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Look in the Mirror
9 Plays11 months ago
Vernon comes back after a short holiday break and shares the first part of a 3-part series on Walking Free - Critical Elements to Experience Your Victory in Christ. This is a shortened version of what he shared with an incredible group from Argentina. Today on this episode he asks, "what do you see when you look in the mirror?"
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Transcript
Podcast Resumption
00:00:03
Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free! And we're back and we're back after
00:00:24
Speaker
a somewhat extended break, aren't we? Unannounced break, but that's what the holidays and this Christmas season tends to do sometimes, doesn't it?
Surprise NASCAR Trip
00:00:35
Speaker
It has been an incredible ride for our family. A lot of fun, actually, because we took our son, who is 25, he's autistic, and one of the things he loves is NASCAR.
00:00:52
Speaker
And so we did a surprise trip to Daytona and you guessed it. We went to the Daytona international Speedway and Oh my goodness. That thing is huge. We got to go out on the track.
00:01:13
Speaker
as part of the tour, of course, we went in and he saw the statue of one of his favorite folks, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and he wanted me to video him doing this conversation with Dale, so I did, and he's talking to Dale and saying, you know, God bless you, Dale, and you were this and that,
Daytona Experience
00:01:40
Speaker
It was a very touching tribute to Dale, but we got to go out also on the tour, actually on the track, and I could not believe, I'm not a NASCAR person, and I didn't know much, and when we were on that track, those turns, it's a two and a half mile track. What is it, five football fields, long crazy.
00:02:07
Speaker
It's a 31 degree angle on those big turns. 31 degree, that's, you know, that's crazy. The guy said that the car has to be going a minimum of 55 miles an hour, or it will tumble over. And even the finish line, you know, when you see the finish line, it looks just like a flat finish line. That's because the camera is up so high, looking straight down, it misses
00:02:36
Speaker
the angle, I believe it's 18 degrees. We were able to stop and walk up and write our names on the finish line, but you had to walk up backwards. It was too hard to walk straight up. It was incredible. So that has little to do with what I want to talk about today, but it was fun. It was great. And we had a fun time.
00:03:06
Speaker
We have been traveling and out and about and had our Christmas party for Grace Ministries International for the local Georgia folks. It's been a good couple of weeks.
Argentinian Zoom Session
00:03:19
Speaker
But today, I had the opportunity to speak with some folks in Argentina. This is through the power of Zoom and the internet. Don't you love it?
00:03:32
Speaker
This is the second time I spoke with this wonderful group of individuals, of course, through a translator. My Spanish is not even at a Dora the Explorer level, but wonderful translators that were able to even translate my southern accent.
00:03:54
Speaker
this last presentation for this group of individuals who are going through something similar to what we would call at Grace Ministries our encounter seven month program with three hour sessions or each week there's a three hour session. And so they have a similar routine. And so I was presenting for three hours.
00:04:24
Speaker
this particular, I know some of you are like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I know, I know.
Victory in Christ Introduction
00:04:30
Speaker
But we were talking about this idea of what this podcast is, Walking Free. How do you experience the victory that you already have in Christ and three major elements? And I thought I would just briefly
00:04:51
Speaker
share some of those ideas, and we've talked about them before. I mean, we talk about them all the time on this podcast, but they're so important, and I think the critical elements are really wrapped around these ideas, and these are foundational. There's so much depth, so much you can go into these, but I'm gonna hit
00:05:20
Speaker
I think I'm gonna do each one in a separate podcast. But the first idea is the idea of looking in the mirror. And the second idea is understanding everything you need.
00:05:39
Speaker
everything you need. And then finally, and I think the third one is what we often miss. So that'll be in the third session or the third podcast around this idea.
00:05:56
Speaker
and it's the idea of being fully engaged. I think we miss this. I think it's what often causes us to not really experience.
Element 1: Self-Reflection
00:06:08
Speaker
But all of these are foundational and I think important and this first idea is really looking in the mirror. And I ask the question, and I'll ask you the question, why do you typically look in a mirror?
00:06:25
Speaker
You get up in the morning or you're going out and you look in a mirror. Why do you look in a mirror? Well, we often look in a mirror to focus on what? On what is wrong? And then we try to fix it. And we're programmed that way. Oh, there's a mirror. Let me look. Everything look okay. If not, what do I do? I need to fix it. I need to adjust. I need to tweak. And that,
00:06:55
Speaker
does not work in the Christian life. And yes, there's things we can correct, and it's good to understand that when, yeah, if we're doing something wrong, oh, identify and correct, I get that. But I wanna give you a new slant on it. We've talked about it before. When you look at a mirror,
00:07:17
Speaker
I would like you and me to stop focusing on what is wrong with you. Stop looking to find every flaw. There's plenty. I'll tell you right now, there's plenty. I want you to focus on what is right with you. And we kind of get this idea
Spiritual Freedom
00:07:46
Speaker
of looking in the mirror, Paul uses this illustration in 2 Corinthians chapter three, and he kind of starts off talking about where Paul's bringing up Moses, and if you go down in verse 15, I'm just gonna skip a little bit, but I want you to read really starting at 2 Corinthians three verse 12, but in verse 15,
00:08:17
Speaker
Paul says this, but to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. I love that order. It's when we turn to the Lord, when we receive Christ, when we receive his forgiveness, he's the one. This veil is taken away.
00:08:48
Speaker
And then he makes this statement in verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit. I think that is crazy important. The Lord Jehovah is the Spirit. Jesus said, I and the Father are one. We serve one God. Jesus and the Father are one. Get a hold of that.
00:09:18
Speaker
The Father, the Lord, is the Spirit. Jesus is the Spirit. He said, when I go away, I will come to you. I'm gonna send the Spirit. Wow. Again, we serve one God. And he does manifest in three persons, his Father, Son, Holy Spirit, this Trinity, but one. Now the Lord is the Spirit.
00:09:49
Speaker
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Isn't that incredible? Where is the Spirit of the Lord? The Spirit of the Lord is in you. You're in him. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. You have freedom right now. You have all the freedom you're gonna get
00:10:19
Speaker
right now in Christ, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. That's where you are. You're in him, he's in you. And there's freedom. But we don't always experience that freedom because we get distracted. We get deceived.
00:10:47
Speaker
And he continues, so understand that, first of all, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. The Spirit of the Lord is in you. You're in him. You have freedom. We got that? Well, he continues in 2 Corinthians 3, 18. But we all, with unveiled faith, that's important, right? We have an unveiled faith because we have received Christ.
00:11:17
Speaker
And that veil is taken away so we can see clearly now. We can see clearly now that I won't sing it. Okay. But we all with unveiled face be holding here's the illustration as in a mirror. So when you look in a mirror, what do you see? This is not a trick question. When you look in a mirror, you see your reflection.
00:11:45
Speaker
What do you see in the mirror? Do you see all your flaws? Do you see your past that just keeps haunting you? Do you see a failure? Do you see just that dirty rotten center? What do you see? We have an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror. And this next part is so critical.
00:12:16
Speaker
We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. You see, we don't see the glory of the Lord. We see our reflection. We see every flaw. We see stuff we need to fix. I want you to look in a mirror and I want you to see past that exterior. See past your past.
00:12:45
Speaker
See past your failure and look in the mirror and see the glory of the Lord. That's you because you're in him and he's in you. He's made you glorious. He's given you his righteousness. And I believe to the extent
00:13:13
Speaker
of what we see in the mirror is the extent that we're going to experience victory. You're not going to experience victory if you can't see the real you. And that's why when we turned the Lord, he took the veil off, you can see. There's often things that get in the way
00:13:40
Speaker
and that need to be dealt with and sometimes, honestly, you need a little help to deal with those and to face them and to remove those distractions so you can see clearly. But we all, with unveiled face, be holding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. When you can do that, when
Transformation through Glory
00:14:07
Speaker
you can see
00:14:09
Speaker
In the mirror, the glory of the Lord, what happens? He says, are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory. Now that is incredible. When you can see in the mirror the glory of the Lord, you're being transformed into what? Into what you see?
00:14:39
Speaker
You know, if you can't see it, then you're not gonna be transformed. And notice the transformation is happening to you. You aren't fixing yourself to transform yourself. You are being transformed into that same image that you see. From glory to glory, I love that.
00:15:03
Speaker
So many ways you can apply that, but it's a pattern from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to more. You're growing in expressing his glory. Where's it coming from? Just as from the Lord, the Spirit. This transformation is coming from the Lord. It's his transforming your experience.
00:15:33
Speaker
So again, that first part, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the spirit. Wow. That's the process of transformation.
00:16:02
Speaker
And this is where you have to give yourself a break and say, it's not fast enough. I should be this far along. You know what? Lay aside the shoulds and the aughts and where you think you should be and keep looking in the mirror and thank God for where you are. Thank God for his transforming power in your life. You are being transformed. It's happening.
00:16:29
Speaker
Keep looking in the mirror. Keep seeing His glory and the new creation in Christ that you are. You know, I created this little card that I would give out. I gave it out when I worked with inmates in the local county jail. I would give it out to students, to whomever, but it says this. It says, until the reality
00:16:58
Speaker
within you is real. What's the reality within you? It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's the new creation you've been made in Christ until the reality within you is real. It's real to you. You see it. You believe it. You own it. I want you to own it until the reality within you is real. The real will never be your reality that is in your experience.
00:17:27
Speaker
So until the reality within you is real, the real will never be your reality. I want you to look in the mirror. I want you to see the glory of the Lord that is in you because it's the truth. And you've got to see past the flaws. You've got to see all the way to your core of who you really are. That is the truth.
00:17:58
Speaker
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image. It's happening from glory to glory, and it's coming from, empowered by, the Lord, the Spirit. Now, here's the lie.
00:18:25
Speaker
Here's the lie that the enemy wants you to believe. The enemy wants you to believe that something is wrong with you. If he can get you to believe that lie, then you're gonna be in this endless loop of trying to fix what is wrong with you. I've got good news. There is nothing wrong with you.
Rejecting Deceit
00:18:57
Speaker
God made you a brand new you. There's nothing wrong with you. Yes, do you make bad choices at times? Yep. Do you act unkind at times? Yep. But at the very core, you need to know this. There's nothing wrong with you. The enemy wants you to believe that you know,
00:19:25
Speaker
If you're so righteous, why are you, fill in the blank, if you're so holy, why did you fill in the blank? The enemy wants to attack you at your very core. Don't buy into it. It's a lie. The truth is that God has made you perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. That is the truth.
00:19:56
Speaker
I want you to really meditate and sit with that for a moment that God has made you perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. Rest in that for a moment. That is really the first idea in this concept of walking free,
00:20:26
Speaker
of experiencing the victory that you already have, you need to realize that there's nothing wrong with you, and that God has made you perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. So again, that quote, until the reality within you is real, do you believe that? Do you know that?
00:20:59
Speaker
Because until the reality within you is real, the real will never be your reality. Now next time, we're going to look at this idea of everything you need. But until we jump into that, I want you to take some time. I want you to get out a piece of paper.
00:21:28
Speaker
and I want you to write down and journal what prevents you from seeing the new you in the mirror? What prevents you?
Journaling and Guidance
00:21:45
Speaker
What hinders you from seeing the new you in the mirror? So just get out a piece of paper, get on your electronic device and type it out, whatever works for you.
00:21:58
Speaker
But what prevents you, hinders you from seeing the new you in the mirror? And as you write it down, I want you then to ask the father, Father, what is true about these things? What would you have me
00:22:21
Speaker
What action would you have me do to address these ideas that prevent me from seeing the real me and the new me in the mirror? And that'll be for this week just your time of meditating and thinking and processing because there's something that is preventing and hindering you.
00:22:51
Speaker
You say, oh no, you know, this isn't a big deal for me. Okay, awesome. This isn't. But would you just take a moment to ponder, is there anything that might be distorting? Maybe you do see your new you, but maybe there's a little distortion in there. Is there something that's gnawing at you?
00:23:19
Speaker
That might be this little seed of doubt. Write that down. Write it down. Bring it into the light. And then say, Father, show me what you want me to do with this. Have that dialogue with the Father. And I guarantee you, or your money back, he'll speak to you in that quiet moment. And say, my child, let me share some good news.
00:23:51
Speaker
I hope this is encouraging to you. Again, this is the first part in this little three-part mini series on experiencing the victory we have in Christ or walking free. So remember, as we always say, it may be time, and I don't know what it's gonna look like for you, but it may be time
00:24:20
Speaker
to stop talking about it and take some action, whatever that step of faith is for you, and start walking.
Closing Encouragement
00:24:31
Speaker
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.