First Love

Guest (Male): Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robyn Kassas and Dr. Nathan Kassas, where faith meets real life. In this week's broadcast, you'll discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deepen your relationship with Jesus, and encounter Him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again.

No topic is off-limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us; your journey back to first love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Hello everyone and welcome back to First Love. My name is Dr. Nathan Kassas and I am privileged to sit across from my mom and also our senior minister, Dr. Robyn Kassas. Dr. Robyn, how are you doing today?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Oh, I've been out in that incredible sun. It is beautiful. It's good to hear and see the Lord in action.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I like what you just said. He's in action. Well, last week, we took a break from the current series and we had a beautiful replay of the Holy Spirit as the power of transformation, not illumination, in the tabernacle. You so brilliantly brought out through a previously recorded episode from our previous series about the tabernacle, which you can go back and listen to all over again. I suggest you do because it was so powerful how you walked us through that.

It was good to have a reminder and a refresher of the active role of the Holy Spirit as the revealer of truth and the one that is the candlestick that never stops burning—the light in the tabernacle, that menorah where the glory of God is the thing that lights it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But that candlestick that never stops burning, you have to go beyond that to something that lights where there is no light.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's exactly right, Dr. Robyn. So today, we're going to go back into our conversation on the humanity of Jesus, the person of Jesus Christ, as you have been given the commission by the Lord to introduce Jesus to our listeners—the man Jesus.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: The man Jesus, who is a man of humanity.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So powerful. The week before we did the refresher, we actually began to talk on the "R" of "Real."

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, we did. We've not exhausted that, but there's a need to tie in relevance with real.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So today we're going to move into the "R" of "Relevance." How does the humanity of Jesus become relevant for the humanity of my everyday life? I'm going to open with this statement in Scripture and then I'm going to ask Dr. Robyn to expand and educate us from your many years of walking with the Lord on the active work of what grace is and what it's for.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: As much as I can, I sure will.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I believe you will. This is our core statement tonight: Jesus becomes relevant in our life when His grace is no longer treated as something that will only cover what is wrong, but as a divine power that changes what is out of order.

That's the one. We're coming out of Titus 2:11-12. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." You can't get better instruction than that.

Titus literally is Paul saying to Titus that grace does not only save you from judgment; it changes how you live.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But it doesn't cause your sin to be covered. Never. Your sin has to be repented of. It cannot just cover the sin. It gives you the opportunity to change. When you deny you need change, you can't receive the grace to change.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This ties in with the "R" of relevance because in our previous episode, when we introduced these three Rs—Real, Relevant, Relational—we began to say Jesus is only Real when you stop hiding, Relevant when you stop filtering, and Relational when you stop protecting.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's the three Rs.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This "R" of Relevance applies to the editing or the filtering. We filter what we let grace transform.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We should come back to talking about filtering as it pertains to the inner ear, but I'd like to first introduce the subject of grace. Grace is for change. It's unmerited favor. It's also called matchless grace; there is nothing like it.

What does that really mean? It means when you recognize you need change, the grace to change is there. But when we deny our attitude, our character flaws, and our personality issues, grace becomes something that you license and indulge yourself to stay the same.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Coming from the understanding of the Greek word for grace as used in the New Testament, many believers understand that grace is unmerited kindness—getting what you don't deserve.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But even matchless grace means there's nothing like it. So when you use that grace to indulge yourself in your sin and behavior, you are not changing. You are fooling yourself to believe that the grace to change you is there only for you to realize that you need the change.

Then you can receive matchless grace or unmerited favor to change. But we tend all the time to use grace for license to stay unchanged because God understands, so He will pour His grace out on my sin. Only when you repent, Pastor. Only when you repent, because that brings the unmerited favor.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The Greek word for grace there is *charis*, and another meaning is "divine enablement." Divine enablement means that grace is not a passive state. It's not a passive state to allow me to keep doing what I've been doing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Grace is not covering.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It's an active state.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's not a license to just cover what you keep doing. I've got to say this because I've learned this in 40 years of being in ministry. I've learned that grace does not cover; it changes. But you've got to want the change, because otherwise you will use the grace of God to indulge and to have a license to stay the same.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is where Paul says in Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." What does that mean? It means that grace is not God just saying, "I won't count this against you." He's saying, "I will empower you so that this no longer rules you."

Dr. Robyn Kassas: This no longer is you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. Again, John 1:14: "The Word became flesh, full of grace and truth." We're going to go to a break and we're going to come back and dive into more of what that means.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I'm looking forward to it.

Guest (Male): You're listening to First Love with Dr. Robyn and Dr. Nathan Kassas. The story isn't finished yet, and neither is what Jesus wants to reveal to your heart today. Let's jump back in and pick up right where we left off.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, Dr. Robyn, that was a very powerful but sobering and important session. Before the break, I read John 1:14, and I'd like to read it again for the listeners. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh," and later on in that scripture, John combines the two works together: "full of grace and truth."

Understanding that scripture, what more do you have to say about this empowering work of grace in our lives to transform and change us?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Just that scripture alone, let's have a look at it. Grace doesn't work alone. It has to work with truth. When it works with truth, then you can receive this unmerited favor. But I want to ask you tonight: What do you change? What does grace become a change in your life?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It changes your personality, of which you're going to share a little bit on that. It also changes your character. These two are important because this is the Christ-like character that comes with transition but transformation. Grace works to transform, not to license or indulge.

If I could quickly add some science just to back up what you're saying, there are three things that I believe God touches with His grace and the relevance of His humanity to transform our humanity. You've said two, and I'd like to mention the third one which not many people would quickly qualify.

In between personality and character, there's another transitional element of the personality dynamic, and it's called temperament. Personality is what we get from our parents: genetic traits, natural wiring, natural tendencies, even emotional style or relational patterns.

Personality can be developed from the environment in which we grew up. It can also be developed genetically. It's an actual genetic code that comes through. Like you have certain personality traits that I have also adapted into my life, and they're great because they help me to be a replica of you but yet still my own person. That's how God uses the generational blessing to pass on those personality traits because He's a generational God.

Secondly, character. What is character? Character is what forms over time. Personality is what I get, character is what forms, but temperament is what I do with what I've been given.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's all about what you do with what you've been given and how it is played out. You mentioned how you have certain personality traits that you received from me, but you handle them differently than I do. Through life and experience, I've learned to temperament my traits a lot more.

So, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak. Very true. I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there more and more. You're going after it, and this is the thing that God wants. He will pour out His grace on you if you're going after this very thing. It will be unmerited favor. You won't have to earn it.

But by assuring Him that you are going after what He wants you to go after, then of course you will please Him and He will pour out grace upon you. You see, we misunderstand a scripture: "By grace you are saved through faith." It becomes automatic, and it's not automatic. It's a process.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: To back up what you're saying here and to add further exploration, our personality sometimes explains our tendencies, but we cannot allow our personality to steward our temperament. This is a very good word: temperament is what stewards the personality that's come through from mom and dad or grandma or grandpa or life and trauma or even genetics.

Your personality, if it's not stewarded, becomes the prison that you live in. Grace is the empowerment to not let that personality become the prison of your life. Temperament is what we do with our personality. Personality may be your wiring, but temperament is your stewardship of that wiring.

A person may be naturally intense, like me, sensitive, strong-willed, analytical, or emotional. But when grace touches and teaches that personality how to respond, how to be quick to listen instead of quick to talk, how to yield, and how to let Jesus govern expression, then Galatians 5:22-23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Grace makes Jesus relevant by reshaping my personality, not just by keeping me in my personality.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think when you mention steward, you were going to say something about the actual subject of grace. I would say when we allow the grace of God to be channeled, we can receive a personality and character of God through Jesus Christ that is unmerited favor.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I want to add a little Hebrew tie-in here that is so important. Grace is not the license for indulgence; it's a liberty to be allowed to transform. It's very much a liberty. The Hebrew word for "hear" is actually "obey." It's the same word.

When the Lord says in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one," that's a very quoted thing in Jewish culture. Biblically, it means to hear without responding is never really hearing. Grace becomes relevant when the hearing becomes the obedience.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think hearing is the first step. Listening is what really it's all about. When you listen, you hear. When you do that, then what God is saying can be channeled through you to bring change, to bring transformation, and to bring grace into your life. By acknowledging that you need that grace and not denying it, you receive it because it's unmerited and it's God pouring His divine enablement.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Does this work with the filtering we talked about? When I allow that grace to transform, I taught a message last night about the Holy Spirit being the net that filters what we hear coming in.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: The inner ear becomes the spiritual ear to hear.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: When I allow grace to transform, it takes that net and it narrows the boundaries of what I allow to come in. Would that be right in saying that?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's exactly right. You see, the Holy Spirit is coming in all the time. But by you allowing other voices to come in, including your own and the devil's because your discernment has been dulled, you will dull that spiritual experience of the Holy Spirit speaking.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The net always allows the Holy Spirit to come in because He's translucent. He goes through the gaps.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: When you do that, the Holy Spirit is not able to talk to you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: God's voice is never dulled coming in, but when you stop listening, your ability to recognize His voice is what gets dulled.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You truly believe this, and whoever's listening needs to hear this: you truly believe that it's the Holy Spirit, but it's your voice or it's straight out the devil. When the Holy Spirit's speaking loud and clear, you recognize it and it can't be dulled. But when your voice is trying to take over that place, you will always hear your own voice.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Grace is what makes Jesus relevant by actually entering the places of our personality, our character, and our temperament where we respond, react, defend, and repeat. Grace does not excuse what Jesus came to transform.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You added those things, but add also "deny."

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Relevance is tied to filtering. Jesus can become relevant when grace moves from a state of just being forgiven to a state of being formed into the Christ-like life.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: There is more to do with grace than just forgiveness. It's got to lead to formation. It's got to lead to transformation. So grace again is for change. You don't receive grace to cover; you receive grace to change. You don't receive the grace of God when you're denying you need change. You cannot call it grace if you still remain unchanged or stay the same.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My final word is this: our relevance to Jesus's humanity only gets revealed—and relevance means connection—where His grace is allowed to govern my personality, my response, my temperament, and my character.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We all need the grace of God to change, and before we can change, we need to admit we need the change. If you work with these principles, there can be transformation of areas of your character and your personality, even your temperament and your actions. This is what I want you to know: this is what grace is all about.

Guest (Male): Thanks for spending time with us today on First Love. If today's message spoke to you, share it with someone. If you're looking for more teachings, visit www.torcc.org. That's T-O-R-C-C dot O-R-G for more. We'll be back next week, same time, same truth. As you go, don't forget: the one who loved you first is still loving you best.