A Better Me in 2023

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Well, thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

What an honor it is to be here in the house that I grew up in, the house that I got saved in, and really got to grow in my relationship with the Lord, and obviously be pastored by your pastor who happens to be my dad as well.

So I get to be pastored by him seven days a week.

So you're welcome.

So that's really tells you I'm in I'm really gonna be a blessing.

You know, I'm kidding, anyways.

But I really am honored to be here.

I'm excited.

I'm grateful for you guys and how you have loved our family.

You've cared for us, you've prayed for us.

And so I just want to take a moment and say thank you for how you have invested into our family without even knowing it.

So thank you for who you are as well to our family.

Well, I hope you had a phenomenal Christmas.

But I thought I would tell you a little bit about our Christmas.

We've been here since Tuesday, just getting to do Christmas with my family and open presents and all the things, and it's been a blast.

My kids have had so much fun.

I'm sure there'll be tears on the way home later.

But you know, we opened, we gave our girls this one gift.

And it was a camera that when you take a picture, it prints out the picture.

Now the older generation's like, yeah, it's called a Polaroid camera.

You're not wrong.

We like to recycle things in the next generation, okay?

We just make it slightly better.

So we gave them a Polaroid camera.

It was a starter kit, it had tons of paper in it, and we set them down, we said, listen, this paper does not last long.

This is not like your phones, it's not like a digital camera where you can take 10 pictures and then choose the one you want to print.

That's not how this works.

And when this paper is gone, it's gone.

And I'm not buying you any more for a long, long time, okay?

And so I told him, I set them down, made it real clear.

Everybody said they got it, they got it.

You guessed it.

24 hours later, all the paper's gone.

Can't find any more paper to print on.

And you guessed it, I bought more.

So I gave myself a wonderful gift that's gonna make us go broke this year.

So Merry Christmas to us all, you know?

Well, hey, as I was thinking about that, I realized that the year 2023 is actually kind of like a Polaroid picture.

We're in the season right now where we're shaking it, we're not even really sure.

Some of us don't even know if we pointed the camera in the right direction.

We have no idea what type of picture is gonna come out of 2023.

Some of us may be anxious about it, some of us are certain that it's gonna be a great year because we have things that we planned for or were hoping for in 2023.

But I want to ask you just a simple question.

How many of you would love to be fitter, happier, and overall better in 2023?

Just a show of hands.

Okay, great.

Me too.

So I have a small tip that's gonna help you become fitter, happier, and overall better in 2023.

You're just gonna need unlimited resources, unlimited time.

If you have children, you're gonna need a nanny.

You need a chef and a trainer and a psychologist.

And so since none of that is possible, we're all in for it.

Who knows?

Just kidding.

I'll give you a little bit of hope.

I found something that I actually think can help you have a fitter, happier, and overall better you in 2023.

I titled today's message A Better Me in 2023.

And here's what it is.

There was this study that happened where there was a group of people that was dealing with anxiety and depression.

And they pulled this group in and they divided them in two, and they told one group of people, would you write about why you're anxious and depressed?

Every single day for 30 days, just write about why you are anxious and why are you depressed.

And then they took the other group and they said, We want you to write just one thing every day.

We want you to write one thing that you are grateful for every day for 30 days.

That's it.

It's very simple.

That's all you have to do.

Well, you may be ahead of me, but at the end of the 30 days, the ones that wrote about why they were anxious, why they were depressed, were more anxious and more depressed at the end of the study.

But the ones that took the moment to write one word of gratitude were overall happier, fitter, and better beings at the end of the study.

The study actually showed that there were psychological benefits, a happier you, that you would have more positive emotions and thoughts, more aware and awake time, increased self-satisfaction, and enhanced mood.

The study showed there were physical benefits to gratitude, a stronger immune system, less body pains and aches, and optimum blood pressure and cardiac functioning, better sleep-wake cycle.

So that there was better social benefits for gratitude.

Here's what they are: better communication, more empathy, stronger interpersonal relationships, more likability among group members, more involvement as a team member.

Gratitude may be our least assumed weapon for the freedom we desire in 2023.

It may be the thing that we actually need to invest in so that we can be the best us in this next year.

As I was studying this, I saw that science proves that gratitude makes a difference.

But I wondered if there was something in the Bible that actually proved it as well.

And there is.

There's a story about ten men.

It's the story of the ten lepers, and I want to read it to you.

It's in Luke 17, starting in verse 11.

Now it happened as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

Then, as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off, and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

So when he saw them, he said to them, Go show yourselves to the priest.

And so it was as they went, they were cleansed, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, had returned, and with a loud voice glorified God.

He fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed?

But where are the nine?

Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except for this foreigner?

And he said to them, Arise, go your way.

Your faith has made you well.

If I'm honest with you, I've been pondering this story for probably two years now.

And in this we all see an obvious miracle.

But there are two major things that happen in this story that you and I can apply to our lives.

And the first thing is go.

The simple word go.

If you remember in the passage, it says, as they went.

See, it was through their obedience that a miracle happened.

It was on their way to going that God did something in their lives.

Leviticus 3 explains to us that because of their skin disease, that they were considered impure or not whole.

They didn't have enough to come into the temple.

They were outcasted because of this.

And so what this tells us is that while God sent them to see the priest, it may have felt like an inconvenience, but it was actually for their future.

Because in order for them to go to the priest, which was also the physician, that is the person that would deem them clean so that they could come into the temple.

So what seemed as an inconvenience became an open door.

It was the thing that gave them access to the place that had always been out off limits because of their simple obedience to go.

Their simple willingness to trust that they could walk into this moment.

See, all throughout the Bible, there are two types of miracles.

There are instantaneous miracles and there are progressive miracles.

And this is a progressive miracle.

Naaman is another example of a progressive miracle because God told him to dip seven times, and when he did, he received his healing.

I'm curious today what would have happened if he only would have dipped six?

What would have happened if Joshua would have only marched around the walls of Jericho six times?

I'm here to encourage you that you don't know how close you are to your breakthrough.

You don't know how close it is if you will just continue to obey God.

You have no idea what is on the other side of your obedience in his life, in your life.

Each one of us have the opportunity to obey God.

I think about these 10 lepers.

They could have said something like, Why don't you heal us and then we'll go?

It will be an embarrassment if we show up there and we're not healed.

So why don't you take the time to heal us?

And then once we're healed and we see that we're healed, we'll go to the priest and then we'll know.

Because culture teaches us to say, I want to see it before I believe it.

And God says, Why don't you believe it and then you can see it?

Culture teaches us to say, if I just understood more, God, if you would just show me what your next steps are, more than just one step at a time, please, then I would understand and then I would obey.

But see, the kingdom of God says, if you'll just start to obey, then as you look back, you'll see the hand of God all throughout it, and you will see and understand what I was doing all along.

Because what God wants to do in us is different than what the world is telling us is the way to it.

I want to give you one of the greatest tactics of the enemy: doubt.

Doubt.

Because what doubt does is it tries to get us to stop and make sense of it all, and so that way we can take our next step.

But sometimes God's asking you to take a step of faith.

And if you are being called to take a step of faith, then you need to know that doubt will deprive you of your deliverance you desire.

See, doubt, think about it in the Garden of Eden.

What did he do to Eve?

He had her to doubt.

If he can get you to stop and doubt, did God really say?

I wonder if on this journey we're not told how long the journey was for these ten lepers.

I wonder if on the journey they go, did he really say to go to the priest?

Did he really say he would heal us?

What happens if we get there and it's not what we thought?

What if it doesn't meet our expectations?

What if doubt would have gotten in the way and they talked themselves out of continuing to go to the priest?

What if doubt is the very thing that has held you back from the deliverance that God wants to give you?

What is doubt depriving from your life because you're unwilling to just take the step of faith?

When I was studying this passage in my Bible reading plan, I came across a scripture and it's Psalms 53, 5, and it says they were in great fear where no fear was.

And I kind of stopped in my tracks because I had been reading Psalm 53, and if you go up just a few verses, it said that they had turned aside from seeking God.

And I was curious if the reason that they were afraid, where there was no reason to be afraid, was because they had turned aside from seeking God.

I'm curious if the reason that we have so much anxiety and depression is because we have turned aside from seeking God?

Have we started worrying about our future so much so that we have stopped seeking God about our future?

The one who holds it in his hand, the one that has already planned it, the one that has lit up the steps that we are to take?

Are we allowing fear into our life when it has no place?

Because we have a God who has it all under control.

Are we on this journey to say, you know what, God, I don't understand, but I know you do, and I will keep walking.

During this time of my life, I realized that the Lord changed my prayer time.

See, if I'm honest with you, and still sometimes I like to pray that God would do things for me.

You know, like, hey God, can you do something for me?

Can you give me a raise or can you do this for my child?

And not that that's wrong.

But I began to hear the Lord say, Would you ask me to do it through you?

And then all of a sudden my prayers changed because I was thinking, God, would you do something through me?

Not that it wouldn't impact me, not that it wouldn't actually heal me on the way to the next person, but would it be that it would not stop with me?

Could you do something through me?

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the priest as these 10 men walked up completely healed?

I wonder what it did to his faith.

I wonder what it did as he looked and said, tell me more about what just happened.

I wonder what it was like for the family who these men were never at the dinner table all of a sudden sitting at the dinner table.

I wonder what it was like for their children when their dads started to show up at their baseball games because God healed them.

Now I know there wasn't baseball back in the day, but let's just use my imagination, okay?

I wonder what it was like.

Because God didn't just do something for them, he desired to do something through them so that it impacted everyone around them.

And I believe that that's what God wants to do with us.

And it just starts with a simple word of go.

Will you go?

Will you obey and step out even when you don't understand, even when you don't see it, even when it all isn't playing out exactly how you would like it to, would you step out and go?

In this story, there was one gentleman that took this one step further.

And statistically, very few people will actually do the next thing.

And so point number two is return.

Return.

In Luke 17, if we go back and I reread the story to you, starting at verse 15, it said, And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him, giving him thanks.

And he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed?

But where are the nine?

Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except for this foreigner?

And he said to him, Arise, go your way, your faith has made you well.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, why did he say, Your faith has made you well?

Like we know that Jesus doesn't suffer from short-term memory loss, but like um, you already healed him.

That's why he returned to you to say thank you for what you had already done.

And yet you'll say it again.

But as I studied this passage, what I found that actual meaning of it means is to mean saved or wholeness.

And so here's what I think happened, and this is why I say that this would maybe be the not so obvious miracle of the story.

The obvious one is that they all ten got healed, but the not so obvious miracle that happened is that when this man returned, I believe that God healed his mind and reassured his eternity.

See, there was this salvation element that came in his return back to Jesus.

In this moment, he said to him, Your body was healed, but your heart and your mind were not.

And so when you returned with a grateful heart, then I had the opportunity to invest back into you and reassure your eternity and heal your mind and heart.

There was a healing that needed to happen.

There was a second healing that needed to happen in his body.

And here is why.

Because we can be healed and not know how to walk out our healing.

My son, when he was a little boy, we were over playing with some kids that were much older than him.

And he decided to jump down off of a bunk bed and he planted his feet and he turned real fast to go catch up with the older kids, and his ankle stayed planted and his knee went the other way, and he immediately fell and started crying.

We knew something was wrong, but there was no marking or bruising or anything on his leg.

And after the next day, when he still couldn't walk on it, we took him to urgent care.

Don't judge, okay?

We didn't want to pay for it if we didn't have to.

We weren't sure if he was really hurt.

I already know you're judging me.

It's fine, okay?

So we did it.

But the next day, he still wouldn't walk on it.

I tried and he wouldn't.

So I was like, okay, we're taking you to urgent care.

And to my surprise, we found out that he had fractured his shin.

It was a spiral fracture from his ankle to his knee.

And so they put him in a full leg cast and they said, in just no time, he'll be learning to walk with that cast on.

And they said, six weeks in the cast and he'll be good to go.

And sure enough, he learned to hobble around with that cast.

He was moving all over the place.

After six weeks, we went to the doctor and they did all the testing to make sure it was good to go.

And they cut off his cast.

They said, He's good to go.

They set him down, and I was sitting on the other side of the doctor's office, and they said, It's okay, buddy, walk to your mom.

And he took one step and he fell down crying.

And I looked at the doctor and was like, You sure you did your job?

Because he's still crying.

And then he said, Yes, I'm sure.

But the problem is he's gonna have to learn to trust that leg again.

See, the problem is no longer in his leg, it is actually in his mind, because his mind tells him that it is still broken.

And so he needed a healing now in his mind.

And so for several weeks, we had to rewire his mind to trust that that leg was healed and he could walk on it.

Is it possible that you and I have received healings that our minds have not rewired to?

So we are still limping around, crying to God, saying, Please heal me, please heal me.

And he says, It is already done, but your mind is what needs to be rewired.

Your mind is actually the thing that needs healing today.

And what came from his return was his mind was healed.

Why?

Why did he get an extra, extra round of healing?

Simple.

Gratitude.

Did you know that gratitude will unshackle us from toxic emotions?

When I studied gratitude, I came across an article that quoted a book talking about how gratitude has a lasting effect on our brain.

I want to read it to you.

It says, in the book Grateful Brain, author Alex Korb said that our brain is conditioned to function in a repeated way.

For example, a person who worries too much about the adverse outcomes will subconsciously rewire his brain to process negative information only.

Korb has mentioned that our mind cannot focus on positive and negative information at the same time.

By consciously practicing gratitude, we can train the brain to attend selectively to positive emotions and thoughts, thus reducing anxiety and feelings of apprehension.

What I personally believe happened is that when this man came back with a grateful heart, he rewired his mind to be able to walk out the healing that was given to him.

To tell you another story, there was a young man named Marcus, and Marcus was addicted to drugs, and he had tried to get, he was at his all-time low, is what he would tell you.

He was depressed and anxious about many different things, and he wanted to get off of drugs.

And so one time he cut off cold turkey and his body went into shock and he ended up in the ER, and they said, You just can't do it this way.

It'll kill you.

It could cost you your life.

You just can't do it this way.

So he left feeling even more depressed, even more anxious.

And he decided as a last resort he was going to join a group at a church nearby.

And he joined this group, and at this group, they did one thing.

They had a WhatsApp chat, like a group chat, and they said, Every morning we want you to post three things that you're grateful for.

He said that first morning, he was so anxious.

He had nothing to write.

So he wrote the air that I breathe, the roof over my head, and the food that I eat.

He said, Over time, I began to get so excited I couldn't even sleep at night because I was so ready to post my gratitude moments.

He said, It just everything changed because when I knew that I would have to say something the next morning, I started to look for things to be grateful for.

And my perspective started to change.

During this season, while he was in this group, he accepted Jesus to be his Lord and he started praying every single day.

And his favorite moment of the season of this group, he said, My favorite day was the day that I got to write.

I have been drug free for 24 hours.

Do you know what kick started his journey to freedom?

Gratitude.

Do you know what kick started his journey even to a relationship with God?

Was gratitude.

It was a simple thing of saying, I will choose to be grateful.

So knowing the power of gratitude, why in the world would the nine not return?

Have you ever asked yourself, why would they not return?

I found myself asking this question, and I put myself in the seat of the nine.

And with putting myself in the category of the nine, I came up with a few reasons why maybe I would struggle to return.

Now, commentaries would tell you that they might struggle to return because they were Jews and they felt owed that return.

That they felt owed that healing.

And if I'm honest with you, many of you will remember a season where my dad was in the hospital and he almost died.

The world was praying for him, and we were so grateful.

But I remember my youngest was two weeks old when this happened.

And I remember dealing with a fussy baby, and I was in the restroom changing.

A blowout diaper at the hospital, and I remember actually crying out to God, How in the world could you do this?

With all He's done for you in the kingdom of God, how in the world could we be in this position?

If I'm honest, I fell into the category of the nine, feeling slightly owed by God.

Can I tell you I need to warn you of an entitled spirit because it will rob you of the miracles God wants to do through your life?

Another reason that I wonder if the nine didn't return as I put myself in their shoes as to maybe why I would struggle to return.

I thought about it would require me to go back to the place of pain.

Think about it for a second.

These men would have to go back to the place that they were called an outcast.

They may have been spit on, they may have had trash thrown at them, they may have been cursed, they may have been pushed out of the way.

Anything could have happened, but they would have known for sure that they were unwelcomed, unwanted, unloved, and definitely an outcast in this group.

And so, in order to go back to the man who healed their body, that also meant they had to go back to their critics and to all the ones yelling, unclean.

They also meant they had to go back to the place of shame and pain that was so dear to their heart, it feels so much easier to just move on.

I said thank you in my mind or in my heart.

I really mean thank you.

And if we happen to ever bump into each other again at the local club, then we'll for sure say thank you so much for healing my body.

But no, going back would mean that I would have to relive moments, I would have to face things, I would have to encounter something.

And I was finding myself in a place where I have not necessarily wanted to go back to say thank you to God because if I did, I would also have to face the pain and the shame and the hurt that was in that season.

And maybe for some of us today, as we look back on 2022 and we're starting to think through 2023, we just don't even want to acknowledge some things that happened in 2022.

We don't want to acknowledge it.

But in order to acknowledge it, you must also acknowledge his presence was in it.

See, in the place where they felt the most shame and the most outcasted, the most unwanted and unloved.

The Bible says that he came to them and met them in that place to offer them a new life.

It was in the place that they did not ever want to be wanted by the world, yet they were wanted by God.

And so today today's society, we kind of forget to say thank you because it may mean that we face the unwanted.

But we need to remember that he was in that moment.

His presence was still right there.

I have to wonder what they missed out on.

I wonder if they went back to life and still kind of was skittish with people and friends because they hadn't ever rewired their mind or their heart.

I have to wonder if the brokenness inside of them actually halted the growth that God wanted to do through them because they were unwilling to return.

I have to wonder today if you and I are missing out on the opportunity of a miracle that we all know we need.

Because we just have yet to return.

See, God doesn't want to just heal our bodies, He wants to transform our lives, He wants to transform our hearts and our minds, and the simple act of gratitude can be the very thing that opens that door.

I want to tell you my journey of gratitude.

If I'm honest with you, 2022 had some really great moments.

If you were looking from the outside in, you would say, Man, that was an incredible year.

And it was at times.

Ethan and I moved into a brand new home.

Gateway Church Houston moved into a new church building.

We tripled in size.

I mean, there were so many good things.

Many became to the Lord.

We launched our women's ministry there.

We have so many good things that we could share.

But if I'm honest with you, for me personally, it was the hardest year so far.

And not for any reasons that maybe I could say that would be like, oh, I understand that being hard.

But I dealt with some betrayals, I dealt with some friend losses, I dealt with some people pain of just things not going how I thought they would go.

And it wasn't a one-time thing, it was a multiple-time thing where multiple people would hurt my heart.

And I would find myself in the car or in my bathroom, just kind of venting to God.

I know none of you do this, it's just me and the Lord's relationship.

I just need to tell him what I thought, okay?

And so I was kind of venting to God.

I just, I don't understand.

Can you just do something about it?

I just I was venting, I was angry.

And yet every single time I found myself ending with a certain question.

And let's be honest, it wasn't from me, it was definitely from the Lord.

But I would ask myself this question How did you do it?

How did you still go to the cross after we betrayed you, after we spat on you, after we whipped you, after we cursed you, after we said that you were not who you say you are?

How in the world did you still go to the cross?

Because while I'm ready to take a life, you chose to give a life.

While I'm ready to curse them and pray down the fire of heaven, you were willing to say, God forgive them, for they do not know what they have done.

How in the world did you do it?

You didn't cry out and say, Time out! I need a moment to get my thoughts together.

You could have any moment said one word and they all would have been silenced.

And yet you still chose to go to the cross.

So I have to tell you, gratitude for me did not come from the best year ever, although there were good moments.

Gratitude for me came because I remember that he went the extra mile on my behalf.

Gratitude for me came because I realized while I am not able to do it, he decided to give me life.

And so while life may not be great, I have a savior that loves me enough that will come to the place of my pain to bring healing to my heart, my mind, and my body.

And I get to do one thing in return: express a grateful heart.

So I can promise you one thing.

Your 2023 may not be your best year, but if you'll choose to do an attitude of gratitude throughout it, it could be the best you in the year.

You can have a year that is the happiest.

You can have the year that is the happiest you, the fittest you, and the overall best you.

Not because circumstances are great, but because there was somebody willing to go to a cross on your behalf.

And if you'll come back and just say thank you, he'll do what only he can do in your life.

I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

And as I thought about this message, I realized that there's some of us here that we've never actually returned back to God to say thank you for the price he paid on the cross.

We've never actually given him the only thing we have to offer him, which is our heart and our life.

And I want to tell you that you do not have to go into 2023 alone.

If you will just choose to surrender your heart to him, to return back to him, he can heal your situation, he can transform your life.

And so today I want to give you an opportunity that despite your circumstances, despite the addiction you may find yourself in, despite the brokenness of your heart, you have the opportunity to return.

When I was 19 years old, I returned back to God.

And I didn't pray some eloquent prayer.

I just said, God, I've had enough and I surrender.

And I acknowledge the price he paid for me.

And so maybe today you need to do the same.

And just say, God, I acknowledge the price you've paid for me.

And I surrender it to you.

Maybe today you're something comes to mind and you say, Oh, God, I never returned back.

Because it was a place of pain, a place of brokenness.

It was the place where the divorce happened or the miscarriage happened.

It was the place where your finances fell apart.

It was the place where it seemed like there was nothing good in it.

But if you'll take a moment and just return, you may find that he was there all along.

And so right now, every weekend we ask a question, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me through this message?

And right now, in our own words, just return a grateful heart to him.

Right now, we say thank you.

Thank you for 2022.

Thank you for the opportunity of 2023.

Thank you for the goodness that you bestow on your people.

Thank you for your presence even in the darkest of times.

God, thank you for the price you paid on the cross for us.

I don't understand how you did it.

I would have given up long before, but you didn't on my behalf, on our behalf.

And God will never be able to say thank you enough.

But may 2023 be the year of gratitude in our hearts.

May this be the year that freedom breaks out, that hearts are restored, that minds are healed, that anxiety and depression break off, that bodies are healed.

May this be the year that you do the miraculous, what is already within your character.

And may this be the year that we stand with grateful hearts throughout it.

Would you have your way in and through us in 2023?

In Jesus' name, amen.

I love you guys.

Happy New Year.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.