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Hi,

0:05

Chris Bellington here. Welcome to my podcast

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chrisbellington.com/Regent Summit. I hope to

1:01

see you there. Hi,

1:04

everybody. Well, I hope that you had a wonderful

1:07

week last week. And you

1:09

know, we've been working on

1:11

themes every month where we're

1:13

trying to have a theme and we're

1:16

not staying to it like, like, you

1:18

know, strictly staying to it. Because

1:20

there's lots of questions come in, we try

1:22

our best to make this personal and trying

1:24

to make this a time, you know,

1:26

our goal was to make this a time

1:29

when people have actually had

1:31

access to us. Because I think part

1:33

of the challenge, you know, when you're in

1:35

a position of leadership that I'm in, is

1:38

that we don't have a lot of connection with,

1:41

you know, people that we're not working with every day. And

1:44

our current negation, our schools are so large

1:46

that it's hard to sit down and have

1:48

a, you know, conversation with people.

1:50

And so we're like, how can

1:52

we be more accessible and

1:54

still not, you know, still have a

1:56

life because we are so our lives

1:58

are so full. that

2:01

it's really difficult to actually

2:03

connect with people. And so this is

2:05

supposed to be a little bit of

2:08

a two-way conversation where you're asking questions,

2:10

you're making comments. Christina just said, I

2:13

love your new glasses. Thank you. And the best thing

2:15

about my glasses is that I can actually see. So

2:18

maybe this is the beginning of a new

2:20

era, where the Lord puts the

2:23

glasses on us and we can see further

2:25

and clearer. So that's my goal. But

2:27

I wrote this book, our theme this

2:30

week, this month actually, is

2:32

about identity, like who are you and who's

2:35

God in you and who's God to you.

2:37

And this is my very first

2:39

book, The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, Discovering

2:42

Your Rights and Privileges of

2:45

Being a Son and Daughter of God. And

2:47

so this is the very first book I

2:49

ever wrote. It is actually

2:51

my best-selling book. Bill authored a couple of

2:54

chapters in it too, which obviously

2:56

when I wrote this book, nobody knew who I

2:58

was at all. So that was a

3:01

great marketing ploy right there

3:03

to make sure someone would actually pick up the book

3:06

and read through it. But it

3:08

actually begins with my story,

3:10

I call

3:12

it coming out of pauperhood or coming out of the

3:14

slave mentality. And I've told my story

3:16

over and over, grew up in a pretty tough

3:19

home. And my

3:21

father called me Stupid Ass,

3:23

the first father, my

3:26

two stepfathers. And

3:29

it really created deep wounds

3:31

in my heart. And so

3:34

when I got saved and then later on,

3:36

when I came to Bethel, which was like really 22

3:39

years after I got saved,

3:41

the Lord just began to deal deeply

3:43

with my childhood

3:45

identity issues with my low

3:47

self-esteem, with my

3:49

really self-hatred. And it

3:52

brought me on this journey that, and

3:54

took me on this journey,

3:58

created a journey actually. in

4:00

which I'll say the Lord took me

4:02

out of his slave mentality and brought

4:05

me into sonship. And I think the

4:07

process is frankly still going on. The

4:10

other day I had an encounter with the Lord

4:12

and he said, I want you to stop fearing

4:14

man. And my first thought is I don't

4:17

see where I'm fearing man.

4:20

And then the Lord brought up these

4:22

circumstances that have been happening in the

4:24

last just several months. And I'm like, oh

4:26

yeah, I was trying to meow that one

4:29

too. And so

4:31

I do feel like this is an

4:33

ongoing process of the Lord

4:35

just unveiling himself in us. But

4:38

I just want to begin by sharing

4:40

just a few of the concepts that

4:42

are in the book. And probably the

4:44

most prominent concept is that when we

4:46

receive Jesus Christ, that

4:48

we are no longer sinners. We

4:51

were sinners saved by grace. And so I

4:54

don't think we should be careful

4:56

to never forget where we came from or

4:58

attribute our success to ourselves

5:01

when actually it was the

5:03

power of the cross and the blood of

5:05

Jesus that really transformed us.

5:07

But there are so many

5:10

Christians that are still

5:12

in this mindset. Well, I'm

5:16

still a sinner and I'm saved by grace.

5:18

And aren't we all sinners? I

5:21

just had somebody prominent in the body

5:23

of Christ say, well, we're all sinners

5:25

just saved by grace. And I'm

5:28

like, wow, that is not true. We

5:32

were sinners. And but when

5:34

we received Jesus Christ, we were born again.

5:37

And we were born as sons

5:39

and daughters. And so

5:43

sometimes people are like, you're just being arrogant.

5:45

And arrogant, what's happening

5:48

when you say I'm still a

5:50

sinner after you receive crisis, you've

5:52

demeaned the cross. You've

5:54

lessened the crucifixion and you've

5:57

ignored the board. again

6:00

experience. I was born of the seed

6:02

of God. And you know,

6:04

1 John 1 says, if anybody

6:07

says he hasn't sinned, he makes

6:09

him a liar. 1 John 2 says,

6:12

and if we sin, we

6:14

have an advocate with the Father. In fact,

6:16

it opens, 2nd chapter opens.

6:19

1 John 2 opens with

6:21

this. He says, I'm

6:23

writing to you that you may not sin. Next

6:26

verse, if anyone sins, not when,

6:28

if we have an advocate with

6:30

the Father, Jesus Christ, righteous. And

6:33

then the 3rd chapter of the same book says

6:36

that anyone who's born of

6:38

God cannot practice sin or

6:40

he's actually not born again.

6:43

Because when we were born

6:45

again, we're born of the holy seed of Jesus

6:48

and we become the righteousness of God in Christ

6:50

Jesus. And by the way, I don't

6:52

say that to say, well, if you sin, you

6:54

don't know God. What's happened

6:56

in Christendom is

6:59

that we've actually had some really bad

7:01

teaching. And I've heard

7:04

over and over and from many podiums,

7:06

you know, we're sinners saved by grace

7:08

and you know, we're not perfect. We're

7:12

just forgiven. Those things,

7:14

actually Jesus said, I want you to be

7:16

perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect. And

7:19

so the goal is that we

7:21

would have, you know, in, by grace, we'd

7:23

be, there would be holy perfection, that we'd

7:25

be a holy people. 1 Peter

7:28

goes on to say that we

7:30

are a holy people. We

7:36

are people for God's own possession and

7:39

that we are people called out

7:41

for His excellency. So, you

7:43

know, I just want to put it,

7:45

you know, in your heart and mind

7:47

that the challenges

7:50

is that we are, we

7:52

became righteous by faith. Romans,

7:55

Paul said Romans, that by faith

7:57

we became righteous and If

8:00

we say, well, we're saved by

8:02

grace, but we're not perfect, you

8:05

know, we're just, we're

8:07

all centers. The challenge is that

8:09

what we believe we receive.

8:12

And the challenge there is we're taking away

8:14

the power of the cross because the power

8:16

of the cross is that we actually got

8:19

saved from hell,

8:21

but also from our old nature.

8:23

And we've received a new mind

8:26

and we received a new heart. And

8:28

I've heard people quote Isaiah

8:31

so many times, well, the heart

8:33

is exceedingly wicked, no man can

8:35

know it. That's true

8:37

before we were born again. That's

8:40

true of the world who

8:42

doesn't yet know God, we call

8:44

them pre-believers, but it's not true

8:47

of us. It's Jesus actually

8:49

gave us a heart transplant, took

8:51

our heart out, gave us His, He

8:53

took our mind and He gave us His mind.

8:57

And so, you know, we

8:59

have to have a speech

9:01

that actually matches the

9:04

truth of the Bible. And

9:07

the other part, I love,

9:10

you know, chapters of this book. I

9:12

mean, I still go through this

9:14

and think, oh, yeah, I remember those learning

9:16

those lessons. You know,

9:19

we in that light, it's

9:22

important for us to realize that we are not

9:24

in a war with our old man either, which

9:27

is another challenge. You know, I was

9:29

taught in the Jesus movement by I

9:31

love the Jesus people movement. And,

9:34

you know, people had such a

9:36

wonderful experience in the Lord, but

9:38

sometimes terrible doctrine. And

9:40

we had analogies that they sound

9:42

beautiful. They're just really not accurate.

9:44

Like I was taught as a

9:47

teenager, the year I got saved, you know,

9:50

there was a black dog and a white dog in

9:52

me. The white dog is the

9:54

new man. The black dog is the

9:56

old man. And whatever dog I feed,

9:59

that dog. is that

10:01

dog is the dog that rules my life. And

10:03

I understand that we have to

10:05

give attention to righteousness and that

10:07

there is discipline involved and that

10:09

there's Galatians 5, for

10:12

example, tells us to don't do the

10:14

deeds of the flesh. So there is

10:16

a walking out of our sanctification,

10:19

I get that. But

10:21

the truth is that the black dog,

10:23

the old man, when I received Christ

10:25

and got baptized, that the old man,

10:28

he freaking drowned in the baptismal tank and

10:30

I came out, like when we got put

10:32

under the water, we die with Christ, this

10:34

is Romans 6, by the way. And when

10:36

we came out of the water, we rose

10:39

with Christ. And so the old

10:41

man is dead. And then

10:43

the war, as like in

10:46

Ephesians chapter 6, Paul

10:48

says, our struggle is not against flesh

10:50

and blood, but against rules, against powers,

10:52

against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly

10:55

places. So we actually, he says, our

10:57

struggle's not against flesh and blood. And

10:59

then in 2 Corinthians chapter

11:01

10, he says the weapons of warfare are

11:03

not in the flesh. In fact, he goes, he

11:06

begins with this, although we walk in the

11:08

flesh, we don't war against the flesh, for

11:10

the weapons of warfare are not in

11:12

the flesh, but divinely powerful for

11:14

the destruction of fortresses. And even though

11:16

we walk in the flesh, even though

11:18

we walk in the sartex, the

11:21

word flesh is sartex in Greek, it's

11:24

not good or evil, it's just

11:26

like sometimes it's used to don't

11:30

do the deeds of the flesh. That's the

11:32

same word, sartex. And

11:34

it's not positive and negative, it's

11:37

the context that you're using it

11:39

that determines the definition. And

11:42

then Paul said, we're supposed to

11:44

nourish and cherish our flesh, the

11:46

same sartex, it's the same word.

11:48

Like I'm supposed to nourish

11:51

and cherish my flesh. David said, my

11:53

soul and my flesh cry out for

11:55

the living God. But in

11:57

that context, he's not talking about his. his

12:00

wickedness, he's talking about the fact

12:02

that his whole being loves God.

12:05

And so I think that, you

12:07

know, Jesus, the word became flesh, Sorex,

12:09

the same word, and dwelt among us.

12:12

The word didn't become flesh and that

12:15

flesh was evil. That word

12:17

became flesh and dwelt among

12:19

us means that God actually took on

12:22

flesh and his righteousness was displayed in

12:25

his body, in his physical body. So

12:29

I think it's really important for us to realize

12:31

that I'm to nourish and cherish my flesh,

12:33

not my old man, but my new

12:36

man. And I

12:38

think that there's a lot of people that

12:41

through faith in

12:44

believing that they are

12:46

still a sinner, that they're

12:48

supposed to be fighting their flesh, that

12:51

they actually never come into

12:53

the full sanctification, the full

12:55

sanctification that Jesus paid for on the cross,

12:58

because honestly, they have really bad

13:00

theology. And Isaiah

13:02

cried out that

13:04

my people perish for a lack of knowledge.

13:07

And so what

13:09

happens when I believe

13:11

bad doctrine is I actually

13:14

empower doctrine that shouldn't be

13:18

empowered in my life. And

13:21

I become a victim and

13:23

I walk like a victim and I feel like

13:25

a victim. And I'm like, I'm

13:28

not a victim. I'm a child of the

13:30

King. Now someone may have victimized me, but

13:32

I'll tell you what, I don't want my

13:34

identity to be in someone else's actions in

13:36

my life. Let me say that again. I

13:38

don't want my identity. I

13:41

don't want to think from the core

13:44

value that because someone views me, therefore

13:46

I am

13:49

their perpetuated evil on me. What

13:52

they did to me became my identity.

13:54

I'm sorry, I may have been

13:56

victimized, but I don't want to be a victim.

13:58

I don't want to see myself. as

14:01

a power's pundit of someone

14:03

else's actions. And I

14:05

think it's really important, I was sharing this with a friend

14:07

of mine, that

14:10

Christians have, in

14:13

my opinion, and again, this is a broad

14:15

statement, so it wouldn't fit everybody, have

14:17

largely taken on a victim mentality.

14:19

So if their church doesn't get

14:22

the building permits, like,

14:26

oh, because we're Christians. If we

14:28

don't get into this certain, accept

14:30

it in a certain school, oh, it's

14:32

because we're Christians. And there's enough persecution

14:35

to actually validate that that's

14:37

sometimes true. But it's like

14:39

someone being a certain ethnic group, and like, well, I

14:41

didn't get the job because I'm black, or I

14:43

didn't get the job because I'm white, or didn't get

14:46

the job because I'm Asian, or I didn't get the

14:48

job. And what

14:50

happens when I relegate everything

14:52

to being a victim

14:55

is, first of all, if I didn't get the

14:57

job because I'm not qualified, or I didn't get

14:59

the job because there was someone better, or

15:02

I didn't get in because I was late to

15:04

the party, so to speak, or

15:06

I didn't fill out the application right,

15:09

or whatever the other hundreds of reasons

15:13

why I didn't actually move

15:16

forward, but I relegated to my ethnic

15:18

group, or I relegated to my Christianity,

15:21

I make myself a victim, and I begin to

15:23

look through that lens, that victim

15:25

lens, and say, well, it's because I'm

15:27

a Christian, I'm just being persecuted for

15:29

Christ. Well, maybe you were not qualified.

15:32

Maybe you didn't fill out the

15:34

paperwork right. Maybe you came too late

15:36

to whatever. Maybe you

15:38

just, maybe you actually, maybe there was

15:41

someone who was more qualified than you, but my

15:43

point is, I actually can't,

15:46

if I don't accept that

15:48

I'm not a victim, and

15:50

there's these other reasons why I

15:53

was unqualified, then I actually can't

15:55

change my qualification because I relegated

15:58

to reason. to

16:01

my victimhood. And I'm like, I

16:03

know that there are people in

16:06

this city and in the world who hate me.

16:08

I understand that. Jesus said, if you love me

16:10

and you follow me,

16:13

you will be persecuted. So

16:15

there is real persecution. The challenge with

16:17

real persecution is it creates a mindset

16:20

of victimhood. And pretty soon we're viewing

16:22

the world through, you know, I'm this

16:24

victim no one likes. And so I

16:26

show up places thinking no one likes

16:29

me, you know, people don't want

16:31

me here. And I'm like,

16:33

no, no, people who are sinners

16:35

love Jesus being around. They invited

16:38

him to parties, although he was

16:40

perfect. You know, the perfect person

16:43

in most of our lives were like, I don't want John

16:45

around because, you know, if we're over

16:48

here drinking and smoking dope, John's like

16:50

makes us feel guilty. But they

16:52

actually invited Jesus to their

16:54

drunken parties. So the place where the

16:57

outside people identified Jesus,

17:00

you know, through the people he

17:02

hung out with, it was guilty through, you know,

17:05

through partnership with sinners, right? It

17:07

was guilty through association. So like,

17:09

well, it's Jesus, a wine bibber.

17:11

Jesus is a drunker. Jesus

17:14

is a party goer. And

17:16

actually, Jesus showed up at those

17:18

places, but those places didn't change

17:20

him. They he had influence

17:22

on them. He was not a victim.

17:25

So I want to say that

17:27

it is very it's super important that

17:30

we that

17:32

we actually carry ourselves as

17:35

children of God, like our

17:37

dad is king of every king.

17:40

He's Lord of every Lord. He's

17:43

the creator of all the universes. And

17:45

I don't know how you grow up in

17:47

the family of God and think, poor me.

17:50

You know, something, you know, people don't like me. Like,

17:53

if people don't like you, that's their

17:55

problem. But when we when

17:58

we carry ourselves like victims. we

18:01

become unlikable. We become reacting

18:03

to people. We're thinking of,

18:05

you know, we're

18:08

thinking like, well John's not gonna like

18:10

me. And what happens is we create

18:13

a kind of rejectable kind of personhood.

18:15

And so I

18:18

really want us to think through in the

18:20

next few weeks like, who

18:22

are you? In fact, the exercise that I

18:24

have for you this week is

18:26

I'd love for you to sit down and write

18:28

down five things that God says about you. Like,

18:32

God, who am I? Who

18:34

am I to you? Because whoever

18:36

God, and the second part

18:38

of this is who is God to you? Because

18:41

whoever God is to you, He will be through

18:43

you. If I asked you

18:45

the question, who is God? And you said, oh

18:47

God's the lover of the broken. God loves

18:50

broken people. He heals the sick. You

18:52

know, He loves the

18:55

underdog. He's for the person

18:57

that's had a tough road.

18:59

He's for the broken. He loves

19:02

the brokenhearted. You

19:05

know, what you're describing isn't just

19:07

who God is to you. You're also describing who

19:10

God is through you. There's a question on here,

19:12

how do I find my career path? I don't

19:14

know how you find your career path, but I

19:16

know how you find your calling. Your

19:18

calling is often identified by who Jesus

19:21

is to you. So when Jesus said

19:23

to the disciples, who do people that

19:25

say that I am? And you

19:28

know, Peter says, well, you know, the guys

19:30

are like, some say, you know, John the

19:32

Baptist raised for the dead. Some say a

19:34

prophet. And Jesus says, who do

19:36

you say I am? And the Greek,

19:38

it says, who am I to you? And

19:41

Peter says, you're the Christ, you're the

19:43

Son of God. You're,

19:46

you're, you know, and he begins

19:48

to recount that he's the

19:50

Christ. He's the anointed one. He's

19:52

the Son of God. He's the

19:54

Savior. And Jesus is like, and

19:56

your name is Peter. You're

19:58

rock. upon this rock

20:00

while I built my church and the gates of Hades

20:02

shall not prevail against it." And you

20:05

know Jesus says to Peter,

20:08

and who do you say I am? And

20:10

he's like, you're the Christ, you're the anointed

20:12

one, you're the one anointed with power. And

20:14

Jesus said, and that's right, and the gates

20:16

of hell will not prevail against you. And

20:19

you know he's like, you

20:22

see me as the God

20:24

of power and I

20:26

have anointed you to display the power of

20:28

God. And I think that I

20:31

want to give you this exercise in which you

20:33

ask yourself, first of all, who is God to

20:36

me? And then who is God

20:38

through me? And I think this is really,

20:41

really important. And then next week we're

20:43

going to expand on this. We're going to

20:45

go through a couple more of these chapters.

20:47

I'm pretty excited about it. There's a chapter

20:49

called The Dogs, The Dogs that Dooms Stand

20:51

at the Doors of Destiny. It's like, how

20:54

do I know when I'm entering

20:57

into my promised land? Well, there's a dog

20:59

of doom, there's a giant in every promised

21:01

land. What do I do about that? I

21:04

want to talk more about our identity,

21:07

how we

21:10

actually manage our inner world. How

21:12

do I make sure that the

21:14

kingdom within me becomes the kingdom around me?

21:17

Because you know if we take a pauper and you put him

21:19

in a palace, he'll make the palace a prison. But

21:22

if you take a prince, you put him in a

21:24

prison, he'll make the prison a palace. Like

21:26

this is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament.

21:28

They put him in prison, he becomes in charge of

21:30

the prison. And listen, if you understand who

21:32

you are and who you are

21:35

and who is with you, listen,

21:37

there's nobody that's going to be

21:39

able to imprison your soul because

21:41

wherever you go, Jesus goes

21:43

with you. If they put you in

21:45

the fire like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

21:47

there's going to be a fourth man

21:49

in the fire because not God isn't

21:51

just with you, he's actually moving through

21:53

you and you are not a victim.

21:56

Well it's been great being with you. I

21:58

see there's some questions. I'll try to

22:01

attack those questions next week. I

22:03

hope you have a wonderful, wonderful

22:05

week. And remember this, you are

22:07

a child of the King of

22:09

Kings and the Lord of Lords, and you

22:12

are sitting at the right hand of the

22:14

Father on the throne of Christ. Thank

22:17

you so much for listening to my podcast. To

22:19

stay connected, you can sign up for my weekly

22:21

newsletter at chrisvelleton.com forward

22:24

slash subscribe. God

22:27

bless you.