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Own it!
12 Plays3 years ago
Vernon encourages us through 2 Peter 1 to "own it", that is, to own your recovery and your walk in Christ! No one will do it for you, and you have everything you need in Christ to walk free.
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Transcript
Introduction to Walking Free
00:00:03
Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free!
Owning Recovery in Faith
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome back, this is Vernon, and I wanted to talk about this idea of owning our recovery. If you're one who's in recovery, or if you're one who has been struggling, own it. You are your best advocate for your walk with Jesus Christ.
00:00:49
Speaker
And yes, the church will sometimes let you down and organizations will let you down and people will let you down. That's going to happen. Don't let that be an excuse that you use to remain in defeat.
Walking in Faith with Divine Power
00:01:12
Speaker
I want you to know, and I think Peter wanted his readers to know the same thing, that you have the decision, you have a decision to make. And that decision is to know who you are and to walk in it. And I didn't say it's easy, if it was easy,
00:01:38
Speaker
Organizations like Grace Ministries International would not exist. It's not easy, but you and I need to own our walk. No one else is going to do it for you. No one's going to do it for me. And I love how Peter, and I've spoken in podcasts and other messages on this passage, and I will again, because I love it so much, but in second Peter chapter one,
00:02:09
Speaker
Verse one, Peter says, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. Okay, believer, this is for you. By the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Seeing that, here it comes. This is the message.
Divine Power and Knowledge for Godliness
00:02:40
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His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. You have everything you need for life and godliness. It's been granted to you by His divine power. Let's wrap our heads around that.
00:03:05
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Let's not run away from that. Let's not say, oh, it's not true for me. It is true for you. Oh, Vernon, you don't know my circumstances and all the things working against me. I understand. I may not fully understand because every situation is unique, but yes, you have it hard. So do I at times. You may have it much harder. This word is still for you.
00:03:35
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His divine power has granted to you everything pertaining to life, the zoe life, the life of Christ and godliness. How? Through. Through. And this is the process of how we can access it. Through.
00:04:01
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the true knowledge of him who is called us by his own glory and excellence. And this word, epinosis, is a more intense word than just the gnosis or knowledge. It expresses
00:04:23
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as Spire Zodiacis would say, this more thorough participation in the acquiring of the knowledge. You have to participate in the knowing. It requires your and my participation through the true knowledge of him, knowing him in your walk.
00:04:50
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who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these, verse four, he is granted to us, he's bestowed and given to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them, here it is, you may become partakers of the divine nature.
Partakers of Divine Nature
00:05:15
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You are a partaker.
00:05:19
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a companion partaking in and with and through this divine nature because we've been made a brand new creation in Christ. And the Holy Spirit is residing in us. We are joined with Him in union with the God of the universe.
00:05:46
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And so we partake of His divine nature. The power and the victory inherent in the divine nature. But you see, you and I have to own that. It's not a program that you can go participate in, nothing against programs.
00:06:08
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It's not a church that you go and get fueled up. You're fueled up already. Churches are great. Participate and get involved, but don't depend on them for your victory. It's not gonna happen. Don't depend on a counselor or a counseling organization for your victory. It's not gonna happen. You have to participate in the knowing.
00:06:35
Speaker
because his divine power has granted to you and I everything pertaining to life and godliness. You say, I'm not walking godly, you are godly. And he's given you everything for life and godliness through the knowledge, and that's, again, your active participation in the knowing of him who called you and I by his own glory and excellence.
00:07:07
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and you have become a partaker because of His promise of Christ in you. You are partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust, having escaped, having fled from, in fact,
00:07:38
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You're dead to sin, Paul tells us, and
Active Participation in Christ's Knowledge
00:07:42
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alive to God. You have literally escaped from that and you're joined with Him forever.
00:07:55
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I want you to experience that in your life. And the first step is owning your own recovery. Owning your own walk. Not looking to someone or something else. Not some incredible book. Books are great. Read them. I've got one called Stop Fighting Start Living.
00:08:15
Speaker
unraveling temptation? It's a little book, but nonetheless, books aren't the answer. They're great resources. The answer is Christ in you, his life in you, and you're partaking in that divine nature, having already escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. And yes, we are in the world. We live in this world, and this world is
00:08:44
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out is working against us and the enemies in the world deceiving us. The world itself and the system deceives us. That's why he says, and he continues, now for this very reason also, applying all diligence
00:09:05
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in your faith, and he starts this poetic series of sentences that say, in your faith and from your faith, supply moral excellence. And that's from faith, knowing who you are, knowing you're a partaker of the divine nature, begin walking in faith
00:09:35
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in moral excellence, and in that knowledge, and in that self-control, and in that self-control, that perseverance, and in the perseverance godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
Taking Steps of Faith
00:09:55
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This is all from your faith. Why faith? Because you don't see the truth of who you are. You have to take it by faith. You don't see the fact that you're joined in union with him. You take it by faith. It's true, but you don't see it. That's why it's a walk by faith, but you can walk it out and experience the power of it.
00:10:20
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You say, I don't feel very moral, so I guess I can't act. Yes, you can. Yes, you can act. You can walk by faith and say, yes, thank God I have his power. I'm joined with him. I'm going to go walk in the excellence of Christ in me and allow that varied life of Christ and his power to express that through me.
00:10:47
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And he says in verse 8, if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the what? That same word, true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so these connect, verse 8, connects with verse 3.
00:11:09
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seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. How? Through the true knowledge, participating in the knowing of him. He's giving you everything for life and godliness and it's through the true knowledge. So how do you make that real? Well, in your faith and applying all diligence
00:11:40
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supply moral excellence. In your faith, and in that moral excellence, supply knowledge. That's just the Gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S, transliterated word. And in your knowledge, self-control. You say,
00:12:10
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I need to go and have self-control to gain more self-control. That's why it then says in that, your perseverance, bearing up under patience and endurance. You go out by faith, you walk in faith, exercising self-control because you have the spirit in you and his fruit is what? Self-control.
00:12:40
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You can exercise self-control by faith because that is the fruit of the spirit and you're asking Christ to express the self-control by his divine power in you and through you. You see, the enemy wants to deceive you that you have no self-control. That's not you. Yes, you do.
00:13:06
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begin walking by faith in that self-control because it is a fruit of the spirit. Trust him. Trust his power in life in you to express that self-control through you. That's why it's applying all diligence in your faith, in your faith. Supply these things. It's all started by faith. That's why this is a walk of faith.
00:13:34
Speaker
And I want to encourage you that yes, you can be loving because Christ is loving in you. Yes, you can be holy because Christ has made you holy. Yes, you can exercise self-control because Christ in you can exercise self-control. Don't believe the lie of the enemy that this is not you.
00:14:00
Speaker
Don't believe the world saying, no, that's not your personality. Yes, we all have different hard wiring and different talents and different tendencies based on our human hard wiring. I understand that. But the fruit of the Spirit is universal for all believers, regardless of personality. Some exercise self-control out of their own strength. They do their own grit.
00:14:28
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their own wit and grit, and they buck up and they make things happen. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about trusting Christ in you to exercise his fruit of self-control. This is the bearing of the fruit. This isn't the producing fruit. This is what John said in John 15.
00:14:58
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where he says, abide in the vine. And abiding is not a work that we do. When we received Christ, we're now have a new location where we live and abide. It's in the vine. And we rest in the vine. We don't say, all right, I'm a branch and I'm going to make this fruit happen. No, you rest in the vine and let the life of the vine.
00:15:24
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As a branch, you let the life of the vine flow through you as a branch to grow the fruit. And you know what? Your walk will not be perfect. Stop worrying so much about all the behavior and all how it looks and how your fruit looks. Trust Christ and begin walking in his fruit.
00:15:46
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He's bearing fruit, his desire and his life will always produce fruit. We need to get out of the way and by faith trust that you know what he is, producing fruit. He is loving through me. He can and he is and it is his desire to do so.
Unconditional Love in Relationships
00:16:12
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So don't wait for some lightning strike. Don't wait for a feeling to feel, I think I feel a little more holy today. I think I can do the holy thing. No, I want you right now to thank God that he has made you holy. Thank God that he's made you victorious. And go be that. Go be who you are. Because he is victorious through you and he is loving through you. You can love your spouse right now.
00:16:44
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You can love your spouse right now. And it does hurt when you don't receive that love back. It does hurt when they're not acting in a kind way to you. But you can love them and you can be gracious toward them.
00:17:10
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Now I will always qualify this as if you're in a relationship where you're not safe, you're being hurt emotionally, physically, especially physically. If you're not physically safe, you need to get the safety. Number one, that's the most loving thing you can do. That's the most loving thing you can do for your spouse or the one who is hurting you because you can break the cycle and you need to break the cycle.
00:17:40
Speaker
Because as long as you're in that cycle, you're enabling the cycle to continue. So someone needs to break it, and it's the safe thing for you to do. Get the safety. But if you are safe, and maybe your spouse isn't on the same page right now where you are, love them unconditionally. And yes, that may require sacrifice, but love them.
00:18:09
Speaker
Be kind, pray for them. For your parents, pray for them. For that sibling, love them, be kind to them. Let them see the fruit of the spirit that is in you. Relationships, that's where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? It doesn't mean you can't tell them how you feel and what you need.
00:18:37
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Absolutely, as the Lord directs, absolutely. That's loving too. But love. Exercise self-control by God's grace. Have the moral, conscious, and fortitude that is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
First-Century Faith in Action
00:19:01
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Peter tells us that his divine power has granted to you everything for life, godliness, and that's through the true knowledge of him. And that is you participating in the knowing of him, the experiencing of that life. And the way you do that
00:19:32
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is number one, believing it, and then number two, walking in it. Believing and understanding is half the battle. Now, get out, put your shoes on and start walking the holiness, walking the love. That's what changed the world.
00:19:56
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It wasn't just a message or a sermon that changed the world. It was believers out there loving in a society that had to be self-centered, if you will, just to survive. There weren't corner grocery stores and convenience stores on every corner. Famine was real. Getting daily food was real.
00:20:23
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You didn't go to Starbucks every day when you wanted a latte. There was a struggle. And here's these first century Christians out there sharing and loving and taking up offerings one for another generosity. We take that for granted today and we have donations and people who give, it just wasn't like that.
00:20:53
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Yet they did and they turned the world upside down because Christ in them, they knew and experienced the power for life and godliness. And we've lost some of that. So I encourage you, it's not gone anywhere. You have everything you need right now for life and godliness. Now begin the walk, begin the journey, take the step, whatever that step is for you.
00:21:23
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and experience His power, His victory, His joy, His abundance in you and through you, because you have Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Relying on Christ for Godliness
00:21:39
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So let me encourage you, if you need counseling, go to a counselor. If you need discipleship,
00:21:49
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Find the resources you need to grow and learn, but don't make those and don't depend on those as your source of life.
00:22:07
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because they'll eventually let you down. Turn to the author and finisher of your faith, Jesus Christ, and the one who is in you, always loving you, always caring for you, never leaving, never forsaking. His power in you is what you need to tap into and to experience life and godliness. So don't talk about it.
00:22:38
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Don't have a nice chat and then put it away for the next podcast or the next sermon or the next book. I want you to stop talking and start walking.
Closing and Further Information
00:22:50
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gmint.org. That's gminc.org.