you can go online to dcmetro.org for location and service times. so sit back, relax, and enjoy this awesome message by pastor david stine. >>every time, but the truth is the world wants you to change from the outside in. everyone say, "outside in." and it goes mething like this: that the world says, "if you just change your actions "then ultimately what happens "is you will experience change in the quality of your life." that's why at barnes and noble all of us are keeping them in business in their seelelp section. come on, how many of you know we've all tried that? as long as we strong will our actions hard enough, then we will experience the same type of change in our life. but if you're anything like me, i'm just not strong-willed enough to maintain the change. and what we end up doing is feeling guty, we're feeling shame filled, most importantly, as the enemy would desire for every one of us we feel completely frustrated.

we're completely fstrated. and we give up on those things and we just feel shamed about it more than anything else and that's because the world just says, "if you just change "your actions, you'll change your life." but what that is is just a surface change. it's just a b behavioral change. the bible sa that way is not enough. in fact, let me show you what it says about trying conform from the outse in. look what it ss in romans 12:2. you can turn in your bible there. see it on the screen? it says, "and do not be conformed to this world," -- everye say, "conforme" wwhat 's talking about there is that you weren't actually designed to be able to change from the inside. you weren't actually designed to be able to change from the outside in, but god's got another way. let me show you right here. it tells us in that same passage it says, "but be transformed"-- everyone say, "transformed." "by the renewinof your mind "that you may prove what is "thatat good and acceptle and perfect ll ogod."

hello. my name is david stine. i am the lead pastor of dc metro chur and i just want to personally invite you to attend one of our sunday services at one of our two locations. we now meet in n alexandria as well as fairfax and we just believe that church should be real, relevant, d enjoyable. you can find out all information about dc mro church at dcmetro.org. we jt can't wait to see you there. to be transformed is to change from the inside out. god knows how we're supposed to change and it really starts in another way. in fact, i'm going to read that new living translation. it says, "but let god "transformou into a new person "by changing the way that you think." this is important to kw that our thinking-- and the enemy knows how god has designed us, but the enemy is constantly wanting us to do it this way.

he's wanting us to just chang our external actions and, therefore, try to-- our best-- increase the quality of our life. but he actually knows that it's actually just going to decrease the quality of our life, but he also knows that if he can just change the way that you think, he can decrease the quality of your fe because once you think the way that he wants yoyou to think, then you will believe the way that he wants you to believe and then ultimately your actions will begin to look like the actions s that the world is telling yoyou to do and, therefore, your life and the quality therein will decase grgreatly. now, think about this: in the garden of eden what did thenemy say to adam and eve? what did he say? he went up to them and he basically said, "did god really say that? "i thinkod is really "holding out on you. "he just knows that whenever "your es are opened, you're going to be like him." what was he trying to do? he was trying to get them to question and begin

to think differently about how much god loved them, therefore that they would believe that god really was holding out on them and they would act in a way that was against god and, ultimately-- we know the story-- it decreased the quality of their life greatly. they got kicked out of the garden of eden. couldn't h have been a worse outcome for them. think about the story of the prodigal son. all of a sudden, the enemy approaches him, basically, and he started thinkining, "you know what? "e father's house "is not the best place to be. "but if you just g get his money, then..." if you just believe the way you want to believe out in the world then guess what? you can actually try to change the quality of your own life by acting in a way that the world acts and, ultimately, we see in his life as well the quality of his life gets increasingly worse. he eds up eating pods with pigs. why? because the enemy has a plan for our lives as well. john 10:10 tells us that the enemy, or the thief, "comes to steal, kill, and destroy." and so every thought

that he puts into our minds-- or attempts to put into our minds-- is one that is actually going to lead in a worse and worse quality of our life. and his recipe is just simply to get you to believe that if you just act like the orld, then, ultimately, you're going to have a better life, but, ultimately, what that really does is it decreases the value of your life. aren't you glad that jesus got a totally different plan? and that god also has a popular recipe for change, of which i love the way that it says it in the word, but really the number two is-- in fact, jesus in john 10:10, it doesn't stop by saying, "the thief has come to steal, kill, and destroy," but it goes on to say "buti have come"-- talking g about jesus-- "to give you life and li abundantly." god's got a plan to increase the quality of your life anand he underands the process. why? becausgod is the one th created you. and he knows that you were created and that is number two: god wants to change you from the inside out. that is the metamorphoso.

but then even jesus talks about this, as it is all overhe new testament but mark 1:14-- i want you to see this, 14nd 1 this is when jesus just starts preaching. so he's just on the scene, this guy named jesus. it says, "jesus came to galilee "preaching the gospel "of the kingdom of god "and saying, "the time is fululfilled "and the kingdoof god is at hand." and look what heays. here's his message: "repent and bebelievin the gospel." now, it's important to know that that is fundamentally different from what john the baptist came preaching. john the baptist came and he saia similar word. he said, "repent, for the kingdom of god is near." right? or, "at handnd," another translatn. jesus doesn't say that. he says, "repent and believe in the gospel," which is the good news. it's completely diffeferent. but the same word is used: repent. everyone say, "repent." often times, we think repent is a bad word or maybe a word for just lost people when they come back to rist,

but it's actually sothing much different and much more of a daily word for you and i. repent-- in fact, if i polled everyone here, probably the most common-- and this has actually been polled before by experts-- most christians would say that repent t means to-- bebecause it's metanoia-- they would say that repent means to change your heart. how many of you know that would be great if we could do that, but you and i actually do not have the ability to change our heart, only god does. ezekiel 36, the bible tell us that he takes out a heart of stone, and i'm so thankful that he puts a heart of flesh anand a new spirit on the inside of us and that's whenever we come to the lord. but god is the only one that can change your heart. come on, how many of you know, a mama can't even change y your heart. mama's are good.d. mama's can bless your heart. come on, don't you love it when mama says, "bless your heart?" how about this-- i love this one-- "bless his little heart." so small. tiny.

"bless th little, tiny, "minuscule little hearart that ey have." come on, how many of you know, mama's can pray for your heart. i love t that mama, right there. but only god can change your r heart. repentance doesn't mean that. metanoia-- we already talked about meta, that means change, noia means your mind. what is it? to change the way that you think about any area of your life. i'm convinced repentance is a good word, because in any area of our life, if we would change from the way that we think in opposition to the word of god and start thinking in the way that the word of god has been established, then, all of a sudden, that is actually repentance. i lieve every time you come to church there should be a repentant moment as we open up the word of god because god's got yoyour number. how many of you know he's got a word specifically for u and as soon as you hear that and, all of a sudden, it doesn't line up with your life, there's a change of mind. "i didn't think about it "that way, now i think about it that way." what happens? you repented. and repentance is a good thing

because whenever you change the way that you think, you actually change the way that you believe and you believe,e, once again, in the right way. therefore, you act in a way that illustrateses you're a follower of christ and therefore it increases the quality of your life. that's why when this young man comes and realizes in his thoughts, "my dad really is good. myather's good." guess what? all of a sudden something happened. he began to change his belief about his father and then he anged his actions. his actions back home-- once he got homome-- the q quality of his life got progressively better and tter and better. i want you to look for a think, believe, and act in ts scriripture. i'm going to share it with you. 1 john 4:16-- by the way, i said this in first service, i believe this is one the most important passages that you could memorize in all of scripture. a lot of times we think john 36 is the big one. 1 john 4:16 is the one that you need to bring to the next redskins game.e. come on, somebody. hold on, 1 john.

everybody be like, "what's that scripture?" you missed it. you're off a few numbers. end of book. but it says this: "we have come to know"-- that's thihinking g right there. "we have come to know and have believed"-- there's believe right there. we have come to know, therefore wewe can believeve-- "the love which god has for us. god is love"-- come on, howany of you know if you could just remember and realize an- for the first time, maybe-- how much god actually loves you, how many of you know it will change your life. if you canan realize how much e heavenly father loveses you. but it says this: "know and have believed "the love which god has for us. god is love"-- and then it says- "and the one whobides"-- that's an action right ththere-- "in n love abides in god and god abides in him." i love it. it's talking about thihinking and believing and then acting and then ultimately that action is going to lead to an increased quality of life. and i believe the grgreatest thg you can leavwith t today is knowing tt god is passionately in love

and he likes you as well. come on, howany of you know it's a known fact in statistics across christiandom that most believers have no idea how much god actually loves them. he is crazy about you. i remember whenever i first came to christ-- my wifcan remember this-- i had toind almost convince myself on a daily basis so i would walk aroun to evyone telling everyone that i was his favorite son. come on. you just need to turn to thehe pern sitting next to you and say, "i'mis favavorite." i'm hihis farite. how ny of you know, we're all his favorite. it says "god is love." i love the fact that it says that. it says, "god is love." come on, how many of you know it doesn't say, "god is loving," because that would mean that he could wake up tomorrow and be grumpy. come on, how many of you know it doesn't say, "god has love," either. it says, "he is love." it doesn't say that he has love because if he hahad love, then that would mean that he could run out of it or give it all ay. how many of you know he i is love? jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

he is love. his stance towards you is passionate, heartfelt, overwhelming love. he is crazy about you! it's important that you get that on the inside of you because when you do, it's going to change the way that you think about him and then, all of a sudden, you're going to believe that he is good towards you. you're going to act a bit differently and the quality of your life is going to increase dramatically. you got to love the fact that he loves you. you might think, "why is ts "so important that i know that god loves you?" the reason is s becae satan wants you u to believe the exact opposite. that god is mad ayou. can i help you out? god is not mad at you. there's another thing that makes you believe that god is mad at you and that's religion. religion t teaches us th god is mad at us. why? because by it's very nature religion means man's efforts to get to god, which we can never do. therefore, he is always mad because we are never in the right position to bworthy in front of him. how many of you know there's something that has been

satisfied before god, therefore religion actually has been destroyed by jesus. are you thankful? i'm going to explain-- we're getting fired up today. i want you to catch this. now, i know i've been giving you some big theological words lately. couple of weeks ago, i gave you "imputed" and you've been using that with your friends, impressing them, i know. this is anotr one. you may not have used this at least in the last 24 hours or so. maybe you have used a lot. it's the word "propitiation." have you been using that one? say that one at starbucks a lot? no? propitiation. propitiation is important because it's the reason why god loves you. propitiation means complete satisfaction for wrath. god loves you. "how do you know, pastor david?" i'll tell you how i know: because jesus was the 100% complete satisfaction of god's wrath towards you. what he did on the cross

satisfied it once and for all. there's nothing you can do earn more love from god; he is love. he already is crazy about you. jesus was the full propitiation jesus was the full propitiation of his wrath. [music] but it's important. youot tcatch this:: god did not send jesus to earth to walk the earthth fofor three yearars, too o to the cross, on the third day rise again, 40 days ter appearing to people, ascend into heaven, sitting the right hand of god the father,

living and dwelling on the inside of you, so that u wod ju act better. i'm telling g you, he did not ce and do all that so that you would act tter. if that was god's plan, then he would have just created a cosmic taser gun to zap you in the-- every time you messed up. guess what? that would make you act better, by the way. you wouldn't believeve that god loved you, though, and you sure as heck wouldn't be happy. but two things that god wants you to know: he w wants you thave life and life abundantly while you're still here on earth. god did not come and send his son so that you would act better, so that you would d behave bett. don't believe that for a second. that's what religion tetells us. god came and sent his son to redeem you back to heaven so you could be a son a daughter of the most high god because there was no way you could have made it you could have made it on your own.

[applause] okay. i got into that a little more than i thought, but where was i at here? we got more points to do. i'm tellinyou, you got to catch that. here's why: up to this point we're just talking about positive thinknking. i don't know abt you, but i'veried positive thinking. i'm just not positive enough. i'm not and i'm a pretty positive guy. i'm telling you, i'm just not positive enough to think myself into a radical change in my l life like god wants to do. because there's something else that has to happen, and if you think about this prodigal son one more time with me-- think with me real quick-- think about his situation, all of a sden, it says, "he came to his senses." he started thinking and he thought to himself, "you knknow what? "i thought my life wagoing "to be betr away from "the father, but i remember "how good he is, even to the servants in his house."

maybe god would just-- maybe the father would take me back as a servant. maybe i could earn my stay: religion. maybe i can just earn my way to be in god's house. you got to hear me today. i'm telling you, there's a scripture: romans 2:18. you got to remember this today. the reason the young man decided to come home was because he first realized how good god really was and how much he actually loved him. what does the scripture say? it says, "his kindness leads us to repentance." why? because you begin to see god for who he really is. all of a sudden, when you see god-- i don't know about you, but i grew up in church, went to church every sunday for 18 years. every weekend that i went, all iaw was religion. all i saw was earn your way to heaven and then one day a light bulb went on and all i saw was jesus. and the fact that he has destroyed the veil between us and god and he made a way where there was no way. and when he ripped that veil in half, he actually opened the door

for me to not have religion anymore, but to have a relationship with the most high god and become w god intended me to be in the first place, having an identity as a royoyal son inthe house ofof god,, having a purpose in him and havingng hisuthoty to walk in. god is crazy about you. he's crazy about you, but you got to see him for who he is. he loves you. let me give e you is scriptu: 2 conthians 3:18 says this, and you can look and you can see about seeing jesus. now, i know this sounds s far o. i'going to make it real to every one ous. it says, "but we all with unveiled face"-- everyone say, "unveiled face." it says, "beholding as in "a mirror the glory of the lord, are ing transformed"-- that's that word metamorphoso, changing of our mind. and look what says he's changing you into. he's changing you, "into the same image of his, from glory to glory." just as by the spirit of the lord. that word "beholding" is important. everyone say, "beholding." beholding means this: to look intently as ifo stare.

in other wowords, whenever you e jesus all of a sudden you begin to be meta morphed into more looking like him. you begin to be changed in youthoughts to being more likhim. you begin to bchand and ur mind turns you into more of a christ follower. makes you look more like jesus. i mentioned i was with my son josiah, five years old, on our first traveling trip with any length of titime to it. six days we were gone and josiah five, again, he's gettingng used to travelin, but then on n top of that he's getting used to traveling with me. come on. and i'm all over the place. i'm kind of, you know-- you probably envisioned that already. don't think on it too much. you're suppod to be thinking about jesus and how much he loves you. so, i found myself saying this phrase to him all the time. parents, maybe you've said this to your kids before. i realized he wasn't listening toto me

and i knew it wasn't his fault. there was just so many things going on, so i keptaying this phrase to him-- parents, maybe you've said this, i don't know, b i started saying,g, "look at me." i call himim sy. "sy, look at me." and i found myself theirport, "looook ate, "look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me!" he just wasn getting it. he just wasn't looking at me, but i knew if he looked at me, he uld understand me. he would fully understand what i w was getting him to do. some of u today, jesus trying to get a hold of your face and say, "look at me. "i love you. i am crazy about you." whenever we get a revelation about that, i'm telling you, you're going to see him for who he is. you're going to truly behold him. it talks about this unveed fe. talking about the veil, by the way, the veil is religion. i mentioned itit before. look at in ththis passage. this will get you fired up. 2 corinthians 3, that same passage, in verses 14 and 15. it says, "but their minds were blinded"--

blinded, that's what religion does. all you can do-- your mind is completely blinded from seeing him for who he is. "for until this day, the same veil"-- lking aboureligion-- "remains unlifted in the reading of the old testament," but here is the good news --- "because the vl is taken away in christ." he destroyed religion. how many of you are fired up about that? he took religion and just booted it out of your life. and the great thing is at one point in time, you couldn't see jesus for what he was and who he was. that he loved you anand had relatationship for yo. and before that,t, you saw reliligionyou sasaw work your way to heave perform, do the law. and instead of running home to the father-- because you saw religion-- maybe even you left church. i know for me, as an 18-year old as soon as i was on my own-- come on, how many of you know i used to say i was sad when they said, "g"go in t to mt in the house of the lord."

ome , somebody. i didn't like church at all. i was out of there. i was like, "thank god no more othat." that didn't make me feel good. but then i met jesus and, all of a sudde i was glad wn they said, "let us goo into the house of e lordrd," because e i know i'm going to he a relational experience with my father. i want to be home. i know i'm better off. the quality of my life is better off. some of you, you've been away from church. i want to encourage you come home to jesus. come home to what he has for you. you know that scripture in romans 12:2 it says, "don't be conformed "to this world, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." you know what it's actually talking about? it's actually talking about, "don't be conformed," it's saying be uprooted from the world and th guess what? you don't just float around out there. god's got a place for you to put your roots and get planted once again. psalm 92:13, i talk about it a lot: "those who plant themselves "in the house of the lordrd will flourish in le." god wants you to flourish,

but it's important that you get planted. it's important that you uproot as well, but it's important that you getlanted. god wants you to flourish. he's got life and life abundantly for you. there's s three quick ingredien, though, that i believe church represents on sunday and our experience together when we come to the father's house. how many of you u love being in the father's house? that wasn't't nearly goodod eno, but t you' here today. so glad you're here. three ingredients, thoh, that are parts of f the recipe for a constant change. now, manany of you have come to christ alrdy. some of you are going to make that decion today the first time cocome home to the father. maybe you've left like the prodigal; you're going to come home today. but then there's others of you that are in the father's house and you need a constant change, a constant metatanoia, a repentance, a constant weekly repentance in your life. here's what we have and that is three ingredients in god's recipe for change

that you're going to find here at dc metro, and they're very strategic and purposeful and biblical why we do them. they're very simple. i'll give you all three of them. first one is worship, the second one is the word of god, and then the third one is service to christ. let me just give you worship. the reason that worship is so important, it's not just that we like music here or electric guitars because they're pretty cool, but we like it because it says tt he inhabits the praises of his people we're doing it not to just sing about god, but we're singing to him. why? because we believe that he's actually here. "where two or more are gathered together..." we're not just going to kumbmbaa about him being far off. he's in the house, it's his house. that's why we have the house, it's because we have a father d he's got a house. he's the guest of honor every weekendnd, ultimately, whenever you worship, you are again seeing him and his heart for you. you got to have that on a weekly basis. let me give you the word. the word that the bible tell us, "when you know the truth, the truth will set you free."

why? because you're going to see god in his word, then the word is going to change your thinking because you're g going to get a new truth about an arerea of your life this weekend, as you probably already have. and you're going to change your mind because you've changed your beliefs and your beliefs are going to lead to a new set of actions that you're going to apply to your life on monday because you're going to have a change in the quality of your life towards the direction of god on monday, even on sunday night. come on, god wants you to change. and then service. this is the one e that believe is l least talked about and that is that the son of man- come on, how many of you know jesus said-- the word of god says about jesus that, "the son of man came to serve, not to be served." and here's what i've found in church is that whenenever we act like jesus by serving other people on sunday or act like jesus on sunday, we have a better chance of acting like jesus on monday. you want to know why? because when you serve, you begin to see god for who he is, d then youegin to see people d then youegin to see people like god sees people.

[music] whenever we do what the world tell us by just changing our actions, it's just a selfish move. it r really is. "if i change me, then me will be better." but then whenever we just come to the positive thinking flow, yeah, you might get a little more traction in your life, but i'm telling you,, you're just not positive enough. and, ultimately, it just flows from your mind. it's just you and you still. but catch this:

when you startith where god wants you to start by seeing him, yoyour change actually flows from the heart of god and you experience true and radical change in any area of your life. itit's god's recipe for change and he wants it for you today. >>i hope you were blessed by that message. for more information, log onli to dcmetrorg. we would love to see you at either location, in ther a alexandria or fairfax and i would personally like to invite you to any of o r services on sunday. i hope to see u there i hope to see u there and have a great weekek.

[music] >> because disappointments can come and they're unavoidable, you can get covered with discouragement in a moment. but you don't have to accept it. remember? disappointments are unavoidable. discouragement is a choice. i refuse to be discouraged. on what basis? the basis god loves me, he's all powerful, he's with me. he'll see me through it. he promises to never leave me. >> next on in touch. overcoming d discouragement. >> and jesus came up and spoke to them saying... [music]