Even for those who do not identify as Christians, today Pastor Jackson Murphy, at Cypress Church, delivered a hopeful message about self-love that I could not pass up on sharing with you. Please take the next few minutes to receive his inspirational message about you, because you are worthy and you are loved.
Read the transcript:
I have three steps to claim the right voice, to claim the voice of victory in your life. And this is something that you're gonna be able to apply today. Three steps, three things that we can all do. And again, if you're taking notes, this would be an awesome time to start writing this stuff down.
The first thing that we all have to do, each and every one of us is acknowledge it. And and when I say acknowledge it, what I mean is you have to address and acknowledge what is the specific lie that I've been hearing about myself.
I promise you that David was not oblivious to the fact that he was the smallest. Okay? David was not oblivious to the fact that he was the youngest. I mean, think about it. When you're not invited, that's a social cue that all of us pick up on. And so David specifically knew what it was about him. And, and I really believe that that healing in this life, like ultimate healing that Jesus longs to deliver to each and every one of us, it all starts with acknowledging what is this specific lie that I've been hearing about myself.
Now we know this is true with our physical bodies. And what what I mean by that is, when you go to the doctor, or when you go to the hospital, the first thing that do they do in order to properly diagnose you is just ask a series of questions. Right? On a scale of one to 10, how bad does it hurt? How long have you been feeling this way? How long have you had headaches? They take your temperature. Like, it is just a list of things so that they can specifically diagnose what's going on.
And what I've done for this first step of acknowledging it is, I've just put together seven of what I believe to be the most common lies that a lot of us buy from the enemy.
And before I put these up there and talk through them, I do just want to say one thing first. And I recognize that there's a lot of us here at all of our campuses, online, you grew up in a way that's almost hard to imagine. And whether it was an abusive relationship with your parents, or a toxic relationship that you've been in as an adult. And so these seven lies are not meant at all to be triggering, or to push us back into that place. But I truly believe that, like I said, ultimate healing, the the first step starts with acknowledging it. And it's not a vague term, but it's specifically: 'God, what, what is the lie that I've been hearing that does not align with your truth?'
And so again, seven lies that I believe we've all experienced to one degree or another, sounds something like this: You're worthless. You're really not that important. You're just a victim. Nobody really likes you. You're all alone. You're ugly. And you're a failure.
And sometimes, these are actually said out loud to us; but I believe more often than not, there was a seed planted a long, long time ago, a seed that never belonged there. And year after year after year, we just allowed it to fester. We just allowed it to grow. And now years later, as a mom or a dad or a grandparent, we're believing a lie. And it's something that was never designed to be there in the first place.
And sometimes, like I said, they're said out loud. But there's power to actually naming it. And when I was going to school, there were a few different counseling classes that I took with different degrees. And what's fascinating, is when people finally reach the place, were where they want to seek like professional help for these types of issues. It's often years and years later from whatever the initial fact is that caused them to start believing it. And what I mean by that is, like, if right out of college, if you try to start up a business and it fails, and for the first time you feel in your life, like: 'Man, I'm a failure.' That's not actually the time where you start to seek help, but it's year after year, you start having kids, you feel like a failure as a father, you start a new job.
This title and this thought of 'I'm a failure' is still with you. And like I said, it's when you just allow it to linger. When you don't do anything about it, and you don't go through the next two steps that we're gonna be talking about, that's where the lies can really have a foothold in your life.
And so the first thing that you have to do, is you just have to acknowledge it. Get specific: 'what is it?' 'What have I been hearing?' And then once you acknowledge it, the second thing that you have to do, and this is so important, you have to reject it. You have to say: 'That does not belong in my life.' And this is something that God has done to our bodies. He's created, like, natural things for us to reject things that don't belong.
Okay, here's a good good Sunday morning question for everybody. How many of y'all had ever had food poisoning? Raise your hand across all campuses. Okay, we got a lot more of food poisoning people than oldest siblings here. I think every everyone's got a good food poisoning story, or hears one. I actually have this theory, and hasn't been backed up by anything, so don't repeat it. I think there's some people that can't get food poisoning. I've seen my brother put down things that should not be able to be contained in the human body and somehow it happens. But food poisoning, think about this for a minute. Think about it. Food poisoning isn't a virus. It's a system designed by God for when your body takes in something that doesn't belong, it's going to come out one way or the other. Now, according to scripture, it's not just our physical bodies that are supposed to do that, but our minds are supposed to work the same way.
And Paul gives us this list in Philippians, and he says: 'If it's true, if it's honorable, if it's noble, if it's praiseworthy, if it's admirable, if it's lovely', like there's a filter that every thought about yourself, everything that you hear should go through, and if it doesn't align with the truth found in God's word, you have to reject it. You have to get rid of it. And rejecting it.
We go to such great links to protect our material possessions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but think about like your cell phone. I bet everyone who has a cell phone has some sort of password, has some sort of face ID. I mean, I bet everyone who went to bed last night, either locked their front door or shut their garage. It's goofy to think this, but you would never go to bed and unlock the door and crack it open and allow an enemy to come in and take whatever he wants.
But the way that we think about our minds, when we don't set up these barriers, and when we don't make rejecting a priority and saying: 'you don't belong here.' What we're essentially doing is just creating an open door for anyone and everyone to speak into our lives. And the way that I understand scripture, God says we have to reject those lies. And rejecting the lies, the second step is so, so important, rejecting them, because a lie believed to be true will affect your life as if it were true.
A lie believed to be true will affect your life as if it were true.
And I remember, when I was younger, and I would go to sleep, and I always slept with a nightlight. Still don't love the pitch dark, but hopefully I'll eventually get over that. But I remember, I would want a nightlight. And there were a few times where it would line up perfectly where there was a t-shirt in my closet and then a hat above. And when I was younger, it just, I mean, it scared that you know what outta me. And my parents would have conversations with me, and I'm sure it happened to my other siblings. And if you have kids, it's probably happened to you, where you have to open the closet: 'See, look, there's no one in here, nothing here.' But it doesn't matter, because in my mind, if I think that there could be someone in there, that fear is going to be crippling me all night long.
As an adult, it's the exact same thing. If you believe in your heart of hearts, if you've been buying the lie that you're worthless, it doesn't matter if you're Elon Musk, and you just bought Twitter with your spare change, it doesn't matter if you have 20 cars. It doesn't matter what your 401k like. If you believe that you're worthless, then that feeling is going to cripple your life every single day that you're living.
And it's not the way that Christ designed us to live our lives. And so the first thing that you do is you acknowledge it. The second thing that you do is you reject it. You say" 'That doesn't belong here.' And then the third thing that you do, and and this is the most important piece, after you reject it, the third thing that you have to do is you have to replace it.
So you acknowledge it, you reject it, and then you replace it with the truth that's found in God's word.
I love the way that Solomon explains this process and the Old Testament, when he writes in Proverbs, and he says: 'My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.'
And healing is the result of what takes place when you actually go through this full three step process. You reject it. But then after you reject it, you fill that void. And you start to speak life over yourself by declaring an accurate view of how God sees you. Not how others see you. Not how the lies that you've been hearing are saying about you. Listen to this, not even how you might see yourself.
I had this realization, this week as I'm studying scripture, that I don't have the right to determine my value. I don't have the right to determine my worth. When I have those days where I'm feeling down, where I'm feeling like I don't matter, what do I do? You have to go back to the word of God and be reminded: 'No, this is the truth of scripture.'
And so what is your value, then?
In the Old Testament, this is one of my favorite verses, in Psalm 1:39, where he says: 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.'
Y'all wanna hear something that's crazy. This is written by David. As David grows up, as David eventually becomes king, he had confidence in who he was. And so when I ask myself: 'Man, how is David able to focus on the voice of God?' How is David a able to stay focused, when he was pushed to the side, where he was literally left out to pasture? He's the youngest. He he's the weakest. We don't even want to invite him here. How is he able to stay focused, to stay humble? It's a lot easier to display humility when you have confidence in your identity.
David said: 'I know who I am.' More importantly: 'I know who's I am. I know I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm gonna reject those lies and I'm gonna fill it with the truth sounding God's word.'
In Psalm 1:39. It's later in David's life when he writes this. But I think part of the reason that David was able to stay focused, able to stay humble is, is he understood who he was. And throughout the New Testament, we're all reminded of different promises found in God's word. They're not first specific people, but anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus, we're told all throughout scripture that we are God's very own possession. That we are chosen for the praise of His glory. We're reminded that we all one day will have an inheritance in heaven with our Father forever.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 that: 'We are God's masterpiece. We are God's masterpiece. We're created a new in Christ Jesus. So that...' make sure you catch this part: 'We are created a new in Christ Jesus so that we can accomplish the things that he set out for us to do long, long ago.'
If you hear nothing else this weekend, please, please make sure you hear this.
Don't allow the wrong voices to disrupt the direction of your destiny. God has called you to this church. God has called you to this family. God has equipped you to be his spokesperson. What an opportunity that we have to acknowledge, to reject, and then to fill our lives, and flood them with the truth found in God's word.
---
Source:
#MentalHealth #Counseling #Therapy #SundayMotivation #Christianity #Christians #God #Scripture #Glory #Revealed #CypressChurch #DublinOhio #HilliardOhio #PowellOhio #DelawareOhio #WorthingtonOhio #WestervilleOhio #GroveCityOhio
Comments