111 | Following Jesus: The One Area You Never Optimized

Welcome to another episode of the Vital Wealth Strategies Podcast. I’m your host, Patrick Lonergan, and this episode is going to be released the week of Christmas, so it’s going to be a little different. I’m not asking you to believe anything I say. I’m also not trying to be offensive, but I’m not afraid to share the truth, so let’s dive in.
There’s a moment that comes. For many successful people, usually happens quietly. You did what you set out to do. You built the company, you scaled it, you solved problems. Other people could not. You made decisions under pressure and came out ahead on paper. You won. Your calendar is full. Your bank account reflects discipline and intelligence.
People seek your advice. You have influence. You have leverage. And yet, somewhere along the way a question begins to surface that no one and no spreadsheet can answer. Why does this still feel unfinished, not broken, not, not tragic, just incomplete. You optimized everything, your cash [00:01:00] flow, your systems, your team, your health, even family rhythms.
But this question does not respond to effort. And when it finally shows up, it usually does not come as doubt about God’s existence. It comes as something more unsettling. Last year we did an episode on Christmas Eve, episode 59. Which you can go to at vital strategies.com/episode five nine. We’ll also put a link in the show notes, but that looks at Jesus as a historical figure and the truth of who he is.
Now we’re asking the question, what if I believed in Jesus but never actually followed him, not rejected him, not mocked him, not denied him, just kept him safely in the category of belief while building a life he never truly had, where he never truly had authority. Here’s the uncomfortable reality. Jesus never asked anyone to admire him, never asked for agreement, never asked to be added to an already successful life.
He asked people to follow him and many who thought they were close [00:02:00] because they were a good person, did religious things discovered they were not, not close. In this episode, we’re going to explore attention that Jesus himself introduced the difference between cultural Christianity and biblical discipleship.
The difference between believing facts about Jesus and knowing him, the difference between success that looks complete and life that actually is, because if Jesus is who he claimed to be, then following him is not an optional upgrade. It is the entire point. After you’ve built something meaningful in the world, you learn a skill that most people never fully develop.
You learn how to borrow the language of a system without actually submitting to it. I’m guilty of it. Entrepreneurs do this all the time. They can speak finance without being financially healthy. They can adopt leadership language without leading well. You can quote business books without actually practicing the discipline, and you can do the same with Christianity.
Cultural Christianity is not allowed rebellion. It’s a quiet familiarity. [00:03:00] It is really dangerous when it comes to how we spend eternity. It, excuse me. It’s really dangerous when it comes to how we spend our eternity. It is knowing the vocabulary. Respecting the moral framework is being comfortable with Jesus as an idea, a teacher, even an inspiration, but never transferring authority.
Jesus addressed this exact condition long before modern culture existed in Matthew 15, eight. This people honors, honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not accuse them of ignorance. He does not say they reject him. They s he says their hearts were elsewhere.
Paul later describes the same condition in two Timothy three, five, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. In other words, everything looks right on the outside. The structure is intact, the brand is clean, the messaging works, but the authority of God in our lives is missing. [00:04:00] And this is where things get personal, because cultural Christianity is not defined by what someone says they believe it’s revealed.
What actually governs their life. Now, it is not my job to judge anyone. Um, and for that matter, in one Samuel 16, seven, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So Jesus gives us several diagnostic markers, and each one is like a mirror. Not to shame you, but to show you where you really are.
The first marker is affirming Jesus without following him. This is perhaps the most common form Jesus asks a question. We have probably experienced when we ask our team a hard question and that it results in silence. In Luke 6 46, he says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you in business terms?
This is your team claiming you are the CEO, while ignoring every directive you give, the title is spoken, the authority is [00:05:00] not honored. How would you handle that? Everyone agrees. You are the CCEO, but nobody follows the directions you set. Jesus does not dispute that people are calling him Lord. He questions the disconnect.
The second marker is moral improvement without heart transformation. Many people are doing religious things in the name of Jesus. They want to be better, but there is no space for making them new. They try to be more, more disciplined, more ethical, more respectable. Jesus calls this out directly in Matthew 2327.
Whitewashed tombs outwardly appear beautiful, but within they’re spiritually dead. This is image management, not life change. As we, as as entrepreneurs, we understand this instinctively, you can polish a company on the outside while it’s culture rots from the inside. The same can be said of a company that looks great, but the financials are a mess.
Andre, and, excuse me, Enron might fit both of these examples. [00:06:00] Jesus is not interested in cosmetic spirituality. The third marker is Christian identity without repentance. Cultural Christianity often assumes that proximity equals transformation. I grew up around faith. I attended church. I agree with Christian values, but scripture draws a hard line here in Acts 1730.
God now commands all people everywhere to repent. Now repentance is not regret. It’s not guilt. It’s not nostalgia for a better version of yourself. It’s a change of direction, a change of authority, and without repentance, Christianity becomes a label instead of a life. And here is the underlying theme in all of it.
Cultural Christianity is not allowed no to Jesus. It is quiet. That sounds interesting. That never turns into a surrender. At some point in every successful life, there is a realization that separates the amateurs from the professionals. Titles [00:07:00] don’t matter. Intentions don’t matter. Even admiration doesn’t matter.
What matters is who you are following and whether you have actually surrendered direction. Jesus steps into history with that same clarity. He never asks people if they agree with him. He never asks them to admire his teaching. He never invites them to add him to what they’re already doing. He uses a single word follow.
When Jesus begins his public ministry, he does not start in a synagogue with theological lecture. He walks along the shore and interrupts ordinary lives. Matthew four 19, follow me and I will make you fishers. Amen. That sentence contains everything. Discipleship means first, notice what Jesus does not say.
He does not say, accept my ideas. He does not say Incorporate my values. He does not say Attend when convenient. He says, follow me for an entrepreneur. This is immediately disruptive. Following implies someone else sets direction, someone else [00:08:00] determines pace, someone else defines success, and Jesus does something even more unsettling.
He does not ask for a resume. He does not ask for readiness. He does not negotiate the terms. He defines the relationship Unilaterally. Follow me and I will make you. Discipleship is not self-improvement. It is surrender to a process you do not control. And then comes the quiet assumption. Most people, miss Jesus, did not call people to follow him while remaining who they already are.
I will make you fishers of mend. In other words, if you follow, you will be changed, not optimized, not enhanced. Remade, the fishermen did not ask clarifying questions. They did not request the trial period. They did not ask how this fit into their long-term plan. They left their nets that detail matters.
Nets represent their income, their identity, their skill, and their security. These were not hobbyists. They were professionals walking away from what they knew. Discipleship begins where control ends, and this is [00:09:00] where modern assumptions collide with Jesus’ call. We often treat discipleship as something we define.
We decide what following looks like. We keep Jesus in a consultative role, but scripture never allows that framing. Jesus defines discipleship. The disciple responds. This is why Jesus can say things that unsettled even the most sincere, not because he’s unclear, but because he’s uncompromising.
Discipleship is not admiration at a distance. It is proximity that changes you. And once you understand that, the rest of Jesus’s teachings stop sounding like suggestions and start sounding like a call to a different kind of life. Every serious entrepreneur eventually learns this. If you want a different outcome, you cannot keep the same authority structure.
At some point, growth demands surrender. You hand over decisions, you release control. You trust someone else to lead where you no longer can, or it’s not the best use of your time. Jesus speaks to discipleship [00:10:00] with that same realism. He never hides the cost. He never softens the term. He never markets the upside without naming the loss.
Jesus says it plainly. In Luke 9 23, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. That sentence has to be repeated so often that it risks losing its force. I’m gonna say it one more time. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me again.
We hear that sentence all the time. In the first century, a cross was not a metaphor. It was an execution device. It was a brutal way to die. It clearly represented the end of someone’s autonomy. Jesus is not asking for occasional sacrifice. He says, daily. This is not self hatred. It’s not self neglect. This is not rejecting your humanity.
It’s a transfer of authority. To deny yourself means you no longer get the [00:11:00] final word on what you are, who you are, where you’re going, or what success looks like. For high achievers. This is often the hardest moment, not because the call is unclear, but because control has worked so well. Jesus does not deny your confidence.
He challenges your ownership. Follow me. Not follow your instincts, not follow your plan with spiritual approval added. Follow him. Then. Jesus escalates the language in Luke 1426 through 27. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother. Wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yes.
Even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. This is jarring on purpose. Jesus is not advocating cruelty or neglect. Scripture elsewhere commands honor, love, and responsibility. What Jesus is doing here is forcing a comparison in Jewish teaching. The word hate is often used to describe priority by contrast, not emotional hostility.
Jesus is saying this, [00:12:00] if anything else has greater claim on your allegiance than I do, you are not following me. They hear commands and assume fear. They hear cost and assume earning. They have to go earn it. Jesus corrects this directly in John 1415. If you love me, you’ll keep my commands. Notice the order.
Love comes first. Obedience follows. Obedience is not how you gain Jesus. It’s how love expresses itself once he has you. In business terms, obedience is not the invoice. Obedience in an organization comes when there is alignment and everyone trusts the leader. When authority is clear, obedience becomes natural.
Jesus is not building rule followers. He’s forming followers whose lives reflect a new allegiance, and this is where biblical discipleship becomes unmistakably different from cultural Christianity. Cultural Christianity asks, what do I have to do? [00:13:00] Discipleship asks, who do I belong to? One negotiates terms, am I good enough?
Did I earn it? The other yields control. Jesus never lowers the cost to get more followers. He raises the clarity, and yet he continues to call. Not because the path is easy, but because the life he offers is real. The question is no, no longer whether discipleship costs something. The question is whether anything else is worth trusting with your life.
At this point in the conversation, you may feel a quiet sense of relief. You hear the words believe and think, I can do that. Belief feels safe. Belief feels manageable. Belief does not require a change in leadership and cultural Christianity often reinforce, reinforces this instinct, believe the right things, agree with the right statements.
Hold the correct views, but scripture draws a sharp line between belief that acknowledges and belief that animates moves you to action. [00:14:00] James says it without hesitation. James two 17. So also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead. James is not attacking faith. He’s exposing a counterfeit version of it.
Faith that is staying in the theoretical, theoretical realm is not real. Convictions that never cross into obedience. Entrepreneurs understand this intuitively. You can believe a strategy is sound and never implement it. You can affirm a plan and never execute it, and no one would call that success. James would call it dead, not because it lacks sincerity, but because it lacks movement.
Belief that stops short, feels spiritual, but it never actually places weight on Jesus. It agrees with him. It respects him. It may even defend him, but it never follows him. This kind of belief keeps Jesus in an. Advisory role. He informs decisions, but he doesn’t make them. Scriptures does not recognize this as saving faith.
Jesus describes [00:15:00] belief very differently. In John 10 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. The single sentence, dismantles, shallow belief, biblical belief includes three inseparable realities. First hearing, not just listening, but recognizing his voice as authoritative. Second, being known.
Is relational language, it’s mutual, it’s personal, it’s ongoing. And third is following movement direction. Obedience. You cannot remove one without collapsing. Collapsing the whole. Jesus does not say, my sheep agree with me. He says, they follow me. Belief in biblical term places, trust and trust always shows itself in action.
This is why the New Testament never treats obedience as an optional add-on. Obedience is not the price of salvation. It is the proof of believing what you say you believe. Cultural Christianity asks, what must I believe to be safe? Jesus asks, will you follow me? [00:16:00] Where I lead? One seeks assurance without surrender.
The other offers life through trust For you, this successful person, this distinction matters. You already know that real belief changes behavior. You see it in your life. You. Believed where you were going before you became successful. Before those zeros started adding up on your balance sheet, you believed that it was possible.
Real conviction produces movement. Real trust shows up in decisions. Jesus is simply saying the same thing about himself. If he’s Lord, following him is not radical. It is reasonable, and if following him feels costly, it may be because belief has never crossed the line into trust. There is a kind of confidence that looks like peace, but it actually avoidance.
It shows up when someone says, I’m good. I believe I have that handled. Jesus confronts this kind of assurance directly, and he does it not with outsiders, but with people who are confident they belong to him. [00:17:00] Jesus says words that should slow each one of us down in Matthew 7 21 through 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.
The one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name? And do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. This passage is often misunderstood.
Jesus is not addressing atheist. He’s not addressing skeptics. He’s addressing people who are confident in their spiritual resume. They call him Lord. They appeal to religious activity. They point to visible results, and Jesus does not dispute the activity. He disputes the relationship. I never knew you.
That sentence is the dividing line. This warning exists to awaken you, not to terrorize you. That will never be that you’ll [00:18:00] never be enough. Jesus speaks to it now so that no one has to hear it. Then. False assurance is not found in rebellion. It’s found in confidence without relationship. Why does this matter so much to you?
By all worldly standards, you’ve achieved tremendous success because entrepreneurs are conditioned to trust outcomes. If something works, it must be right. If there is fruit, it must be healthy. If results are visible, the foundation must be solid. Jesus says that assumption can be deadly in spiritual matters.
Activity can exist without intimacy. Ministry can exist without submission. Religion can exist without knowing him. False assurance rests on what you have done for Jesus. The true assurance rests on whether you are known by him. Scripture is clear in one John two, three, and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
Notice the order again. Knowing [00:19:00] comes first. Fruit follows. This is not living a life of perfection. This is direction. Keeping his commandments is not about flawless execution. It’s about knowing the father and submitting to him a life that knows Jesus will show it not through religious noise. It will show up in the little things.
It’ll show up in your thoughts. It’ll show up in the things that nobody but the father sees. The world may also see the fruit of following the Lord, but that isn’t the point. This is obedience that follows from love, not from trying to earn something. You can’t earn it. The price was paid on the cross for you.
True assurance does not come from looking backwards at what you have done. It come from, it comes from looking honestly at the relationship with Jesus that is alive. False assurance asks, did I say the right words? Do the right things, check the right boxes. True assurance asks, who am I following? False assurance rests in a claim of what I have done.
True assurance rests in a connection with Jesus because of what he has done. [00:20:00] False assurance, resists examination. True assurance welcomes it. Jesus does not want anyone living under constant doubt, but he also refuses to allow false peace to stand. He offers something better. A real relationship, a changed life, A confidence rooted not in performance, but in being known.
Up to this point, we have been honest about the problem. Cultural Christianity looks real. It sounds right. It often feels sincere. Yet it keeps producing the same outcome. Belief without transformation, activity without intimacy, confidence without assurance. At some point, we have to begin to ask a deeper question.
Why does this keep happening? Why do so many capable, discipline, intelligent people here, Jesus’ call and still feel stuck? Jesus has been addressing this for 2000 years. Scripture gives an answer that cuts deeper than motivation or effort. [00:21:00] The Bible does not say the primary human problem is ignorance. It says the problem is death.
Paul states it without softening the language in Ephesians two, one, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins. Dead does not mean misinformed. Dead does not mean unmotivated. Dead means incapable. No amount of effort fixes death. This is why cultural Christianity can exist for decades without producing real change.
It operates entirely in the realm of the flesh where discipline, morality, and religious behavior can exist without life. Paul explains the conflict clearly in Romans eight, five through eight. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Notice the language. This is not about bad people trying harder. It’s about the wrong operating system. The flesh can admire Jesus. The flesh can agree with Jesus. The flesh can even serve Jesus, but the flesh cannot follow him. [00:22:00] Those who are in the flesh cannot Please God. This is not a motivational statement.
It’s a categorical one. The problem is not effort. It is our sin nature. This explains something many of us high achievers quietly experience. You apply the same discipline that built your business to your faith. You read, you attend, you try, and yet something feels untouched as not failure. It’s just diagnosis.
Christianity was never designed to be powered by the flesh. No amount of structure, intelligence, or willpower can produce spiritual life, which means the solution is not trying harder, becoming different. This is the turning point in this episode. If the problem were ignorance, education would solve it. If the problem were behavior, discipline would fix it.
If the problem were effort, motivation would be enough. But scripture says the problem is death and only God can solve that. This is why Jesus does not begin with commands. He begins [00:23:00] with birth. Once you understand that the problem is not effort, but our sin nature, something important happens. The pressure lifts because if the solution we’re trying harder, we have all failed, especially the discipline ones.
In Romans 3 23, Paul reminds us for all have sinned to fall short of the glory of God. Like all of us, Jesus addresses this exact moment in one of the most personal conversations recorded in scripture. Jesus is approached by Nicodemus. Now this detail matters. Nicodemus is not a skeptic. He’s not hostile, he’s not immoral.
He’s educated, respected, and deeply religious. If anyone represented the best version of cultural Christianity, it was Nicodemus and Jesus does not compliment his knowledge or affirm his effort. He goes straight to the core in John three, three. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus does not say try harder. He does not say, study more. He does not say, clean up your life. He does not say, become more sincere. He says something [00:24:00] far more disruptive. You must be born again. Birth is not something you accomplish. It is something that happens to you. No one decides to be born. No one contributes to their own birth.
It is entirely an act of initiation from outside. Jesus is telling Nicodemus, and by extension, every successful moral religious person that self-improvement will never reach the kingdom of God. The reason is simple in John three six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Flesh produces flesh. No matter how refined, disciplined, or religious the flesh becomes, it cannot produce spiritual life. Only the spirit produces spirit. This explains why cultural Christianity feels so exhausting. It has the flesh to do what is never designed to do. Jesus does not offer a better version of the old life.
He offers a new one. For us as entrepreneurs, this is both humbling and hopeful, humbling because competence does not carry over. We’re used to [00:25:00] achieving and driving the results hopeful because failure does not disqualify you. You do not graduate into the kingdom. You’re born into it. Birth always precedes growth.
Christianity does not begin with what you do for God. It begins with what God does in you. When people imagine God breaking into a life, they often picture something dramatic, burning bush, a voice from heaven, a moment so unmistakable, that doubt is impossible. Those moments exist in scripture, but they’re not the norm.
More often, God, God does not interrupt life. He meets us inside it. He speaks in the quiet questions that refuse to go away in the unease. That success cannot silence in the sense that something true is standing. Just outside our awareness, scripture shows that before anyone ever reaches for God, God is already at work long before Jesus walked the earth.
God made a promise through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36, 26 through 27. I will give you a new [00:26:00] heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Notice who is acting. I will give, I will put, I will cause. God does not say you will fix your heart.
He does not say you will transform yourself. The initiative belongs entirely to him. This matters, especially for us as people who are used to making things happen. Regeneration is not achieved. It is received. It’s it often begins quietly. Not with certainty, but with curiosity, not with answers, but awareness.
Not with fireworks, but with a stirring inside of you. That stirring is not accidental. It is a work of God preparing a heart for life. Now, personally, this is what happened to me. I grew up going to church. I do remember the specific instance where I was sitting in church feeling like there was more.
There’s gotta be more than checking the boxes from a church perspective, from a religious point of view, [00:27:00] and, uh. God started moving in my life in, in tremendous ways. The things that started to line up were, were really incredible, uh, not from a worldly point of view, like they were unremarkable from that, that side.
But the change that was happening, the people that were coming into my life, the things that were were moving were, were, were amazing. And so again, in this work, God is preparing a heart for life in scripture. God is just as present in the whisper as he is in the spectacle. He speaks through conviction rather than condemnation through iation.
Rather than coercion through restlessness rather than fear. The fact that you are listening to this conversation at all may be evidence of that work already underway. God does not always announce himself. He draws people close. The New Testament gives language to what Ezekiel promised in Titus three, five.
He saved us by the washing. Regeneration and renewal of [00:28:00] the Holy Spirit. This is decisive. Regeneration is not the result of spiritual life. It is the cause of it. A person does not come alive because they believed correctly. They believe because God brought them to life. This reframes everything. Faith is not a heroic leap.
It is a response. Repentance is not self-repair. It is surrender to a work already begun in you. Many people wait for certainty before responding to God. Scripture shows that certainty often follows obedience. You become certain when you are obedient. That is what faith is all about. God begins to work. We recognize it.
We respond. That little whisper that you hear matters the question that keeps returning matters. The discomfort with superficial belief matters and the lies that the world tells us matters. Another dollar is not going to be the ticket to your happiness. You most likely already have enough of those.
Those [00:29:00] are not the obstacles. They’re invitations at this point. Something important must be said. Clearly, God initiates, God draws God regenerates, but scripture never treats human beings as passive observers. Jesus repeatedly says a phrase that is easy to overlook and impossible to ignore. He who has ears to hear, let him hear those words appear again and again in his teaching.
Jesus is saying that something real is being offered, but not everyone will receive it. The message can be heard and still rejected. The truth can be present and still resisted. The same son that melts wax hardens clay. Now you have a choice. You can ignore what is stirring or move forward in faith.
Scripture is consistent on this point. God acts first, but he calls for a response. When the gospel is first preached publicly and acts, the crowd asks a simple question, what shall we do? [00:30:00] Peter’s answer is direct. And Acts 2 38, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance is often misunderstood. It’s not emotional regret, it’s not shame, it’s not promising to do better. Repentance is a turning to turning away from sin. It is a decision to change direction and authority to stop being the final decision maker in your own life. For you as an entrepreneur, for me, this is especially hard.
You’re used to steering, you’re used to deciding. You’re used to owning outcomes. Repentance says, I’m no longer the highest authority here. That is why repentance is so difficult. So freeing. At the same time, scripture is equally clear about faith. Faith is not agreement with facts. It’s not intellectual alignment.
It is not nodding along. John describes it this way in John one, 12 and 13, to all [00:31:00] who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born of God. Notice the word receive. Faith is not standing at a distance and agreeing that Jesus is who he said he was.
Faith is opening your hands. It is trusting yourself to him, it is receiving him not managing him. It is allowing him to do what only he can do. Again, he’s the creator of the universe. And again, scripture reminds us that this response is not self-generated power. Those who believe are those who are born of God.
God initiates we respond. This is where Jesus’ words land. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You can hear this and move on. Unchanged many do. The Sermon on the Mount preached by the creator of the universe, the majority of people that heard that message went back to their old lives, or you can hear this and recognize that God may already be at work inviting you forward.
Not into religion, not into [00:32:00] self-improvement, but into life. The question is no longer whether God is speaking. The question is whether you are willing to respond. Once repentance and faith are described, the natural question follows, what actually changes not externally, not socially, not immediately in circumstance.
What changes at the deepest level is your identity. The New Testament does not describe salvation as moving closer to God, Jesus, or God. It describes being in him. Paul uses this language over and over and is not accidental. Two Corinthians five 17. If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come. This is not self rebranding. This is not a mindset shift. It’s not a religious motivation. It is a change of identity. It Christ, not proximity language. It is union language. The old self does not get upgraded. [00:33:00] It is replaced. Union with Christ means your life is now bound to his life.
His death counts as your death. His retro, his resurrection becomes your life. Paul explained this in Romans six, four. We were bur we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
This is not poetry, it describes it. Real spiritual transition. Before Christ, you lived from the flesh. After Christ, you live from a new source. Your old identity no longer defines you. Your old authority no longer governs you, governs you. Your old limitations no longer have the final word. Cultural Christianity tries to live near Jesus.
Union with Christ means living from Jesus. Proximity still relies on effort. Union produces life. This is why discipleship becomes possible only after [00:34:00] union. You cannot follow Jesus from the outside. You follow him because you now share his life. Union is not Jesus helping you run your life better. It is Jesus becoming your life.
Paul says it simply in Colossians three, four, Christ who is your life. This is not motivational language. Something has fundamentally changed. Union with Christ does not erase, struggle overnight, but it does introduce something that was never there before. New desire, new direction, new power. Walking in newness of life does not mean instant perfection.
It means you are no longer walking alone. When someone comes to Christ, the most immediate change is not behavior, it is awareness. Something begins to register that did not before, not as a voice from the sky, not as emotional certainty, but as relational. Knowing scripture gives language to this experience.
In Romans eight 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit. We are children of [00:35:00] God. This is not self persuasion. It’s not positive thinking. It’s not an emotional hype. It is the spirit of God confirming what he has done. This is the biblical foundation for what many describe as heart knowing, not perfect clarity, not constant feeling, but a growing awareness that you belong.
That awareness changes how you listen. God’s word no longer feels distant. Conviction no longer feels like condemnation. Prayer no longer feels like talking into silence. The spirit is not merely informing you. He’s relating to you. At the same time. Scripture is realistic. New life does not erase old habits overnight.
Paul says it plainly in Galatians five, 16 through 17, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify The desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. Now the flesh does not disappear. Changes his authority before Christ. The flesh ruled [00:36:00] after Christ.
The Spirit leads this. There is still tension here. There is still struggle, but the direction has changed. Desires begin to shift. Convictions deepen obedience becomes possible where it once felt impossible. This is not perfection. It is progress. Born of life. Many people abandon faith because they expect instant change and experience ongoing struggle.
Scripture says, struggle is not evidence of failure. It is evidence of life. Ted things do not struggle. The presence of conflict often means the spirit is at work, reordering what the flesh wants, controlled before Christ. You oriented your life around yourself. After Christ, your life begins to orient around him.
Not flawlessly, not effortlessly, but genuinely. And over time, what once felt forced begins to feel natural. The spirit is not pushing from the outside, he’s leading from within. At this point, you may feel [00:37:00] tension if new life is real, the spirit truly indwells. Why do so many believers still feel stuck?
Scripture does not ignore that question. Paul addresses it directly right in to the church in Corinth. Paul speaks with, uh, frankness with truth in one Corinthians three, one through three. I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ for you are still of the flesh.
These are not unbelievers. Paul calls them in Christ. He calls them infants. He acknowledges real spiritual life, but he also names the problem, their spirit and wealth. But flesh governed this distinction matters. Scripture is precise here and it is important to be equally precise. Making decisions in our flesh does not mean unsaved.
Making decisions in our flesh does not mean fake. Making decisions in our flesh does not mean God is absent. It means that although the spirit lives within the patterns of the [00:38:00] flesh are still running our lives. Old instincts still dominate old priorities still lead. Old reflexes still decide. This is not unusual.
Every believer begins as an infant. The danger is not immaturity, the danger is remaining There. Cultural. Christianity often consists of people who are spiritually alive, but never move beyond infancy. They believe they attend, they participate, but they remain governed by the same drives, fears and authorities As before, Paul does not tell the Corinthians they need a second conversion.
He calls them to growth. The transition from living in the flesh to spiritual is not a second. Salvation is a deepening submission. Paul’s language. Spiritual does not mean mystical or elite. It means spirit led. The spiritual person is someone whose decisions, desires, and direction are increasingly shaped by the spirit rather than the flesh.
This does not happen instantly. It happens through yielding authority, through learning [00:39:00] obedience, through practicing trust, through responding to conviction. Growth follows life if you recognize yourself here. Scripture. Scripture offers clarity, not, not condemnation. Infancy is normal. Stagnation is not.
God does not shame infants. He nourishes them, but he does call them to grow. Once new life has become, the question is no longer whether change is possible. The question becomes how that change continues. Scripture does not answer that with hustle, pressure or spiritual performance. It answers with orientation.
Paul gives a simple but profound statement in Romans eight, six. Set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say, eliminate all fleshly thoughts. Does not say achieve spiritual perfection. He says, set the mind. This is direction, not domination. Setting the mind on the spirit means choosing what you attend to, what you trust, what you allow to shape [00:40:00] your decisions for you as a successful person.
I, I understand this. This is familiar territory. You already know what you focus on determines outcome. Scripture is saying the same thing. Spiritually, life and peace flow from orientation. Jesus uses agricultural language to make the point unmistakable. I love this chapter in John 15, four and five. Abide in me and I in you for apart from me, you can do nothing.
Abiding is not effort. It is connection. Branches do not strain to produce fruit. They remain connected. Striving says, I must make this work. Abiding says, I will stay close. This is where many believers exhaust themselves. They try to live the Christian life instead of receiving it. Jesus does not ask for intensity.
He asks for nearness. Now, as someone that likes to produce results, this is hard for me. This past year has been a time where I’ve been focused on abiding in the Lord, listening to where the spirit is calling [00:41:00] me and responding, and then trusting God with the outcomes. I’m growing in this area and it’s, it’s strengthening my faith.
Now, Paul brings it all together in Romans 12, one through two, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is not passive, but it is not self-powered either. But presenting yourself, or excuse me, presenting your life to God is an act of surrender, not self-op optimization.
Obedience here is alignment. Your life begins to line up. With what is already true, transformation follows surrender. Not instantly. Not effortlessly, but inevitably. Scripture does not give a formula, it gives a rhythm. Set your mind. Abide in Christ, yield your life. Repeat growth does not come from dramatic moments alone.
It comes from daily orientation toward the spirit. This is not about becoming impressive. It’s about becoming alive. [00:42:00] Cultural Christianity asks How little must change. Biblical discipleship asks Who is leading and when the Spirit leads life follows After everything Jesus has said, after every distinction he has drawn after every warning and promise, he does not leave people guessing about what comes next.
He issues a call, not a vague suggestion, not a philosophical conclusion. A call Jesus begins his public ministry with a sentence that is as clear today as it was then. Mark one 15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. That sentence carries weight. The time is fulfilled means that this is not theoretical.
The kingdom of God is at hand, means God’s rule is present and accessible. And then comes the response. Repent. Believe not later. Now once everything is cleaned up. Not after certainty replaces questions. Repentance is the turning we have talked [00:43:00] about. Belief is the trust we have defined. Together. They mean this.
Stop living under your own authority and trust yourself to Jesus. Jesus does not ask for partial allegiance. He does not ask for intellectual agreement alone. He asks for you. He does not hide the cost. Discipleship cost everything. Your autonomy, your right to define yourself, your grip on control. Jesus never presents the cost without also presenting the promise.
Jesus speaks the promise plainly, John 10 28. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Notice the language I give eternal life is not earned. It’s not maintained by performance. It is received as a gift and it is sincere. They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
This is not fragile life. This is not conditional belonging. [00:44:00] This is life held by Christ himself. At this point, you’ve heard enough to respond. You may recognize that you have respected Jesus without following him. You may see that belief never moved into trust. You may sense that God has been drawing you quietly, patiently, persistently.
This is not an accident. Scripture says today matters. If you hear his voice, do not ignore it. You do not need perfect clarity. You do not need emotional certainty. You do not need to fix yourself. You need to respond, repent, believe, follow discipleship costs everything, but it gives life. Our life here on earth is just a vapor in relationship to eternity.
Gives you real life, eternal life. Life that begins now and Jesus still extends the invitation. Let’s pray. Lord, I thank you for each one listening. I thank you for this time. I thank you for the truth of the scriptures. It is good. Um, I just pray that, um, uh, what [00:45:00] you gave us here today lands with, uh, people and uh, they respond and do all those things we just talked about.
Uh, repent, believe, and follow. Uh, there’s a cost to it, but the cost is worth it. At the end of the day, it’s a full life. Uh, the world will lie to us and tell us that, um, it has the way, uh, but at the end it’s empty. Uh, and Satan’s crafty. He, he will, he will direct us in a way that feels right, but isn’t. Uh, we saw it in the garden and we see it today, and, um, I just thank you, Lord, for, for each one here.
Uh, I, I pray you draw them close. I pray you will be done. I just bring these prayers in Jesus’ name. I I thank you for listening. Uh, if you found this message valuable, please share it with somebody. God bless you.