Episode 1 | There’s no war in Ba Sing Se (Pt. 1) Good Vs. Bad fruit.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se, or is there? Is that what you love to tell yourself? That life is just full of bliss and positive moments, that there is no Difficult moments insight and or problems to face?

I want to take the next few episodes and really show you that there is in fact a war within Ba Sing Se, and with this episode, the war begins in you. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you want to get yourself out that prison cell that we talked about earlier, there has to be a sacrifice. There has to be a release. There has to be a letting go. There has to be a point of your life where you have said, I no longer want to be that little kid in locked inside that prison cell. I no longer want to be there. There is an alternative ego in me that's that's running the race, and it's been running the race for so freaking long. I don't want to be this guy anymore.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Welcome to the Broken Minds podcast, a space for the brokenhearted to realize that they're actually broken and walking this journey out with Jesus Christ. If you wish to support this podcast, please share this episode with your friends and your family. And download the podcast on your favorite podcasting platforms. Also, support us monetarily using the links down below. Lastly, get plugged into our local community here in the DMV, Broken Creatives, a place where we network, connect, and collaborate with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Use the links down below to join the community today. My name is Mercy, and this is the Broken Minds Podcast. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

There is no war in Boss Singsei. Or is there? This is a phrase coming from a hit animated TV show, Avatar the Last Airbender. A phrase that was used as a brainwashing tactic to keep the citizens of Boss Singhsei under complete control and compliance while on the outskirts of the city, the Fire Nation raged war on all other kingdoms and tribes. Admittedly, you might be super confused on how a TV show has anything to do with our lives as Christ followers, as ordinary people walking on this earth, and even what does it have to do with being healed from a broken mind and from a broken heart? Trust me, there is a deeper revelation here that will change your perspective of how we view ourselves, other people around us, and even the organized body of Christ through the church. And I really want to get this through your head because once you understand the end of this, a lot of things is gonna connect. So, before we get into our first segment, I want to explain a couple of things here. In the hit TV show, the phrase there is no war in Bossing say was used to embed a level of compliance within the citizens to say that life was all under control. Regardless of what you feel is true, regardless of what you might have evidence of, regardless of what you have been told is really going on behind closed doors, that is not true. You would be incorrect because guess what? There is no war within this city, and there is no conspiracy within these walls. Everything in this city is just how it was meant to be, and you need us to survive. You are fish out of water without us or without the city. Even though on the outside of the city walls, all hell was breaking loose with the Fire Nation. But guess what? The city of Bossingse remained in full control of its people. Okay, before we dive into any of what we're about to talk about today, let's first define what the word culture means. So, dictionary.com has one definition of the word culture, and it is this the shared beliefs, behaviors, and social environment connected with a particular aspect of society. A more interesting note that was placed as a sub-definition is this the SA community on campus, the culture of poverty, a culture of celebrity worship. So now that we have a definition of what culture means to the secular world, let's now define what Christ-like culture looks like as a Christ follower. To say that if you are connected to these beliefs, behaviors, andor social environments from a faith-based point of view, what exactly does that look like? Well, what did Jesus require us to do in order for us to follow him? So we're gonna turn over to Matthew 16, 21, coming from the ESV version, and it tells us From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Verse 22 says, And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Verse 24 says, Then Jesus told his disciples, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For if anyone would save his life, will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Verse 26 says, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give it in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Being a Christ follower means an intentional life of sacrifice, and oftentimes in the Christian culture, we can take up a role of a Peter and display that to follow Christ does not ultimately mean laying down your lives to exemplify our beliefs. But in the text, Jesus makes it ever so clear that in order to follow him, we must deny ourselves and lose our lives in order to gain it. So throughout the next couple of episodes, I want us to walk through two topics of conversations. One, what does it mean when we say there is no war in Ba Singh Se? And two, what does Christ-like culture truly look like and how do we follow it? Alright, let's break this down and be super super practical with it. With this first session, let's begin with the concept of war. Specifically, a war within our minds. And I'm gonna use a small little skit that I've prepared. And this is a skit that is a real-time event that did happen in my life. A time of life where I was lost and I did not have the freedom through Jesus Christ. A time in my life where I was just I was wondering what my identity was in life, but also living it out and trying to be the big dog on top. I was trying to be known and and and just celebrated by everyone. And I was trying to build a name for myself in places where it was not. So let's begin. I hear footsteps knocking against my soul. Is it demons or angels? Oh god, I need to know. I've been distant walking this path alone. I cry at night, but no one hears me. I scratch at the floor. Oh, how I adore my pain. It's an abhorrent sound dragged across this prison. Oh, how my chains are wrapped tightly, constricting the flow of blood. Every second feels like the enemy. But forever I will contend with my inability to let go. This darkness swells within my soul. My body is high, my spirits are low, down to earth. I'm a good person with a twisted brain. I know I'm broken. I just need help. But keep it on the down low. I don't want anyone to realize my nightmares are real. I feel darkness encircle me. I need a savior, but one who doesn't abuse my mental health. I'm done being manipulated. I need someone to actually help me, not toss me in a pit to die because convenience couldn't be drawn out of my life. Is that all I am to this world? Just use me for my gifts and throw me away like a used condom, wielding generations of potential wealth and security. I never knew salvation came with tyranny. Or maybe I was following a cult. With my life in the balance and the knife to my throat, would you still act the same way? Would your pride be strong enough to choke up all the accolades you gain by lying to the saints of Christ? My mental is in demise. I need a humanistic point of view to keep me on track. The grave is calling, it's pulling, no tugging me close. Will you be there to save me? Not to post, but to hold my hand and pull me out this darkness. This dark pit I'm in. This darkness swells around me. Lord knows I've sinned. Lord knows I don't deserve a second chance. But with him, I live again. So now you see me. My life has not been so free, and for the longest time my mental space was occupied by two voices. The one was me, and the other voice, well, that guy, well, he was the one I masked myself to be. I wasn't as strong as I am today. I wasn't as fearless. I wasn't as bold. I was an insecure kid using my time online to prop myself up to be something I really was not. And I very severely struggled mentally because of it. Now, to why did I do this is a far much longer story. We do not have time to tell. But just know that back then I was scared, I was alone, I was honestly embarrassed to say the least, and at all costs, I ran, I hid from my true identity. For years, that was how I lived. I made this bold persona on social media, but truly I was struggling, and deeply I was suicidal at my core. I practiced self-harm and I had terrible thoughts of hurting others. I was a quiet, oddball kid who didn't have many friends until much, much later on in life. But true, around that time I had social media to paint myself to be whatever I wanted to be in the moment, and that took that took my life in the sense it took my true nature, it took the life that God has created, and I muzzled it, and I said, God, I don't really need your creation. You made me exactly who I am today, but I don't really need that. Right now I just need I need something that's gonna make me a part of the crowd. I need something that's gonna that's really gonna make me a little bit more edgy in life. Trust me, y'all, I was disrespectful at that at that time I was disrespectful on all accounts. I would verbally cuss people out and make fun of people however I saw fit, and still to this day I do wrestle with saying mean or petty things. But oh, if I if if this was me ten years ago, forget about it. If you had anything wrong with you, even if it was a lisp, anything, I was so quick to point it out, and guess what? Look, I was very strategic with my attacks, I knew how to gather a laugh, and I knew how to crowd people against you. It was my manipulative art, but God has changed me, and I want to help you see that God is willing to change and has already made a change within you as well. But it is now time to break the chains that are holding you captive, you are no longer shackled to who you used to be before, and you are no longer, you no longer have to be ashamed of who you were. I want you to picture this. I want you to picture yourself inside of a dark abyss, sitting crisscross applesauce on a cold, thick slab of concrete, and vision iron bars closing in on all sides. You are trapped in this square of squareness, topped off with another thick slab of concrete on top of you just to add insult to your injury, and a thin haze surrounds you, so much so that the abyss feels like an uncomfortable embrace, but every every once in a while you'll see this distant figure approach this jail cell. Looking through the charaded iron bars, you see its sharp, pearly white teeth shining in the darkness. You got that picture? I'm here to say that that's you. I'm here to say that that is the that is the true essence of you that God has created. The figure that's outside, well, that is a distorted view of you. That is your alternative ego, that is the stronger version of you, the wittier version of you, that is the version of you that you have masked yourself to be because truly in the world you are too insecure to be what God has created you to be. At least, well, that's my story. That might not be your story. But I I I notice in so many instances where people they will know something about themselves. They it's an insecurity about themselves. Either they think that they're not good enough for the world, they think they're that smart enough for the world, they think they're not as talented enough, they think they can't sing, they think they look ugly, they think whatever they think, and guess what? They put themselves in a prison cell, lock the key, swallow it the key, swallow the key, and whatever beast that they have released in their brain, that is the one that they will enact into the world. Look, when I was a teenager and I was going through all that suicidal stuff and that wrestle with my depression, regardless of who I hurt in the past or who I have done wrong in the past, it does not change the fact that I was wrong in the past, and accepting that, accepting that I was wrong and I did wrong in the past was my first step to finding freedom through Jesus Christ. I want you to think when was the last time you took accountability for your actions? And no, I'm not talking about when was the last time you did something good and received praise for it. I'm talking about when you did something that actually was quite bad and you may have hurt people. Let's go back to our prison cell. Remember, you are not the one in charge right now. You have masked yourself to be someone else, something else, whatever the world has told you to be, whatever social media has told you to be. So now that you have taken on this persona, and you're more wittier, and you're more petty, and you're more angry, and you're more whatever that action is, whatever that emotion is that you're feeling, that displays itself into the world. You ever heard this phrase, hurt people, hurt people? Well, here's the thing that is very true. Because if you ever have a school bully, trust me, the way that they are being absolutely distorted in their brain is 12 times worse than the wedgie that you will receive. I promise you. That that teenager is going through hell, and whatever they're doing to the nerd in the class, it's only one percent of what they are experiencing, and people don't understand that. So let's make this practical, y'all. Let's think about this for a moment and start at the top. I want you to consider yourself to be a tree. You are a tree right now. I am Groot. Okay, let's go. So, the fruit of that tree is the essence of what you are producing. Whether it's good fruit or bad fruit, you are producing a fruit. Behind the fruit are the leaves. The leaves represent the motives that you have to produce the fruit. Because before the fruit comes the leaves. Then you have the branches. These branches influence the leaves, and they influence the fruits. The branches is what gives nutrients to the leaves and the fruit. And then you have the trunk. This is a major highway system that supplies information straight from the roots of the tree to the branches, to the leaves, and to the fruit. So if the fruit is the essence of what you are producing, whether it's for good or for bad, the leaves are the motives that you are producing it by, and the branches, let's call them the experiences, and the trunk, let's call that your life. Your life fuels experiences. Experiences fuels motives. Motives fuels the fruit. Your life is, you will experience that thing. And that thing that you have experienced, it will alter your motives. And what alters your motives, your fruit will change. So we're gonna go back into Matthew, and this time we're gonna go into Matthew 7, coming again from the ESV version. And the title of this segment in my Bible is called A Tree and Its Fruit. So it says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravilish wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits, are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit. But a diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. So if every tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit, and a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, so that means in order to follow this Christ-like culture, in order to pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ, well, we need to be producing good fruit. Oh, for sure, we need to be producing good fruit. And how do we produce good fruit? Well, look at the example of a tree. For going back to our example, the fruit of the tree is the essence of what you are producing, whether it's good or it's bad. We talked about the diseased tree, right? And it's gonna be thrown into the fire, as verse 19 says. So we don't want to be thrown into the fire, we want to follow Christ. So how do we follow Christ in Christ-like culture in a Christ-like way? We must be producing good fruit, so that means we must be a good tree. So behind the fruit are the leaves. The the leaves and our example represent all the motives you have. Because my thing about it is the fruit that you are producing, the good acts, those acts are motivated by something. There has to be a motive to produce. So then you have the branches. This in my mind is the influences, the experiences that fuel the motives. Because look, if you have an experience in your life and you are influenced by something, that's gonna give you the motive to do something about it. That's gonna give you the incentive to go do. So, right now, we're trying to figure out if we are producing good fruit. We're trying to figure out how to produce good fruit. Because we do not want to be the diseased tree that gets thrown into the fire, the bad tree, right? We don't want to be that, we don't want to be producing bad fruit. Okay, the trunk, and our example, the trunk is our life. That is the major highway system of information. Stuff comes in, stuff comes out. Life happens. You have the the beginning portion of our lives, you have you and then you have the end. That is our life, and it makes sense because on each level of our lives there are different branches, and each level there are different branches that have different experiences, and those different experiences they suck from the trunk of the tree into the branches, fueling experiences and influences, and producing fruit and producing motive, and as you go higher and higher up the trunk of the tree, more branches come, and that okay, you see where I'm going here? Then what is the root? Well, we could really beat around the bush here, and I really would love to do that. Because sometimes the root of it's not an easy problem, it's actually a major, major problem in people's lives. This is the act, this is the core reason why people are not producing good fruit, even when they believe that they are producing good fruit because they call themselves a Christian, they proclaim that they know the word of God, that they pray, that they all this stuff, that they are 100% a believer in Jesus Christ. Okay, that's fine. And if you want to know for certain that you are producing good fruit, follow the tree down to the root. What is the root? The root is the underlying things that have happened in your life that you may or may not be conscious of. This goes into childhood trauma. This goes into generational curses, this goes into all those things that you are not immediately thinking about, they're not immediately present in your life, they are not immediately existent in the trunk of your life. But guess what? Your life has to resource from somewhere. The trunk of a tree has to resource from somewhere. The trunk of a tree is just not a flat, a flat slab of wood that's just put on the ground and then boom, uh a tree's a tree sprouts. That's not how this works, it's connected and intertwined into a rooting system. It's the same thing. So if the trunk is your life, and on each stage of their life, of your life, there's different branches of experiences that fuel leaves of motive and fruit. That means the fruit of you is directly correlated to the root of you. What you are producing is directly correlated to the underlying unconscious or conscious or generational cursed mess that your family have left you. You will recognize them by their fruits as are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. Let's talk about the diseased tree. Let's solve X by applying Y. So the diseased tree is diseased fruit. That is our Y. Diseased fruit comes from diseased motives, comes from diseased experiences and influences, comes from diseased life, ultimately stemming from diseased roots. If you are producing bad fruit in your life, that means you have bad motives. There's no getting around that. If you were to cuss somebody out right now, like just say the F word right now to somebody in front of you or around you, or maybe just call somebody up right now, just pause this podcast episode right now, call somebody up right now, and just say F you. I want you to do that right now. No, not seriously. Stop, stop, stop, don't do that. But here's the point about it is if you were to do that to a person, they immediately would think in their mind, what in God's name did they just say to me? But then the second thing that they would say, or they would think of you, is you your motives are not are misplaced right now. Where are you where are you thinking? What what are you thinking? And then you track that back. Well, well, why did I say the F-word? Okay, in that moment, I had really jacked up motives. I was I was just I was just angry. Why were you angry? I I was angry because I had a couple of bad experiences. You know, you know, I got fired from my job. My parents are yelling at me. This, that, and the fourth. I didn't get a good grade on the test. I should got that promotion, and I did not get that promotion. Well, why did you get fired from your job? Why didn't you get the promotion? Why did you fail the test? All this stuff, all the different type of stuff. Well, my life is just really not set up the way it is right now. Well, why? And you just keep asking those questions until you get to the root of a thing. You producing the fruit of the F-word is that that's just a fruit. You can argue the fruit all you want. That's just the fruit. That's what you said, it's done, it's over with. It is in the ether, it is in history right now. Now we have to track back down to the root what has happened. Okay, we are trying to identify how we can get good fruit produced out of us. All right, we already plugged in our bad fruit to get to the root. So now let's plug in the root to get to our fruit. All right, let's say we have Joshua. Joshua grows up in life and he has a traumatic event happen in his life. Joshua knows that this is not the way to go. He's deeply affected by whatever happened, and he knows that he needs to come to terms with his life. So, guess what? Joshua goes on this journey of forgiveness. He seeks help. And he gets down to the root, he finds out what the root was of whatever happened to him. He goes to therapy and he's like, Well, you know, I need I just need to know what's going on. So he finds, he he finds the why, and he plugs that into the equation. Okay, this is the why of the equation. From this, I've identified the the root cause of what I am going through. Unforgiveness. I went through abuse in my life, and I did not forgive that person, whoever they were. Abuse, childhood trauma. Maybe, maybe nothing majorly drastic has happened in his life, but there's this generational curse of whatever that thing is that's holding him and his family back from generations to generations to generations. So, what is he gonna do? Well, he's gonna take the root of the situation and he is going to rectify it and heal from it and get receive true healing. And guess what? From that healing, the trunk of his tree only has one source to pull from the root, and it got no other root to pull from. There's no other tree in this system, it's just him, it's isolated to him and his root system. So, guess what? His life becomes positive. Why? Because when it comes to this system, there's no negativity to pull from. So now that he has rectified his life, he has addressed the childhood trauma or the generational curse or whatever happened in his life, he rectified that, he healed from it, all that stuff. The only thing that could be filled in his life is positive, positivity. That's it. There's nothing else. Now, of course, the realities of life are gonna throw challenges and problems and issues and all that stuff he has to go through, but ultimately he has healed from his childhood trauma, he is healed from the root cause of everything negative in his life. So all the challenges, they're just challenges that that face that he has to face. That's cool, that's whatever, that's what he has to get through. That's fine. But now, since he has rectified, healed, now his life becomes a little bit more clearer. And guess what? Since his life is clearer, each level of his life, the branches of experiences and influences, he can only pull from a good thing. Because he's only experiencing good things if he has a good life. Mulder, if I don't have a negative life, I'm gonna have very positive experiences. If I don't have negative people around me, I'm gonna have very positive experiences. So the only way that you know his experiences can be grafted and created in time is for them to come from a positive place. Well, if his experiences are coming from a positive place, then you good and well can assume that Joshua's motives are coming from a positive place, his leaves. So if his motives are positive, his experiences are positive, his life is positive, all because he has rectified and healed from his past trauma, then that means the only thing left in the process is his fruit. That's it. So why don't you take us to Romans 12? And I want to explain the whole root system thing that I was talking about. So Romans 12, still coming from the ESV version, it says, well, the title of this says, a living sacrifice. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. I'm gonna pause right there. And it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. I'm gonna go to the God's Words translation. Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice dedicated to God and pleasing to Him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. Interesting. So going back to the ESV, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living. We haven't been paying attention to that living sacrifice part. I've been paying attention to the second part where it says spiritual worship, reasonable service. That is it it's appropriate for you to do. But when we talk about being a living sacrifice, we have to define what that means.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

A sacrifice is a part of you that you kill off.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

That you end, that you offer up, that you lose control of. So back to Matthew sixteen. Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone were come after me, let him deny himself, sacrifice himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? Going back to Romans, this is very interesting. Going back to Romans 12, I want to read verse 2 now. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Something there is a repetitive nature between Romans 12 and Matthew 16. Romans 12, one and two literally repeat themselves to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, but be transformed by the renewal. Renewal mean renew, renew, renew. If you're going into a house and taking down the house and and making a reconstruction of the house and doing all this different, what do you have to first do with that? You have to destroy the house, you have to knock out walls, you have to tear things down. It's literally you have to sacrifice the old version of the house in order to get to a renewal of that house. The Lord is telling us in Matthew that we have to lose ourselves. That we have to be that we have to sacrifice our old self. So sacrificing if we are walking through these episodes and trying to figure out trying to figure out how to walk in this Christ-like culture, there has to be a nature of sacrifice. There has to be a true nature of sacrifice. That old life that you are living, that prison cell that you are in, there has to be a level of sacrifice. That bully nature that you have, there has to be a level of sacrifice. Do not be conformed to the to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That by the testing you may discern, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect. Again, going back into Matthew. Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God. Interesting. Going back to Romans. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. What is good and acceptable and perfect? For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Didn't it just say in Romans, do not be conform to the patterns of this world? And then in Matthew it says that Peter is focused on the things of man. There has to be a sacrifice. If you want to get yourself out of that prison cell that we talked about earlier, there has to be a sacrifice. There has to be a release. There has to be a letting go. There has to be a point of your life where you have said, I no longer want to be that little kid in locked inside that prison cell. I no longer want to be there. I don't want to be thrown into the fire. I want to produce good fruit. How do we produce good fruit? Well, we have to be a good tree. Because the word of God says good fruit doesn't come from bad trees. Bad fruit doesn't come from good trees. There's no way that you can be a good tree and produce bad fruit. So if you are producing bad fruit, you are a bad tree. That means that if you go throughout the tree, there is a childhood trauma, a generational curse that you are conscious of or you are unconscious of. Doesn't matter. It has to be broken, it has to be healed from. A lot of people are walking around bleeding on people and blaming others for their bleeding. And they keep bleeding. Going from community to community. Here's the thing: going to a new church community is not going to heal your problems. Actually, matter of fact, I was go, I was going to a brand new church community and I was still depressed like I was at the other church community. Why? Because I didn't give my life to Jesus and I did not sacrifice the old life. I kept going. And if you do not want to do the groundwork of figuring out if you're a good tree, guess what? You're not going to produce good fruit. Well, thank you for listening to this podcast episode. I am so, so very grateful. And I know the themes and the topics of this podcast is going to be one very, very deep and in-depth, and oftentimes trigger warning. But hey, if these are the conversations that you are looking for, and if these are the conversations that you have been longing to have, then I want to invite you here every single Saturday at 8 a.m. in the morning. Where we're gonna break down these things, that we're gonna get to the root of who we are, and we're going to fully separate from our old life. God has not created you to be depressed for all of your life, and it's time to see that, and it's time to uproot some things, and it's time to realize that you have a broken heart, and that is the whole goal of Broken Minds Podcast, of Broken Minds Co., of the whole adventure. It's for us to realize that we are broken and we are in need of a savior. So if you would love to support this vision, you can do so using the links down below. If you would love to be a part of the podcast, let me know using the links down below. If you want to donate towards this mission and this vision and help launch other podcasts all around the DNV and the country, to be honest, you can do all that using the links down below. But I love y'all and I'll catch y'all in the next episode. Love y'all, peace.