A Transformed Life

All right. Thanks, Michael. Thank you. I love amen.

praise the Lord So I just want to have a take a few minutes. It's not like us to not go through verse by verse on a Sunday, but I got to put something in my heart this morning just to talk about a transformed life if you will get Romans chapter 12 verse 1 Romans 12 I wasn't really thinking about it at the time but the new year is kind of that time where everybody wants to change something it seems like you know, I personally I have a testimony where I was radically changed, you know, I know that many people who grow up in church don't really have that testimony. I hope my daughter doesn't have some radical change testimony, but I grew up in the church and shamefully rebelled against Christ. Some of you guys know that story 18 years old Ran from God didn't want anything to do with the church and I found myself in H25 just totally broken in. My marriage was a disaster. I was addicted to all kinds of things. I was smoking like three packs a day drinking, you know, I had a DUI and we're going bankrupt and God did a radical thing in my life. Somebody invited me to church. He's back there right now invited me to Calvary Chapel when I was 25 years old. He saw me at a wedding and he's like, hey, you need to come with me and you know in in here the word and it was like God just opened my eyes to the scriptures and the pastor actually that night. I remember him reading Romans chapter 12 instead of offer your body to God as a Living Sacrifice and it was like the Holy Spirit came upon me. I like never before and I was honestly radically changed I began to change everything. I was I begin to read the Bible like just devour it stops everything that I I mean it within a few weeks. I had quit smoking cigarettes. Quit smoking, you know other things drinking even like I threw out all my CDs that's the way it was back then we had CDs and it was like, I stopped watching TV the Bible talk like that. It was like, I mean, I just began to just devour it like books at the time and now I'm in God radically transformed my life. So I just want to playing in Starbucks. I had a different message for this morning and God change that and I have just a few points. I want to say about God transforming us God you guys believe that God is able to People I mean he really is he is able to radically transform anybody. I mean brother there have a clean religious. They have a dirty rotten past God's spirit and God is able to do those things and let's read that real quick as Romans 12 verse I plead with you give your bodies to God or offer your bodies to God because of the what all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice because I know he will find acceptable. This is truly the way that you worship Him. Verse 2 says don't copy the behavior in the customs of this world. But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think then you will beat learn to know God's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect. So God Is Able by us surrendering submitting to him to transform any one of us the first thing I just want to point out his number one. We all have a past. Right? We all have things that are behind us and it. There is no shame any longer in the person that you were you Jesus sacrifice is enough to pay the price for your sins, whether you've been spending against greatly or whether you send against someone else the blood of Jesus is enough to wash away in to give you a new start. A man a fresh new start number to then we all get to start fresh and limitations three says the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies are new they never cease. Drain is his faithfulness his mercies begin afresh each morning each morning. Maybe you're the kind of person that has heard the gospel all your life that was been told the right things to do. But yet you blown it time and time again. His mercies are still new today. Even you no matter how Many times you've blown it you can start fresh if anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come number three. We all have a Sanctified self. That is. Has a way that he sees you sort of the end product of what you will be like the day that you get to heaven. It's not necessarily the change some kind of stitches being transformed into the image of Christ is not some kind of self-help program to get the to the place that you want to be necessarily it is to the place where God wants you to be. You have a Sanctified spell the word sanctification is a process takes vacation is something that means made holy God has a way that you're going to look as you learn what it means to become more like Christ the longer you walk with them. The more you reflect on the likeness of Christ the more you learn his word the more you change the way you think about your old self. And now the new self there is this process but there is a Sanctified stealth right? Amen, and it doesn't maybe necessarily look exactly what you think. It's going to look like It is a journey. God knows more about you than you know about yourself Psalm 139. If we had more time, I'd read it wouldn't write it down. Make it your homework. Go read Psalm 139. It is so beautiful. God knows every strand of DNA in your body get every single day. What was written about you before one of them came to be and God knows the past and has no one to take to get you to a place that you surrendered to him. And now he's not going to just abandon you he's taking you to heaven as you walk with them and we all have this journey that were on where guy is transforming you like the word is metamorphosis. Like a butterfly right is like we are in this cocoon and in God begins to do this work, he knows everything about you. You are his Masterpiece. You have the Sanctified set. The God is changing you to be Number four then we all have this journey that were on this journey of sanctification. We're all being it doesn't say we come to Christ. We surrender head to him and then you're totally transformed right is his be transformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed this daily ongoing Walk With Jesus in his words through prayer as God, we begin to walk with God on this journey, and it's not just a journey for your own happiness experience happiness and joy, it's a journey of us learning what it means to be fully surrendered to Jesus. Does Jesus said whoever would follow me must take up his cross daily and come and follow me or want to be my follower, right? This is a daily thing as we begin to walk with Jesus and on this journey, we all have a journey. Number 5. I know these are quick rapid fire. I'm respectful of your time and we want to share and communion in just a second, but never 5 this is I think for me lately, this is been my my number one thing that I've been working on is that we are more blessed. You are more blessed than you realize. I got I think I I feel like I have this view of God. Sometimes that I'm just always in trouble. Does anybody else have like that kind of like that mentality, maybe all you know, please don't punish me for this that is completely wrong. Thinking Jesus is already been punished in your place. Certainly there is discipline. The any good father disciplines as children and changes Us in any wants the best for us. He disciplines us, but we are blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine we've been we were complete Outsiders total. Orphan. Jesus Paid the price brought to the family of God. And now we have every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly Realms. God does not hate you God loves you, right God is not against you God has for you. That's what I'm continually I think growing and telling myself now more than ever. We don't have to just walk around fearing right and fear has to do with punishment. The Bible says Love drives out fear if you truly grasp how much God loves you you're able to walk with him and I think enjoy him and and have a desire to get into his presence in his presence is fullness of joy. And I know that's where I want to be and I think I have to constantly tell a much more blessed than I realized spiritually blessed that God has blessed me so much. And then in the last point on this is that we have the power to live a new life. You're somewhat random sporadic. I pray this is speaking to you this morning. Listen. Do you have the power to overcome any kind of a bad relationship destructive habits, we once were on the path of Destruction, but now God has called us out of that to walk on the narrow path of life and you certainly not going to just make it where we can't do it. Spirit is a spirit of Power of Love of self discipline and you have the strength in you. I love Colossians 3:2 me. It could be this daily sort of Mantra that we could read every day since then has raised and then put to death the flesh, right? But because Jesus has been raised we too have been raised and been given the power to walk and to live a new life. We stand in his love we stand we live by the power of God and God is transforming you and God has the power to transform others through you. What a glorious thing that is.

Go ahead and not pass out. Pass out this these communion if you could just take if you if you're comfortable with it. If you're a believer in Jesus, you're born again. Take a piece of bread and a cup of juice. maybe it's just Dave passing it around but just take a second and think through think about Jesus especially as you take the cop in the bread and And you hold on to it? This is the grace of God poured out for you. It was just a the bread and the juice there's nothing. Significant about it other than we're just using it to remember. The bread represents the body of Christ write the juice is just Welch's you know, it's Welch's grape juice. But it does represent what we believe the Jesus his body was crushed. His blood was poured out.

For you and for me so that we can be purchased. Our freedom can be purchased our sins could be washed away. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says this is a God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Think about that person God made Jesus who was perfect. Jesus knew no sin, but out of his love for you. He became sin for us that Jesus died in your place. The all of the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus instead of you. We you and I rightfully we should be punished first. Then we should die for our sins the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. The gift of God is Jesus Christ who took your place you stepped in for you took all of the Wrath all the punishment that you deserve was a pawn Kate placed upon Jesus.

Thank you, Dave.

So think about it with me for a second look, so let's maybe just close our eyes for a second Isaiah 53 says that he was pierced.