Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Your mind really changed as a Christian. How about your strength? You have a capacity as a Christian that you didn't have before, your strength. It's that great picture of standing your ground. And if it costs me to adhere to the Word, guess what? I guess it's going to cost me. I've got the ability to stick with it even when the truth costs me pain.

Dave Drew: Welcome to Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez. Many of us have role models, people that we respect and admire. Perhaps it's a godly pastor, a trusted parent, or a good friend at work. But have you ever thought of yourself as a great role model?

Today, Pastor Mike says that developing a closer relationship with God can happen when we imitate ourselves. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 to see how to be motivated by earlier days of devotion.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: My eight-year-old son, John, wants to be a good golfer. He came to me one day and said, "Dad, how can I be a really great golfer?" I said, "Well, just swing the club like Tiger Woods and you'll be really good." Of course, he rolled his eyes. "Come on, Dad. How can I get better?"

I said, "Okay. Grab your older brother. Let's get in the car and take you down to the driving range. Now, I want you to watch your brother. Watch how he addresses the ball. Watch how he holds the club. Watch how he brings the club back. Go ahead, Matthew. Tell him what that feels like on the follow-through. And then you can stand right next to him, and you can just follow that pattern."

He recognizes that's a much better approach than Dad saying to just swing the club like Tiger Woods. He realizes that the example, if it's closer to him, is much more effective. The further away the template, the harder it is to emulate. The Bible has a lot to say about following good examples.

We learned in verse 22 of Hebrews 10 that we all need to be drawing near to God. The very next thing the writer of Hebrews says is we need to encourage one another in that. We need each other. That's why you can't do church from home and you can't do it by downloading sermons on your iPod. That's just not it.

We need each other and we need the example and encouragement of one another to move into a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. The example is important. But sometimes, I'll sit there and watch my eight-year-old hit a bucket of balls and every now and then, I watch him do it just the way he ought to.

He'll know it and feel it. He'll smile and watch the ball just fly off of his club. I'll stop and say, "That was it. Did you feel that? Did you see what that felt like? Look at your follow-through. Look at how your shoulders are. That's it." For him, that is like a light bulb that pops on.

It's one thing to say to watch the guy on TV and just hit it like he hits it. It's another thing to say to listen to your older brother and he's going to coach you through it. But it's a whole other thing for him in his own mind to say, "I know what that feels like. I just did it." Dad says to take that feeling, take that experience, and just keep doing that. His mind gets it and he becomes a better golfer.

In Scripture, which is so big on us finding good role models for the Christian life, it's interesting that in Hebrews chapter 10, before we get to Hebrews chapter 11, which is full of great examples of the Christian life, he starts by saying you really can serve as your own role model because you have done it right and you know what it feels like to do it right.

All you have to do is remember that and do more of that stuff. Hebrews chapter 10, if you have your Bibles, open up and see this interesting take on role models in the Scripture. It says that really what you need to learn to do, at least in part, is learn to mimic yourself, at least the highlights and victories of your Christian life.

Mimic—I say that because one of the most popular New Testament expressions as it relates to role models is the Greek word *mimetai*. From that, we get the word mimic. We usually find that in the mouths of followers of Christ who say to others, "Mimic me. Follow my example." As Paul sometimes says, "As I follow Christ."

As I live like Christ, you watch me up close. I know Christ seems distant and far away, but you watch what I do and do it. Here in this text, it says not only can you learn from other great Christians as we'll see in Hebrews 11, but you can learn a lot from your own testimony.

You can learn a lot about succeeding in the Christian life and drawing closer to God because you've had experiences of forward progress and you need to look back and remember that. Take a look at the very first word in verse number 32. It's the word "remember."

I know for a lot of Christians, they think, "Well, you know, I've read that passage in Philippians and it says forgetting what lies behind." You have to see the context of that. Paul had just listed his resume that he was tempted to lean on as a non-Christian, his pedigree as an upcoming Pharisee. He says, "I'm not going to think about that."

But if you extract that one passage and you look throughout the Scripture, you start to realize that was speaking about one thing that could become a trip-up for the Apostle Paul. You realize that God has a lot to say about us looking back at our experience with God.

He's often saying to the Old Testament Israelites, "Hey, pile up a bunch of stones right there and never forget what we walked through here together." Put up a monument here and remember this. This festival and this feast, we're going to keep looking back to that time when I took you out of Egypt. He's always trying to get them to look back.

Why? Because if you can look back at the victories that you've had with Christ, you become your own role model and you say, "You know what? I can do it because I have done it and God wants me to do more of it." A lot of times when it's a role model, I can see my son get frustrated as he looks at his older brother and he says, "Well, I just can't do it like he can."

But when I point back to the hit that he had two or three swings ago, he says, "Well, I guess I can do it." He becomes encouraged and motivated, and he starts saying, "Maybe I can do better." The Apostle Paul throughout the Scripture is saying the same thing, with the exception of Philippians 2 where he talks about his resume, and the writer of Hebrews says the very same thing. Remember.

If we're drawing near to God, we need to remember our victories in the past and it will be a motivation for future growth. Look at verse number 32. Let's read the text together. He says, "Those earlier days, remember those. After you'd received the light." Look at this victory. "When you stood your ground in the great contest in the face of suffering."

Apparently, some big thing had happened, this series of events that had tested their faith and they succeeded. They stood their ground. He says sometimes it got really tough. Verse 33: "You were publicly exposed to insult and persecution." The early church often was pulled out as followers of the Way and of Jesus and this whole sect that they called it, and they were made fun of.

They were ridiculed and he says you went through that. Not only did you go through it, there were times when you didn't just have to endure it. You willingly stepped out of the crowd and you stood side-by-side with those who were so treated. Not only that, your heart was involved.

Verse 34: "You sympathized with those in prison. You felt for them. And when they came to take away your property because you were followers of Christ, you were like, 'Okay, fine.' You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because look at your perspective. Because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions."

That's a great resume. And if you think that these guys are stellar Christians with no room for growth, that's not the context. The context is you have to grow. You have to get closer to God. But the point is you have had victories that should convince you that you are someone who knows what it is to have those victories, to show the expression and fruit of God in your life.

Build on that. Remember your past. What's the whole point of it being here? So that you can keep moving forward. Verse 22, to draw near to God. That's the point and you and I need to do that. But before we make the comparison of where I've been in my Christian life to where I should be now, which is really the focus of your homework this week, I think we need to do what in this passage is done by default.

It makes me think that before I was saved, I didn't have this capacity. But after my conversion, I had it and there were those highlights in my Christian life where these kinds of things happened. Make that comparison. Think about the fact that this is a work of God in your life and that gets me to think about what about before I came to Christ.

Well, I didn't have that. So let's make that comparison and then we'll make the next comparison. There are really two here that we need to make. One is going to have to be your homework assignment because you'll have to do business with God and compare your highlights to where you live now.

Suffice to say, let us compare our lives before Christ in all six of these areas and our life after we became Christians because those highlights really ought to drive us to being closer and closer and more intimate with God. Now, I say six things because if you look at this carefully, it addresses six aspects of the Christian life.

The things that are addressed in this passage about my life have really changed prior to Christ, now as a Christian. And then the question is how am I doing now in all these areas? So let's just do the work of that and let's start with the first thing that comes from a very interesting word, a participle here in the very first phrase of verse 32.

He says, "Remember those earlier days." Now, what about them? Well, here's the first thing he says. "After you'd received the light." That's how the NIV translates it. After you received the light. Now, I understand that's a total metaphor. It's an analogy of something. It speaks to the arena of my mind, that something has happened to my mind.

Put this down for letter A. We need to think about the change that took place in our mind. Jot down this: your mind. According to the Scripture, the analogy is pretty universal throughout the New Testament. Our minds were darkened before we came to Christ.

And then Christ did something to our minds that could be rightly addressed as being enlightened. Something changed there. Let me show this to you in Romans chapter 1. It's a good expression, though the word mind is not used there. It's a good expression as to how our minds had to work as non-Christians if we were going to continue a life without Christ.

And we did that for some period of time, for some of you it was shorter than others, but all of us have lived as non-Christians. What was our mind looking like and then how did it change? Let's go to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, if you would turn to that text where Paul is talking about how God is trying to convince people of the truth of God's light, if you will.

He's talking about how you can see it in creation. He's going to say in chapter 2 how we see it written in our conscience. He's going to get into chapter 4 and talk about how it's explained to us in the Scriptures. He's going to talk about general revelation to special revelation and he's going to say God's attributes, God's will, God's truth is being shoved in your face all the time, but your mind was responding to it in a particular way.

Take a look at verse number 18 in Romans chapter 1, when Paul says this about the issue of God's coming judgment, though it's put in a present tense—it's what we call in grammar a prophetic perfect. It's going to happen, but it's like it's happening now.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men." Now, all that's going to happen in the future, chapter 2 makes that clear, but it's like it's already just starting to be unleashed and God is going to have to retribution sin, the wickedness of men, the godlessness of men.

Now, how do they live in that state? There's something that has to happen as their mind interfaces with truth. They have to, look at the next phrase, underscore it: "They suppress the truth by their wickedness." Really, by the fact that they want to live a particular lifestyle. They want to do things their own way when through creation or conscience or Scripture, the light of God's truth assaults them.

They have to respond. They have to fight it. They have to suppress it. Every non-Christian mind does that, whether it's in creation as they think about God's attribute as displayed in creation and then they're going to do something that really doesn't reflect that, it's counter to that, or whether it's their conscience that says you really shouldn't do that and yet my feelings and impulses are, "Yeah, but I want to."

I have to fight that truth. Or whether it's the teaching of Scripture and us growing up in church or hearing the sermons on a tape or a CD or whatever, we have to fight it. We have to suppress that truth so that we can live the way that we want to. And all of us have to at some degree or some level or another fight the truth with our mind.

What about our mind? What describes our mind? Well, it fights the truth. And when it encounters it, it has to put an arm up and say, "Well, you know, that's great, but I'm not really—I don't buy that." It fights the truth. That's what every unregenerate mind does.

Now, if you have a reference Bible, I haven't found too many that have this cross-reference, but it would be a good one to write down. And the reason it's not there is because this text doesn't use the word mind. But jot this down anyway, because I can only suppress the truth for the sake of my wickedness with my mind.

And that's Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 through 19. Just jot that down in the margin of your Bible. And next time you read this text, you'll say, "What did I write that down for?" Then you're going to go over there and you're going to see these words in Ephesians 4:17-19.

I won't read the whole text, I'll just give you the descriptions of our thinking. Here's how it's put: futile thinking, darkened understanding, ignorance of truth, and blind, and a fifth one, calloused minds. The word is often used in Scripture as it is throughout Ephesians 4, "heart," but please don't misunderstand.

Heart in Western society, we've hijacked that as the seat of our emotions. In Hebrew thought, it's the seat of our thinking. And I know that Valentine's Day is coming up and we often think about the valentines and the heart and that's how I feel and you know, I have the goosebumps for you and all that.

That's not what the Bible means when it talks about heart. It means the control center, how your hard drive operates. And the Bible says about our minds, they're darkened. Our hearts are calloused. They are ignorant of truth and they have to fight it in a futility. They won't win, but they're fighting it.

First Corinthians chapter 2, 2:14. First Corinthians 2:14, you remember that text? It says that the non-Christian or unregenerate mind, it sees the truth and it sees it as foolishness. It rejects it as foolishness. It cannot understand the spiritual truths because they're spiritually discerned.

You need a new mind. You need something to click on. You need to go from a darkened mind and a calloused mind and a mind that fights the truth to a mind now that's turned around and all of a sudden says, "Wow, the thing I've been fighting, I really want more of it. I want more of that light and more of that truth."

That's what happens to our mind. Our minds, which are the seat of how we think and how we operate, all of a sudden now, let's just jot it down this way, it becomes responsive to God. God is the one who's presenting this truth to us, and our minds now, all of a sudden, start saying, "Wow, I fought that, but then something happened in my life, in my soul, and I said, 'Okay, I'm done fighting. I surrender. I quit. I will now embrace the truth of God's Word.'"

We call it repentance and faith. We turn from sin, we trust in Christ. And now all of a sudden our minds are like, "Wow, now I'm ready to stop fighting the truth. Now I want the truth." Our minds become responsive to what God is saying, and we want more of it.

As every Christian can testify to, we went from fighting the truth to a change that God worked in our heart. And now all of a sudden, we wanted more of it. And now all of a sudden we wanted to go to church and we wanted to read our Bibles and we wanted to hear another sermon and we wanted to buy a new Bible so we could read it more and another one in our car, and it was like we couldn't get enough of it.

We were, as Peter said, like newborn babies craving the pure milk of the word. Isn't that a great phrase? We just wanted it. I'm thirsty for it. Well, what about that? Your mind is changed. Back to Hebrews chapter 10. The phrases here in your New International Version translation, unfortunately, adds a word that doesn't need to be there.

And unfortunately, changes this into something that makes it look like I just kind of woke up one day, got real smart, and grabbed the light. What does it say there? It says, "Remember the earlier days, after you received the light." That's not what the text says. Some of you seminary students, you bring in your Greek New Testaments to church and that's great.

Look for the word "received" there. It's not there. As a matter of fact, all you see is the Greek word *phos*, light. And it's not just a—it's not a noun here, it's a participle. And more than being a participle, it's actually a passive participle, if you know your language. Why is that important?

Because the text, if we were to literally translate this, is not that I grabbed the light or received the light. The text is that really, the light had done something to me. I was a passive participant. In grammar, a passive voice means it's happening to me.

Some translations read that after you had been enlightened. And that's a little bit more accurate. It's like all of a sudden now, the light bulb came on. I didn't reach for it, God just went poof. And that's exactly, by the way, in the context of Paul's discussion to the Ephesians what he says in chapter 2.

It's not as though you reached out for the light. It's like you were dead in your transgressions and sin, but, you know the text, God made you alive together with Christ. And the amazing thing is most of us can look back in our Christian life in the first week, the first month, the first year, and realize that the change that took place there, God had done an amazing thing in the way that we thought. Our mind was changed.

Now, the challenge is to continually renew our minds, as we continue to ingest and take in the word of God. But unfortunately, sometimes what happens is we find we're not as excited or hungry or thirsty for the light of God's truth as we were earlier in our Christian life.

As often happens throughout the New Testament, even in the New Testament, the writers are saying, "Remember where you used to be as it related to your connection to truth." As Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, "Remember the height from which you've fallen and do those things you did at first."

You used to love the truth. You used to love God's Word. Is it not quite as passionate or ardent now? Don't say, "Well, those guys, they're really smart or they're into the Bible or they have some kind of a knack for that and I don't." No, no, you have had that, right?

You know what it's like to love in the morning, to get up and grab your Bible and open it. You know what it is to feed on the light of God's truth. See, you're your own role model. Don't think that it's not you. It is you. It was you. If you're genuinely a Christian, you can look back at doing it right and know, yeah, you're right. I've done it.

And if I've done it, God's saying to do more of it. Move forward. Keep making progress. Because if you can identify with it, if in your heart you go, "I know what that's like and I had that at one time, a hunger for God's word," I just want to say how's your appetite for it now? How's your thirst for the light of the truth? Is it changed? Is it waning?

Is the dust collecting on the Bible during the week? Maybe I need to say, "God, you're right. I do need to draw near to you." And it's not as though it's a foreign thing. I've done it before. I know the experience of having a mind that's reactive and responsive to you and your word. I need that now.

After you've been enlightened. Well, what happened? I know that's just a description of what's happened, they've been enlightened, they'd received the light, as the NIV puts it. Verse 32, Hebrews 10. When that had happened, you were new in that new mind, you had that new responsiveness to God.

Here's one thing that was going on in your life. When the suffering came, you stood your ground. I love that. You stood your ground in the great contest. If you've got your Greek New Testament, what is that word? It's the word for athletics. It's like an athletic event. It was the struggle of facing suffering.

It's the picture of some kind of athletic competition, like a wrestling match in the Greco-Roman world where you stood your ground and they weren't going to take you. You were going to stand tough. And you did it even when there was pain coming your way.

Now, that is something that happens in the Christian life that as a non-Christian, doesn't quite happen like that. And as a matter of fact, if we can just categorize this part of the matrix, let's put this down: let's analyze your strength. We took a look at your mind. Your mind really changed as a Christian.

How about your strength? You have a capacity as a Christian that you didn't have before, your strength. It's what we call in Scripture, and if you're familiar with this word jot it down, it's this thing we call *hupomone*. Do you remember that word? *Hupomone*.

And if you want a word for what does that mean, just put underneath it: stick-to-itiveness. It's that great picture of standing your ground. And if it costs me to adhere to the Word, guess what? I guess it's going to cost me. I've got the ability to stick with it even when the truth costs me pain. See? And that's *hupomone*.

And now, here's the contrast. Before I was a Christian, you know what? If anything that was true or virtuous cost me, I backed off from it. But then I became a Christian and God worked something in my heart. He gave me the ability to stand there in the face of difficulty and not move.

Every real Christian can look at a time in their Christian life when that test came and you stood the test. So you need to make the comparison. You've got that kind of ability. You know that. You've done it before. Now learn from your own example. Be your own role model in this case and say, "I can do it."

And don't distance yourself from the great people in Hebrews 11 and say, "Well, I'm not like them." No, but you can look back right now and remember when you did not give in and you did not compromise when your faith was tested. Then why in the world would you think you can't do it now? Do it now. Remember that. Remember where you've been.

Dave Drew: Sometimes we forget all the ways we've been changed by trusting Christ. An encouraging reminder from Mike Fabarez today on Focal Point. You're listening to a message called "Motivated by Earlier Days of Devotion."

Before we head out, this month's featured resource is *The Pursuit of God* by A.W. Tozer. If the message today stirred anything in you about recapturing that early hunger for God, this book is a natural next step. Tozer has a gift for putting his finger on exactly what's gone quiet in a believer's life and pointing back toward what was lost.

It's the kind of book that doesn't just inform, it reorients. Pick it up for the first time or return to it again. Either way, it tends to say something new. Request your copy of *The Pursuit of God* when you give to Focal Point. Simply call 888-320-5885 or go online to focalpointradio.org. Let me turn things back over to Pastor Mike now for something you're going to want to hear about.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026, on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's *Zuiderdam*, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City.

We'll gather for devotional times in God's Word, followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey. Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Kristyn Getty will lead us in worship. You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers.

It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the eastern seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drew: Just go to focalpointradio.org. I'm your host Dave Drew, inviting you to tune in tomorrow when Pastor Mike Fabarez answers the relevant question: What does it mean to give your all to Christ? We'll hear the answer on Friday's edition of "Ask Pastor Mike" here on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. Ever wish you could corner your pastor and challenge him with your toughest questions about the Bible, about faith? Well, now you can. Send me your questions. Head on over to focalpointradio.org and click on "Ask Pastor Mike," or send me a note on facebook.com/pastormike or twitter.com/pastormike. I can't wait to hear from you.

Dave Drew: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.