Self-Effort vs. Faith

Belief #1: To the degree you live in self-righteousness, to that same degree you will fall into un-righteousness
-when you try to do things for God, not only does it not improve your standing with Him, but it creates in you the very desires you don't want--an appetite for sin.
-if adam had never eaten from the tree of good & evil, mankind would never know what evil was, we would only know life (represented by the tree of life)
-good and evil come from the same source--you can't know good without knowing evil (and vice versa)
--living at a +5 (above the line-self righteous acts) vs. a -5 (below the line-un righteous acts).
--God's standard for us is not to have us try to live at a +5 or to avoid a -5, but to be a "0". Then Jesus stands in front of us being our one (1) giving us worth.
--Jesus is the standard
-Both un-righteousness and self-righteousness misses the mark of Christ-righteousness
-The price we pay for having knowledge of good and evil is living our life in self-effort
-Ying-Yang symbol example--what you do, not why you do it is what matters
--WWJD derived from this example
-Better question: what is Christ doing in my life right now?
-God cares more about why you do what you do rather than the act itself
-to whatever degree you live in self-righteousness, you will fall to that same degree in un-righteousness (quote: "the bigger they are, the harder they fall")
-to get the self-righteous persons attention off of himself, God allows him to fall to that same degree, into un-righteousness
--un-righteous living strips away the pride and allows the person to see himself just as he really is. He is living outside of an abiding relationship with Jesus.
--then the person can clearly see their need for God

Belief #2: The problem is not your sin but rather the self-effort tree you've chosen to eat from
-In order to stop living in defeat, need to stop eating from the tree of good and evil and start eating from the tree of life.
-Opening the abiding door of our heart to Christ
-Activity: piece of paper with all the sins and things wrong with us, problems they have caused. look at the paper, see all the unrighteousness. Thank God for allowing me to see my true condition stripping away my self-righteousness. Hold up paper high as I can, show God all that I wrote. Hold it for 2-3 min. feel pain in your arms, as arms wobble, go 2-3min. more. ask God "do you see all of this?!" Spend all your strength and agony crying out to God asking if He sees it. When u are about ready to pass out, all the stuff on the paper will weigh exactly what they do for you in your life. Finally, let go. You will experience rest--exactly what God wants for you.
-Point: if you can't carry a piece of paper full of your sins, what makes you think you can carry them on your own in your own life.

Belief #3: Faith never generates the work of God but rather recieves it
-we often think of faith as a powerplant--it is generating the work in our lives
-it's not a powerplant but more like a transfer station. it takes the power of God and directs it into our lives. first to us and then to those around us.
-ex: the moon. the moon does not generate any light of its own. the moon reflects the sun's light on it. moon can never generate its own light b/c it doesn't have the materials necessary within it to do so. has to have its face turned toward the sun to reflect light to us on earth. (song: You Are the Sun, Sara Groves) We are the same way--we are made to reflect God's light. We recieve the work of God and reflect it onto others.

Belief #4: You will only take a risk in something you believe in
-Belief: conviction with evidence or proof
-Faith: conviction without evidence or proof
-Faith=Risk---you will only take a risk in something you believe in
--anytime you have a faith problem it's because you really have a belief problem
-Book of John--main book for leading people to Christ. Contains a lot of evidence that supports Jesus' claim of being God. Jesus provided evidence for belief.
-Have to look to evidence God has given you in your past experience before you will have faith in Christ in the here and now
-We lack faith because we don't believe. We don't believe b/c we refuse to look at the past evidence that God has provided in our life
-Faith is so precious to God that He says without it we can't please Him
-Hebrews 12:2
-You fall into sin before you fall out with God (tree of good & evil)
vs.
-You fall out with God before you fall into sin (tree of life)
-sin doesn't separate us from God, it's our own unwillingness to keep the abiding door of our heart open to Him

Belief #5: Your appetite for faith in God cannot exceed your belief in God
-It's never been about fixing your sin or getting rid of your sin, but rather getting rid of your appeitie for sin

Belief #6: Anytime you have a faith problem, it's because you have a belief problem

Belief #7: It takes no faith to recieve Christ as your Savior, it only takes belief

Belief #8: Religion is nothing more than following a bunch of dead men's teachings
-Religion has good intention--it's man's response to seeing the gap between God and man and trying to fill that or reach for the divine. trying to make that right.
-Problem is that all man's efforts are inadequate

Belief #9: Christianity isn't a teaching, it's a person
-instead of man trying to reach up, Christ reached down, came down from Heaven

Belief #10: What has your attention, has you
-hand demonstration: one hand is God/Jesus, other hand is our lives/problems/worries/sin, etc. when we are focused on the sin hand, that's all we see. Christ is a glimmer in the background. when we switch hands, and switch our focus to Christ, He is what we see and our sin/problems are there but are seen in the light of Christ first.
-whichever hand you are focused on, that's what has you in that moment
-"wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also" -Matthew 6:21
-it is a moment-by-moment deal or process
-Jesus wants a moment-by-moment relationship with us!!

-Important to keep the abiding door of our heart open, moment-by-moment
***It's not just the sin that takes over in our life, it's the defeat of that sin that can take over and take our focus off of Christ to where we stay stuck in the sin-cycle
-by focusing on the sin (or defeat of it) we are giving it power over our life
-ex: drivers ed class--instructor's advice- "you drive where you look"

**If your focus is on CHRIST and HIS righteousness, then He has you.