Soul Care 2

Soul Care 2

“A Renewed Soul”

Ro. 12: 1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We’ve been talking about the SOUL in this new series called SOUL SURVIVAL…

How to keep your soul healthy in a wicked world!

Last time we saw that man is tripartite—that is, he is made up of three parts—a body, a soul, and a spirit.

We saw first that the SPIRIT is the very core of us, and though it is spiritually dead at birth, it is instantly made alive at the moment of our salvation—“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…” (Eph.2:1).

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Then secondly we saw that our BODY is simply our temporary earthly “tent” as Peter called it…

And that God has a plan for our bodies—to resurrect them at the return of Christ and transform them like unto His glorious resurrected body!

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And finally we saw that our SOUL is also 3-part and is comprised of our mind, our will, and our emotions.

Our soul is the essence of us…it is who we are—our personality, our character, our gifts and abilities…are all wrapped up in our soul.

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Now today I want to talk about the TRANSFORMATION of your soul by the RENEWING of your mind.

LISTEN: While our spirits are instantly made alive and whole at the moment of our salvation, Our souls—mind, will, and emotions—must be TRANSFORMED…

You see, our SPIRIT is born again at the moment of salvation, but our SOUL is not!

That is, while our souls are SAVED at the moment we receive Christ, they are not MADE COMPLETELY NEW the moment we receive Christ.

They must undergo a lifetime of TRANSFORMATION.

Paul said this when he wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).

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Now, it order for this TRANSFORMATION to happen, the Bible says first that we must resist being…

Conformed to this world

The option for every believer in Christ is either to be CONFORMED to this world’s way of thinking and doing, or be TRANSFORMED into Christ’s way of thinking and doing!

The Bible repeatedly tells us that, following our salvation, our soul must undergo transformation over a lifetime!

“And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed (progressively over time) into his glorious image” (2 Cor. 3:18).

So our spirits are instantly REBORN, while our souls are gradually RENEWED and TRANSFORMED.

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Now—the word “conformed” simply means “to fit in, to submit yourself to being molded into a particular shape”—in this case the shape of the world.

You see, God knows that constant pressure is put on us to be conformed to the society we live in.

The pressure is always there to THINK like the world, DRESS like the world, WALK like the world, and FIT IN with the world—to be popular, to be accepted by the world.

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Now, here’s what I mean by the “world.”

I don’t mean God’s beautiful creation that each and every day declares the glory of God.

I’m talking about the evil world system where the devil is “the prince of this world.”

Jesus said, “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, for the evil prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me” (John 14:30)

“…the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:20).

Paul said to the Ephesian church, “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph.2:2).

The “world” the Christian is not to be conformed to is the evil world system that Satan has constructed…

That world is designed to draw your heart away from God if you let it…

The more your love that world, the cooler your heart will be toward God.

John wrote about that world…

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure (the lust of the flesh), a craving for everything we see (the lust of the eyes), and pride in our achievements and possessions (the pride of life). These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:15-16).

The evil, corrupt world we’re to resist conforming to is designed around the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of a godless life.

That’s the world Paul is talking about when he says, “Don’t be conformed to it.”

You see, it’s…

This world that rejected Jesus…

John 1:10-13 “He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not.”

This world persecutes God’s children…

John 15: 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

This world is not our home…

Phil. 3:20 “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.”

This world is temporary…

1 John 2:17 “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

So we’re to resist being conformed to this world and its ways!

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Second, our souls are instead to be…

II. Transformed

The word “transformed” comes from the Greek word metamorphoo (met-am-or-fo'-o) from which we get the English word metamorphosis.

It means “to change into another form."

ILLUS: Put pic up on screen…

In science class we all learned how a caterpillar goes through a metamorphosis and becomes a butterfly…

ONE thing (a caterpillar) becomes ANOTHER thing entirely (a butterfly)!

The Bible tells us of a time Jesus was ‘transformed!’

On the mount of Transfiguration it says, “As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light” (Matt 17:2).

Jesus was radically transformed from a normal looking man into a supernatural being whose face shone bright as the sun and His clothes white as light!

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Spiritually speaking, we who are "caterpillars" at the moment of our salvation are to become butterflies as we are daily TRANSFORMED into His image….

Looking like Jesus, thinking like Jesus, loving like Jesus—totally different from what we once were without losing our own individuality or personalities.

“For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him—and all along he knew who would—should become like his Son” (Ro. 8:29).

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And thirdly, the Bible tells us HOW to be transformed…

III. By the renewing of your mind

ILLUS: When someone buys an old, used house….it is theirs—they own it.

But it still has to be renovated. It requires renewal—new paint, new fixtures, new furniture, a brand new inside!

Like that old house, we too are purchased by the blood of the Lamb.

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20).

But also, like that old house, our souls still need to be renovated, transformed, and it happens by the renewing of your mind!

And our minds are renewed by the Word of God, the Bible you hold in your hands!

Listen to what David wrote:

Ps. 19:7 “The Word of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul.”

The word “restore”means “to return something back to where it had once been.”

God’s Word returns our minds from error to truth, from sin to righteousness, from sickness to health, from death to life!

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Transformation of the soul ONLY comes by renewing of the mind!

The Bible says, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes” (Eph 4:22-23).

Renewing the mind is all about what you SET your mind on!

The Bible says, “Set your minds on things above, not on things of this earth” (Col. 3:1-2).

And in Romans, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Ro. 8:5).

The only way to remove the error of the world’s way of thinking is to replace it with God’s truth, which is His Word.

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When we read the Word of God, here is what happens…

The Word ERASES old ways of thinking and REPLACES them with new ways of thinking.

For instance,

I used to think life was all about me and what I wanted…But the Bible changed that thinking by showing me it’s all about Him and what He wants!

I used to think we all evolved from apes, but the Bible changed my thinking to realize we were created by Him!

I used to think my body was mine to do with what I wanted, but the Bible changed my thinking to realize my body is His temple to dwell in and is no longer mine!

I used to think you fought your way to the top, but the Bible changed my thinking to realize you serve your way to the top!

I used to think it was right to hold grudges and keep score, but the Bible changed my thinking to realize forgiveness is the key to freedom!

I could go on, but you get the message!

Erase and replace! Out with the old, in with the new!

As we do this, a beautiful thing happens…

As we resist conformity, and renew our minds, we experience a beautiful TRANSFORMATION:

2 Cor. 3:18 “…as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.”

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Don’t be Conformed

Be Transformed

Renew your mind