Overflow pt. 1 Fighting Cultural Christianity & Following Jesus with a Genuine Faith

Summary

In this engaging video, Ava introduces the first part of the 'Overflow' series, aiming to delve into the themes of fighting cultural Christianity and fostering a genuine faith in Jesus. Rooted in biblical teachings, the episode explores how modern believers can avoid superficial faith and embrace a life deeply influenced by the Gospel. Ava encourages viewers to reflect on their own spiritual journeys, urging them to seek genuine transformation through the Lord. With a focus on personal growth, she highlights the importance of daily scriptural engagement, altering life's habits, and seeking divine guidance.

Highlights

• Ava discusses how the New Year marks a perfect time for believers to reassess and amplify their faith. 🎉
• Introduction of the 'Overflow' series, aimed at digging deeper into one's faith journey. 📅
• Recognition of the struggle between cultural Christianity and true, transformative faith. ⚔️
• Encouragement to actively engage with the Bible for genuine spiritual growth. 📚
• Emphasizes walking with Christ as an active journey, reflecting on personal actions and choices. 🚶‍♂️

Key Takeaways

• Cultural Christianity versus genuine faith is the central theme, urging believers to reflect on their spiritual journey. 🕊️
• Ava stresses the power of scripture in shaping a genuine Christian lifestyle and avoiding stagnant faith. 📖
• Faith is likened to a journey that requires active participation and deliberate actions towards personal growth. 🚶‍♀️
• The importance of community and surrounding oneself with Christ-like influences is highlighted. 👥
• Ava encourages embracing a mindset shift to seek things that align with Christian values. 🌟

Overview

In this first installment of the 'Overflow' series, Ava passionately discusses the challenges of cultural Christianity and how believers can aspire to live more genuine, faith-filled lives. The episode begins with Ava sharing her excitement for the New Year and the revelations she's experienced through studying the book of Philippians. She delves into the notion of 'Overflow' where active engagement with Christ leads to a life of praise, worship, and visible Christian characteristics.

Using personal anecdotes and discussions from the Bible, Ava explores the concept of cultural Christianity, where individuals may understand Christian teachings yet struggle to live by them authentically. She shares insights from conversations with friends, stressing the importance of taking actionable steps in faith. Ava highlights how true growth comes from a profound relationship with God, cultivated through daily prayer and scripture.

Towards the end, Ava provides practical advice for viewers aiming to shift from cultural Christianity to genuine discipleship. She encourages a change in mindset and habits, such as seeking things above and not being afraid to transform one’s social circle to better align with spiritual values. Ava concludes by inviting viewers to follow the series, promising deeper exploration in upcoming videos, aimed at reinforcing one's spiritual foundation and understanding of God's word.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Series Announcement Ava welcomes her audience back to 'Ask AA,' expressing how much she's missed them. She explains her recent absence due to illness but shares her excitement for the new year and the plans God has for her and her audience. She mentions her enthusiasm for what January has in store.
• 01:30 - 06:00: Cultural Christianity vs Genuine Faith In this chapter, the speaker introduces a series focused on spiritual growth and transformation as the new year approaches. They feel guided to address how genuine faith involves daily inner change, emphasizing the concept of 'overflow,' where God's influence and love overflow from one's heart into daily life. The chapter sets the stage for exploring the differences between cultural Christianity and authentic faith, urging listeners to actively embrace faith-driven transformation.
• 06:00 - 10:00: Taking Action Steps in Faith The chapter explores the concept of renewing one's Salvation daily and how this renewal results in an overflow of praise, worship, and Christ-like character. It introduces a new series called 'Overflow' and expresses excitement about embarking on this journey. The specific theme of 'Taking Action Steps in Faith' is part of this broader series, and while the length of the series is not determined, it starts with a focus on how faith in action can lead to spiritual growth and enrichment.
• 10:00 - 13:00: Putting in the Work The chapter titled 'Putting in the Work' revolves around the experiences and reflections of the narrator upon reading the book of Philippians. The narrator recently completed reading Philippians and found it to deeply resonate with their current life circumstances, witnessing God's faithfulness in their journey. The idea of 'overflow' emerges from the Apostle Paul's teachings in Philippians about living a Christian life and embodying the gospel's principles. Paul, in his letters, often maintains a connection with the church he addresses, arising from either concerns or earnest rapport.
• 13:00 - 17:00: Seeking Things Above The chapter titled 'Seeking Things Above' addresses the issues that early churches encountered, particularly with problematic leaders such as false teachers and unbiblical ideas propagated within the congregation. The discussion draws a parallel to modern-day challenges faced by churches in America, especially the issue of 'cultural Christianity.' This term refers to individuals who identify as Christians and attend church but fail to reflect Christian values and character in their actions and behaviors, thus highlighting a disconnect between claimed beliefs and visible fruits of faith.
• 17:00 - 22:00: Conclusion and Next Steps The chapter 'Conclusion and Next Steps' discusses the concept of 'overflow' in a Christian's life, stressing the importance of actively following Christ rather than adopting a lukewarm or cultural form of Christianity. It emphasizes self-reflection on one's spiritual journey and implies that times of new beginnings, like the start of a new year, are opportune moments to reassess one's faith and actions.

Overflow pt. 1 Fighting Cultural Christianity & Following Jesus with a Genuine Faith Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi everyone welcome back to ask AA of course I'm Ava and I have missed you all so much it feels like it's been so long since I've seen you especially since the new year just started and I took a break week because I was sick and if I still sound a little stuffy and I start coughing up the along I am so sorry still getting over it but I'm really really excited for the new year cuz I know that God has a lot of great amazing things planned for ASA along with me my life and then you and your plans and so I'm so excited to see where January will take us and with that I'm excited to
• 00:30 - 01:00 announce that we're going to be doing something a little bit different I really feel like the Lord laid on my heart that we should do a series on something um talking about a topical idea around the idea of coming into the new year and growing in the new year and stepping out in faith and what the Lord laid on my heart is the series that I call overflow what's overflow you might ask it's this idea that the Lord is actively working in changing our hearts every single day we're taking up our
• 01:00 - 01:30 cross we're renewing our Salvation every single day and while we're doing that while the Lord is working in us out of that becomes an overflow of Praise of worship and the character that we show because we're following Christ and the actions we display because he is overflowing in our hearts and so today is going to be a part one of the Overflow series not sure how many parts they're going to be yet but I'm very excited to be stepping into this new idea with you so this New Year I have
• 01:30 - 02:00 been going through the book of Philippians and I just finished it the other day I felt like it was such uh such a testament to what I'm going through in my life right now and how the Lord is just showing faithfulness in his word and out of Philippians came the idea of overflow because Paul is talking about how he should be living a Christian Life and living out the gospel now of course every church that Paul writes a letter to he usually has some sort of connection with this church whether that be a concern or
• 02:00 - 02:30 encouragement for them and a lot of times the problems that these churches were having they were having with the leaders in the church whether they be false teachers or ideas that they were sharing with the congregation that weren't biblical and I think in today's culture in our church in America today one of the biggest problems we face is cultural Christianity I don't know about you but I have definitely known my share of people who say that they're Christian they go to church but when it comes to their actions and the the character that they produce and the fruit that they
• 02:30 - 03:00 produce in their life it doesn't show that they're actively following Christ and the Overflow is coming out of them now I can't point fingers with this because I know that in my own life that I've struggled with cultural Christianity and being a lukewarm Christian and so there's no discrimination however you know where you are in your walk with Christ as I'm talking about this if you feel like you're a cultural Christian or a lukewarm Christian keep this in mind as we're talking about the idea of overflow today I know as we're starting the new year is this is a great time to have a
• 03:00 - 03:30 fresh start and start pushing forward in the faith maybe if you haven't taken it as seriously before this is a great time to start taking action steps of faith I had lunch with a friend earlier this week and we had a conversation while we're eating Zach bees one of my favorite meals and we were talking about action steps we wanted to take this year to be stronger in our faith in the upcoming 2025 as we were having this conversation my friend had brought to my attention that they weren't sure if they wanted to start taking those action steps this year they knew knew all the
• 03:30 - 04:00 answers to the Bible stories they knew who Jesus was and what he's done for us dying on the cross and giving us salvation however you can know all the answers without actively being changed by the gospel there are people in the church that know all the right answers and say all the right things but if you don't have an active relationship with the Lord that you're pursuing every single day then you may need to reconsider if you're a stagnant Christian or a cultural Christian if you're a cultural Christian that doesn't mean that you haven't experienced Christ in your life I'm sure that we have all
• 04:00 - 04:30 gone to church camp at some point experienced the Holy Spirit come home and then fall back into our old habits and old sin habits that's why staying stagnant in the faith is so easy because if we're not intentional about our relationship with the Lord then it's so easy to fall out of it and stay in our old habits so this message today is for people who have experienced Christ maybe you have welcomed him to your life or you haven't but still this is a great opportunity to take notice if you are a cultural Christian or or you have
• 04:30 - 05:00 lukewarm Christian habits there is no such thing as a lukewarm Christian you are either following Christ or you aren't and so taking those steps to start having that overflow to start following Christ seriously and taking a hold of your faith and making it your own is so important because then that differentiates you from a true genuine Christian who's being changed by the gospel versus someone who's stuck in cultural Christianity and necessarily isn't following Christ following Christ and taking those action steps can be
• 05:00 - 05:30 difficult at first but they're always going to be a duty before they become a delight so if you want to start seeing an overflow in your life and changing from cultural Christianity to genuinely following Christ stay tuned we're going to be looking in Colossians the first point or the first thing that you're going to have to start doing is putting in the work this is Colossians 2: 6-7 therefore as you receive Jesus Christ the lord so walk in him rooted and built up in the in him and established in the the faith just as you
• 05:30 - 06:00 were taught abounding in Thanksgiving I really love the illustration that Paul uses which is walking with Christ actively if you're standing still then obviously you're not following Christ but if you are walking with him then it'll show that in the fruits that are produced in your life as we see throughout the entire Bible walking with the Lord isn't easy it takes sacrifice it takes hard work and it takes determination and this is with purpose because there are multiple Bible verses that talk about endurance and that Faith
• 06:00 - 06:30 takes endurance and in that endurance it produces character and that and in that character is produced hope and salvation because if your faith is tested and you're going through hardships and hard things that are testing your faith it proves the genuine of it and this genuiness of Faith often isn't something you see in a cultural Christian's life often times cultural Christians like to know the right answers and say the right things at the right time but when it comes to actual genuine faith where you
• 06:30 - 07:00 have to have endurance and then you have to have fruit being produced in your life and that overflow is flowing through your life because God is working in you you typically don't see that because the genuiness of their faith is lacking every character in The Bible has struggled with their faith at some point even the disciples left their entire lives behind to follow after Christ they did that because they had genuine Faith they saw who Christ was they knew he was the Messiah and they saw the goodness
• 07:00 - 07:30 that he was bringing to the world and that's why they followed him was because they got to know who he was you are not going to want to follow Jesus unless you know who Jesus is and so when I say put in the work I mean put in the work in your Bible get your highlighters Out start taking notes start deeply studying the word because if you are deeply studying the word of God you are going to get to know God you cannot say that God is silent if your bibles are closed and so if you are someone who who has
• 07:30 - 08:00 experienced Christ at some point in your life go back to that moment what were you feeling how is the holy spirit moving how was the goodness of God overflowing from your heart because you had a moment of intimacy with him maybe in prayer maybe in worship why what was it in that moment with Christ that had you draw towards him and what's holding you back now from going back to that moment and bringing it into this moment where you are putting in the work and you are having genuine Faith because if you're doing these things then the Lord
• 08:00 - 08:30 promises that he will show up and once the Lord shows up in your life he's going to start working in your life and once he starts working and you are starting to come to understand who Christ is then you are going to see that overflow and that outpour in your life not only do we need to put in the work but number two we also need to be seeking things that are above here we're going to jump over to Colossians 3 1-3 if then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where
• 08:30 - 09:00 Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on Earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God what Paul is saying here is that if you have given your life to Christ if you have had that moment where you have given your everything to him if you want to put in the work if you want the duty to become a delight if you want to hear God speaking to you because your Bible is open then in these things you are going to want to seek the things that are above you need to be seeking the things
• 09:00 - 09:30 that are like Christ if you are pursuing Christ this may be changing habits changing the music you listen to changing the movies you watch changing the friends that you hang around I know that that can be so difficult changing your inner circle but the Inner Circle and the friends who you hang out with Place such an influence into the person you are going to become and if you want to become more like Christ then you are going to want to surround your people surround yourself with people who are like Christ that this but changing
• 09:30 - 10:00 your mindset and changing your ideas taking your thoughts captive as Philippians says and by changing your mindset and changing your thoughts you are going to want to be thinking on things that are of Christ for example if you have a bad thought about something you are going to want to change that to start thinking about things how Christ would think about things so you wouldn't be putting people down in your mind because you would be thinking about them in the mind of Christ that they are made in the image of God that they are loved and perfect because they are created of his if we're seeking after Christ in
• 10:00 - 10:30 everything that we do eventually it will become a natural overflow and a habit of our hearts because that's what we yearn for that's what we are going to Crave we are going to stop creating sin in these things that are below and the things that are on earth and we are going to start creating the things that are above we are going to want to put in the work because it has become a delight and in this we are be going to become a new creation he says this in the same chapter of chapter 3 he says in verse 12
• 10:30 - 11:00 put on then as God's chosen ones holy and loved compassionate Hearts kindness humility meekness and patience bearing with one another we're bearing with one another and we are having Community with those around us who are like christm minded and we are going to have a changed mindset we are going to be seeking after the things of Christ because the things of Christ are surrounding us and so if you want to see overflow of the spirit in your life if you want to see good fruit being produced in your life you need to start
• 11:00 - 11:30 taking those steps they may be difficult at first because they're against our nature it's against our nature to to want to do these things but if we sit down and we make our duty to be one with Christ and to take time with him to put into the work and to seek things that are above we'll start to see the results because the results is Christ working in our life out of that comes the Overflow now if you're still not sure if you want to start putting in that hard work if
• 11:30 - 12:00 you don't know if you want that duty to become a delight yet you're not sure you want to give your life to Christ and that's okay however I would suggest before making up your mind which is going to be the second video of our series overflow is getting to know Christ because you're not going to appreciate the gift of Salvation if you don't know who the giver is you're not going to want to take those action steps if you don't understand who God is and yes you may have had an experience with him at camp or in your room and had a
• 12:00 - 12:30 few moments and glimpses of who God is that doesn't mean that you can't deepen your understanding of him by digging into the word and that's what we're going to be talking about next week but the first step to defeating cultural Christianity is just Allowing God to work in your life and as you start taking these action steps to become a new creation in him we are promised that fruit will be produced on our lives it will have this overflow of joy peace patience all the fruit of the spirit because God is producing results I think
• 12:30 - 13:00 it's important to ask yourself do you see fruit being produced in your life do you see the Overflow of the spirit touching every single aspect of your life if you do that's so great if not maybe time to evaluate whether cultural Christianity is actually implemented into your faith and whether your faith is of genuiness and is producing results in your life if you think that you might be a cultural Christian I implore you dig into the word start finding out who God is start digging into the person
• 13:00 - 13:30 that you are and who humanity is and the Savior who has came to give you hope and salvation go back to that moment where you did experience the Lord in your life and let him have that impact on your life where he can start working and start producing results and good things in your life because that's what he wants for you thank you guys so much for tuning in on ask aavid today I really am excited for this series overflow that we're going to be talking about over the next couple weeks let me know what your thoughts are leave in the comments if
• 13:30 - 14:00 you have any ideas for overflow I would love to hear them I'm excited to see you all next week in our part two of the series overflow don't forget this is ask AA don't be afraid to ask the hard questions