No Pain - No Gain Day 1 The Forty Day Way to Change Your Life (Ash Wednesday)

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No pain, no gain. Hi, good people, Dr. Brad Miller

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here with a 40 day way. And I really do believe that you can

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change your life in 40 days and get on track to something better

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in your in your life, something I like to call the promise given

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life. We're going to take every day, for just a few minutes, 10

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minutes or so. And I'm going to give you a story, a couple of

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points to ponder with a biblical theme. And then we're going to

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talk about some action points that you can do to develop a

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process in your life that I like to call the promised life. Plan

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your PLP by the end of our 40 days, you're going to have a

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promise life plan, no pain, no gain. As we start this journey

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together, I really want you to do something that's going to be

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hard to do. Identify a painful part of your life that you want

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to change right now. And know that you can gain in your life,

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you can gain a direction in your life by identifying the pain. In

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my life, I remember clearly a time when I was depressed and I

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was upset and I was in a bad way. And was because of what

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should have been a joyful occasion. My daughter asked me

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to perform her wedding. I'm a pastor, and she asked me to

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perform her wedding. And so I had a few months before the

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wedding day came. And of course, I was delighted that she asked

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me to do so. But then I almost immediately had this sense of

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dread. What if I did something to screw it up? You know, I

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perform hundreds of weddings. But this was my daughter? What

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if I did something? You know what if I walked out on the

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island? I tripped? What if I fell over my words, I also had

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to give the Father the bride speech? What if I messed it up

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and offended somebody in the family or did something else?

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What if I spilled something? What if I, you know made a fool

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of myself in some way or another? And I'm the besides

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that I was overweight, and I was not in a good frame of mind

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spiritually, all those things, and I was not in a good place.

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That's not the way I wanted to be. Because I promised my

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daughter that her wedding day I would do everything I could to

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make it the best day of her life. So I made that commitment.

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But I felt this deep a pain. So what are you going to do about

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it? You're just gonna wallow in your pain? Or were you going to

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do something about it? So I remember one February morning, I

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got up early and I went to the gym to work out with a with a

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workout partner. And I began the process of getting my health

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together, getting my spiritual life together, getting my

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relationship back together. I met with a therapist and other

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things to get my act together in so many ways, got my financial

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house in order in order to help my daughter have a great day I

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became extremely motivated by the pain of not being dead

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Zilla, I called it and the gain of giving my daughter everything

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I could do to make it the best day of her life. I'll tell you

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another time how that all turned out. But the point of today's

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lesson on this day one of this 40 day journey is identify your

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pain. And what is your game today happens to be Ash

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Wednesday, and the Christian Uranus the day when many people

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start a pattern of understanding that there is a time of

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repentance of what you've done. That's identifying your pain,

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having remorse about it being sorry about it, to to reflect on

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it, and then to do something about it. What do people do

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about it on Ash Wednesday? What

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do people do about during this Lenten season, which is 40 days

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between now and Easter? Well, there's things people do you

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know what, some people will do something like light a candle.

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When you have a time, you know, to do this to think about

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something to reflect on. Of course, Ash Wednesday is when

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many people will take the side of ashes and put it on their

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forehead. You know, the sign of from dust you came into dust you

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will return. And of course some people do things like fasting

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and prayer. Whatever it is, this means be aware and mindful of

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your situation of your fragility and do something about it. In

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the Bible, there's also a story about a guy named Moses who had

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enough. He was a slave. He was a Hebrew guy. He was a slave in

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Egypt, and you saw any Gyptian guy beat up another slave. And

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Moses ended up killing the Egyptian guy and he had to go

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into hiding and some other things happen, but eventually

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led Moses then to help lead his people out of slavery. to what

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was became known as the promised land. So what we're going to

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talk about here in these times together everybody is to how you

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can have your own pivotal moment if you choose to, but you got to

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break out of your slump, you got to break out of your your

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numbness in your life, and identify your pain. And so

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that's what I want to encourage you to do. Now everybody is to

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have your moment. So I want you to take action. And we're here

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in the 40 day way or have daily lessons, we're going to talk

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about a story, we're going to talk about some concepts, some

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teaching points, and what to talk about some action that you

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can do, here's your action for today, I want you to find some

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way to write something down just two points, I would like for you

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to get a journal, this is my journal right here. Or you can

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be anything else could be a piece of paper could be on your

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computer. But I want you this would be part of your process of

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building your PLP your promise life plan for the day, the day

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one of our 40 Day weigh plan, it is all about you, identifying

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your pain point, identifying your pain that you want to deal

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with, that might be a relationship issue might be

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losing weight, and maybe getting a new job or making more money,

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it might be a spiritual thing. It might be you know, something

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to do with health related things, the pandemic, maybe

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you're you know, really want to be involved with something

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really major, you know, some of you some of us are really,

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really are inspired by the situation in Ukraine, and we see

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the president there who was a great inspiration to me, and to

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many of us because he had had enough and he is doing something

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about it. He's stepping up as a leader, here's your opportunity

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to step up in your life because you know, that you are here

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today because there's something that you want to change. But you

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cannot deny it no longer denial period is over with, you gotta

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identify it. So here's number one thing always put in your

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journal on a piece of paper someplace. And that is just your

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pain point. What is your pain that you want to gain or that

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you want to move out of? You know, let's just say you weigh

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that you want to lose 25 pounds. And to get ahead get your a one

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C and your diabetes down. Then write that down be specific

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about it. You know, what is that pain? Write it down, identify

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your pain, okay. So there is that point point to write it on

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your journal is your what is your gain? Remember, no pain, no

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gain, you got to have your gain, which is your end game? What is

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your promised life experience? What is the goal that you have

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this age, you know that some things may change along the way

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these 40 days. But you got to have a goal to shoot for a

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promised life to shoot for, if you will. And so you know for

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Moses is leading the people to the Promised Land. For my

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daughter for me and my daughter and her wedding. It was making

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sure her her wedding day was the best day ever in her life. For

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you what's it going to be? So write down what you envision as

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what would be a good outcome a gain to make. That doesn't mean

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perfection. It means you're going to make progress. You're

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going to shift things in your life. So pain, no pain, no gain.

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This is day one of the 40 Day Challenge. It happens to be Ash

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Wednesday. So I wish you and those of you who are so

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inclined, I wish you a blessed Lenten season and to what they

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to observe a holy Lent.

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This is Dr. Brad Miller with the 40 day way, reminding you that

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you really really can change your life in 40 days. Now go and