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Guest (Male): You're something else. I didn't say that. God did. Let's talk on Key Life.

The deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. That's what Key Life is all about. So if you're hungry for the hopeful truth that God isn't mad at you, keep listening. Steve Brown is a seminary professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. We're talking and I'm going to finish this today, maybe even introduce another lie.

We've been talking for the last week or two about the lies that define us and how throughout our lives, we bounce our self-image off of other people. And what we get back, parents and teachers and friends and authority figures and politicians, what we get back is how we define ourselves. And the Bible says, stop it.

I've said it several times. The only one who has the right and the authority to define you is the one who created you. And that's God. And you find in the Bible who you really are.

We talked about we're defined as children of the God of the universe. The IT genius at Key Life, his name is John Meyers, says that the most helpful thing we can do to solve a tech problem is reboot. In other words, turn it off and turn it back on and see what happens.

If a reboot doesn't work for me, John steps in and in ways nobody understands but John, fixes it. That's what God says. We reboot. And that along with God's Spirit brings a remedy to the problem of guilt and shame and fear and regret.

Rebooting our lives is often how we start to correct the lies that define us. You do it with the truth. I have a very close psychologist friend, Dr. John Tarrell, who has had incredible success dealing with lies that define us.

John's story is one of abuse and darkness and he is maybe the best wounded healer that I know. He's been there and he's done that. He survived. He came back. He earned a PhD and has made a difference in a whole lot of lives.

Not too long ago, John wrote something for one of his clients on rewriting the script of one's life. He shared it with me and gave me permission to share it with you.

You say, I have felt abandoned and deserted since I was a child. No one seemed to be interested in me. Both the words and behaviors of my parents did not convey that I was valuable. I have felt that my entire life. It affects everything I do and it's been so deeply entrenched in me. It is as if I am a nonperson.

John says that's what emotional reasoning is. It's a script, a core belief or role in life someone has given you. It is deeply ingrained set of beliefs about oneself and sometimes very dysfunctional set of beliefs and patterns and resultant behaviors that now cause problems in adulthood.

They are learned and reinforced throughout childhood, into teenage years and into adulthood unless challenged. The key, John says, is to write a different script for oneself. Such programming will generally not change quickly and yet it can be altered over time if challenged by new beliefs and by the truth.

For example, he says, the overriding script, nobody wants me. The challenge to such an entrenched script might be to say aloud, I feel completely and totally unwanted. Throwing the left hand out, one after the other, and the right hand and then say aloud, I am precious. I am wanted. I am valuable.

Then touch your right hand to something tangible here and now while saying it. In other words, speak truth to yourself and repeat it.

John goes on to say, I've had people say, but doctor, I just don't believe it. My response, exactly. And that is why I'm having you say it. The Bible says, for as a person thinks in his heart, so is he. We are changing our thoughts via what we know to be truth from God's revelation in the Bible.

Kumer, an actor and film producer, this is John talking, speaking to graduates at an academic ceremony, said something that may best describe everything that John says he said. He said, as you close this chapter of your life and keep writing your story, make sure you stay true to yourself. Live your life with pride and compassion and love and make sure that you have fun doing it. And in the words of Jack, when writing the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen.

Oh, man. Now, that man's not a Christian. He's not a believer, but he spoke some truth that is more true for believers than it is for anybody else. Reboot. Rewrite the script. Dip into the Bible. Don't read the Bible so you can quote verses and show off. Read the Bible because it is a mirror that lets you know who you are.

My friend Norm Evans, a former professional football player with the Miami Dolphins and later the Seattle Seahawks, tells the story of a college football player who went to the coach complaining that the opposing lineman kept pulling his helmet down his eyes. "What should I do?" he asked the coach. The coach looked at him and said, "Son, don't let him."

Some of you, and me too sometimes, when people who have no right or authority to define us do it anyway, just don't let them. Those are the lies that define us. But I got a lot more in this book than. Let me give, let me give you some lies that confuse us. And I'll introduce it and we'll talk more about it next week.

Let me give you a text. It's Isaiah 55:8-9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. That's Isaiah 55:8-9. Let me, let me give you the lie. In your head you're right, but in your heart you're nuts.

Don't let your heart get in the way. That's a lie. Rationalism, it's going to be a little bit boring, but it's okay to set up the subject. Rationalism is a philosophical epistemological position. Descartes, Spinoza and others that reason is how one gets knowledge. Descartes famously wrote, I think, therefore I am.

By the way, one time Descartes went to a bar and after his first drink, the bartender asked if he wanted another one. He said, "I think not," and disappeared. I'm sorry. But if reason is the only way we attain knowledge, a lot will disappear. Our knowledge will be incomplete. Our lives will become as boring as watching paint dry.

Some of life's most important truths are not garnered through reason, but through one's heart. When Barry Goldwater ran for president, his campaign slogan was, "In your heart, you know he's right." His political opponents countered, "In your guts, you know he's nuts." Actually, truths that our hearts perceive as true may be deeper and more profound and more joyous and more good news than you have ever seen or believed.

Now, we're going to talk about this next week. But before I go, one thing, sometimes trust your heart. You think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Steve, and that wraps up our study for this week. If you're enjoying this new series like I am, I have some good news. You can stream all of these episodes for free at keylife.org/notmad. Tomorrow, we'll have Friday Q&A and that's of course when Steve and Pete answer the challenging questions you've sent in. Questions like, how were the Old Testament believers saved? That's a great question, right? Be sure to join us for that.

Dysfunctional family traits ran deep inside me. I was much more like my mother than I wanted to admit. I even became an alcoholic just like her. I blew up my marriage and I wounded my kids. That could have been the end of the story, but it was not. God, who began pursuing me all those years before, was not finished with me. Jesus did not give up on me.

Well, that's from an article by Barry Smith, and you can find it in the latest Key Life magazine. This edition features articles from Barry, Matt Hurd, Steve, and Justin Holcomb, and it's yours when you call us at 1-800 Key Life. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for the magazine, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, ask for Key Life magazine.

Finally, would you join us in the work of Key Life by giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or take out your phone and text Key Life to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and Force in Canada, and Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.