Transformed By His Power

I'm going to read Psalm 139, a very familiar passage. Here's what it says,

For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your books were written every one of them. The days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts of God! How vast is the sum of them!

See, when we read this passage, we are very well aware of how God created us, how He sustains us. But one thing I want us to catch from that passage for today—this is really setting the stage up for what I believe God wants to do—you see the delicacy and the care that God puts into what He creates? Is that clear from that passage?

He doesn't just create. When He creates, there is such delicacy, such care that He puts into whatever He creates, which is why even now you ask Linnie, she will tell you how she lives every day because she knows there is a baby in the womb. And that has completely changed the way Linnie is.

The thing about it, whenever God births something, He births it carefully. That's the nature of our God. Many millennia later, we are still figuring out why mothers need to be a certain way. But whenever He creates, whatever He creates, He creates intricately, carefully. That is why the psalmist even says something like, how wonderfully have you created me?

Wonderful are your thoughts. I can't count them. There are very many. And if that is true, any birth that God births in our lives—by that I mean new starts—is God careful about them? He is. So He isn't just careful about physical births. He is also very careful about any new start He gives us.

And if I am also as careful about those starts He gives me, now I'm aligned with how God is.

So whenever God births, physically, in that He uses man to reproduce and reproduce more men and women, He has already established what we read.

But whenever He reproduces spiritually, there is even more in that He cares how we are aligned with Him.

And in today's session teaching, whatever you want to call this, the title for today is, Transformed by His Power.

We look at the word transformed, we look at the word power, we look at how we can latch on to this truth in the scripture. But before that, I want us to almost be like birthing mothers.

It will be very difficult for you, Zia, but you can try.

To have—why are you laughing? To have this understanding that God, you want to do something in me that's precious, that is important, that is divine, that is true, that is pivotal for my life.

And if you want to birth this in me by your spirit, then I'm going to steward this so carefully.

So then you have now aligned with how He thinks about it, because anything He births, He births this way.

So Father, we thank you for this afternoon.

We thank you that your presence is right here. We thank you for your spirit.

Thank you for establishing life for us here on earth this way.

We don't even need to invite you because you're already here.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your presence here.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you care about us.

You steward our lives well.

Thank you for your power.

Thank you for your presence.

And Jesus, this afternoon, we fully believe everything you have said in and through your scripture.

And we approach your word with honor.

We want to receive everything that you have for us.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

I want us to read a couple of passages and then we'll get into this.

The first scripture that I want us to read is from Psalm 84.7.

You saw that?

It shows up just like that.

This is Matt's new creation.

Psalm 84.7.

They will continue to grow stronger.

And each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

Okay, so underline the word stronger.

They will continue to grow stronger.

That's one passage.

Where you begin to see this idea that God for our lives on this earth has this narrative already planned out.

That I am to grow from strength to strength.

That you are to grow from strength to strength.

Which is why the psalmist says this.

They will continue to grow stronger.

So whatever level of strength you have today is in the level of strength you are to die with.

That even when your physical strength reduces, there is another strength that is expected

and that I said designed to grow stronger.

Can you read this other verse?

Which is from 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 3.17-18.

Oh it works.

For the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

So it is the second scripture that again talks about the same idea.

That when we behold the face of Jesus, we are never expected or designed to remain at the level of glory with which we started.

That any man, any woman who looks at Jesus, their life has already been planned out by God that they would grow from one degree of glory to another degree of glory to another degree of glory while on earth.

This is life that God has prescribed for us.

You know there is a passage in Isaiah where God even says I will not share my glory with another.

When we come to the New Testament, we realize that this God, the Father of glory, the glorious Son, the glorious Holy Spirit shares his glory with us, his children.

Because in the book of Ephesians it is so clear in the epistle, it says very clearly this is our inheritance on earth.

That his glory he shares with his children and this becomes our inheritance.

These two scriptures that I read out and we went through is pivotal in that we have to now believe whatever level we are at today is one level.

In our spiritual walk with Christ.

That inside of you, God has already built a capacity which is designed for more.

Correct?

I told you already in that when God created us, he creates us very carefully.

And not only does he create us carefully, he has all these things that he has set up for us to walk into.

Which is why in Jeremiah it says I have plans for you.

Not plan, plans for you.

God has these things.

And so then I can wake up on a particular day and say God this is where I am at today.

I thank you that I can easily access the next you have for me.

Without labor.

But in the way you want me to.

And that's what we will be looking at today.

You see this all throughout scripture.

This idea of being transformed is prevalent all throughout scripture.

You start in the book of Genesis and you see what is happening to Abraham.

Abraham becomes Abraham.

You then look at all of these lives that are so and the stories of their lives that are vividly told in the scripture.

It's very clear God transforms people.

But sometimes we think that transformation has some sort of ceiling.

But there is no ceiling to this transformation.

Then you should think in your life what is the ceiling of your transformation.

Like how far can you be transformed?

The answer is simple.

Bible says we are transformed to the image of Christ.

So I could be and you could be per God's design, his divine design, transformed to a place that in areas of my life I must be just like Christ.

And in all areas of our lives we can aspire to be that.

And that is the glory that he shares with us.

His children.

That it does not therefore matter where we come from, who our parents are, which land we come from, where we are born, what happened to us, what is the story of our lives.

None of those things matter in comparison to the plans God has for us.

And once we ascribe to this truth then something inside of us begins to change.

See one thing that triggers transformation is revelation.

Revelation triggers transformation.

You ask Paul what happened with his life.

The guy was going somewhere and all of a sudden he has an encounter with God.

We don't know exactly what happened but we read in the book of Acts he couldn't see for some time.

He saw the glory of Christ and something changed.

He was not at that point, from that point on he was not the same person anymore.

Something deep shifted on the inside.

You ask Peter, he will tell you something similar.

I come from Kerala.

One of the things that Kerala is known for in Christianity is that this is where Doubting Thomas came.

It's sad that we still call him Doubting Thomas because if you ask any Keralite they won't call him Doubting Thomas.

Because he got on a ship, he ended up in Kerala, south of India and he preached the gospel.

Two thousand years ago we still call him Doubting Thomas.

He wasn't doubting at all.

He was then but then he overcame it.

Why? Transformation.

You see that?

That there is one degree of awareness, one degree of glory which then is being transformed.

From that degree to another degree.

This is true for our lives, true for anyone who receives Christ.

But the reality is that while this is true, we can still be stagnant.

That God has these things, these milestones that are set for me, set up for me.

And while that is true, I can also be stagnant if I want to.

Or I can align with him and walk into the fullness of what God has for me.

So I go back to what I said before.

Revelation triggers transformation.

Whenever we understand who God is, it triggers something in our lives about,

Aha! This is who God is.

So I can be different.

And anytime you have a revelation of God, he also reveals to you how he thinks of you.

So no revelation of God just stops with him revealing who he is.

Any revelation of God then shows you how he sees you.

So when you have both, which is on one hand he shows you who he is,

and on the other hand he shows you who you are to him,

something changes.

And that revelation triggers, begins to set you on a journey where nothing can stop you.

Because now you are on his perfect path for your life.

Which is why all of these stories we can go through.

And we know that men and women who started a certain way in the scripture,

and then you look at, you know, so many fathers in faith, men and women,

went through life's journeys, they started a certain way, they ended a certain way.

Why is it one thing and one thing only?

They were transformed by his power.

And this therefore is not set apart just for a few, this is for all of us.

And the level I access and the places I go to in him,

on one hand, yes, it demands his promise to be fulfilled,

him to keep his covenant, which he always does,

it then is really just a matter of how much I walk with him,

and how much I believe what he says.

Sometimes it isn't even, do I want to walk with him,

it is how much do I know about him, and what do I know of him.

Which is why revelation is significant.

When May named the church Revelations, that's the current name, right?

When May named Revelation, Revelation,

I don't know if this was one of the ideas, but this is important.

I love that the last book in the Bible is Revelation.

Because our lives are supposed to be continually this,

God, who are you?

I'm not satisfied, I want to see you differently from what I have seen you.

And as I see you, show me who I am to you.

That changes everything.

Once I know how he sees me, then it doesn't matter how anyone sees me,

because I'm so confident as to how he sees me.

You see how life begins to change.

Alright, so yes, when I was growing up, this happened and the other thing happened,

but the truth is, while that is true, now I have a new identity.

My identity now is rooted solely in this truth, that Christ loves me deeply.

And that's just one part of his revelation, his love.

There is so much more to him.

Which is why when we hear talk about God being a divine warrior,

those are in just words.

That is who he is.

You ask, like we talked about last time, you ask Jehoshaphat,

and he'll tell you story after story about how God fights.

He is a warrior.

So there is so much to our Father, so much to this Christ we serve,

so much to the Holy Spirit, that we can be on a path of revelation

until we die and we still wouldn't have scratched the surface.

And if that is so, then life becomes so adventurous now.

Because I can go through life saying,

Jesus, I know you this much.

I so want to know you more.

And then just about when you feel like you got it,

maybe never get there, just about when we feel like,

oh I know more, then he proves to you there is so much more.

And it becomes an adventure you walk with him.

So that's the transformed part.

Let's now move on to power.

The power that is at work within us, according to Ephesians,

I believe chapter 2 verse 17, Ephesians chapter 2, 17,

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

it is the power of God that resurrected Christ from the dead.

That is the same, is it 2, 17?

Maybe it's 18.

Let's go to the scripture.

Okay, this is 2 Corinthians 3, 17 and 18.

2 Corinthians, I'll just read it.

2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17, 18 and 19.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

Listen to me now.

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us

who believe according to the working of his great might?

That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

So then, that is one of Paul's really long sentences,

it can be summarized simply like this.

That the power of God that is at work in me and in you

is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

Not only that, it is the same power that then has Christ

sitting at the right hand of the Father.

So then, you see, when we think about power,

we shouldn't think about anything else.

When we think about authority and power in Christ

or his power that is at work in us,

we shouldn't think of this power as a lesser power.

Do you now recognize why Jesus said it is finished?

That this is the same power that raised Christ from the dead,

the same power that seated Jesus

at the right hand of the Father.

You may wonder, why is that?

Why is that significant?

See, when Jesus rose from the dead,

every power of darkness on the face of the earth

and in the heavenlies were working to keep him down.

Every king, every, and I'm not talking about physical king.

I'm not talking about a natural king.

Every small king, every power, every demon,

principality, authority, worked so hard

to keep Jesus Christ in the grave.

And then when Jesus resurrected,

there is a scripture in Hebrews,

I don't know the exact reference,

but it talks about how Jesus went through the first heaven

and the second heaven,

through the heavens to the third heaven.

That there was fight in that place

that Jesus easily went through,

that all those powers were already defeated.

Those powers were already disarmed.

That power is the power that Christ gave you and me.

It is important to recognize that,

because otherwise we think power is just a power.

The fullness of what Christ did is so amazing

that this power that raised him from the dead

and this power that seated him

at the right hand of the father is the same power

that he chose to give you and me.

That is a resurrection power.

If that is true, then what is said

that can stop a Christian from walking his life well?

It is that power.

That power has already defeated every power.

And so I should be so excited

that I have Abba, by your power,

the ability to walk victoriously here on earth.

That God, I have that power.

This is revelation.

This is revelation where the same scripture that you read

now talks to you differently.

And when it talks to you differently,

you now begin to realize not just who he is,

but also who you are.

This is just the nature of our father.

The nature of our father is he isn't always

just showing about who he is.

He then also tells you who you are

because he is so interested in how you perceive him

and how you walk your life

because his program also somehow includes your life.

So transformed by his power.

And think, take some time this week

to think about what this really is.

That if it is the same resurrection power,

can you begin to expect things?

One of the questions that I asked a few people

last week is this.

If you believe God is in you and he is,

then how do you see your life changing?

Like what are you after?

At age 20 or 24, for Zia,

what is he looking for when he gets to 30, 40, 50?

Is it important for him to think like that?

Absolutely.

It's absolutely important for Zia when he is 24

now to realize this resurrection power

that is at work in him.

This power is also given to us to live a holy life.

So this power isn't just about doing.

This power is as much about becoming.

In Ephesians chapter one, it says,

in this, here's what it says in Ephesians chapter one,

verse two or three, that God our father has blessed us

in Christ Jesus with every spiritual gift

in the heavenly places.

Wow.

That there is no gift, blessing in the heavenly places

that has not been given to me.

That Christ has already blessed me with this.

All, all, all gifts in the heavenly places

are already available to me today while on earth.

And so for Zia then, at this age,

these truths as it comes inside of him,

what does he begin to think?

Surely, right?

As a 25 year old, when he knows that the power of Christ

is in him and it is limitless for his life.

23, sorry man.

Just making sure everyone, 23, not 25.

He's not offended at all.

So when he realizes that this is who Christ is in me,

that there is this power at work in me.

And I love that first verse, couple of verses in Ephesians,

because it talks about why these spiritual blessings

have been given first.

So that we can walk blamelessly.

That there is all of these blessings

in the spiritual places were given to me and you

so that we can walk blamelessly.

So that's one.

Now after that, and while we do that,

we also have things that God gives us to do.

So therefore, I love going through this pretty slow,

because otherwise it defeats the purpose.

If these two things are true for Zia, he should daydream.

He should begin to daydream with the Holy Spirit,

the possibilities of the kingdom.

This is why Joseph, even when he was in Potiphar's house

or when he was in the prison,

he was able to see something others couldn't.

Have you thought of why, when all of these brothers

show up at the end of that story,

and here is this man who has gone through enough trouble

because of all of them.

How quickly he's able to do

what he was always assigned to do.

Why?

He had already taken time.

He knew where this was going.

That God showed me something.

He had a holy imagination.

He had things that he was looking forward to

because God planted those things in him.

This is important.

That if you believe, see a revelation

that triggers transformation,

it has to cause us to come into a place

where we are ready to receive new seed,

where we are ready to birth.

And that does not happen while we run around everywhere.

That happens with him.

That time with him is so important

because then he can give you those things

that are precious, that are pure, that are praiseworthy,

that you can then steward.

So thinking about our lives,

if you're 60 years old, you're 70 years old,

now saying, God, this truth that you're revealing to me

about who you are, about who I am,

now this has to change the next 20 years of my life,

which is why you see, again, in scripture,

there is this idea that you can be young or old,

but with God, it's the same

because it is not the physical strength

that we're talking about.

There is something greater than that that he gives you,

which then affects every realm of your life.

So we must take time to think about the possibilities

of this resurrection power that is at work in us,

not a lesser thing.

I love, therefore, why Jesus says it is finished

because he wasn't giving us a lesser thing,

a mini power, a mini thing.

He gave us his Spirit, all of his Spirit,

and the same resurrection power, therefore,

lives in me and you, which makes me so excited.

I really am.

What?

Jesus gave me his resurrection power?

Can you imagine?

I have his resurrection power.

It excites me.

I believe it.

I really do.

It's not nuts for me.

I really do.

I believe it.

I believe that I have the resurrection power of Christ in me.

I believe it.

So it changes, then, the way I think of me.

It changes, then, the way you think of you.

It changes how we begin to look at our future.

So if transformation is something God gives,

and if the power to be transformed is something God gives

when we are aligned with him,

how do we go about it is what I want to touch on

with how much of our time we have left.

Okay, number one.

Believe and expect.

Number one.

Believe and expect.

Believe and expect.

You know that song, Abide?

I depend on you.

I depend on you.

Sensing's it better.

But,

you know,

to depend on Christ day and night,

to depend on Christ so much so

that you've come to this realization

that life with the best you have is futile.

That Christ has brought you to a place

where by his grace he has proven to you

that the best you can offer doesn't take you anywhere.

But with him, by being dependent on him,

everything changes.

Everything changes.

And this believing of this God,

this Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit,

this believing of him, his nature, who he says he is,

then has to also bring about an expectation in us,

which is why for, I can't see Ashish here.

So in Ashish's story, it's amazing, right?

Was it beautiful?

I think we need to honor God for that.

Thank you, Abba, for doing that in his life.

These are stories we can't take lightly.

Stories of God working in someone's life

in a supernatural way

that when no man can come through, God comes through.

And I pray that it changes his life forever.

I pray that he becomes so foolish for the rest of his life,

like how God came through,

that only one thing will happen out of this.

Not that he got his visa,

but he for the rest of his life is foolish

to believe everything God says he is.

That expectation is so important

when we begin to see Christ.

Dependency always, true dependency

always leads to expectation.

Expectation that, yeah, for 50 other friends of mine,

it happened this way.

But for me, not because of who I am,

but because of who he is,

and now because of who I am, something is different.

Something is different

because I believe this God can do this for me.

Guys, every power in the world will try and force

and distract you not to believe it.

But if you can now say,

not only do I believe in my father, I expect from him.

I expect from him.

It changes it.

It's as simple as that.

But this simplicity, we don't always walk in.

It is very simple.

We just need to come to an understanding

that the best of what we offer for our lives

is just not good enough.

Doesn't cut it, doesn't take us anywhere.

That when we depend, that when we submit,

that when we begin to expect,

something changes where his life flows into us

in a new measure.

Because here is a son, here is a daughter

who has come to this realization

that they just can't do it on their own,

and they're needy.

God loves needy.

He loves needy.

Which is why Jesus, as he was walking through this crowd,

there was this one woman

who was way more needier than everyone else.

She didn't know she had faith.

She didn't even know how to say those words.

But Jesus said she had faith.

What she also was, was needy.

Very, very needy.

If I can approach God,

and you can approach God with need,

saying, God, I need you.

Not just for these things that I surely do need in my life.

I need to pay my bills.

I need this, I need that.

He cares, he so cares.

But beyond that, this realization,

God, without you, where will I go?

Where will I end up without you?

I need you.

I need you.

I need you.

And when you are like that, something changes.

Something changes.

Where he pours out into you new life

that sustains you,

that takes you farther in God.

I'm not shouting, but I genuinely believe these things.

I genuinely do.

And these things can just transform our lives completely.

See, I put it this way.

A man or woman of dependence becomes a man or woman

of expectation.

And a man or woman,

now I'm just gonna say man, it's too complicated.

A man of dependence becomes a man of expectation.

A man of expectation becomes a son of inheritance.

And a son of inheritance becomes a son of glory.

There are four things there.

One, it starts with the simple,

it starts with the simple dependence

that leads to expectation.

Once you are in that expectation place

after being dependent,

you become someone who inherits things from him.

It is impossible for any son or daughter of his

not to inherit things when they are needy and lacking.

It is just the nature of this good, good father.

And when he gives you an inheritance,

it always transforms you also

from one degree of glory, like we read, to another degree.

This is the reality.

That I can be needy, I can be believing in him,

and then it begins to birth something new.

Second, in this process of being transformed by his power,

first thing was expect and believe.

Second, embracing grace, embracing grace.

Grace is simply God giving himself freely to us.

That's grace.

God is giving himself freely to us.

That's grace.

In John chapter one,

you see John writing about Jesus this way.

I beheld his glory.

I've seen him.

What did you see, John?

John says, I know this,

that he is full of truth and grace.

That Jesus, John says, is full of truth and full of grace.

I must embrace grace in my life.

Now, it seems like why would you not embrace grace?

Because grace is something he gives freely.

We all want grace.

Why would we not embrace grace?

Here's the thing, guys.

On one hand, Psalm 23 says,

his goodness and mercy will do what?

Follow me.

The other thing that, while that's true,

we should also do is we should recognize grace

and latch onto it.

So this isn't just, oh, I'm running here and there,

and then your grace somehow catches up.

It is also grace has been given to me,

so I latch onto all the grace that God has given me.

It is important.

Otherwise, our understanding of grace is limited.

Grace is something we latch onto when we receive it.

We are so needy.

It's like you're deep in water and God sent grace,

and you don't just say, grace came, grace came, grace came.

The next thing you do is you latch onto that grace,

because you're so needy.

This grace is required for you to move to the next thing.

You embrace grace.

You embrace grace.

That God, you giving yourself freely to me in this area,

I expect it, and I want the fullness of it.

That grace makes your life simple.

Grace makes your life simple.

The world will try to complicate your life.

All that grace does is grace does change everything for you

to a point where he makes your life simple.

You ask Peter, Peter will tell you this.

I was working so hard overnight,

and then Jesus came and Jesus said,

just on the right side.

That is not fair.

I worked so hard yesterday, or early hours, so hard.

But Jesus' response is, my grace,

I'll show you how grace works, Peter.

Here is my grace.

Here is me giving myself freely to you.

I just want you to do this.

Onto the right side, all the fish.

Grace makes life simple,

which is also why the psalmist says things like,

to his beloved, he gives sleep.

That, you know, it's not that we should just sleep,

but there is something in the sleep he gives us,

which is also sustaining.

I love that verse because sometime when I read this verse,

10, 15, 20 years ago, maybe,

maybe even when I was younger than that,

I realized somewhere in my head

that him giving me sleep also means

that in my sleep he gives me things I need for tomorrow.

And that just changed it.

So then, as I began to grow up,

I realized that I can just tell him,

Abba, tonight I'm gonna sleep.

Tomorrow morning I need that and that.

I just don't have it.

Can you make sure that tonight, in my sleep, I get this?

Because he's not just in the business of giving you sleep,

he's in the business of sustaining you for tomorrow

by giving you what you need in your sleep tonight.

Yeah?

So that's what I mean,

because he simplifies things for you.

The complexities of life he simplifies.

The systems of the world will say,

X, Y, Z, 10 steps to do this, 20 steps to become this,

here is another book and then 15 other books,

but then the one verse from the scripture stands out,

changes the way you function.

Embrace grace.

Embrace grace.

There is no wisdom that any man or any 15, 20,

100,000 books can give you.

No wisdom that surpasses the wisdom of God.

His grace simplifies life.

And so we should look out and search out for what it is

that our life requires and God is waiting

to shower those things onto our lives

because he knows when in time of need and plenty,

question is, can he pursue grace?

In time of need and in plenty.

See the plenty part is also important

because whenever we need something,

our heart aligns to a place where we're like,

God, I need it.

But when we have plenty, when we have enough,

when in an area there is no need,

at any point in any of our lives, guys,

there are areas that are more needy than others.

Other areas of our life that is.

That doesn't matter which area of life it is,

can you be needy for more?

For all of God's desires over your life to be fulfilled.

That everything you read that you are not walking in,

there is a hand that goes up and says,

Abba, I come, I come, I come.

I want to experience this.

I don't want to live life here on earth

for going some things because I'm so caught up

in one thing or the other.

I don't have enough, I'm needy, I come.

And then he pours out even more.

Embrace grace.

Number three.

Be a word and spirit man.

Be a word and spirit man.

Very simple, we know this.

But let me just tell you this.

The word transforms you.

The word transforms you.

The spirit empowers you.

The word transforms you.

The spirit empowers you.

See for Elijah, he did the strangest of things

on Mount Carmel, did he not?

In the building of the altar, he takes water

and he pours water over the altar.

If you want fire, the last thing you should touch is water.

Because you want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

You want fire.

Fire and water don't go together

unless it's God's economy.

In God's economy, water, his word.

When the word of God in you

and the spirit of God in you come together,

it's a completely different ball game.

That this word that has now become flesh in you.

When I say the word, being a word man,

what I mean is it's not reading, just reading the Bible.

See, this book,

this book looks like many other books

you can get in a library.

But if I begin to approach this book with such honor,

saying, God, this is what you gave me

for my life sustenance, for everything I need on earth.

I approach this word with much honor.

That this word I believe can transform me.

Then when I go through the pages of this book otherwise,

but now the word, see even atheists like this,

even atheists read the Bible.

They're just trying to prove that God doesn't exist.

So they will also read the Bible.

So reading the Bible is not it.

It is to read and become.

That when we read, it's not about how much we read,

it is how we read.

How do we read it?

Do we read it and say, this God, I need it.

I know I keep telling that today,

but this is the cry for transformation.

See, someone who wants transformation

doesn't say, I want transformation.

Someone who wants transformation cries for transformation.

Because you have come to a place where you understand

the gravity of remaining where you are.

Where if you continue to be where you're at,

you know it ain't taking you anywhere.

So you've come to this realization that I need more

and I need Christ.

So then it's not, I need transformation.

There is a cry in your heart.

There is a cry, a genuine sincere cry

to God saying, I need it.

And so when you read the word like that,

where you say, Abba, I don't wanna just read the word.

I wanna live the word.

So then as you read the word,

God points out something like this where it says,

do unto others that which you wanna be done unto you.

Now, you stop there.

Let's park there and say, how can I do this?

How can I do this to the Shalty who I don't like?

And how can I still do unto him?

Maybe there's a bigger problem there, I don't like him.

So I need to fix that before I try to do something to him

that is good for him.

You see, we stop and we become.

Otherwise, we read, we read, we read, we read,

which is why in the Bible,

there's this line that we all need to be very,

it's a warning, which is we can read, read and read

without coming to an understanding.

Bible talks about it.

That when we read, we must have this

zeal to have this be fleshed out in our lives.

And it doesn't have to be pretty, we start small.

So then I'm like, okay, how can I be like,

whatever I want zeal to be to me,

how can I be that to him?

So it may be the awkwardest thing I do,

but then next time I meet with zeal,

I'm like, because I have read this verse

and I'm like, I'm extra nice to zeal.

Because that's the best of how I understood it.

God honors it.

God honors it.

Because God sees what you're doing,

that you are taking that word and making it flesh.

And then when he's in the process of doing that,

or when I'm in the process of doing that, God adds more.

Because here is a son, here is a daughter,

who doesn't just cry, he's walking in what I am giving him.

And that changes things, absolutely does.

And as I go through this, by reading, understanding,

living, reading, understanding, living,

I grow from glory to glory.

I move from glory to another version of glory.

And then what must be expected of all of us is,

after some time people should ask,

oh man, you were different then, you're different now.

Why?

There is glory that God gives us, that he shares with us.

The best people who can validate it are our family members.

If our family members see that, then that is good.

Then you know it is real.

Everyone else may say some nice words about you.

But if your family members say,

hey, I see something different,

then you know now this is what's happening.

And you ain't stopping, you keep going.

Word and spirit, spirit, submitting to the spirit,

submitting to the spirit of God's ways.

But we won't pitch our tent there today.

Next one, beholding him, beholding him.

Because we don't have much time.

Just one thought for you to think about.

What does beholding him look like?

Because Bible talks about this,

as you know, the verse that we read,

2 Corinthians chapter 3, 17 and 18,

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

it talks about when we behold him, when we look at him.

When we pray, and this is just a thought,

beholding him, beholding him, beholding him,

beholding him, beholding him, beholding him,

this is not the only thing about beholding God's face,

seeking his face, but just a thought for you to ponder on.

When we pray, we talk to him, we engage with him.

It's always good to have some time in your prayer,

or whenever you are with him, to just stop talking.

We are really good at talking.

Just stop talking.

And it's very scriptural.

There is a song, I can't recollect which one it is,

quietness and trust.

Okay, anyway, so there's a song like that,

that ends, one of the lines end with in quietness and trust.

It's actually very scriptural.

Bible talks about this idea of being quiet,

and in a place of being quiet with him, hearing him.

That one of the things for me that I have begun enjoying

is to look at the cross of Jesus Christ.

That when I am with him, I say,

I wanna look at this cross.

I wanna see you, your hands nailed,

your feet nailed, blood coming down.

And I'll tell you one thing that changed my thinking

as I did that, which never previously

I had understood this way.

One day as I was doing this,

I'm just talking about beholding his face.

One day as I was doing this, something happened to me

where I had this realization that,

you know, anytime I see blood otherwise,

I try to stay away.

Oh, there's blood.

But with this cross, with this blood,

I want to approach it.

I wanna receive it, I want it to fall on my hand.

I want it to fall on my head.

I want it to fall on my body,

because this blood, he shed.

He shed this blood.

And somehow when he shed this blood,

there is a part of him that wants me to be

marked by this blood.

You see what beholding him,

it changes things about how we even understand him.

All of a sudden, the same cross has a different meaning.

So when I behold him,

I don't wanna make it strange and awkward

and make it anything like, oh, be silent.

No, that's not what I'm saying.

But times of beholding him,

times of beholding the face of Christ,

the cross of Christ,

times of beholding the throne room,

which according to Ephesians is where you are seated as well,

that he now has you seated with him in the heavenly places.

So what does that look like?

Beholding Christ.

Last two things.

Discipline and persistence.

Discipline and persistence.

You know what discipline is,

so I won't expand on that.

But hunger sustains what discipline cannot.

Hunger sustains what discipline cannot.

Hunger sustains what discipline cannot.

That my hunger and thirst for God,

in this pathway of God,

I wanna be transformed by your power.

When I go down this path with him,

discipline is good because we do certain things,

saying, Abba, I wanna have this time with you.

I wanna do it every day.

I wanna do it as often as I can.

I wanna be with you.

But then that's good.

There is something that sustains what discipline cannot.

That's hunger.

If it is genuine hunger,

then you don't have to worry about discipline.

Hunger sustains what discipline cannot.

And persistence is needed in times when it's not easy.

Have you had times, days, weeks perhaps,

where you know what you need to do,

but you just don't want to because it's difficult?

There are reasons enough.

I remember one time telling God,

Abba, I have reasons not to.

I have reasons not to.

That's real life.

In real life, you go through times

when the best of discipline ain't cutting it.

You have hunger, but then you also have this thing

where you're like, God.

And that's when you say, but I will persist.

It's a very scriptural thing, persistence.

That even when it's difficult,

I will say, God, with the little I have, I come.

I don't have too much to give you tonight perhaps.

I don't have too much to offer, but I come.

And your father loves it.

Your father loves it.

Hunger, discipline, persistence.

Hunger, discipline, persistence.

Next, humility.

Humility.

For today, just two things.

Say no to self-sufficiency and be open to correction.

Say no to self-sufficiency and be open to correction.

Self-sufficiency is thinking you've gotten somewhere.

Then I understand.

That is the beginning of how not to be.

Self-sufficiency, when you find that in your life,

say no to it.

And be open to correction.

That, God, I want you to correct me,

and God will send someone to correct you.

Sometimes we want correction,

but the dispatch center from where the thing came,

we don't like it.

We want the letter straight from God directly to us.

But there is in between a dispatching center,

and that doesn't look all that good,

so then we don't want that correction.

Correction from God just changes things for us.

Humility to say, Abba, I want correction.

I want change.

I want this.

Think about your life and see when is the last time

you got correction, true correction,

because this house has enough people here

to give correction.

But when is the last time you got correction?

Saying, do it differently, change the way you are.

Do you embrace it, or do you have a different stance to it?

I remember one time, as an example,

it was many years ago, probably 10 years ago,

12 years ago, Jacob asked me after some time

to teach at Axe.

So I prepared well, I did a lot,

and I taught at Axe.

Wayne and Bernice may remember this,

because Bernice has told me about this after.

So I taught at Axe, and then,

back in the day, we had these CDs at Axe too,

that we can then listen to.

And so Jacob, I was waiting for Jacob to come back,

listen and tell me what he thought.

And I remember Jacob sitting down with me,

and this was one of many things we talked about,

but he said, Derek, you missed something there.

I'm like, can you not tell me something nice,

something good?

Well, you missed something.

And he said, the thing you missed is keys.

So you talked about discernment,

you talked about why discernment is great,

you talked about what happened in discernment.

All you did not do is how to discern.

So I thought about it, and I realized that's true.

I talked about discernment,

about everything under the sky, perhaps, on discernment,

but I never taught on how to discern.

That changed something for me.

I was open to correction.

So today, as an example, in this teaching,

are there many keys?

Because one day, he told me,

whenever you teach, give keys.

If you don't give keys,

it's useless to anyone who is listening to you.

But if I was at that time, not open to correction,

and I had this thing that I prepared, I did it,

but why do you still correct me?

Do I improve?

Do I change?

No.

Humility, to say, God, correct me, change me.

And saying no to self-sufficiency.

You're never getting to a place,

and must never get to a place where you feel like,

I understand.

No, you don't understand.

No, I don't understand.

More, Abba, please.

Thank you.

More, please.

The last thing.

I had this here about Paul,

that even after all the revelation that he had,

he had to go back to Jerusalem.

He had to go sit down with people,

and ask and understand what he heard, understood,

and then check with others.

If we had gotten the revelation of Paul,

we would be traveling all the world.

I have it, I have it.

God spoke to me directly.

But you see, in that man, at that time,

the realization that he must still submit.

And guys, I don't want us to think of this as very easy.

It's not easy.

It's not always easy.

It's not always easy to submit.

It is not always easy to be open to correction.

If you think it is, you haven't been properly corrected.

That is, I can also give you that.

If you think, though, why?

I'm so easy.

No, I pray that you have someone who will correct you well.

Correction is not looking down on you.

It is to always lift you up.

But you've got to be open to, how can I change?

How can I be different?

Last.

In this process, I hand it written down as overnight.

I hand it written down as overlooking chatter and perception.

But really, it's beyond it.

See, as we begin to go down this path,

where we say, God, I want your transformative power

to work in me.

And let's say you and I begin to just go,

accelerate in this path.

Accelerate in this path.

Not for five months, not for six months,

forever in our lives,

to be on this path of understanding glory,

strength to strength, glory to glory.

One thing I can guarantee you,

which will happen to you, is this.

Sanbilath and Tobiah will show up.

And they will tell you, oh, look at you.

You are trying to be transformed by God's power.

Who are you?

Where did you come from?

This is what happened to Nehemiah and his people

as they started rebuilding the wall.

God gave them an instruction,

a vision to rebuild the wall.

And he had them build a certain way.

And as they started building, two people came.

Sanbilath and Tobiah.

And when these people came,

they didn't come striking them down.

They came with chatter.

They came with mockery.

To make you feel you're not progressing,

to make you feel what you're doing is not enough.

Do you know what is the best litmus test

to know that you're on the right track?

It is this.

These voices that may come to just make you

and convince you to believe

that all you're doing is fruitless,

that there is nothing much to it.

You don't have anything to even show.

You say you believe in God's transformative power.

You say, God is my father.

You say he loves me.

You say all of these things.

And Sanbilath comes, Tobiah comes,

they stand hand in hand next to you.

And they begin to whisper,

and where is it?

Show me, show me a little bit.

They told Nehemiah and his people

that even if a fox were to run through,

your wall will break down.

What wall are you building?

Mockery, chatter, accusation, people's perception.

But if your eyes are glued to Christ,

the one who called you,

the one who is transforming you,

the one who changes you,

everything begins to change.

Then you say to Sanbilath and Tobiah,

I hear you, but I don't hear you.

I resist these voices.

These voices can't pull me down

because I hear a greater voice.

I just heard it 10 minutes ago.

So with that confidence, I tell you,

I don't want to hear you again.

It is an important aspect of this journey

that you must recognize the voice of Sanbilath and Tobiah

because the voice of Sanbilath and Tobiah

may come in from any different place.

Maybe people even close to you.

You're very close friends.

And without even knowing,

you now believe what they are saying.

Or from family, or from people you care about.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter where it comes from.

You recognize it and you say, no.

No.

I won't give you foothold.

I won't hear what you're saying.

I don't have much to show today,

but I believe in this God of transformation.

I have tethered my life to him.

I've tethered my life to his power.

I've tethered my life to his promises.

I've tethered my life to his nature.

And by account of him,

even though I may not have anything to show,

I show him to you.

And by account of that, I push forward.

And some days it may be difficult,

but you still push forward.

And in this process, this never ends in life.

Doesn't matter if you're 85 years old.

Doesn't matter if you're 20 or 15.

This is a journey until the last day we have on earth.

So I go back to where we started.

That it says in Psalm 84, verse seven,

they will continue to grow stronger.

They will continue to grow stronger.

That you may be a new Christian,

you may have been a Christian for long,

that you will continue to be stronger in Christ.

Then that passage from 2 Corinthians 3, 17 or 18,

where it talks about how you are being conformed

from one level, one degree of glory

to another degree of glory.

One degree of glory to another degree of glory.

The transformative power of Christ,

this resurrection power,

the same power that resurrected Christ Jesus from the dead

and also seated Jesus at the right hand of the Father.

It is the same power that is in you and in me.

Not a lesser power.

So this power can absolutely transform you.

Absolutely.

It does not matter what IRCC says therefore.

It does not matter what your bank account says therefore.

It does not matter what statistics say therefore.

It does not matter what happened in your family say therefore.

It does not matter because there is a greater purpose.

There is a greater truth that you and I must tether to.

And the last thing I'll leave you with is this,

the same question that I asked Zee.

If this is all true,

should we not start thinking with God

about what tomorrow should be,

about what next month should be like?

We should.

That when we are with him,

we should allow the Holy Spirit

to paint a picture about tomorrow.

Paint a picture about next year.

You should have something in your mind.

Joseph had this.

That yes, there is gonna come a time

when somehow even though I was rejected,

rejected, thrown in the pit,

and even though I am here today,

there is something here whereby God has a plan for me

to help my brothers and they will huddle around me.

He had that understanding.

And so for you, what is it?

What is it that you look forward to and say?

That is where it is.

You see with Paul, and I'm closing,

with Paul, there was a time in his life

when Spirit-filled Christians asked him not to go to Rome.

Somewhere in the 20s, Acts chapter 20s, somewhere,

they said, hey, if you go there,

there's gonna be problems.

And then they're trying to stop Paul.

And then two guys come and they prophesy over Paul.

And they prophesy over Paul and they tell Paul,

Paul, like if you go, bad things are gonna happen.

You should not go.

They tried to convince him.

But then again, with Paul, he had seen something.

What did he see?

He saw way before that there is something

to be done in Rome.

So even though all of these things are happening

and it is true, he has seen something.

It is important guys, and this is huge.

This is huge because we can hear and understand

and believe this, but we must begin to see.

We must begin to see.

We must begin to see with the Holy Spirit

where it is that he is taking us.

So Father, as we close right now, we thank you.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for your direction.

We thank you for your counsel.

We thank you for your spirit.

We thank you for the transformative power

that is at work in us.

We thank you that you don't leave any of us out.

We take, you take all of us.

And I thank you for your plans over our lives.

So we say no to every voice of Sanbala and Tobiah,

every voice that screams out loud,

any plan that is in opposition to what you have.

And we tether our lives to who you are,

your promises and your power.

We need you.

We wanna be desperate needy people all our days.

Help us never to be self-sufficient,

to walk in your ways.

In Jesus' name, I pray this, amen.

Amen.

Amen.