn the truth of Jesus and how the power of gospel works in our own lives, we begin to see the truth of God’s holiness and the cross becomes more significant to our walk. It shows us in light of Jesus we are sinful unbelievers who need his continual mercy, grace, and truth to set us free. Paul shows us our need in the book of Romans. Read Romans chapter 1 - 2:1 and lets look at it together.
Romans 1 – 2:1: The Progression of Idolatry
1. God is clear and plain to people through what he has made. He has made know his divine attributes, power, majesty, might splendor, creativity, etc..
2. We exchange the glory of the creator for the created things
3. Because we do that God gives us over to our lusts and things we choose to worship above him.(Debased Actions)
a. Whatever we look to give us deep abiding fulfillment is idolatry and God will give you over to those things.
b. At the core of who you are we are all worshipers worshiping something. Worship is not singing a song it
building your life upon something. The thing that is the center of your life that determines your thoughts,
behavior, and actions in your lives. The thing that has the most influence in your life is what you worship.
c. There crazy thing about false worship is that non of it works. It leads to a never ending continual striving for
more because it doesn’t ever satisfy because God is meant to satisfy you in all areas. .
4. When God gives you over to these things and when you become aware that it never satisfies our passions become distorted and we end up perverting that thing and our passions become twisted. (Debased Passions)
a. If we do this parenting we will turn our kids into something they were never meant to be.
b. If we do this in pornography we will pervert sex and sexuality.
c. If we do this with drinking we will become a drunk.
d. If we do this with food we will become a glutton.
e. If you do this with work you will become a workaholic.
f. When we fall into these things that we have given our lives to our actions not only show false worship but our passions will be perverted which can lead to accusations, hatefulness, gossip, jealousy, and slander.
5. He gave them over to a Debased Mind.
a. Now there minds are so twisted they see what is sin as normal and do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Verse 28-32 are the results of idolatry. We do these things because of bad worship
and not believing the truth of Jesus.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
(Romans 1:28–32, ESV)
The reality of what Paul is saying is that all of us have committed these acts of idolatry and every destructive behavior in our life is the result of us first starting with the wrong object of worship. Every sin we commit can always come back to wrong worship.
Paul in this exposition is showing us that worship started with a seed of faith that sprung up into a tree that produced fruit of rebelliousness through sin and improper worship. In every area where we have put our faith and trust in other than Jesus we want to ask the Spirit to help us see Jesus is the better. For example someone comes to you and you ask them how there day was and they respond by sating, “It was a horrible day at work!”
“Tell me about.”
“My boss is a jerk.”
Usually we would respond in agreement and say something like, “Yah, mine is to.” Then we start complaining and grumbling and already we have given in to false worship. It here where we have to realize that we have gone through the progression in Romans 1-2:1 really quick so much so that that we are now grumbling and backbiting (v1:30) and have fallen into sin in a matter of seconds and we are worshiping the wrong object, his boss. The moment you agree with them concerning their boss, we begin worshiping our boss because we have made him the fulcrum of your life. He became the center of all your actions, thoughts, and responses. Furthermore, we have aligned with the idea that this object of our worship has the power to make my life good or bad. It’s here we need to know what to do? The answer is to repent. But how do we repent? Well no one can repent unless they see that Jesus is a better boss. Repentance isn’t stop your complaining concerning your boss, its understanding you have made him a God in your life and returning to the truth of Jesus concerning this Your boss isn’t that guy who signed your paychecks. It is Jesus Christ, your Lord and King. He is an amazing boss. You want a raise understand you are a co-heir with Christ who has giving you all the riches of his kingdom. You can’t get any better pay than this. You want a high position? You have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. You want more affirmation? God told Jesus this is my Son in him I am well pleased! That promise if for all who are in Christ. Everything that is true of Christ is true of you. You have the best boss in the world. Repent and worship him as Lord.Trust in his goodness, kindness, and power. Instead of your earthly boss. So now we are reminded of the truth of Jesus and the object of our worship has changed and not
just our behavior.
We have to keep our eyes on Jesus the object of our worship. Therefore, our worship changes and we walk in the truth of the gospel. Being Christ Ambassadors is like being in that show undercover boss. He walks among other employees but his boss isn’t the same as theres. That is us. Our boss is the God of the universe. We walk as he did. Wee aren’t always treated well, maybe cheated or feeling cheated, and all the other things that could happen. Understanding God warned us of that, but we don’t have to take those burden on us because he took them. So if we aren’t aware we have to be humble enough to se that it is easy to fall into the progression Paul shows us in
Romans and become a false worshiper.
The Romans scripture makes all of us aware of how easy idolatry is in our own hearts. It shows us at the core of us why we do what we do. Idolatry is something that is evil because it attacks the root of our being and then we see the fruit.
Romans 1 – 2:1: The Progression of Idolatry
1. God is clear and plain to people through what he has made. He has made know his divine attributes, power, majesty, might splendor, creativity, etc..
2. We exchange the glory of the creator for the created things
3. Because we do that God gives us over to our lusts and things we choose to worship above him.(Debased Actions)
a. Whatever we look to give us deep abiding fulfillment is idolatry and God will give you over to those things.
b. At the core of who you are we are all worshipers worshiping something. Worship is not singing a song it
building your life upon something. The thing that is the center of your life that determines your thoughts,
behavior, and actions in your lives. The thing that has the most influence in your life is what you worship.
c. There crazy thing about false worship is that non of it works. It leads to a never ending continual striving for
more because it doesn’t ever satisfy because God is meant to satisfy you in all areas. .
4. When God gives you over to these things and when you become aware that it never satisfies our passions become distorted and we end up perverting that thing and our passions become twisted. (Debased Passions)
a. If we do this parenting we will turn our kids into something they were never meant to be.
b. If we do this in pornography we will pervert sex and sexuality.
c. If we do this with drinking we will become a drunk.
d. If we do this with food we will become a glutton.
e. If you do this with work you will become a workaholic.
f. When we fall into these things that we have given our lives to our actions not only show false worship but our passions will be perverted which can lead to accusations, hatefulness, gossip, jealousy, and slander.
5. He gave them over to a Debased Mind.
a. Now there minds are so twisted they see what is sin as normal and do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Verse 28-32 are the results of idolatry. We do these things because of bad worship
and not believing the truth of Jesus.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
(Romans 1:28–32, ESV)
The reality of what Paul is saying is that all of us have committed these acts of idolatry and every destructive behavior in our life is the result of us first starting with the wrong object of worship. Every sin we commit can always come back to wrong worship.
Paul in this exposition is showing us that worship started with a seed of faith that sprung up into a tree that produced fruit of rebelliousness through sin and improper worship. In every area where we have put our faith and trust in other than Jesus we want to ask the Spirit to help us see Jesus is the better. For example someone comes to you and you ask them how there day was and they respond by sating, “It was a horrible day at work!”
“Tell me about.”
“My boss is a jerk.”
Usually we would respond in agreement and say something like, “Yah, mine is to.” Then we start complaining and grumbling and already we have given in to false worship. It here where we have to realize that we have gone through the progression in Romans 1-2:1 really quick so much so that that we are now grumbling and backbiting (v1:30) and have fallen into sin in a matter of seconds and we are worshiping the wrong object, his boss. The moment you agree with them concerning their boss, we begin worshiping our boss because we have made him the fulcrum of your life. He became the center of all your actions, thoughts, and responses. Furthermore, we have aligned with the idea that this object of our worship has the power to make my life good or bad. It’s here we need to know what to do? The answer is to repent. But how do we repent? Well no one can repent unless they see that Jesus is a better boss. Repentance isn’t stop your complaining concerning your boss, its understanding you have made him a God in your life and returning to the truth of Jesus concerning this Your boss isn’t that guy who signed your paychecks. It is Jesus Christ, your Lord and King. He is an amazing boss. You want a raise understand you are a co-heir with Christ who has giving you all the riches of his kingdom. You can’t get any better pay than this. You want a high position? You have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. You want more affirmation? God told Jesus this is my Son in him I am well pleased! That promise if for all who are in Christ. Everything that is true of Christ is true of you. You have the best boss in the world. Repent and worship him as Lord.Trust in his goodness, kindness, and power. Instead of your earthly boss. So now we are reminded of the truth of Jesus and the object of our worship has changed and not
just our behavior.
We have to keep our eyes on Jesus the object of our worship. Therefore, our worship changes and we walk in the truth of the gospel. Being Christ Ambassadors is like being in that show undercover boss. He walks among other employees but his boss isn’t the same as theres. That is us. Our boss is the God of the universe. We walk as he did. Wee aren’t always treated well, maybe cheated or feeling cheated, and all the other things that could happen. Understanding God warned us of that, but we don’t have to take those burden on us because he took them. So if we aren’t aware we have to be humble enough to se that it is easy to fall into the progression Paul shows us in
Romans and become a false worshiper.
The Romans scripture makes all of us aware of how easy idolatry is in our own hearts. It shows us at the core of us why we do what we do. Idolatry is something that is evil because it attacks the root of our being and then we see the fruit.
Whenever we look at the fruit of our actions, passions, and thoughts it can always be trace back to the root of what we believe and are believing. When we look at the fruit there are four key questions we can ask when we are walking though it with people.
1. Who is God?
a. At the very root we have a picture of who God is that is directing our life. If it is not who God is in Jesus Christ
you are worshiping a false God.
2. What has God done?
3. Who are we as a result of question 1 & 2?
4. Is what I am doing and believing flow out of correct belief in Jesus?
1. Who is God?
a. At the very root we have a picture of who God is that is directing our life. If it is not who God is in Jesus Christ
you are worshiping a false God.
2. What has God done?
3. Who are we as a result of question 1 & 2?
4. Is what I am doing and believing flow out of correct belief in Jesus?
The above picture is analysis of how we want to trace the fruit of our behavior to the root of what we believe. We can do so by asking the four key questions starting from the bottom working through to the top. What we really want is the fruit of the Spirit, love joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, self control and we want the fruit of righteousness, which is love for God and love for others, and to love others as we love ourselves. These are the things we want to see in real action, but when we see something that is contrary to that, we have to trace the fruit to the root.
The world looks at life this way…
My doing --> leads to my being. (The world defines who we are based on what we do)
Christ teaches...
Being-->becoming
God says you do something because of who you are. It’s the opposite. The trick of the evil one is to flip it around on you. It is to say your behavior determines your identity. Not your identity determines your behavior. Jesus changes the language from what you do to who you are.
When God created Adam and Eve he created them in his identity and they operated from who they where in him and not from the point or perspective of having to appease him by what they did. They weren’t developing into his image they were creates in his image, God calls them to be fruitful and multiple (working through our 4 key questions). God didn’t say if you do this then you will become like me. No he basically tell them to do what you were created to do. DO what you are. The command to be fruitful and multiply comes from the God, the creator, to humans, he created, flowing from who they were in him. God had already created them to be everything he created them to be they were just operating out of who they were. So everything they did at that point was an expression of their faith in God.
The world says you are what you are because of what you done. God says you do something because of who you are. The trick of the evil one is to flip this around onyou. To say your behavior determines your identity and then your identity gets to tell the world who God is and what he is like. When Satan tempted them and said, “Eat
this fruit and you will be like God.” They had forgotten they were created like God in his very image and in their disobedience moved out of his grace into works.
Remember Romans 1 1-2:1 shows the natural inclination in all of us to be idolaters and the progression exposes the false worship and lies we believe shown by our behavior. It is very important to literarily get to the root of the problem by exposing our inward act of worship and the root of our behavior.
Case Study: Anxiety
I had some problems with anxiety. One day I was really bound up in Anxiety not experiencing freedom in Christ. Up front I want to say that Anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just the fruit of a deeper issue. So it can be used by God to show us an area where our worship might be off. This was true of me. So to get the root of I worked through the four questions. First I asked, “Right now who do I believe I am?”
"I believe I am in control."
“So why am I anxious?” because, "I don’t feel in control".
I thought about it and I began to think that I should be control of the world, my world. Although I know that not true or even right, I believe I should be in control. So I went to the next question.
“What do you believe about what God has done that leads you to a place of anxiety?”
I thought about it and I have felt like he had abandoned me.
“Anything else you believe?” He stopped loving me.
“What else?” He lost control and power.
I began to see that every question I answered was completely true of the God I was worshipping. The God I was believing in was not in control, had no power, did not love me and had abandoned me. The problem is that the God I was worshiping in that moment is not God. It was an idol of my own making. Upon that realization I began to think about those who are like me working through these areas in there life and as a Pastor some of the responses I had given them which basically can be summed up a single phrase by saying, “Don’t worry be happy.” In other words, I pushed toward behavior modification and not true repentance.
Phrase like “don’t worry be happy, and “God is in control” may be truth but there is no Gospel in them. We need the gospel to root out our unbelief in order to worship correctly. The only way for people to understand that God is control is to give them Jesus. He is the evidence that God is in control. Without Jesus there is no evidence that he is in control.
So sitting there in my anxiety I began to realize that I worshiped a God that is absent, unloving, and impotent. Prayerfully I shouted out and said to myself, “I don’t believe that.”
This led me to ask these same questions over from the perspective of what I actually do believe.
“What do I believe about God?” I believe God is loving.
“How do I know that he is loving?” The cross. (Romans 5:8)
“What else do I believe in God? “He is powerful.
“How do you know he is powerful?” because Jesus rose from the dead. If there was ever a time where it looked God was out of control it was when Jesus was hanging on a tree. The hope of Israel nailed to a tree. The hope of his disciples gazing upon.
They all watched as he screamed out, “God why have you forsaken me!” They all watched the god-man brought down lifeless from the cross and carried away into a tomb. If there was ever a day when it looked like God was out of control it had to be that day. Yet he conquered it and rose from the dead. He has shown us that he is in
control.
“Do I believe God is absent?” No, he is present.
“How do I know he is present?” By the Holy Spirit who lives in my heart. He said he would never leave me or forsake me and he has not left me.
I realized that In proclaiming the truth of Jesus in this area of my unbelief I had changed my worship and in doing so repented because I had changed my belief in a false God which I was believing and place on the truth of Jesus, the true God.
This is the process we need to live by and lead people through. The truth is that this is the process of sanctification that we need over and over again.
“So who am I? I am a son of God.
“What else?” I am more than a conqueror through him.
“What else?” I am not alone.
These truth moved me out of my anxiety and into God’s Rest and I felt peace, love, and real joy. I prayed and repented of the things I was believing and announced to Jesus what I really believe and his spirit rested in me. It was so awesome. The Gospel is good news.
The world looks at life this way…
My doing --> leads to my being. (The world defines who we are based on what we do)
Christ teaches...
Being-->becoming
God says you do something because of who you are. It’s the opposite. The trick of the evil one is to flip it around on you. It is to say your behavior determines your identity. Not your identity determines your behavior. Jesus changes the language from what you do to who you are.
When God created Adam and Eve he created them in his identity and they operated from who they where in him and not from the point or perspective of having to appease him by what they did. They weren’t developing into his image they were creates in his image, God calls them to be fruitful and multiple (working through our 4 key questions). God didn’t say if you do this then you will become like me. No he basically tell them to do what you were created to do. DO what you are. The command to be fruitful and multiply comes from the God, the creator, to humans, he created, flowing from who they were in him. God had already created them to be everything he created them to be they were just operating out of who they were. So everything they did at that point was an expression of their faith in God.
The world says you are what you are because of what you done. God says you do something because of who you are. The trick of the evil one is to flip this around onyou. To say your behavior determines your identity and then your identity gets to tell the world who God is and what he is like. When Satan tempted them and said, “Eat
this fruit and you will be like God.” They had forgotten they were created like God in his very image and in their disobedience moved out of his grace into works.
Remember Romans 1 1-2:1 shows the natural inclination in all of us to be idolaters and the progression exposes the false worship and lies we believe shown by our behavior. It is very important to literarily get to the root of the problem by exposing our inward act of worship and the root of our behavior.
Case Study: Anxiety
I had some problems with anxiety. One day I was really bound up in Anxiety not experiencing freedom in Christ. Up front I want to say that Anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just the fruit of a deeper issue. So it can be used by God to show us an area where our worship might be off. This was true of me. So to get the root of I worked through the four questions. First I asked, “Right now who do I believe I am?”
"I believe I am in control."
“So why am I anxious?” because, "I don’t feel in control".
I thought about it and I began to think that I should be control of the world, my world. Although I know that not true or even right, I believe I should be in control. So I went to the next question.
“What do you believe about what God has done that leads you to a place of anxiety?”
I thought about it and I have felt like he had abandoned me.
“Anything else you believe?” He stopped loving me.
“What else?” He lost control and power.
I began to see that every question I answered was completely true of the God I was worshipping. The God I was believing in was not in control, had no power, did not love me and had abandoned me. The problem is that the God I was worshiping in that moment is not God. It was an idol of my own making. Upon that realization I began to think about those who are like me working through these areas in there life and as a Pastor some of the responses I had given them which basically can be summed up a single phrase by saying, “Don’t worry be happy.” In other words, I pushed toward behavior modification and not true repentance.
Phrase like “don’t worry be happy, and “God is in control” may be truth but there is no Gospel in them. We need the gospel to root out our unbelief in order to worship correctly. The only way for people to understand that God is control is to give them Jesus. He is the evidence that God is in control. Without Jesus there is no evidence that he is in control.
So sitting there in my anxiety I began to realize that I worshiped a God that is absent, unloving, and impotent. Prayerfully I shouted out and said to myself, “I don’t believe that.”
This led me to ask these same questions over from the perspective of what I actually do believe.
“What do I believe about God?” I believe God is loving.
“How do I know that he is loving?” The cross. (Romans 5:8)
“What else do I believe in God? “He is powerful.
“How do you know he is powerful?” because Jesus rose from the dead. If there was ever a time where it looked God was out of control it was when Jesus was hanging on a tree. The hope of Israel nailed to a tree. The hope of his disciples gazing upon.
They all watched as he screamed out, “God why have you forsaken me!” They all watched the god-man brought down lifeless from the cross and carried away into a tomb. If there was ever a day when it looked like God was out of control it had to be that day. Yet he conquered it and rose from the dead. He has shown us that he is in
control.
“Do I believe God is absent?” No, he is present.
“How do I know he is present?” By the Holy Spirit who lives in my heart. He said he would never leave me or forsake me and he has not left me.
I realized that In proclaiming the truth of Jesus in this area of my unbelief I had changed my worship and in doing so repented because I had changed my belief in a false God which I was believing and place on the truth of Jesus, the true God.
This is the process we need to live by and lead people through. The truth is that this is the process of sanctification that we need over and over again.
“So who am I? I am a son of God.
“What else?” I am more than a conqueror through him.
“What else?” I am not alone.
These truth moved me out of my anxiety and into God’s Rest and I felt peace, love, and real joy. I prayed and repented of the things I was believing and announced to Jesus what I really believe and his spirit rested in me. It was so awesome. The Gospel is good news.