Spiritual Gifts - The Solution To Self, Part 2

God Centered Theology

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Daily Bites Of God's Word - Part 3 - Psalm 119:3

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Now, last time, Part 1, we looked at Chapter 12 of Romans, Verse 1, and today we're primarily going to be looking at Verse 2.

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And just to review, it says in Verse 1, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.

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And we discussed last time that the solution to self is to present ourselves a living and holy sacrifice to God.

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How do we do this? How does one present themselves as a living sacrifice?

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Because last time we stated that this was the goal and we touched on it, but as we move through the rest of this chapter, we're going to be unpacking what this looks like.

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How do you do this? We noted that we do this by denying self and pursuing

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Christ. The way in which this plays out in the life of the Christian is what we're going to find today in Verse 2 of the 12th chapter of the book of Romans.

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Continuing on, it said there in Verse 1, Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God.

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And we noted last time that we no longer sacrifice animals. They are not acceptable to God.

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God wants everything that we are, everything that we have, so He wants to present our bodies and everything that goes with it, our mind, our heart, our soul.

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Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and strength. This is acceptable to God and is our spiritual service of worship.

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And now picking up in Verse 2, it says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

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Now notice it says, Do not be conformed. This means we are not to be identified with or have the outward shape of or assume a similar outward form or expression by following the same patterns.

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Now, basically, it's the understanding of a masquerading of something.

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You would say somebody's masquerading as something else. What you're basically saying is on the outside, they seem to be this, but their inner reality is that there's something different.

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The term hypocrisy comes to mind. It's a walking hypocrisy to be walking around showing yourself forth or manifesting outwardly what is not true inwardly.

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So what Paul is saying here is when he says, Do not be conformed to this world. He's saying that what you are on the inside as a

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Christian is not what the world is. So we should not be displaying or taking on or assuming any pattern of behavior that would be consistent with the world because it's not consistent with who we are internally.

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Now, this verb here is a present tense imperative verb. And what this means in Greek, when you say imperative, it means it's command.

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It's not a suggestion. It's not, well, you know, if you get around to it, it's a command.

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And when it says it's present tense, it means ongoing action. It's not something you do one time and that's it.

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It's not something you're looking to do in the future. It's not something you could point to in the past and say you took care of it then.

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This is ongoing, daily. Every breath that we take is involved. It's involved in what we do.

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So we are commanded here to not be conformed. Well, conformed to what?

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This world. Now, the word is translated here world, but don't think in the strictly literal sense of this

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English word like the literal planet Earth. That's not the case. The word translated world here has in mind the present age or a cycle of time, a type of existence.

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It is the type of existence which this present age promotes. So we are not to be conformed to what this present age, present time, or present world would promote.

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But then notice it says, but. So you have a transition here.

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Negatively, we're being told not to conform, but then positively, we're being commanded to do something else.

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So do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Be transformed.

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So, but otherwise, on the other hand, rather be transformed, meaning to transform, change the form, changing the outward form to be in keeping with an already changed inner reality.

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Metamorphosis, if you will. Now notice changing the outward form in keeping with an already changed inner reality.

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I've said many times when we are saved by the power of Christ, our soul and our spirit is already as righteous and unholy as it ever will be.

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Nothing about that will ever change. We are to eternally secure in Christ. His righteousness is credited to our account.

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As far as our standing before God goes, we are perfectly righteous, perfectly holy. Nothing can change that.

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However, we remain until the Lord's return with the spiritual war going on, the old nature, new nature.

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So the way to understand this is our mind, our intellect, the controlling factors in our decision making still remains in sinful humanness.

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Our old body, our old self still wants it, craves that control. It craves to the desires to want to dictate to us.

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And to the extent that we yield to that, you'll still sin.

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After all, we are saved from the penalty of sin, not the ability to sin.

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But in keeping with the inner reality that is already changed, it is eternally changed.

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There's nothing. It's the whole thing. They say, well, you know, could I lose my salvation? Well, if you could, yes, you would.

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That's the point. If we in ourselves could, we would. We're sinful. We're human. We're creaturely.

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Salvation is a divine work. And since the divine God is an eternal being, therefore, anything

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He does within the salvation confines is an eternal work.

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So it can't be changed. It is not something we have to fear. But in keeping with what we are commanded to do here, which this be transformed, also an imperative, which means it's a command.

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It's also present tense, which means it's supposed to be ongoing. Why? Well, how many of you, the day you were saved, ceased to sin?

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Shouldn't be a single hand going up. This understanding that luckily this is rare, but there are those out there in certain circles that think you can achieve a state of sinless perfection in this life.

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I got a sort of ward against my sarcastic nature, but I would love to tell those people just you saying that you could achieve sinless perfection is a sin in and of itself.

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So just the fact that you would even think or say that you can be sinless is sin. So the whole point is crazy.

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But we are commanded to be continually sanctified and be changing and letting the outward manifestations or outward behaviors are out for walk or walk with God should be continually changing and improving and growing.

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Notice it uses the word perfect at the very end here. When you see this word in scripture, it does not mean perfection, but a maturity.

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We're to grow up in all aspects in Christ to a mature man, mature woman in Christ, the body as the individual members grow up to maturity in their spirituality, the entire body collectively then will be more mature.

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Hence the whole point of using and developing spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are the primary way in which we see this happen.

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If you conform to this world, which is what we're commanded not to do, what you are doing, if you are in fact

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Christian, is you are putting on an act or acting in a way that is opposed to the inner reality of the regenerated heart, the transformed spirit, which is as holy as it ever will be.

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We are made righteous in Christ and we are called to grow up, as I said, pursuing greater holiness and righteousness while dying to self daily.

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And to the extent that we follow these commands by not being conformed and then being transformed, you see self exit stage right, remove itself from the picture.

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There's no room for it. Someone that's completely submitted to Christ, that's obedient to Christ, that's walking daily with Christ.

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There's no room for it. And we're going to see that in a minute. This present age displays actions, motives, feelings, and desires that are diametrically opposed to that of a regenerated born again, or the way scripture actually puts it, a born from above Christian.

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When Jesus encountered Nicodemus in John chapter three, and he said, born again, Nicodemus misunderstood.

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He said, are you telling me I have to go back into my mother's womb and be born again? He says, no, you have to be born from above.

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It's a spiritual birth. In this present age, this world displays everything that is opposed to that.

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So for us to act or pattern ourselves after this world or age is to engage in something that we just simply are not.

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Now, it's a common thing for non -Christians to masquerade as Christians for nefarious reasons.

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The early church dealt with this, with the Gnosticism. Gnostics were coming into the church, and they were saying, you know, we're

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Christian. You see it today. Now, we don't need to go out and tell our friends, family, or people that we know that are

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Mormon. We don't need to go beating over their head and say, well, you're not Christian. You're going to hell. We need to lovingly preach the gospel to them.

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But the sad reality is in Mormonism, largely in the media and in the world, they're considered to be

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Christian just like we are. There's a problem because they don't have the same Jesus. They don't have the same

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God. They don't have the same salvation. They don't have the same Bible. They have the

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Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon. You've got those three before you ever get to the

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Bible. And in their theology, insofar as you accurately translate the Bible to be in conformity to the

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Book of Mormon, then you can use the Bible. In our circle, and what we believe, and what

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I've been teaching, it's sola scriptura, Scripture alone.

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There is no need for any other revelation. There's no need for any outside or extra biblical revelation.

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We have the completed Word of God, and that's all we need. It is the sole rule of faith for the

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Christian church. So, you know, it's just not just them, but there's other groups that you will find that will claim to be

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Christian. It's just sadly not. And I've lost friends over it. I've had people get mad at me.

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And you've got to approach these things in a loving way. There's a right way and a wrong way to approach people and to speak about these things.

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And you've got to be gracious and loving and all these things. But we do not compromise truth. And Mormonism's theology is not

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Christian. But while that is common, sadly, it seems increasingly so in 2017, 2018, that it's all too common for Christians to fall into conformity with the world that promotes everything that Satan influences it to promote.

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We all do it. I do it. I look at the TV and I say, I just can't believe they do that.

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I can't believe this is going on. They shouldn't be doing this. They shouldn't be doing that. And then we go out and do some of the same things.

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All of us need work in this area. Starting with me. We all struggle with conformity to the world.

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And we all struggle with a lack of transformation in our hearts.

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But rather than being conformed to this age, we should and we must be continually transformed.

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So how is this accomplished? So what? How do we do this?

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Well, look, notice the verse. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

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How? By the renewing of your mind. The renewing of your mind, the mind, the understanding, the reasoning, the intellect.

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Renewing is a renewal of heart and life. The renewing of the mind is simply a renovation work.

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How many of you have ever renovated your home? Anybody?

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Got some head nodding? Anybody behind me? So we got some renovation. I know my brother

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Thorpe does a lot of in -house differences and changes. And I'm sure there's a lot of renovation.

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And I should probably just, you know, step aside, let him come and tell you all about renovations.

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Me, she's saying no. But what do renovations include, right? Demolition. There's tearing down something or a destroying of something, a setting aside of something.

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There's everything from cabinets, floors, you know, new showers, new tubs.

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Sometimes you even have to go, and this would bring in my brother Link up there with the electrical stuff.

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Sometimes you have to go behind the walls, make sure the wiring's right. It does you no good to install new things if the stuff behind the walls doesn't work to make it function, right?

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So anything and everything that is needed to take what is the old and turn it into the new, you must do.

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Otherwise, your renovation work is, well, it's useless. It's not going to provide the intended result.

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I'm sure both of these men would tell you it all comes down to quality work. Well, the renewing of our mind would involve quality work.

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But you'll notice that renovation will involve demolition. I don't have these on the slides, but if you have your

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Bibles and want to turn to the third chapter of Colossians, you remember we were in Colossians a time ago.

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I told you at some point it would rear itself back up and show back up in a sermon. Well, today is that day.

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But look at Colossians chapter 3 with me. I'm going to read for you verses 5 through 8. With the understanding that renovation involves sometimes demolition, it says,

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Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

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For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.

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And in them you also, notice it says, in them you also once walked.

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You also once walked when you were living in them.

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But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

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I believe it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 where Paul actually gives a list of sins as well. And he makes a similar statement where he says,

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Such were some of you. The key here is that the world, sinful life, the old nature, the old self, the old ways of things, the before is what we used to be internally.

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Internally, we're already renovated. We're already been changed by the power of God, and we have to get our outward to match it.

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We need to be sanctified, set apart as holy daily, continually being transformed into the likeness of his son,

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Jesus Christ, who is also our savior. So we notice that some things have to be torn down.

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Some things have to be destroyed. Some things have to be set aside. You say,

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Andy, give us some examples. No, it's not my job.

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It's not my job to dissect your life and tell you what you're doing right and wrong. Now, if you come into my office, you say,

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Andy, I'm struggling with an area. I'm trying to make some decisions, and I want you to give me your opinion and give me some biblical sound advice.

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At that point, I have every right to say, Well, I think y 'all do this. I think y 'all do that. Now, as the scripture deals with certain subjects, yes,

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I do need to stand up and speak truth and thus sayeth the Lord. But there's many areas in life that many in Christian circles make definitional or dogmatic, and they say you must do this or therefore you're not

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Christian. It's not what this Bible does. It says do not be conformed, be transformed.

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You need to go home as I do and pray, get into the scriptures and say,

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Lord, if there be any wicked way in me, show it to me and then cleanse me of it.

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Can preachers be effective? Can pastors be effective in guiding when necessary? Yes, but you all have the same

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Holy Spirit that I do. I don't have any special powers. I have certain gifts, certain roles that I play, but so do every one of you.

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In fact, in a lot of cases, pastors could stand to be humble and learn a lot more from the congregation than he probably thinks he knows standing up here to begin with.

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I know because I grew up in churches and knowing what I know now and thinking about to what some of them preach, they probably could have.

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We need each other. And some of you may be more comfortable going to a friend or family member and discussing something that's private, some sin you're struggling with.

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You may be more comfortable going to them than me, and that's fine. That does not hurt my feelings.

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But if you need me, I am here. Always here.

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I don't care what it is or how long it takes. If you struggle in some way, in some respect with not being conformed and the need to be transformed, whatever it takes.

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But my friends, if I come to you and I say, well, you know, this such and such, you need to get something about this.

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You've got to want it. You've got to be motivated. But it also has to be something that God has put his finger on and said, you need to do something about this.

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So examples, while they may be helpful, I'll leave it up the

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Holy Spirit. I'll leave it up to you because I don't doubt your intelligence. I don't doubt your commitment.

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And I don't doubt your spirituality. I know that if you had an area that you were struggling with, you would gladly want to give it to Christ.

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And if there's areas where you're doing well, where you are being transformed, sometimes we need to say,

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Lord, I'm slipping a little bit. Help me put my foot back on the gas. It may not even involve necessarily a specific sin.

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It could just involve life. You don't need to raise your hands. You can just think about this.

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But this is rhetorical. But how many of you wake up someday and you're just like, I don't even want to get out of bed.

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Life will beat you down. And then once you're down on the ground, it will stomp on your throat.

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It's hard. So I want to focus so much more on just being there for someone and allowing them through the power of the

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Holy Spirit that already indwells them to guide them and move them and help them see what needs to be set aside, what needs to be torn down, what needs to be demolished.

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And if I'm needed along the way, if one of you are needed along the way to help our fellow brother or sister, we need to be ready for them.

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Renovation involves demolition. There's sometimes new foundations need to be laid. Verses one through three of this chapter, you can go back and read them for yourselves later.

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But it talks about the change that have occurred, how we need to be setting our mind on the things of Christ, not the world. Renovations involve everything as already said, cabinets, walls, et cetera.

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You can get an understanding of this in verses nine through 11. So you spend some time today in chapter three of Colossians, you're really going to see this picture be able to come out in front of you.

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We as Christians, as far as our body and mind go, are under renovation. Our soul is eternally secure.

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Our spirit is righteous, holy, but our mind and our body are still subject to the curse of sin. After all, as I've already stated, we're safe from the penalty of sin, not the ability to sin.

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Demolition must happen. The foundation must be in Christ. We might need new cabinets, new floors, or even paint.

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And I really don't like to paint. But if it's necessary, sometimes it needs that second coat.

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Anything we need to not be conformed to this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of our mind, we must have and pursue daily if we hope to eliminate self and live for God.

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Now, this is what is necessary to accomplish it. But I want to ask and answer one more question this morning.

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How does this renovation happen? How does the renewing rehappen? What's the primary catalyst?

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Well, it's right here. The Word of God, through the power of the

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Holy Spirit, which illumines the heart, helps us to understand the Word of God, helps us to apply it to our lives.

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The Word of God, the Bible, has the power to transform lives. That's why I preach it. I've said often there's a reason we preach the

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Word of God, because I believe it's the singular thing that has the power to transform my life and your life.

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Anything else we do is great, and it's all part of what we do. But this is the singular focus.

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Colossians 3 .16 says, Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing.

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The Holy Spirit who indwells us as Christian is the power behind the Word of God, by which our minds are renewed.

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The Bible without the Spirit of God would do us no good. This is why we are first indwelt by the

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Spirit, and then the Spirit guides us into all truth so that we can be transformed. By the power of the

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Word of God. So why is the Bible so vital to the life of a Christian? Well, Hebrews 4 .12

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says, For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two -edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and morrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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The Bible will not only show you who you are, but what you need to change or renovate, and will help you to become all that you need to be in Christ.

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So if you want to not be conformed, to be transformed, this is your answer, my friends, right here.

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This is what you need more of. You need to let this Word of God richly dwell in your hearts.

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One of my favorite Bible teachers, I want to share a quote with you, and then I want to share with you in a minute some statistics

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I found, and then we'll close. One of my favorite Bible teachers, John MacArthur, said,

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The transformed and renewed mind is the mind saturated with and controlled by the

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Word of God. You can't put it any plainer than that. The transformed and renewed mind is the mind saturated with and controlled by the

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Word of God. My friends, the reasons churches have trouble. The reasons churches struggle with self and are not using their spiritual gifts is because we don't have the members of the body pursuing transformation through the

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Word of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit. So when it says in verse 2 of Romans chapter 12, notice at the end of the verse, it says that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

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What it's saying here is that our lives, as we are not conformed and as we are transformed, we are doing those things that are acceptable to him, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

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Well, what is good and acceptable and perfect to God? Do not be conformed. Be transformed.

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Present your body a living sacrifice. Remove selfish desires and seek after what

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God desires. My friends, without the

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Word of God, there can be no transformation of the mind.

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It's just not possible. God has chosen to use his Word to transform us.

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Now, there was a study I found, it has some statistics, and this was done last year, so it's very recent, but they asked a question, and here's the question they asked, and they asked only

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Christians. So this wasn't atheists, agnostics, whatever, it's professing born -again

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Christians. The question was, how often, if ever, do you actually read the

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Bible, not including times when you are at church service or a church event?

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So take out Sundays, Wednesdays, or whatever. If it's a related church, you can't count it. There was various answers, everything from never to less than once a year, one to two times a year, three to four times a year, once a month, so on and so forth, all the way up to daily.

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Now, if you add up the percentage of people that answered, and you include everything from never, less than once a year, one to two times a year, three to four times a year, everybody that answered one of those answers, add up the percentages, it's 58%.

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So 58 % of the Christians that answered either read the Bible three to four times a year or less.

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And if you add in those that say they read once a month, not once a week, once a month, so take the percentage that said they answer once a month, add it into the 58%, it goes up to 65%.

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So 65 % of Christians either read their Bible once a month or less. In fact, only 13 % of those asked said they actually read the

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Bible daily. Now, if you have a church with 100 people, and sometimes we have right around 100, it means only 13 people are reading their

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Bible daily. My friends, we can't be transformed if 13

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Christians out of 100 are reading their Bible daily. We just, it won't happen. You can have all the programs, you can fill this church with 1 ,000 people, which that'd be 500 over the allotted max, but you can fill it with 1 ,000 people.

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If they're not reading their Bibles, nothing's happening. You say, well,

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Andy, is this one of those sermons where you're trying to get us to read our Bibles more? Yes! Because I believe it has the power to change your life.