Two Keys to God's Will 2

Romans 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."

Last time we began a two-week series on how to know the will of God.

But a better word than "KNOW" is "PROVE," which is what the verse says..."That you may PROVE what is that good..."

The word "PROVE" means to discern, to distinguish one thing from another.

A surrendered life coupled with a renewed mind enables us to tell the difference between something claiming to be God's will, and what actually IS His will...

We saw how our bodies (and by implication, all of us) are called to be "living sacrifices..."

No longer our own, we are bought with a price---the precious currency of the blood of the Lamb.

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And we also talked about the word "sanctification" and saw that it means "to be set aside for special use," consecrated, dedicated to The Lord.

This, says Paul, is our "reasonable, logical response" to God in light of the mercies He has shown to us in sending His Son to die for our sins.

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I also shared with you a statement that I said would be the "watchword" for this series...

"You will never be what you ought to be till you do what you ought to do."

So....if You want to be like Jesus, fulfill God's purpose for your life, and sharpen your ability to discern His will, you must first present yourself unreservedly to The Lord...

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And then the second key is....

Be not conformed to this world

Conformed means, "to fit or allow yourself to be poured into a mold."

NLT says, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and acceptable and perfect."

This is speaking to the way our world, our culture, the fleshly and godless world system we live in that is ruled by greed, pride, lust, rebellion, fear, and selfishness, is constantly pressuring us to conform or to fit into its mold.

The Bible says, "Shun being conformed to this world because it will lead you away from God!

Listen to what the Apostle John tells us about the world:

"Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God;

16 for all these worldly things, these evil desires—the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God.

They are from this evil world itself. 17 And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever" (1 John 2:15-17).

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The truth is that....each and every day we are pressured to agree with the world's conclusions, to follow the world's lead in fashion, in behavior, and in philosophy...

And the pressure to conform is also fear-driven; we're afraid that, if we don't go along with the crowd, we will be rejected, ridiculed, or unpopular.

Someone rightly said, "Most people forfeit 3/4 of who they really are just to be like other people."

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The pressure to conform is very strong, stretching all the way back to childhood...

Do you remember in school how you wanted to dress like, talk like, walk like, think like those around you so you'd be accepted?

Yet the Bible says "Don't be conformed to this world."

Gal. 1:4 "Jesus...gave Himself up to atone for our sins, and to save and sanctify us, in order to rescue and deliver us from this present wicked age and world order, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father."

You see, Jesus came to not only take us to heaven one day, but also to deliver us from the influence and corruption of this world!

We are to be in it, but not of it...to live in it, but not love it.

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ILLUS: There is a spider called the "DIVING BELL" spider that knows how to live underwater.

He does this by carrying with himself his own air pocket.

Hence, while he's under the water he's never touched by the water, and can also breathe!

He ingeniously carries with him his own atmosphere!

This is an illustration of what the Christian is called to do!

We are IN the world yet we don't have to be submerged in its thinking and ways!

We are to carry with us our own atmosphere, our own "air pocket" filled with the presence and thinking of the Kingdom of God!

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Rather than being CONFORMED, the Bible says we are to be...

II. TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds

We've all heard the word "metamorphosis" in science class.

And when you hear it, you probably think of a CATERPILLAR that wraps itself in a COCOON finally to emerge as a beautiful BUTTERFLY.

It is one of the incredible miracles that God has placed in nature.

This is the word the Bible uses when it says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind!"

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Let me explain why this is necessary...

When we are saved, we experience what Jesus called being "born again."

Our souls are instantly made alive and transformed by the power of God's Holy Spirit Who comes to live inside us.

"Therefore if any person is in Christ, he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" (2 Cor. 5:17)

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But having been transformed by the new birth, we still have the need for continual transformation into the likeness of Christ Jesus.

And the key to this ongoing transformation is the "renewal of our minds."

You say, "But Jeff, why do I need all that? Haven't I been saved?"

Yes, but the Bible says that even though we're saved, we still have a "MIND PROBLEM."

The problem with our minds is that they are FALLEN!

Though our spirits are born again following our conversion, our minds are still filled with "stinkin' thinkin'."

Listen to how the Bible describes our minds BEFORE we were saved:

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart" (Eph. 4:17-18).

There you have it! Our thinking was futile, our understanding was darkened, our spirits were alienated, and we were ignorant about God and life.

Prior to our salvation, our minds were programmed to be self-centered, fleshly, and misguided.....so they must be renewed!

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The good news is that when Jesus came into our life, our thinking began to be renewed by the Holy Spirit..

And how does it happen?

Colossians 3:10 “10 And (you) have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded....through more perfect knowledge of Him Who created it."

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The Bible says our minds are renewed "By our growing knowledge of God!"

And the knowledge of our Creator and His ways is found abundantly in the Word of God!

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Let me share a verse with you that changed my life many years ago when I was just starting my walk with The Lord....

Psalms 19:7 "The Word of The Lord is perfect, restoring the soul."

Your SOUL is comprised of your mind, will, and emotions.

It is the CENTER of your THINKING.

So...reading God's Word is perfect in its ability to renew your THINKING....

It restores our minds from sickness to health, from death to life, from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy, from wrong to right!

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Remember, "You will never be what you ought to be till you do what you ought to do."

We must spend daily time in The Word of God that we might be renewed in our minds!

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No wonder the Bible tells us to...

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you RICHLY in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Here's how it works.....

As we spend more time exposed to the Word of God, we learn to think like God thinks.

Our thought patterns are reprogrammed from the old fleshly thoughts.

As this renewal takes place, our response to temptations, our environment, and to the evil around us begins to change.

Old habits drop away (some take longer than others).

FACT: We behave differently as we begin to think differently.

"As a man THINKS in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).

Our life begins to reflect and manifest the very character of Christ!

Instead of being poured into the world's mold, we are poured into His mold!

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And the bonus of a renewed mind is the ability to "prove" or "discern" the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God!

SUMMARY: Surrender yourself totally to The Lord, and saturate your mind with God's Word...

Do what you ought to do, to be what you want to be!

LETS PRAY

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