We are all THE SAME. We all messed up! God eagerly and lovingly awaits your attention.  You can listen to the podcast of this message by clicking here.

Last week, we talked about our sameness is our identity. Our identity is like clothing. We have the same type clothes. The good news of Jesus is that he brings a new set of clothes. A new identity. Be clothed with Christ. A new identity, a new family name based on the name of Jesus.

Today, I want to talk about HOW that change actually happens.  Going from the same ol’ same ol’ me to a transformed, child of God.  Different attitude. Different results. Type of me!

We can make all the resolutions about change that we want, however a resolution without a new routine is like a Ferrari without any gas. It looks really good but it will not take you anywhere.

Your resolve won’t change anything that your routine created.  Determination alone can’t change conditions that your decisions created.  You can’t believe your way out of problems that were created by routines of behavior.

You have been in the same pattern and that is the problem. The problem is the pattern.

There are patterns everywhere! Weather patterns, fashion patterns, seating patterns/parking patterns, daily patterns, weekly patterns, music patterns.

JESUS GIVES US THE TRUE PATTERN OF LIFE

John 15 :1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.  7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!  8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Remain is the key word in the passage. Remain Remain. Jesus repeats this SAME word.  Remain, stay, repeat, same, pattern, stay, remain, repeat, same, pattern.  This is a pattern that Jesus is establishing. You will have a pattern in your life and it is all about remaining in Jesus. Abiding in Jesus.

The faith to step out is worthless without the faithfulness to stick it out!

There is a process and purpose. Pain is not pointless if you remain in me. I don’t hate pain, but pointless pain is brutal. Our life bears fruit through purposeful pain.

Our spiritual life produces through a pattern of sowing, waiting, fruitfulness, pruning.

Pruning/testing/trying in the fire. We are pruned so that we can produce again. It is a pattern.  Verse 2 – he cuts off every branch! Whoa! That is not the gardener we want to hear about

Jesus is trying to get his disciples to perceive a pattern. He is about to be crucified. He will look like he lost. He is pruned himself. He wants his disciples to know that sometimes life seems random, but there is a pattern. Even, when there is trouble or difficulty, remember the story you are in is not your story, it is God’s story and the pattern is that he wins every time.

Movie – “the way way back” – pacman – a grown man playing pacman and the kid interrupts him.

I wouldn’t normally care, but I’m having the game of my life. I’m on the cherry level.

DUNCAN But, that’s the first level.

GUY Yeah, and I still have one man left. So, like I said, it’s the game of my life. 24.

DUNCAN (smirks) You like Pac Man?

GUY What? It’s a classic! (re: other games) Not into all the bells and whistles, my man. Too much going on.

CLOSE ON Pac Man screen. Pac Man chases a “blinking ghost”, barely devouring it before it changes back.

GUY (CONT’D) See, my mistake is that I get greedy. Going for all the ghosts and fruit instead of just clearing pellets.

DUNCAN You know, there’s a pattern.

GUY Oh, don’t tell me you’re one of those guys. That takes all the challenge out of it. Anybody can learn a pattern.

Just then, the blue-shirted GUYS start to get up, putting up their TRAYS. BLUE-SHIRTED

GUY Owen, we gotta go! We hear the familiar sound of PAC MAN DYING.

OWEN (GUY) Well, so much for the game of my life.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)

Realize the pattern. It’s not the world that is the problem, it is the pattern of this world.

If you don’t perceive the pattern of this world, then you will spend your whole life chasing after ghosts and strawberries, and new majors, new friends, new jobs, new cars and or even a life without trouble.

When you perceive God’s pattern, life doesn’t seem as random anymore.  Life is not a series of unrelated problems. Everything is a part of the pattern.

2 Timothy 1:13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Some of you might wonder why we talk about some of the same things over and over. The reason why is THAT MESSAGE is what God is wanting us to abide in.

The Gospel needs to keep thriving.

We can’t disregard the patterns of what has made us what we are. We can’t think we are getting too smart for the old fashioned pattern. Paul says we need to keep the sound pattern of teaching.

Romans 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Adam was ‘the man’ and he was a bad pattern. He started a pattern of sin.

A child comes into the world with a natural inclination to sin and rebel.

We reproduce what we are. What ever you are as a parent, you are passing down a pattern to your kids. Just like your great grandpaw.

Hebrews 8:5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” 6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

Moses was warned to make the tabernacle exactly what the pattern was.  It was modeled after the original in the heavens.  Same thing with us! We are to pattern our life after the original Word of God.

It is not complicated. It is not. Peaceful people are those that are following the pattern. Get over yourself, submit to a higher authority (Jesus), live for him, serve others.

Math patterns –In Multiplication the problem is a pattern.

111×6=666 111×6 is problem. But the problem is a pattern. 111, 111, 111, 111, 111, 111 The problem is the pattern. The product is 666 (not the kind of # you want to come up with).  If you don’t like the product, you have to change the pattern!

Some of us don’t like the way our bodies feel, we don’t like the way we look, we don’t like the way we produce work or retain information. We don’t like our test scores or friendships. We run around. We feel empty. That all is the product.

If you don’t like the product, You can hate it, you can stare at it.  The problem is not the product. The problem is the pattern.

We want to blame the tree for the fruit it doesn’t produce.  We want to blame God for the blessings he doesn’t give, we blame people for opportunities we don’t have. We blame genetics.  We have all these problems, but folks, the problem is not what they did or didn’t do.  The problem is our pattern of response. We need to change the pattern.

If we add one more 111, then we have a completely different product.

BUT you can’t change the product if you don’t change the pattern.

You relationships (product) will change when you change the way you treat people (pattern).
Your kids will start acting different (product) when you change the way you show affection and discipline (pattern)
Your work environment will change (product) when you change your work habits, and interrelations, and work ethics (pattern).

“I’m not a morning person.” – I stay up late watching one more episode, I stay on electronic device until 11am, I think about stressful stuff all daylong and don’t pray about anything, I worry about everything, I lose my cool with the kids at 9:30pm, I don’t exercise, I didn’t lay my clothes out the night before, everything was dirty and not ironed, I ate half a bag of popcorn, I drank caffeine until 8:30pm, SO I’M NOT A MORNING PERSON. NO, you have some bad night time patterns!

“I’m not a good student.” – Tell me your patterns of studying and learning and I will show you what kind of student you are.

We allow it to go from simply being a problem, to becoming our identity. WE make big sweeping statements about ourselves that are really situations created by systematic decisions.

“My life is always hectic” NO, your life is always in a hurry. That is the pattern of your life. So life feels Hectic because you are in a hurry.  Hurry is your pattern, Hectic is your product.

There are so many examples of this:
“I’m disorganized. I have no energy. I don’t like to exercise. I can’t afford to tithe…”

The majority of millionaires did not have some big break or some massive viral video or some record contract. Most of them live within their paycheck, save the same amount every month, have low debt, and do not live a lavish lifestyle. They live the same pattern. Over time they have millions of dollars in the bank, not because they were a flash in the pan or created some ground breaking new technology. Instead, they were locked into a pattern that created wealth.

My Grandfather, Lee Walker Turnell made $1 a day when he started working. He lived a strong life, raised two daughters, lived comfortably in retirement and then when he died in 2007, at the age of 91 he had saved over $100k in the bank with zero debts. He paid his tithes every month of his life.

We make our patterns who we are. We think it is always that way.

GOOD NEWS, Jesus came to change your patterns. You can get a new pattern.  Paul wouldn’t have said don’t be conformed to this pattern!  We go to God and ask him to change the product and we have absolutely no intention on changing the pattern.

God’s response is I will help you change your pattern and then you will see a new product!  Some of the boring same patterns, my parents taught me:

Establishing savings. Paying credit card off every month. Faithfulness to spouse. Working hard. Exercise. Eating healthy. Taking vacation every year. Resting. Going to church every week. Paying tithes. Praying. Reading the Bible every day.

The Same. Year in and Year out. Pattern.

Abiding in Jesus. Staying in Jesus. Not leaving Jesus. Showing up week in and week out. Not giving up. Being loyal. Lock it in. Repetive.

BUT THAT’S BORING. I want to live a life on the edge of adventure and by the seat of my pants. Go ahead.

I’m going to plant SEEDS. Boring. Planting seeds. Planting seeds. Planting seeds. Staying in Jesus. Week in. Week out. Waiting. Waiting, waiting. Growing Growing. Harvesttime! Pruning time. Planint seeds. That will produce fruit over time!

Know your patterns.

Pay attention to your patterns. Are these the patterns that you want to pass on to little jake? Are these the patterns you want to establish your legacy? You will have a legacy and it will be your pattern. Your kids will relate to their spouse the way you relate to your spouse.

You could decide…to make a decision to break a pattern! I’m not passing this pattern on to another generation. We need to decide to not pass on: compulsive spending, anger, addiction,

CLOSING

You could have a good heart and horrible patterns. Your heart can’t change your habits.  You have to change the pattern. If our eyes were open to the pattern, we are then able to address them.

The Gospel of Jesus has the power to address your pattern. No matter what the pattern is: anger, fear, laziness, self loathing, pride, stress, depression – No matter what the pattern, the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit has the ability to destroy the break the code of your pattern.

Jesus – Luke 4 – temptation in wilderness – 3 different tests before Jesus’ ministry began. 3 tests. 3 3 3 3 3 do not conform to this world’s pattern.

1 John 2:16 For ALL that is in the world (3 things): the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

for everything in the world, the pattern of this world, the enemy’s attack method, he lures you into lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. This is the exact same temptation of the devil against Jesus.

The same way God’s purpose for you is perverted by the devil in 2015. I have Good News for you. Jesus Christ broke the code of sin and temptation. Jesus Christ broke the pattern of brokenness and despair. Jesus broke the chains. Jesus broke the code. He changed the game. He did it.

The problem is the pattern. The problem is the pattern.  The same problem that the devil is using is the pattern that God is going to use to bless you.  The thing that the devil is throwing against you to break you and destroy your future could be the very thing that God uses to bring your life back!

Joseph – thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, locked up in jail, – when he stood before his brothers, he said, “don’t worry about it. What you meant for evil, God turned out…

Somebody shout TURNED OUT. God turned it out, turned it into something that would save his whole life and family.

My question for you today is what PATTERN in your life has been producing a product that you don’t like AND what are you trusting that GOD can do for your PATTERN.

God is going to do a work in your life through some of the patterns!

You are going to start sowing some new seeds. You are going to start some new SAMENESS. Some new routines. Some new Patterns that OVER TIME (might take some time) Will start producing some new PRODUCTS in your life.

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The spirit of the lord is on me. He has anointed me to open the eyes of the blind. Our problem became his pattern of healing. Some of us are bound by thought patterns, discouragement, despair, addictions – JESUS is ready to apply his pattern of healing and love and deliverance to your pattern of brokenness and despair.