Truth #1

"Instead, we live an Imposter Life built on answers from other sources that have become magnets to our hearts. At the Call to Adventure, we needed to detach from these magnets and trust God enough to follow him into the Wilderness. Now, in the Wilderness, we must work alongside Him to deconstruct the Imposter Life our magnets helped us build, so we can learn how to live IN and FROM our Garden State again."

More to Explore

The opposition to God's work in our lives is elusive and often difficult to see. Understanding how they influence us takes a lifetime; it's a part of the restoration process. Even still, being aware and intentionally deconstructing how they've taken control of our lives is really important. To see why and to get some more understanding of "deconstructing" the imposter life, we want to offer you a different way of looking at it from a teaching Jesus gives in Mark 2:

"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins-and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."

Let me explain further what he means. The Greek words here for "new" and "old" do not simply denote age but "nature" or "essence." You see, in ancient times, people made wine by putting grape juices through a process called fermentation or aging. Most juices were fermented in new, unused wineskins, usually made from the skin of a goat or lamb.

During the aging process, gasses were released from the juice as the wine's flavor, color, balance, and boutique grew. By its nature, the new wineskins were elastic, full of oils, supple, and thick. As the gasses grew, the wineskin stretched, creating capacity for the aging juices and gasses released.

On the contrary, used wineskins were already stretched, thin, rigid, and more brittle. So, if one poured the juice into an old, used wineskin, by its nature, it would not have the capacity to expand, causing it to burst during the fermentation process. They would lose the potential for what the new wine could be and the old wineskin. Nothing is gained.

Jesus shows us the futility of adding something new to our old way of life through this analogy. For us, it is adding the work God is doing in us to the way we live as imposters. Our imposters cannot hold the new wine of our Creator's truth. If we are going to live from our true identity, the old way of making life work for us has to go! We must step into real change.

At the end of the day, we must choose- new wine in new wineskins or new wine in old wineskins? There is so much our Creator wants to restore in us, but it cannot be combined with the old life of our imposters. One must be "deconstructed" and another "restored." We either choose to be what we were created to be on our Creator's terms or remain the same. We can trust Him with our lives or live subject to our magnets. Each day, we face this same decision. So what will we do? Will we put new wine into new wineskins, or will we give in to the opposition and allow our imposters to burst, losing the new wine of God's restorative work in our lives?

Here is a story from a friend of The New Frontier who learned HOW to step into this well. Check it out!

Quick Discussion Questions

1. Can you think of a time when you tried to add new wine (God's restorative work) to an old wineskin (an imposter lifestyle)? Why did you struggle to release that old wineskin (imposter life)? What did holding onto the old wineskin end up giving you? What did it cost you? Tell that story. Dad, you go first.

Truth #2

"The opposition from without is in anything outside of ourselves that works against the change God is doing in us. Remember the serpent from Genesis? the one who tempted humanity to distrust God's heart in the first place? Yeah, he is still around and the primary source of external opposition in our lives. He spews lies about who God is and who we are, using our magnets to tempt us away from the Path of our True Source. Unfortunately, the Adversary is not the only opposition from without that does this. We also contend with those who work alongside him."

More to Explore

The opposition from without is a truth that can be difficult for us to engage with. Our post-modern world (especially in the West) focuses primarily on what can be measured or scientifically proven. Spiritual beings (the Satan and demons) don't tend to fall under that category. But I think we can shed some light on how these spiritual beings play a part in our Heroic Journey through the videos below.

The Bible Project shows us the opposition from without through the lens of God's story. In these videos, we see 1) who they are, 2) where they originated, and 3) the part they play.

All rights reserved to The Bible Project. TNF does not own anything in this video and uses it for educational purposes only. We make no money on this video. We will remove this video at the request of The Bible Project and its representatives. For more information about The Bible Project, go to their webpage.

Quick Discussion Questions

1. What other ways do you see the opposition from without working in the world today? Talk through some examples?
2. What other ways do you see the opposition from without working against YOUR restoration to your Garden State? Be specific with some examples. Dad, you go first.

Truth #3

"[The serpent is] the primary source of external opposition in our lives. We also contend with those who work alongside him. This includes the [...] humans who consciously and unconsciously do his bidding."

More to Explore

In Ephesians, Paul tells us that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldly forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

So, how do we reconcile these two ideas? How can humans oppose the work God is doing in us AND not be "our enemy?" Remember, every human is made to be an image bearer, to LOOK and LIVE like our Creator, but what happens when we don't choose to look and live like him? What happens when we instead choose to let sources apart from him become magnets to our hearts? Well, we end up LOOKING and LIVING like those magnets instead of our Creator! Unfortunately, our magnets play into the opposition's hand. Instead of imaging God, we image the serpent! Yikes!

Let me put it another way. If you play football for the Bengals (this is for our Cincinnatians :), you wear a Bengal jersey, right? The black and orange represent the team, and when you wear it, YOU represent the team- their values, game strategy, and effort. When you put on that jersey, you LOOK and LIVE like a Cincinnati Bengal in many senses. But what would happen if Joe Burrow walked onto the field one day wearing a Kansas City Chief's jersey? What if he started calling plays like Patrick Mahomes? Started playing the game with the Chief's strategy in mind instead of the game plan the team practiced for weeks prior?

It would cause CHAOS!

That's what we do when we image the serpent instead of our Creator. When we put on the serpent's jersey and choose his game plan, we cause chaos in our lives and in the lives of others. This doesn't just include egregious actions like murder; we do this in small things, when we get angry at our sibling, when we shame our friend for doing something silly, or when we see someone as "lower" than ourselves. On the serpent's team, we oppose the work God is doing in our life and others. Our actions ultimately undo his creation, driving the world into further separation and confusion.

So, what do we do with this?

We extend mercy and grace to those who wear the serpent's jersey (especially ourselves). We learn to recognize the serpent and his demons and call each other UP into living from our true identity. Those are easier said than done, but it becomes possible and probable when we live in a close, trusting relationship with our Creator.

Quick Discussion Questions

1. Where do you "put on the serpent's jersey" in your life? What happens when you do? Talk about it together?
2. How do you image God instead of the serpent in the situation you mentioned above? How do you put on your "Creator's jersey" instead of the serpent?

Truth #4

"These young places are unfinished and unhealed parts of us born from the brokenness of the Adversary's world without. Our young places don't want us to change. They are content with the Imposter Path because they believe it protects us from the pain of the world, so they hold us back from the adventure in fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety. These young places are not evil or our enemies, but they do oppose us and the change God has for us."

More to Explore

Young places in our hearts are a THICK topic to talk about and explore. As I (Chris) have done some intensive training on counseling people through these places, I have realized that didactic knowledge of these young places is not the best way to begin exploring them

Story is the most helpful tool. So, instead of "preaching" at you or giving you "six strategies to engage your young places," we invite you to engage in a story that showcases a version of what can happen when we come face to face with our young places. Set aside time, watch The Kid together, and finish with the discussion questions. We believe this story will help cast a vision for what it can look like to engage your young places.

You can also watch this for free on Disney+.

Quick Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think Older Russ is the person he is at the beginning of the movie?
2. How does Older Russ perceive his younger self at the beginning of the movie? How does he treat his younger self? How does his younger self respond?
3. How does Older Russ perceive this younger self at the end of the story? How does he treat his younger self? What changes? How does his younger self respond?
4. Why do you think that change happens? What happens in Older Russ' heart that gives him eyes to see Younger Russ in a new way? What restoration does that enact in Russ' life?