Don’t Waste Your Life?

Hi, I'm Dr. Andrew Farley, host of The Grace Message. Got a Bible question, struggling with a personal issue, wondering about a tricky verse? At BibleQuestions.com, you'll get clear, grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No fluff, no confusion, just practical, biblical truth. Ask anything, anytime, and experience the power of God's love. Visit BibleQuestions.com, that's BibleQuestions.com, your go-to for biblical clarity. Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755. That's toll-free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message, with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello everyone, welcome to The Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley, so glad you're joining us tonight. That number to call, 877-655-6755. Right now we got wide open lines, plenty of room for you to get in with your question tonight. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage, perhaps you heard something in church yesterday and, well, you're not sure about it. You want to put it to the test, we can kick the tires, talk it over, and see what happens. 877-655-6755. If you're a first-time caller tonight, please know we love it. We love to hear from our first-time callers, we want to hear from you. And if you're a veteran caller, maybe you joined us in the past, but has it been a while? You got something new on your heart tonight, well, join us as well. Open lines, room for you right now, I'll give you that number again, excuse me, 877-655-6755. Open lines as we wait for those first calls to come in there, I want to actually, we'll start tonight in Texas, where we're broadcasting from, and we'll start with Sam. Hi, Sam, you got a great question for us tonight. Yes, Andrew, I know you spoke about this yesterday, but I'm sure people would benefit, I too, hearing you address it again, and it's what if Jesus, risen from the dead, is the reason

you behave? And how that defeats and abolishes the law of mentality in our lives, and how that can liberate us from that monkey on the back, so to speak, which is the law. Okay, yeah, I love it. So Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, what if He's the reason you behave? What if He's the only reason you behave? Well, that would certainly mean that you stop living just for the church people, that would mean you stop living just for a good reputation, that would mean that you're no longer living for what are they going to say about me? And instead, you're motivated and inspired by something, by someone who is very powerful, who has risen from the dead, who lives inside of you at the core of your being. We're not talking about anything less there than a very, well, almost mystical experience. That's the word people use when they falsely accuse us of teaching this wrongly, because we are talking about Jesus, alive from the dead, living today, inside of you. And it's His spirit, it's His power, it's His counsel, and it's not about a rulebook. I mean, the Bible's not a rulebook where you look up, you know, your top 25 rules and try to keep them all. That's not the purpose of the Bible. The purpose of the Bible is for you and me to get to know the author. And the most important message in the Bible is called the gospel. You can know the Bible and yet miss the gospel. And when you get to know the gospel, part of the gospel message, a most powerful part, is Jesus has risen, He wants to live inside of you, He wants to live through you, and you mentioned the law, Sam. Well, yeah, this is why people are hanging on to law-based living, because they can't imagine how would it work. How would it work any other way? I know a friend, a friend of ours, who's, I mean, he's basically in a major city here in the United States, and he's been church hopping, he's been church hopping and church shopping and looking.

around for some church in his area to be preaching the grace of God, strongly, boldly, clearly. And in the process, he's been to a whole lot of Bible studies. And whenever he brings up the topic of Christ living through you, they look at him sideways, then they look him straight in the eye and they say, well, we don't know what you're talking about. We've never heard it like that. Christ living through you, well, that should be pretty normal. It's called walking by the Spirit. It's called Galatians 2.20. I no longer live, Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by him. That means I'm trusting him and his resurrection life inside of me. That's not mystical, that's just plain old Christianity, or it should be. And so I love your question, Sam, because it gets us focused back on the core message of Christianity, which is not behavior improvement. It's not sin management. It is Christ living in you and through you. And if Christians today across the planet really knew that, then would we be arguing about Moses? Would we be arguing about the law? Would we be arguing about Ten Commandments? Would we be chopped up in all these denominations and everybody having their favorite rules to keep? We wouldn't be worried about rules. We'd be believing what Colossians 2 says. Colossians 2 says, rules have the appearance of wisdom, but they lack any value in restraining sin. That's right. They look good, they smell good, they seem good, they smell religious, those rules. And yet, they do not restrain sin.

It is not about rules. It is about letting Christ rule. He reigns, he rules, he's alive from the dead, he lives in you. What if Jesus, risen from the dead, is the only reason you behave? Whoa, that'd be something, huh? Well, how about you start that right here, right now, today, and just simply say, Lord Jesus Christ, I do believe. I believe you rose from the dead. I've called upon you to be saved. I believe you live inside of me. You didn't just give me a ticket to heaven, you gave me yourself inside of me. And so, I'm going to trust that you're in there. And I'm going to live as if you're in there, because you are. And I'm going to let you express your life through my personality. And when we let him do that, we're living Galatians 2.20, I no longer live, but wait a minute, I do live. But he lives in me, and I live by faith in him now. A whole new way to live. So, Sam, thanks for the question. Reach out to us there in Texas any time we want to hear from you again. All right, well, let's go to South Carolina next. We'll talk with Ben. Hi, Ben, what you got for us tonight, my friend? Hey, Pastor Farley, thanks for taking the call. During my college years, my campus ministry that I was connected with really paraded a message from a prominent preacher about not wasting your life. And I was curious, under the grace message, what that looks like for us as believers under grace. Yeah. Well, I mean, what does that mean, not waste your life?

So how are you going to not waste it? What's the standard? Who brings out the clipboard and tells you, Ben, you're wasting your life there in South Carolina? And you say, why? How? How am I wasting it? And then what's their answer? I mean, is their answer that you don't have a big enough business? Is their answer that you haven't witnessed enough? Is their answer that you haven't given enough money? Is their answer that, you know, you haven't done enough or you don't, I don't know. I mean, do you not have enough kids? You know, what is the measure? By what standard? Because it kind of reminds me of the Garden of Eden, to be candid with you. You know, Adam and Eve, they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then they feel ashamed, you know, like kind of like they're wasting their life or something. And they go off in the corner and, you know, they cover themselves and all that. They're hiding. God comes to them. And what's the question? What's he ask them? Well, here's his question. His question is, who told you that you're naked? Meaning, hey, who said something's wrong with you? Who told you something's wrong with you? And by what measure? So here's the point, is that when we're in Christ, I know you said according to the grace

message. I mean, this is according to the gospel. This is according to the truth of what Jesus did. Here's my answer. is that anything that is of Christ is of eternal value. So given a cup of water in His name, oh my goodness, that's not a waste. That's eternally valuable. And what if it's your last cup of water? Well, what if you got 50 billion dollars or you got one glass of water left? Either way, if it's of Christ, it's of eternal value. And so, you know, we keep trying to tell people their life and their meaning. You got to go to the mission field. We need you to change your geography. If we could change your geography, you'd have a more meaningful life. If we could change the amount of formal ministry you're doing, you'd have a more meaningful life. You'd stop wasting. If you give more money, if you do more of this, do more of that. No, Christ, Christ is meaning and purpose. And so what we really need to glean from this, Christ is our life. Christ is our everything. I mean, that's literally our our resource that we're giving away to people this month. Jesus, our everything. Well, if that's true, if Christ is your life and Jesus is your everything, then guess what? Everything you do can be valuable and purposeful. So it's not about changing what you do. It is most of the time about changing how it happens. Let's do it by faith. Let's walk by faith. Let's trust that we're one with Jesus. Remember what I said at the outset of the broadcast tonight? What if you lived every moment as if, as if you're in union with Jesus? Because you are. So what if everything you did, driving the kids to school, the same old routine, sitting in that cubicle, typing away on your document, whatever it is, working as a secretary or an attorney or a brain surgeon or taking out the garbage or doing the dishes or babysitting or whatever it is, Jesus said, I came to give you life. He didn't say, I came to give you more important priorities. He didn't say, I came to change your geography. I came to make your business more successful. No, I came to give you life. And so when we have his life, then you say, well, what is his life up to? Well, we got the answer to that. In the midst of

your day, he's gonna cause you to bear fruit, like, oh, I don't know, things like love and kindness and self-control. And you say, well, the guy down the street can be real kind, too. Unbelievers can be nice. I mean, you know, my boss is nice. My neighbor's nice. They don't even know Jesus. Yeah, but see, this is not a fleshy, manufactured human niceness. This is the fruit of the Spirit, which is why the source is important. See? It's not about the product. It's about the process. God cares about the process. You know, two people standing side by side, both of them are dancing, but only one of them can hear the music. Only one of them has earbuds in their ears. And so that's the point. It's the process. It's listening to the music. It's recognizing by faith that Christ lives in you and what he's doing in you and through you is of eternal value. So when we're scaring people saying, watch out, or you're gonna miss your purpose, or watch out, you know, you're gonna waste your life. No. Christ is your life. Christ is your life, and it's not a waste. So, you know, make wise decisions. Ask God for wisdom. Obviously, you know, don't act like an idiot. Make wise decisions and trust the Lord with those. But what I'm saying is, everything is spiritual. And, you know, we even talk about putting God first. You know, I hear the heart of that, but God is not a priority on a list. He's not going, oh my goodness, they love their country too much. I got to be put first again. Oh my goodness, he loves his wife too much. I got to be put first again. Oh no, he loves his hobby. He loves bowling too much. I got to make sure I'm more important than bowling. No. God isn't put first. He's our life. Jesus is our everything. In the midst of that bowling game, Christ is your life. As you're hanging out with your spouse, Jesus is your everything. He's not competing. He is at the very essence, at the very core of our being. He wants to express himself in the midst of your marriage, and your hobbies, and your job. And so it's just a bigger experience than most people realize. Christ is your everything. everything. So, you know, I'll finish with this thought. I mean, there aren't two, there aren't, there aren't, you know, two ways and then a third. Like, you know, the bad stuff to do, and then the good stuff in life to do, and then the neutral stuff.

You don't see that in the Bible. There's not three categories, the bad stuff, the good stuff, and then the neutral stuff. Nothing is neutral. It's only two ways to walk. Walk by the flesh or walk by the spirit. That's it. Two ways. So what does that tell you? Everything is spiritual and you can walk by the spirit no matter what it's looking like on the outside. You can walk by the spirit as you're taking the kids to school. You can walk by the spirit as you're typing away on that document. You can walk by the spirit as you're tossing that bowling ball down the lane. You can walk by the spirit all day long and there's only two ways to walk, not three. Nothing is neutral and nothing is meaningless. Everything is an opportunity to express Jesus. So, thanks for your question. Reach out to us again anytime. We're going to our next call real quick, real quick, but first I want to let you know we have a very special opportunity right now. It's that resource I was just alluding to. It's called Jesus Our Everything and it's all about what it means to live loved and secure in Christ, to know him as your life no matter what's going on on the outside, to wake up every day and act as if, as if you're in perfect union with Jesus. You know why? Because you are. Because closeness to Jesus is a gift. It's free. It's not just for the pastor or the missionary. It's for everybody. Everybody who's in Christ is in Christ and Christ is in them. You can't get any closer than that. So, make sure to request your copy of this new resource. It's called Jesus Our Everything. You're going to love it. It's going to be a big encouragement to you. You can go to andrewfarley.org and when you give your gift this month, which by the way, the month is quickly vanishing here. What do we got? Less than 10 days left now and we have this matching grant opportunity as well, which is going to double your gift. This is a big deal for our ministry. You know our hearts. I mean, you hear us. It's seven days a week we're on the air. That means now 365 days a year we're on the air. Most of those live and you know our hearts and you know what we're up to. You know what we're talking about every day. Christ in you. You in Christ. The gospel. The cross. The resurrection. Forgiveness. Freedom from the law. New life in Jesus. We're talking about the gospel. So, if that's what you love and you want to see more people hear this message, give your gift today. It's going to go twice as far. If you've ever thought about giving to the grace message, no better time than right now and it takes just two minutes at andrewfarley.org. So, thank you so much for your support. Boy, we love what we're doing. We love it. I'm excited to get up every single day and do what I do and I can't do it without your support. So, very, very grateful. Thank you, my friends. All right. Well, let's go now to

how about Indiana. We'll talk with Patrick. Hey, Patrick, what you got for us? Okay, thank you for taking my call, Pastor Farley. My question concerns strongholds and I know there are different categories of strongholds. The Lord himself is a stronghold. You have a fortress that's a stronghold. Then you also, the stronghold I'm most concerned about is the stronghold of the mind. Mm-hmm. These thoughts that continue to resonate with me. It's a challenge, something I've been challenged with for quite a while and I try to pray and try to focus my mind on different, on something different. I know in the scripture and it's the exact scripture and verse doesn't come to mind at the moment, but it's something to akin to, you know, strong enough to bring down strongholds. Right. So, I was wondering if you have some advice that you can provide, some strategies that I can try right away to start defeating these strongholds. Okay, yeah, absolutely, Patrick. Well, thanks for trusting us with your question. First, I'm going to just tell you the truth about that passage. It's a great passage. It's powerful and the context of it is maybe a little different than you thought, but here it is, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We walk in the flesh. We do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses or strongholds. We are destroying speculations, okay? Somebody's speculating. And we are destroying every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, okay? Somebody's denying God exists. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. So, first of all, that's an apostle talking, and he's talking about his preaching and teaching. He's talking about his message, and then he's talking about opposition to his message.

There are people attacking his ideas. There are people attacking his message. And so he is saying, we fight in a certain way. We don't fight with the physical weapons. We fight with the truth, the truth of the gospel. Now, can you apply that to your life? 100%, absolutely. And I want you to see that. Now, a second passage that I think even more is very, very personal for you and me is the idea that we count ourselves dead to sin. See, that is in Romans chapter six, and that's about that individual life. You wake up every day, you live life with you. You walk around the planet, and there you are. You're with you every day. And yet, you get some thoughts that you don't like very much. And I'm just gonna go out on a limb here, Patrick. Let's assume, let's say those are lustful thoughts. You know, you're an eager child of God. You have a good heart. You have a new heart. Jesus lives in your heart. But let's say, for the sake of illustration, that it's a lustful thought. It could be, you know, some other thought that you're embarrassed about, a blasphemous thought, a lustful thought, or, you know, just a struggle.

So when we say stronghold, we mean like a pattern of struggle. Most of us do. So let's assume that's what's going on. Now, how does that passage I just mentioned from Romans six, how does that apply? Well, first of all, you get to decide real quick, because God's given you a little cheat sheet here. He's given you a little insight into why you're being tempted, and he says it's a power called sin. It's not you. It's not your heart. It's not your nature. It's not who you are. If it was who you are, then you'd just love it. You'd love it, and you'd wanna do it again and again and again. And you'd say, wow, that was fulfilling. Let's do it again. But there's something different about you. You get that thought, and it doesn't make you happy. You get that thought, and it doesn't fulfill you. It doesn't satisfy you. Why? Because it didn't come from you. Let me say that again. It didn't come from you. And so the first trick the enemy plays on us is to have us think that his thoughts are our thoughts.

But there is a power called sin, and sin can tempt you anytime, anywhere. Any Christian can get any thought at any time. So what do you do with that? You say, that thought didn't come from me, and here's the clincher. I count myself dead to that thought. Now, that's not playing games. That's not wishful thinking. That's the gospel. I died to sin. Jesus took me to the cross, and I died to sin. And now, when that thought comes, I don't own it. I ignore it. I say I'm dead to it. Thank you, Jesus. For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit andrewfarley.org. That's andrewfarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. I hope you enjoyed today's program, and if you have more questions, whether it's about a Bible verse, a personal struggle, or anything on your heart, biblequestions.com is here for you. You'll get clear, grace-based answers

in 10 seconds or less. No confusion, no judgment, just practical truth that meets you right where you are. Whatever's on your mind, you'll find real answers rooted in God's love. Visit biblequestions.com. That's biblequestions.com. you