Majority of Christians

Now, the only way we can walk through this life and not be a phony is to have things right inside and then what’s going on outside be a result of what’s happened on the inside. A phony is someone who pretends that everything is a certain way but really inside, they’re not that way at all. Jesus called them hypocrites and Pharisees. So we need to understand today that our inner life is very important to god. We can put on for everybody else but god knows what’s going on in us. So, Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of god — here we are talking about the kingdom of god — is not meat and drink. It’s not stuff. The kingdom of god is not things, but it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. I think a lot of people spend their life and I did this: I was seeking all that other stuff but when it came to righteousness, peace, and joy, I didn’t have any of that, nor was I pursuing any of that. I thought if I got all this stuff, then I’d have that. But see, god wants us to get that first and then he gives us the stuff.

I want to make sure you understand this because I think a large majority of Christians spend their whole life trying to do this backwards. They’re trying to get everything out here fixed, thinking then they’ll be okay inside, but Jesus came to live in us, to heal us, to make us what we need to be inside, and then what we need to do on the outside will just kind of come as a fruit of the life that we’re living. Nobody would ever go and plop a tree on top of the ground and expect it to stay there without it having roots. So, what’s going on in us is the roots, so to speak, of our Christian life. I was seeking big ministry but lived under guilt and condemnation all the time. I didn’t know who I was in Christ, so every time somebody criticized me, I fell apart.

I didn’t really know who I was in Christ, I didn’t like myself, so anytime anybody judged me, didn’t show approval of me, or didn’t give me enough compliments or whatever, then I was a basket case for days. Maybe not an outward basket case where I looked like I was falling apart, but I worried and was overly concerned and was a people pleaser and all these things that so many of us go through. Many times we go through them privately and never tell anybody because we act like everything is okay.