Monthly Archives: September 2014

Manufacturing Identity

I think a lot about Identity.  It seems the more I think about it the more I find a reason to think more about it.

I actually think the world thinks about Identity a lot more than “It” realizes and thus when we are of the world, which we are sometimes, we do then too.  So when we are of the world we think about it one way then when we are of the Spirit we think about it another way (Sounds like Paul doesn’t it ?)  The trick is to be in the Spirit more and more, to see from a heavenly view.  To get to the point in this Identity thing where certain types of experiences change you so deep…. The Identity of the Bible is just you.

Check out this Identity statement from a CNN article on tattoo’s: “In addition, as global mobility leads to the increasing pluralization of society, identity is also being seen as something to be designed rather than inherited.”     The article…

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Link

This is a sermon by our Senior Pastor at my church Valley Creek in Flower Mound Texas.

Renewing the mind begins with repentance. That is the gateway to return to our original assignment on earth. Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at WP_20140807_07_09_10_Prohand.”  To many Christians, repent refers to having an altar call where people come forward and weep at the altar and get right with God. That is a legitimate expression of repentance, but it’s not what the word repentance means. “Re” means to go back. “Pent” is like the penthouse , the top floor of a building. Repent, then, means to go back to God’s perspective on reality. And in that perspective there is a renewal, a reformation that affects our intellect, our emotions, and every part of our lives. Without repentance we remain locked into carnal ways of thinking. When the Bible speaks of carnality, it doesn’t necessarily mean obvious, disgusting sin. Most Christians have no appetite for sin; they don’t want to get drunk or sleep around, but because they live without the demonstrated power of the gospel, many have lost their sense of purpose and gone back to sin. Having a renewed mind is often not an issue of whether or not someone is going to heaven, but of how much of heaven he or she wants in his or her life right now.

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Repentence

True repentance looks like the way you saw the other gender around 12, 13 – 14 years old.

Before that time you probably saw the other side as pretty useless, once you repented, and it sort of just happened, you couldn’t get them off your mind. In essence you had a whole new way of seeing.

That is what Jesus is saying: Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven IS at hand…

(paraphrase from a sermon by Alan Smith)

There is a renewing of the mind

There is a “Renewing of the Mind” such that you are controlling thoughts, memorizing bible verses’, attempting to replace thoughts with those verses’ or other good things, hoping they will sink in and finally be one with you… They get you a little further along the way…. Be-careful there is “Good Branch’s” on the same tree as the “Evil Branches”….

There is another kind of “Renewing of the Mind” that comes from experiencing God, hearing things that may not be words o…r sentences but might be those too. This occurs in the 3D media room of your mind. This is what you are looking for.

I have memorized very few Bible Verses but yet I have zero doubt my “Mind has been Renewed”.

The man I was in Leisha’s and my video is gone. He snuck out on me, I didn’t hear the door close behind him. He melted away to where I have no idea…

There is a place

There is a place where the mind is renewed. There is a journey that allows this to happen. You might need to control some of your thoughts along the way but…. thinking that you controlling your thoughts is the way and only way is not the way….

You will have to pursue changing the way you see things, view things, that is true repentance and it is a necessary part of the recipe.

Focusing on a Good and Loving Father is another part of the recipe, as is prayer, quieting you…yourself, chewing on scriptural concepts, especially on surrendering oneself and forgiveness. Worship of several kinds is one of the main ingredients. You might even have to ask for forgiveness from some others. Becoming generous is another ingredient, throw in lots of that…

Relationships, oh my, relationships with other pilgrims or seekers…. yeah that is like salt in the ingredient or spices. Can’t have a recipe without those things.

There is some experiences involved, they are mile markers along the road and good ones too because they tell you, you are in fact on the right road. Without experiences that come from outside of you, the road you are on is probably the one where its only about you doing everything. It’s the very wrong road.

When the right kind of experiences happen you might not be able to explain exactly how or what happened but….you will be in a different place forever more and you won’t feel a need to defend the process and might even feel inspired, maybe very inspired to point others in the paths you just encountered.