0:05

I know some of y'all can't wait a week

0:08

to hear from me , so

0:10

I'm going to start preparing some little short things

0:12

to just throw out during

0:14

the week , just to give you

0:16

something else to listen to , something else to contemplate

0:19

, something else to study . Nothing

0:21

big , nothing deep Should

0:24

be fairly short . I

0:27

hope you enjoy it . If you do , let

0:29

me know Rick at

0:31

RenewedMindsetscom or

0:34

the contact page at RenewedMindsetscom

0:37

slash contact . Either

0:40

way , I'd love to hear from you

0:42

. Enjoy , see

0:46

. Ya , we

0:48

need to be Jesus to other people . First

0:58

and foremost . We need to love others unconditionally . This

1:03

means showing acts of love without expecting anything in return or

1:05

seeking thanks . We need to embody

1:07

Christ in our actions with others , and this goes way beyond just

1:10

words in our relationships with fellow

1:12

believers . Love requires

1:14

action , love

1:16

requires effort , love

1:18

requires investment in others . It's

1:21

not enough to just say I love you and

1:23

then be disconnected from their lives

1:26

. Declaring love

1:28

without practicing love is shallow and

1:30

it's hypocritical . The

1:33

danger of living this way is that we can

1:36

easily ignore the Lord's command to become

1:38

wrapped up in our own little words , neglecting

1:41

acts of love towards our brothers and sisters

1:44

in the faith . There's

1:48

no excuse for that . The

1:50

second way we can relate to other believers

1:52

is by following the example of Paul

1:55

with the Galatians . He

1:58

invested in their spiritual well-being

2:00

and showed a concern for their spiritual condition

2:02

. This is

2:04

a true act of love . Caring

2:07

for each other's spiritual well-being in the body

2:09

of Christ is important and it's necessary

2:12

and it shows deep affection

2:14

. It lays the groundwork

2:16

for building biblically grounded relationships

2:19

with each other . And

2:22

as we consider Paul's statement in the

2:24

scriptures from Paul's

2:26

letter to the Galatians , two things are

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evident . First

2:31

, there's affirmation you

2:33

were running well . Paul

2:36

didn't miss an opportunity to encourage

2:38

his believers . He

2:40

acknowledged the direction on their faith

2:43

journey . He

2:45

acknowledged the direction on their faith journey and

2:50

one of the most significant ministries that we can engage in with each other is mutual encouragement

2:52

. The Christian life is challenging , it's

2:54

exhausting and

2:56

there's a lot of discouragement in it . So

2:59

where do we turn to to find peace , to

3:02

find solace ? We

3:08

turn to the Lord , and

3:12

how often does he lift the dark clouds that

3:14

loom over our heads ? Through his word spoken through his people

3:16

, many Christians have been

3:18

uplifted from the depth of despair

3:20

and discouragement by other believers who

3:23

set aside their own concerns and extended

3:26

words of encouragement . I

3:29

know that this is true because I've personally

3:31

experienced it from other people , and

3:34

I'm certain you have too . The

3:37

question is are we

3:39

the ones providing encouragement or are

3:41

we just receiving it ? Because

3:45

this is a service that all of us are capable

3:47

of , and it's one that we

3:49

are all called

3:51

to do and it's needed so

3:53

badly . And Paul

3:55

does something else . He

3:57

poses a soul-searching question

4:00

that holds believers accountable . He

4:02

says who hindered you from obeying the

4:04

truth ? Sensitive

4:07

Christians who might be struggling or drifting

4:09

into a backsliding

4:12

place in life ? Well

4:15

, this question cuts deep and wide and

4:19

the impact of it lies in the answer

4:21

. Nobody hinders

4:23

our relationship with the Lord , except

4:26

us . It's not our

4:28

spouse , it's not friends

4:31

, it's not other people in the church , it's

4:33

not circumstances or surroundings

4:35

. It's our own

4:37

responsibility . We

4:40

determine the quality of our relationship

4:42

with our Lord Jesus , and

4:45

as individuals we hold that power

4:47

. What Paul

4:49

is talking about here is one of the highest forms

4:52

of Christian love investing

4:54

in other believers by

4:57

exercising spiritual accountability

4:59

. Do you

5:01

have somebody like this in your life ? Do

5:06

you have a brother or a sister in Christ

5:08

who asks you the tough question about your

5:10

walk with the Lord ? Can

5:12

you name that person right now ? Can

5:16

you name the person that you've allowed

5:18

to have a role in your spiritual life that

5:21

holds you accountable in your journey ? Can

5:24

you you should be able

5:26

to or

5:29

do you just keep your relationship with other Christians

5:31

at a safe distance ? I

5:35

hope that each of us has people or

5:38

a person that we can speak

5:40

to and have speak

5:43

into our lives , somebody

5:47

that will ask challenging questions regarding

5:49

our prayer life and our devotion

5:52

to the word , our commitment to the church , our

5:54

pursuit of holiness . Because

5:56

that's what we're doing , we are racing

5:59

and running towards holiness . Because that's what we're doing , we

6:04

are racing and running towards holiness . I

6:09

hope that we're actively building

6:11

relationships with fellow Christians that allow us to be like Paul

6:13

by providing

6:15

spiritual accountability . That

6:19

is the definition of biblical fellowship . Christ

6:21

called us to be a community , a

6:23

body that's privileged and

6:25

responsible for one another , and

6:28

we need to strive to emulate him . We

6:33

need to be Jesus in our interactions

6:35

with other Christians . We

6:37

need to affirm each other , we

6:40

need to do it in love and we

6:42

need to commit ourselves to asking the hard

6:44

questions out of love . Father

6:49

, god , forgive me when I try

6:51

to shift the blame to others and circumstances

6:53

when I fail to follow you . It's

6:56

so important People . It's

6:59

so important People

7:03

. The

7:05

person who holds complete responsibility for our walk with the Lord is the one that

7:07

we see reflected in the mirror . Join

7:11

me each week at renewedmindsetscom

7:13

or wherever you listen to

7:15

podcasts . I'm

7:17

Rick . I

7:19

love you , see

7:22

ya .