announcement: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace podcast, where we celebrate and explore the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tune in to the Waking Up to Grace podcast on every major platform. You can also listen to our episodes and read our full transcripts at wakinguptogracecom. And now here's Lenny.

Lenny: 0:22

When I think of the most resilient and determined people that I know, my father-in-law immediately comes to mind. This man and his wife have persevered through some serious hardship, and he'll still tell funny stories and laugh about life in order to bring some light into the lives of others around him. Thoughtfulness is something that most times seems to come naturally to him. He's incredibly great at encouraging others and giving good advice when someone is willing to listen, all this while being as stubborn as a mule. It's truly awesome. I've never met his equal. By the grace of God, scott survived a three to five percent chance of living. I remember going down the elevator for his first surgery, him and I facing each other. He put on a comical face displaying concern while pointed at a button on the elevator. I looked down to see that the button read H-E-L-P in capital letters. All we could do is smirk at each other. To this day, I'm still amazed at how he found humor in that moment and desired to make me smile. Scott was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Entering into another round of life-threatening illness, he woke up and couldn't move his leg. It was completely paralyzed. Laughing, he began his story of the trip to the hospital, walking up to the receptionist's desk like the slowest grandpa ever, scott chuckled. I was nearly overtaken by a very well-dressed woman and her family. The woman had a small cut on her chin that was bleeding. As I began to try and explain my situation to the receptionist on a phone, through a pane of security glass, the woman and her family crowded around me closely and with great anxiety. The woman went on and on complaining about the service and asking who decided what was first priority in this place. I'm bleeding, she exclaimed. I'm thinking to myself. She saw how I barely made it in here. What is she trying to say? I managed to get through that situation and into a room where they would begin some testing. I'm on my own in this room and all these terrible things start coming up on the monitor in front of me. It looked like what you would find on the internet, trying to self-diagnose yourself. One thing after another popping up on the monitor RO this and RO that. These things were absolutely terrible. I thought I can't imagine what they're going to tell me when they come back in the room. I began looking up each condition on my phone as it popped up on the screen I'm dead, I'm totally dead. The nurse opens the door, smiling, and comes in to give me the news we can't find anything wrong with you, scott. Looks like you're getting some arthritis. Though what Are you sure? The screen said I had RO this and RO that. All these terrible issues oh, that's just the doctor's notes. She explained holding back a giggle. Ro means rule out. The doctor just wanted to rule out all those things, to be sure. Wow, all that and I have arthritis. Scott exclaimed to Melissa over the phone. "'wow, all that and I have arthritis'. Scott exclaimed to Melissa over the phone.

Lenny: 3:27

"'i gotta say I love this guy. "'i don't know how he remains so upbeat through some of the craziest situations one might imagine, "'but then, as I say that I do know how "'Scott has Christ living in him. "'he has the counselor guiding him through life "'When Melissa and I told him how encouraging it has been watching him cling to Christ through these trials, he simply says what other option is there? Who else has the power to help me? I love that attitude.

Lenny: 3:52

The thing I want you to see about these stories is that so often the things that we worry about never actually happen. Our minds, a lot like the monitor in Scott's room, will come up with all kinds of ideas. Minds a lot like the monitor in Scott's room. We'll come up with all kinds of ideas, but what is really going to happen in our lives is only for our Heavenly Father to know and for us to have to find out. There are countless things that we experience daily that leave us with uncertainty. Not knowing what is going to happen can cause so much anxiety in our lives. It even put us at the end of our proverbial rope. So what do we do? Let go and hang on to what you do know. Our Lord doesn't leave us in a state of uncertainty going through life. He has already told us the end of the story and is a better happy ending than any man-made fairy tale.

Lenny: 4:36

Death has been defeated. Under the old covenant, life was everything. Death meant going down to Sheol to take a dirt nap while awaiting redemption. Under the old covenant, prosperity was a sign of faithful obedience. It was a blessing to live out your years.

Lenny: 4:53

After Christ finished his work, this outlook changed. Our Lord literally defeated death. For those who trust in him, when we accept the gift of God's grace, we are brought back into the right relationship with God that Adam and Eve shared before the fall. Christ Yeshua brought life back to mankind, spiritually and eternally. We are now alive to our Heavenly Father, and although these earthly bodies will perish, we will never die. We will be given a body fit for the heavenly realms. Now that death has been defeated, we no longer have to fear it. We are told our kingdom is not of this world. When Christ comes to dwell in us, we enter into the unseen kingdom where righteousness reigns in him. We are now in Christ and have all the benefits that go with that. We can come to the Father anytime and his face is always shining upon us. This is all thanks to the new and better covenant that we live under, thanks to our amazing Lord and Savior, christ Yeshua.

Lenny: 5:48

Under the old covenant, yahweh would turn away from his people in wrath for unfaithfulness. Justice needed to be served, but now, under the new covenant, we are justified and protected by his faithfulness. 2 Timothy 2.13 reads If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. This passage is important. We always have to remember that. Our scriptures teach us that our Lord will work out all things for his good purpose. Yahweh can make good even from the bad in our lives, and often we will experience spiritual growth later on from times in our lives that we were doing it all wrong. Thank God that his faithfulness is so much bigger than ours. But we have the incredible benefit of going through life knowing that death and sin have been put away and we have been made right with our Lord forever.

Lenny: 6:39

If it weren't for this truth, we could never perceive the true benefit of Peter's teaching in this letter. 1 Peter, 5, 6, and 7 says humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that, at the proper time, he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Peter tells us to cast all of our anxieties on the Lord, and we can't overlook the detail of what he wrote right after that. Because he cares for you, our Father in heaven cares for us. We can always count on that. He's never working against us, even if it might appear that way on the surface. Do you know the meaning of the popular WWJD slogan? What would Jesus do? We could ask that question in every situation we encounter in life, and there is always one answer Jesus would depend on the Father.

Lenny: 7:29

In John 5.19, yeshua said Truly truly, I say to you the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise, for the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. So Christ teaches that he depended on the Father while in his human body. That is how he operated, in full dependency of the Father. And then in John 15, 5, yeshua says I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is. That bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can. Our Lord, then, teaches us the same type of dependency in him. So what would Jesus do? What would Jesus want you to do? Trust in him, depend on him, look to him, praise him, cry to him. He wants to be part of our lives, and that involves us recognizing that we can do nothing apart from him and that we can do all things in him. Philippians 4.13 says I can do all things through him, who strengthens me.

Lenny: 8:35

Our Lord taught us about the importance of what we depend on in Matthew 6.19. Yeshua said Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Christ Yeshua is not telling us that having money is evil. He is telling us that you cannot serve God and money.

Lenny: 9:25

We will be controlled by what we depend on. If our focus is self-effort and making money, we will be controlled by self-effort and money. If we find our identity in things that we have earned with our money, if we find our identity in our job or our financial status, then our lives are about serving money. In order to be free from this trap, we need to look past what is seen in order to honor what is unseen. Our Lord is much greater than our ability to provide for ourselves. When we call on the Lord for all things, we honor him. When we depend on him, we also serve him. If we depend on self-effort, we'll be controlled by the world and the flesh. When we depend on our Lord, we're guided by the Spirit. It's not as though we'll immediately be perfect at these things. We'll spend the rest of our lives waking up to this grace that we have been freely given by Yahweh. The more we look to Him, the more we grow. Much like plants will grow as they reach for the sun, we will grow as we reach for the Son of God.

Lenny: 10:25

This truth begins with understanding, but is an experience we live out in Christ. Christ living in and through us is what grace living is all about. When we put our trust in Christ Yeshua, he'll live his life in and through our experiences and we will understand what Paul wrote in Romans 12. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. This renewal of the mind is what waking up to grace is all about. It's a lifelong journey that we're taking, with our Lord guiding our way. As our minds become renewed, we can begin to wrap our heads around what our Lord taught his disciples in Matthew 6.25.

Lenny: 11:19

Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, o you of little faith?

Lenny: 12:07

Therefore, do not be anxious saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink or what shall we wear For the Gentiles. Seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient, for the day is its own trouble. There are two things that can literally drive us crazy as humans Living in past events and regretfulness and worrying about what will happen in the future. Yeshua tells us not to be anxious about tomorrow. There's enough trouble today Now. These words were before his finished work on the cross. We need to take that into account. He says but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. By this he spoke of what they would receive in the future when they received the Holy Spirit.

Lenny: 13:04

It was another way of teaching dependency on the Lord and focusing on the spiritual realm. I mean when he says and which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan? How true is that? When you really think about it? What are you trying to achieve by obsessively worrying about things? What good does it do? It only leaves you focusing on all the things you have no control over and not focusing on the one who can actually help and bring you peace. The more areas of our life that we surrender to the Lord, the more peace we will receive in return. That's just a fact. The more we let go of our worry and cast our anxiety on the Lord, the more free we become in Christ.

Lenny: 13:43

Is it hard to surrender? It's just a matter of letting go. In theory, it should be easy, but our pride is our biggest enemy. We hang on to anxiety like it's some kind of obligation, some kind of duty. Have you ever found yourself in distress because you felt like that was just what you were supposed to be doing? I know I have, and it's quite silly stepping out of that and seeing myself doing it.

Lenny: 14:07

As Paul taught us in Romans 12,. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. It's all about trust. If we're going to display trust in the Lord, we have to let go of whatever it is that we're trusting him with. If I was telling you I'm trusting you to care for my dog, but would not hand you the leash, how would that look If he tried to gently take hold of the leash and I wouldn't let go? Would that display trust? Even worse, what would you think if, as you were walking away with my dog, you turned around and I was hanging onto its tail, gripping it for dear life? We will do well to realize how direct Paul's statement was in his letter to the Romans.

Lenny: 15:03

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. This would imply trusting the Lord with our very existence. This would hold nothing back. But how is that even realistic? By the mercies of God, paul says do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The less we depend on the things of the world, the more we find dependency in Christ. This is how we can also follow Peter's teaching from earlier. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that, at the proper time, he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Another important point to recognize from this passage is that we cannot cast anxiety on the Lord if we don't have any. This passage doesn't teach us that we will not have anxiety, but rather teaches us what to do with it when we do have it. So to be clear, we're not taught that it is wrong to have anxiety, but what causes our anxiety to increase and consume our lives? It might not be what you think, but this passage actually tells us the answer. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

Lenny: 16:19

Peter tells his audience yes, once again, it is pride that causes this behavior in us. Proud and humble go together about as well as law and grace. There's no mixing the two. If you add just a little pride, it's no longer humble. If you add a little law, it's no longer grace. Pride is not a holy thing unless it's in Christ. Our Lord is not impressed by our pride.

Lenny: 16:43

In Luke 10, 17, we read the 72 returned with joy saying Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them I saw, this was how Yahweh celebrated the first Pride Day. Satan was the perfect example of pride. If you look up pride in your dictionary, it should have a picture of Satan. I'm not trying to shame you guys.

Lenny: 17:09

This message is for me as much as it is for you. It's not about beating ourselves up. It's about truly realizing the motives behind our behavior so our minds can be renewed and we can continue our journey of waking up to grace. It's pride that makes us feel that we can't give our anxiety to God. It's pride that tells us not to let go of our problems and trust in our Lord's decision. But we are in Christ and we are blessed to be loved and counseled by him, no matter how ridiculously we behave. It is not as though we have to stop all emotion and not care about anything. It is simply how our minds perceive the things that are happening around us. Waking up to grace is understanding with our minds what we have been given in Christ and then living dependently on that, as I talk about all the time.

Lenny: 17:57

For many Christians, sin is a huge cause of anxiety. When we follow the path of self-maintaining our relationship with Yahweh by asking for forgiveness, we can become hyper-aware of our behavior. Now, of course, some will take a casual approach to this and even end their prayer with a blanket statement and Lord, please forgive any sins I might have overlooked. That was my approach, because I took it seriously and I knew I was missing something. The thing that I failed to realize was that I was not honoring God with that behavior and my anxiety was all in my head, as we read in Hebrews 9.26,.

Lenny: 18:31

In Hebrews 9.26,. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christ Yeshua put away our sin. It's no longer possible for that to get between us and God. It'll certainly hinder our spiritual growth, but the only way back to waking up to grace when we fall into sin is to know that our sin has been put away. Yahweh took care of that for you. It's also easy today to overlook that there are two ways that we can reject Christ and two ways that we can fall away from the path of waking up to grace and hinder our growth.

Lenny: 19:01

When Paul told the Galatians they were falling away from grace, he wasn't talking about the act of sin. He was talking about self-effort. They were mixing the law-based rule-keeping with the good news of Christ Yeshua. When we add rules, it's no longer grace. When we add pride, it's no longer humble.

Lenny: 19:20

A life of sin and lawlessness is one way that those who reject the Messiah can live. Even those who are born again could find themselves on that road, at least for a time. But the thing that most get hung up on is that those who reject Christ may also live what appears to be a good, moral life, but is based on faith in themselves. The object of our faith is what matters most, not the amount of faith. All who reject Christ rely on self-effort and faith in themselves. So why would a Christian want to follow this formula and enter into that competition? When we do this, we live a life of unbelief. Even those who have been born again can live this way.

Lenny: 20:13

Being born again does not go away based on our behavior. You can't change who you are in Christ. In Galatians 5.2 we read I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. Paul is trying to teach them how to live by grace and not self-effort. He continues in Galatians 5.7, you were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him. Who calls you A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Lenny: 20:49

These passages confirm in scripture all that we've been discussing, don't they? This behavior is not going to bring peace. When we don't obey the truth, which is to believe in the finished work of Christ Yeshua, we receive the opposite of peace. We get anxiety when we depend on the world and self-effort. We don't bear fruit. So what was Paul's advice?

Lenny: 21:21

In Galatians 5.13 we read. So we see that we are truly free in Christ. Truth literally set us free from the bondage we were in due to sin, death, anxiety, etc. We just have to wake up and believe it. It's too easy to make light of the gift that our Lord has offered to all people and that he called us to receive from him at salvation. We didn't just receive salvation that day. We received the spirit of Christ Yeshua. We received Christ and in turn, we're given a gift within a gift. Imagine that a package represents Christ. Inside of that package is forgiveness. You're given the Christ package. What else do you now have? Yes, you also have forgiveness, because it was in the package of Christ. It's yours to keep. This was a gift from God. Scripture testifies to this truth by telling us that we have received forgiveness in Christ. Ephesians 1.7 says In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. And then Ephesians 4.32 says Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. We received forgiveness in Christ.

Lenny: 22:44

It's commonly overlooked, when we read John's first epistle, that John was writing against sin, denial and unbelief in the finished work of Christ Yeshua. Some of those he wrote to had not received Christ, while others were still waking up to grace. 1 John 1.5 reads this is the message we have heard from him, to proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So we see here that we received light in Christ. There's no darkness in him. What would cause someone to be in the darkness. Exactly, it would be not having Christ living in them.

Lenny: 23:33

So this passage is addressing unbelief. But can a Christian live in unbelief? Yes, we can be in the light and still act like we're walking in the darkness. In other words, we can walk in unbelief. The only way we can understand this is to understand that being born again is not something we can change by behavior, and that we can actually place our dependency on ourselves, even though we have been given a greater object for our faith. Would you expect to have peace walking around in darkness? Of course not. You'll be stumbling your way through the Christian life and causing yourself all kinds of unnecessary anxiety. You might ask then how do I get back into the light? Wwjd? What would Jesus do? Get back to depending on the Lord.

Lenny: 24:20

1 Peter, 5, 6, and 7 says Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the says the Lord cares for you and you can trust Him. It's safe to offer ourselves fully to Him. Not only is it safe, it's the best thing we could ever do in this life. Waking up to grace is not about being critical of our behavior and beating ourselves up. This would only cause more anxiety. Is it humble to try and impress our Lord with our own good behavior? Is it humble to prove that we're right with God by our own self-effort? No, it's not. When we do that, we act as if we're walking in the darkness instead of the light. We're children of the light. We should let our light shine.

Lenny: 25:09

I want to end this episode with a passage from Paul's letter to the Romans Romans 8.5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the monitor that Scott was waiting in to hear the results of his testing? We're all facing the monitor of our minds every single day, with our thoughts popping up on the screen one after another, causing us great anxiety.

Lenny: 25:51

How can anyone bear such stress, we might ask ourselves. In the same way, we might ask how can I stop this sin of not trusting in God? How can I get rid of this pride? As Peter taught us, we can cast all of that on Christ. He can handle it. Christ Yeshua paid the penalty for the sin of the entire world. He defeated death by becoming the perfect sacrifice for us and rising to life. How did he do all that? In human form, by a perfect dependency on the Father. You don't have to be perfect, my brothers and sisters. You've been given perfection in Christ. Stop beating yourselves up. Let go of your self-offer and offer your life to the Lord. Thank you for waking up to grace with me. Have a good day out there, you guys.

announcement: 26:39

Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to Grace podcast brought to you by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you enjoyed today's episode, we would love to hear from you. You can send encouragement our way right from our episodes and transcripts page or reach Lenny privately from the contact form at wakinguptogracecom.