Fusion Parent Podcast

Brand New You, Part 3Forgiveness through Jesus Death and ResurrectionPractical Outcome of this aspect of identity in Jesus: Acceptance apart from performance/behaviorEphesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”Colossians 2:13,14 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”Access to God          Ephesians 2:18 “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”Ephesians 3:12 “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”Importunate – Incessant requests to the point of moderate to extreme annoyance..Examples of Not Knowing, Considering, Presenting – Romans 6:9-13Destructive reactions to guilt feelings (defensive, self-recrimination, withdrawal from God) Judgmental &/or bitter toward othersExamples of how to present: Draw near to God even though you feel unworthy SingForgive your offenders Be honest with others about your sins Everybody doesn’t need to know everything about you but we all need at least one person who does.Check out these recommendations below to go a little deeper:Other Recommendations:The Bait of Satan by John BevereHealth Talks by Glenn Sprunger

“Welcome to the Fusion Parent Podcast, the show that equips parents to see Jesus transform their homes one conversation at a time. I’m your host Les Norman and today Tim Holman and I are going to be unpacking episode two in a 6 part series called Brand New You. It’s a series on what it means to find worth, meaning, and identity in Jesus.”Brand New You — Delivered from our Old NatureAspect of New Identity in Christ — Delivered from Sin Nature‘s AuthorityWe need to look at Romans 6 again to see what it means to have the old self crucified. I’m going to look at Colossians 2:11, 12 where the body of flesh is removed. The personal need that is met or the resulting spiritual provision — Freedom from Sin‘s Control. For example someone falling out of fellowship and serving to focus on themselves where focusing on self is the opposite of what needs to happen to be delivered.The symptoms of not applying the new identity, or results of not knowing, considering, presenting, etc. are as follows. Helplessness and federalism in dealing with sinViewing send superficially two ways of coping with the inability to have real victory are defeat or denial. Action Stepsopenness about besetting sinspatient cooperation with God strategy to change (respond to issues he prioritizes)others-centered focus in spite of sin.“Today’s episode wouldn't exist without Abundant Life. We exist to see lives changed by Jesus, including our own!”“Stay tuned for episode three coming very soon where we’ll be covering what it means to experience real forgiveness through Jesus death and resurrection. Make sure to join the party on Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook with the keywords Fusion Students of Abundant Life.”

When I was a senior in high school, a long time ago, I was with a friend from church and she was going to introduce me to one of her friends who thought I would hit it off with. She asked me if I was nervous about it and I said “a little”. Then she said something that made it even worse...“Just be yourself.”The problem was I didn’t really know who that person was yet. I was such a people-pleaser, I would wait to see how someone would evaluate me before I knew who I was around them. Then I would just become what the person needed at the moment. I had zero self respect as a young man and I'd be lying to tell you it follow me down well into adulthood.Natural born people-pleasers like myself have an issue with identity because that is normally defined by the person doing the evaluating. "Just be yourself" is the equivalent "Just do brain surgery." Identity is a dynamic thing because it changes depending on many different factors.As a father of teens, I see the need of having this conversation on repeat. I want to help answer the question that most everyone asks, "Who am I?" by looking into what it means to be an adopted child of God.Your answer to the second question will define the first and third. I heard a wise mother once say, "If you know whose you are, you'll know who you are."A little exercise: Look at this passage from the Bible with me.Ephesians 1:1-13 — How many times is the phrase “In him”, “In Christ”, or some variation of that phrase? Depending on what version you have, it can be seen 7 up to 13 times.The first aspect of our identity in Jesus is ADOPTION. The spiritual provision we receive from being an adopted child of God is the thing we crave the most, belonging and security in this life.If we wait around to find identity in what others say about us, we will have short circuited this incredible spiritual provision as a result of believing what God says about us. Romans 6:9-13 — 9 KNOWING that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so CONSIDER (or reckon, count) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but PRESENT (or offer) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.What are some issues if we fail to KNOW, CONSIDER, PRESENT?Idolatrous Human Relationships resulting in, not just people pleasing, but people worship.Chronic Fear of Rejection — “I will die alone.”Material Anxiety — “Will we have enough?”Obsession with Physical Appearance — “I’m not worthy of love and acceptance if I don’t look a certain way.”How do we apply this aspect of adoption as God’s children as an essential part of our identity in Christ?GIVE and receive the truth in love. This requires putting relationships at risk at times to obey God. Truth in love.GIVE something of significance away.TAKE inventory of your own heart.

If we wait around to find identity in what others say about us, we will have short circuited this incredible spiritual provision as a result of believing what God says about us. Romans 6:9-13 — 9 KNOWING that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so CONSIDER (or reckon, count) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but PRESENT (or offer) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.What are some issues if we fail to KNOW, CONSIDER, PRESENT?Idolatrous Human Relationships resulting in, not just people pleasing, but people worship.Chronic Fear of Rejection — “I will die alone.”Material Anxiety — “Will we have enough?” Obsession with Physical Appearance — “I’m not worthy of love and acceptance if I don’t look a certain way.”Q. How do we apply this aspect of adoption as God’s children as an essential part of our identity in Christ?GIVE and receive loving discipline. This requires putting relationships at risk at times to obey God. Truth in love. TAKE personal risks in ministry. Share the gospel.GIVE one time and regular gifts. Give something away and start to give regularly at your church.TAKE inventory of your own heart from time to time. Proverbs 4:23 — “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Welcome to the Fusion Parent Podcast, the show that equips parents to see Jesus transform their homes one life at a time. I’m your host Les Norman and Tim Holman and I are going to be talking through an episode we’re calling Brand New You. Teaching SegmentTim, I think you have a story for us about learning about identity.Yep, When I was a senior in high school, a long time ago, I was with a friend from church and she was going to introduce me to one of her friends who thought I would hit it off with. She asked me if I was nervous about it and I said “a little”.Then she said something that made it even worse. She said “Just be yourself.”The problem was I didn’t really know who that person was yet. I was such a people-pleaser, I would wait to see how someone would evaluate me before I knew who I was around them. Then I would just become what the person needed at the moment.Q. How do we find the answer to this question all teens ask at this point in life, “Who am I?”Two follow up questions will help grind it to a fine point.To whom do I belong?What am I to contribute?Eph 1:1-13 exercise — How many times is the phrase “In him”, “In Christ”, or some variation of that phrase?Depending on what version you have, it can be seen 7 up to 13 times.The first aspect of our identity in Jesus is ADOPTION. The spiritual provision we receive from being an adopted child of God is the thing we crave the most, belonging and security in this life.Romans 8:14-17 — 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”If we wait around to find identity in what others say about us, we will have short circuited this incredible spiritual provision as a result of believing what God says about us. Romans 6:9-13 — 9 KNOWING that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so CONSIDER (or reckon, count) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but PRESENT (or offer) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University — “Teens spend more time on their phones and on social media, and we know from other research that these activities are more strongly linked to low wellbeing than watching TV and videos, which is most of younger children’s screen time.”Q for Jeff: Also, what are some negative effects on the family as a whole from extended screen time?Q. For Jeff: what are some healthy alternatives for families with accelerated screen usage?Application:7 healthy alternatives to screen timeREFLECT — Grab a pen and paper and recall as much as you can from the day. I don't recommend a mobile device to do this because there's too many potential distractions to keep you from concentrating. This is a good exercise for writers. You'd be surprised how much storytelling can come out of one seemingly boring day at the office.READ — Crush a few chapters of that novel you got for Christmas, or read your Bible. Speaking of which, reading a whole book of the Bible in one setting is great. The Gospel of John has 21 chapters and Romans has 16. Either will take you 30-45 minutes to read and it'd be time well spent.Go ahead. You can do it. There's a good chance that some of us have never powered our phones off... ever. Your kids might think it's creepy though. "What's wrong with dad? He's just sitting on the couch looking at us."PLAY A GAME — I had an unopened pack of 40 year old Uno cards and YOLO'd them open one night after the family helped me bundle 10,000 invite cards for our Easter service at church. It was the best game night we've ever had. The cards smelled like brand new. They were even sealed in plastic inside the sealed box they came in. These are the cards below fresh out of the package. Dust off that old game of Clue or Operation and show them who's boss!PLAN AHEAD — Plan your day tomorrow, or that project you've been putting off since last Spring. You'd be amazed at how much an hour of thinking about what's coming up can do for your productivity.EXERCISE — I'm not a huge fan of working out at night but it might be something you'd enjoy. Don't have a gym membership? Do 4 rounds each of 25 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, 10-20 lunges, and 25 mountain climbers. You'll be asleep before Jimmy Fallon comes on.CALL FAMILY — Call your parents, grandparents, siblings, or a friend. If you don't want to call, try writing a handwritten letter or thank you note to someone. If you don't have anyone to thank, scroll through your contacts and find that one person you've always wanted to catch up with that's nowhere on social media. Don't want to do that? Call your best friend's home number from childhood and see who answers.PRAY — Last, but certainly not least, prayer should be higher on the list, I admit. If you can't think of anything to pray about just do a little reading of Scripture to get you started. Ask God to bring things to your mind that he want you to think about. If nothing else, go to Luke 4 and use the Lord's prayer as a guide.“Today’s episode is wouldn’t exist without Abundant Life. We exist to see lives changed by Jesus, including our own!”

“Welcome to the Fusion Parent Podcast, the show that equips parents to see Jesus transform their homes one life at a time. I’m your host Les Norman and Tim Holman and I are going to be talking through an episode we’re calling Netfixed: our dangerous digital dependencies. “Now it’s time to welcome our guest, and it is none other than THE Dr. Jeff Cox to Fusion Parent Podcast. Jeff is on staff at Abundant Life as our wellness pastor but he’s much more than that. He’s an educated fellow, …. Thanks for joining us.”Our Dangerous Digital Dependencies – Technology is magical.  Who would’ve thought 15-20 years ago we would all be spending $100-$250 a month on cell phones. Q. How much was your first cell phone bill? What was your first cell phone?Here we have a pocket size device that allows you to instantly communicate with anyone, will take stunning photos, and access humanity’s collected knowledge. But, technology’s power can consume more than it should by promising, at an instant, all that you desire for the small price of staring into its glowing screen at all times.I think I'm developing retinal image burn and “scrollyosis”.Q. Have you ever become mild or moderately addicted to a game on your phone?This episode goes beyond our phones. This goes to any medium that gives us access to streaming content. Q. Where do you consume most of you content (tv, computer, phone, etc.)?The reason we asked Jeff to be our guest today is because we want to hear what you’re seeing from people that have experienced negative effects on the brain because of too much screen time.—— Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University — “Teens spend more time on their phones and on social media, and we know from other research that these activities are more strongly linked to low wellbeing than watching TV and videos, which is most of younger children’s screen time.”Q for Jeff: Also, what are some negative effects on the family as a whole from extended screen time?Q. For Jeff: what are some healthy alternatives for families with accelerated screen usage?Application:7 healthy alternatives to screen timeREFLECT — Grab a pen and paper and recall as much as you can from the day. I don't recommend a mobile device to do this because there's too many potential distractions to keep you from concentrating. This is a good exercise for writers. You'd be surprised how much storytelling can come out of one seemingly boring day at the office.READ — Crush a few chapters of that novel you got for Christmas, or read your Bible. Speaking of which, reading a whole book of the Bible in one setting is great. The Gospel of John has 21 chapters and Romans has 16. Either will take you 30-45 minutes to read and it'd be time well spent.Go ahead. You can do it. There's a good chance that some of us have never powered our phones off... ever. Your kids might think it's creepy though. "What's wrong with dad? He's just sitting on the couch looking at us."PLAY A GAME — I had an unopened pack of 40 year old Uno cards and YOLO'd them open one night after the family helped me bundle 10,000 invite cards for our Easter service at church. It was the best game night we've ever had. The cards smelled like brand new. They were even sealed in plastic inside the sealed box they came in. These are the cards below fresh out of the package. Dust off that old game of Clue or Operation and show them who's boss!PLAN AHEAD — Plan your day tomorrow, or that project you've been putting off since last Spring. You'd be amazed at how much an hour of thinking about what's coming up can do for your productivity.EXERCISE — I'm not a huge fan of working out at night but it might be something you'd enjoy. Don't have a gym membership? Do 4 rounds each of 25 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, 10-20 lunges, and 25 mountain climbers. You'll be asleep before Jimmy Fallon comes on.CALL FAMILY — Call your parents, grandparents, siblings, or a friend. If you don't want to call, try writing a handwritten letter or thank you note to someone. If you don't have anyone to thank, scroll through your contacts and find that one person you've always wanted to catch up with that's nowhere on social media. Don't want to do that? Call your best friend's home number from childhood and see who answers.PRAY — Last, but certainly not least, prayer should be higher on the list, I admit. If you can't think of anything to pray about just do a little reading of Scripture to get you started. Ask God to bring things to your mind that he want you to think about. If nothing else, go to Luke 4 and use the Lord's prayer as a guide.“Today’s episode is wouldn’t exist without Abundant Life. We exist to see lives changed by Jesus, including our own!”

Look up these Bible Texts and Correlating PointsProverbs 24:27 — When it comes to dating, becoming the right person > finding the right person.Ephesians 5:15-17 — Don’t make anyone your everything.2 Samuel 11:1,3 — You owe it to yourself to be honest to yourself.Proverbs 11:14 — Don’t date in the dark.MORNING TIME — Even if your teenager doesn’t show it, the little things still mean a lot to them. They may not “need” you like they used to, but continuing to do things like make them breakfast before a big day, or write them a little note of encouragement would probably still mean a lot. You can even send a text to let them know you’re thinking about them if you don’t have a chance to see them before school.MEAL TIME — The next time your teen comes to you with something about their relationship, relate it to an experience of your own. And maybe don’t always go for the stories that start with, “When [kid’s parent/step-parent] and I were dating...” Give other examples, and know that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a dating relationship. Be real with them about what you went through and don’t be afraid to be a little vulnerable.THEIR TIME — Sometimes with the hustle and bustle of the week, it’s hard to find a time to sit down and eat with your teen. And when you do find time, meal times are often cut short by things like homework, chores, and friends. When you do have the chance to have dinner, try using it as a time to look back and look ahead. Ask about one person they spent time with this week and ask about one person they plan to hang out with coming up. Even five minutes at the dinner table with your teen can go a long way in keeping you both connected.BED TIME — One night this week, especially if you know your teen has a big event or test the next day, try to drop by their room with a short word of encouragement. It’s okay if it doesn’t turn into a deep, heart-to-heart conversation". The goal is to simply remind them that you’re thinking about them and their day tomorrow.

FUSION PARENT PODCAST — DatingWhat are other things that can help prep someone for romantic relationships before it happens?Be centered on Christ way before hand.Does this other person have the same level of devotion to Christ?Look to your left and right, not back, in terms of serving and maturing at the same level.VIS: early celebrations, pulling someone up as opposed to pulling someone downBad Breakup TriageYour frame of reference must be re-centerd on Jesus, not on the last breakup, or series of heartbreaks.God hasn’t written you off if you are rejected or if you fail.Aligning ExpectationsMultiple dating mentors — Teens are hearing multiple different voices on dating, most of which would not be people you’d invite over for a family counseling session.Conversation and accountabilityDo you agree with the following statements about teens that are dating?"How he treats his mother is how he’ll treat you."Group dates are better than going out as a couple.""Nothing good happens after 10 pm."Look up these key texts.Proverbs 24:27 — When it comes to dating, becoming the right person > finding the right person.Ephesians 5:15-17 — Don’t make anyone your everything.2 Samuel 11:1,3 — You owe it to yourself to be honest to yourself.Proverbs 11:14 — Don’t date in the dark.REMEMBER THIS: 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-5, NIV — Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.