Be Transformed | God's Great Will For Me (October 4th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

All right, well, if you would grab your Bibles as we get into our sermon today and get it turned to Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

That, of course, has been our kind of key verse that we've been looking at and unpacking that over the last couple of weeks.

And today is the conclusion of that, the finale of our series on what it means to be transformed.

And we've been kind of peeling back the various layers of how to truly work through those problem areas in our lives as they uh pop up.

Those areas that you've noticed, you're like, ugh, that's just not, that's just not right.

Like that thing needs to change.

Maybe for you, you're you've been kind of like, man, how do I get past whatever the issue is?

Maybe for you it's been crippling fear, right?

Or anxiety that just seems to gnaw at your soul constantly, and there are various triggers in your life, in your in circumstances in your life that that seem to bring that to the service and affects how you think and how you how you act and you're and live, your relationships, all of that.

Like, how do we get past that?

Maybe for you it's it's a growing coldness in your marriage.

You're like, man, things aren't really great between us, and it hasn't been that great for a while, and we're not even really talking about it anymore, and we're definitely stuck in this rut.

And how do we get out of this?

How do we get past that?

Maybe for you it's it's parenting, right?

And it's maybe it's it's a harshness towards your kids, and to control them, I'm gonna I'm gonna scream and yell, and I'm gonna just punish, and and you're realizing, man, that's not really the same way that Christ relates to me, and you're trying to figure out how to do that, or or perhaps it's kind of a laziness in your parenting, and maybe you're too kind of hands-off, and and you let your kids get away with murder, and you're like, that's not great, and that's not gonna really serve them well as they grow into adulthood.

And so, how do we work through that?

Or, or just repetitive plunges into foolish living.

And it seems like you can kind of hold the line in your walk with Christ, and then it seems like there comes a day where you just kind of lose your mind and you just run off into whatever your vice, whatever your issue is, or or perhaps for for many of us, it's just this overall lack of passion for Christ.

Like, why is it that we struggle with that sometimes, and how can I get beyond this numb feeling that I have?

And yes, I'm here, and and yes, I own a Bible, and yes, I'm carrying it, and even have it open.

I got a pen in hand, I'm just kind of like feel kind of dead inside.

So, how do I grow?

How do I be transformed, okay, in whatever the area, the issue might be for us?

I mean, these are the kinds of things that we often feel stuck in, don't we?

We feel stuck, we don't know how to move, and and so we've tried things like just praying, Lord, would you just magically take it away and we utter that prayer every once in a while, but we don't really think kind of what's happening beneath the service, and we just want God to do all the work.

Maybe that's what you've done, or perhaps for you, whenever there's an issue, you try to just grit your teeth and and white knuckle it through in your own strength and your own wisdom, or perhaps you've gone through that over and over again, and you're realizing maybe none of this is working, and so you've just resigned yourself to the idea that, man, these things are never gonna change.

And you feel guilty for that.

You know that you know what you read in the scripture says that God will sanctify you and will change you, and you see other people's going through this, and they got joined.

Well, why not me?

And is it ever gonna change?

Is it never gonna get any better?

And before we know it, as we've given in to these ways of thinking, it just feels like we're limping our way through life.

A mere shell of what God seems to want for us, desire for us in His Word, and and through all of that, inside we're carrying this frustration about this, this angst, this defeat, or maybe even it's guilt for you, because man, we know where we're supposed to be, but we just don't know how to get there.

Does any of us that sound familiar to you?

Any of you experience that?

I mean, that's really the whole reason for this series, right?

To to to figure this out a little bit and to find a new pathway forward, right?

Which is really thankfully just the old path.

It's the path that the scriptures have always laid out for us.

And really what we're doing, and we've been doing over the last four weeks now, is just making some adjustments and getting back on this path that God has for us.

So before we really get into what we're talking about today, that kind of tees up where we've been and kind of where we're going, I just want to pray for us now that the Lord, by his spirit, would continue to transform us as we lock into what he's saying to us here today.

So join me as we pray.

God, we come before you and Lord, maybe what I've described here in terms of the challenges that we're faced, someone's feeling that here right now.

Someone's watching and and and saying, yeah, that that describes my week, that describes my month, that describes in the last decade.

I'm tired of this, and I I see that I'm not fulfilled, and I see that Christ is not glorified through this, I see that my relationships are strained because of some area in my life that needs to change.

And so, God, would you have mercy on your church today?

Would you would you show us that that your word directs us?

Would you show us that you love us?

Would you show us that you uh have saved us and the joys in that and the transformation that you are working out?

So, Lord, as we talk so much about truth and we've been doing that, Lord, plant that deep down in our souls that we would live according to it, that we might glorify you and live as you have desired that we live.

And so, God, give us joy in this.

Give us a sense that this is going to work out and this is going uh to be okay, and that you are alive, that you love us, that you are at work.

God, encourage us this morning in these things we pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so we have been looking at Romans 12, verse 2, as uh, of course, as we've been talking about.

Romans 12:2

And so just a kind of a quick review on what we've been going through and coming from uh so far, you're there in the verse, it says at the beginning, do not be conformed to this world.

You remember that the conformity begins inwardly, right?

It begins inwardly when we first believe what isn't biblically true in our minds and in our hearts.

Remember last week we talked about the subconscious mind, the conscious mind, and how powerful uh that really is, right?

That, of course, when we believe lies, it leads to it leads to these idolatrous desires now, these motivations that we have in our heart, which which ultimately eventually manifest themselves in these outward behaviors, okay, that we can that we can see much more clearly, that are ultimately just an overflow of those lies that we believe and those desires, those warped desires that we have.

Okay, so the scripture here says, do not be conformed, okay, do not be conformed to the world.

Their way of thinking, which starts inside, of course, it says, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, okay, your mind, where we choose to think about, okay, think about and then and then believe God's solid truth instead of the lies deep down, okay, which through practice, you remember Philippians 4 9, right, transforms then into godly desires and then godly behaviors and a godly life, okay, which at the end of the day, that's God's will for you.

Right?

That's God's desire for each one of us.

And that's really what this last part of Romans 12, verse 2 gets at, right?

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Here it is, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Okay, so as you and I are transformed by the renewal of our minds, the will of God, okay, which itself is good and acceptable and perfect for us, it becomes something that we will experience and live out as transformed people.

That's what it that's what it means when it when it says that by testing you may discern.

Okay, as our minds are renewed by truth, we'll discern or or we'll realize by way of our experiences in everyday life, that's the testing piece there in the verse, that God's will really is the greatest way to live.

Right?

Knowing it and then living according to it, it's far, far, far better than the alternative, than how many of us live every single day, living according to the world's desires, according to their lives, right?

According to their beliefs and their behaviors.

Okay, so today's message is really about what living as a transformed person is like.

It's where you're functioning properly now, because you're believing what's true, and that is driving you.

You're living according to God's will, which is of course is how He created you to live.

Now, what is God's will specifically?

Okay, well, a lot of things, a lot of things that we could say about that.

But this morning we're gonna take a look at really three key areas of what life looks like as we are transformed by the renewal of our minds.

Okay, so here is the first one here as you're following along.

Okay, it's I am truly transformed as I experience the greatness of God's will for me, thriving in freedom instead of succumbing to slavery.

Now, for this, uh we're gonna we're actually gonna look at three different passages here this morning, okay?

Three different passages.

So if you would turn to Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, that's the first part that we're going to uh look at here.

Galatians 5:1

Now, Galatians is a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Galatia to show them that a right belief in the truth, in the in the gospel, leads to a change in behavior.

Okay, so he's really writing about, he talks very practically about the transformation that this series has been about.

Okay, so he's writing to this church.

Now the problem that Paul had noticed in the church of Galatia was that their conduct, okay, so how they lived, how they how they acted, wasn't in step with the truth.

Okay, it wasn't in step with the truth of the gospel specifically.

He actually says that in chapter 2, verse 14.

And then he goes on to give an example to illustrate his point.

And he talks about how at one point he and Peter, okay, they were both spending some time.

They spent some time in Antioch and they were ministering to the believers there.

Okay, and so Paul and Peter were both Jewish, of course, but in Antioch, both Jews and Gentiles had gotten saved, and they were all part of this community of believers.

Now, you and I already know this, we've talked about this lots of times.

Jews and Gentiles were very different in terms of their traditions and their upbringings, their religious understanding.

Okay, Jews had all kinds of different traditions that they followed, you know, different dietary food laws, they were about circumcision, which is gonna come up here in just a second.

And then, of course, the Gentiles, which just means non-Jew, okay, they came from all kinds of different backgrounds, paganism and atheism and all that kind of stuff.

So now you've got all these people together.

And and Peter, along with Paul, had been proclaiming the gospel that Jesus Christ is sufficient, right?

Jesus Christ died for sinners and that he gives us, he grants us salvation as a gift, not based on works.

Okay, so here's what was happening though.

What happened was a number of Jews who happened to be really all about circumcision, which was again a tradition that the Jews had practiced and was a big part of Judaism, some of these Jews came to Antioch, okay, and and Peter he had this kind of weak moment where he realized, I know that I've actually I don't know if you realize it, but really what happened was he he he had been teaching that that Christ is the way to salvation, okay, but because the the Jews came who believed in circumcision, he started to actually withdraw himself from some of the Gentiles because of the teaching of these Jews that circumcision was necessary.

Okay, and so that was some of the problem.

He's actually living as a hypocrite.

He was teaching with his words that Christ was enough, but by his behavior, he was suggesting that no, in to truly be loved by God, you need to also get circumcised.

And so Paul notices this and he he calls it out.

Okay, and then he reminds the Galatians of this in chapter 5, verse 1.

Are you there?

Here's what he says to the Galatians.

He says, For freedom, Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

All right, so the idea here is that through the cross and resurrection, Christ has set us free from the bondage to sin.

Does that make sense?

Okay, but but but not where we experience not just the freedom of forgiveness, okay, but also the freedom to not return again to those old sinful patterns that we once gave into, those old habits of and ways of thinking and and behaving.

Okay, where we become enslaved to them, that old way of living, just like we were before we got saved.

Okay, so Paul here in Galatians 5, verse 1, he's urging the galging these people to understand that through Christ, through the gospel, they've been set free.

Galatians 5:1

They've been set free to live a life of freedom now, where they're we're no longer in these broken and sinful ways.

We don't live like that anymore.

Okay, but that it's very possible, as in the case of Peter and Antioch, to kind of slide back into this sense of slavery, even though they're actually free according to the gospel.

Okay, so Peter, he wasn't, in that moment, he wasn't living in step with the truth of the gospel.

Means that he wasn't deep down believing and then living according to what was actually true.

Okay, specifically, the issue was that he wasn't believing that Jews and Gentiles were created equal and that Christ saves both, regardless of your background.

Okay, instead, in that moment, he chose to believe the lie that Gentiles were in some way inferior to Jews, which led then to what?

Well, it led to desires now for approval from the circumcision party, from the from those other Jews that were pushing circumcision as a necessary requirement for salvation.

He desired their approval, and so he it all ultimately led to his behavior of withdrawing from the Gentiles in the church and showing that he was better, even though that's not even remotely true.

He broke fellowship with other people in the church because of a lie that he ultimately believed and followed through on.

Now, I mean, we've been talking all series about this this very thing.

This is the same three-step process that we all fall maybe follow maybe dozens of times uh every single day.

Right?

Deep down we believe, first of all, a lie instead of the truth.

Which leads to what?

Well, it leads to then these idolatrous desires, okay, and then ultimately three spills out into sinful behavior.

I mean, anytime a sinful behavior or something that you do that doesn't glorify God and maybe harms relationships with other people, this is ultimately what is happening in that moment.

It's just whether or not we can identify it and go back to what is true and start living according to it.

Okay, do you realize that that this falling back into slavery when we that's not how God designed us to live?

That is not how a Christian is to live functionally, practically, in every circumstance, in every single day of our lives.

We weren't created like that.

But but we again we get stuck in those old patterns, don't we?

Submitting to slavery when it's for freedom that Christ has set you and I free.

He says there, Paul does, he says, stand firm, therefore.

He's like, thrive in that freedom, hang on to it, stand, don't crumble.

I might be thinking, well, like how again?

How do I do this?

Well, it's just what we've been talking about, right?

By by believing truly deep down what is true.

Right?

Telling yourself that over and over again.

Remember, you're the most influential person in your life because you you talk to yourself a lot.

Don't don't tell yourself lies, don't reinforce those lies.

Tell yourself what is true, and then allow that, allow God's Holy Spirit to use that to transform then your desires, and then in turn your behavior, right?

Your actions in ways that reflect the freedom that you've been saved to experience and enjoy.

That's really what transformation is.

And that's God's will for you.

It's how God has designed each one of us, everyone who is a believer, to experience life.

And it's all a result of Christ's saving work through the gospel.

Many of you will be very familiar with Jesus' own words in John chapter 10, verse 10, where he said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

John 10:10

I came that they, believers, may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundant life.

Now, don't answer this, don't put up your hand, but if I were to survey the crowd here today and I ask, hey, listen, do you feel like you are living that thriving, abundant life full of freedom in Christ?

How would you answer that?

My sense would be that not many of us, or far fewer of us than it should be, would it would raise our hands.

Right?

Many of us feel like just crippled spiritually constantly.

We feel so plagued by sinful things.

We have a negative mindset constantly.

We the last thing we feel is that we're living this abundant spiritual life.

But that's exactly what Christ said.

He came to usher us into this abundant life.

The Christian life is to be just that.

We're supposed to thrive.

We're supposed to live out of the freedom that Christ has secured for us.

So listen, if you're not experiencing that quite yet, just remember that you have the opportunity to.

That's how Christ has saved us too.

It's no more submitting to all of that.

Let's learn to think well here.

Let's learn to desire and act in ways that are in line with the freedom that Christ has given us.

Again, that's the thriving that he wants you and I to experience.

That is his will for you for your whole life.

How else does God want me to experience the greatness of his will?

Well, here's the second thing it's living out from the identity that he has given me.

Living out from the identity that he's given me.

Now, if I were to ask you another question, if I was to ask you, how do you define yourself?

How do you define yourself?

How would you answer that?

Okay, so many people define themselves based on their career, for example.

I'm an electrician, I'm a I'm a banker, I'm a business owner, or I'm jobless, or I'm a student, right?

We we we we tend to attach what we do to who we are.

Many of us, when we try to define ourselves, we immediately go to how we look, right?

We define ourselves based on our appearance.

I am tall.

Everyone tells me that.

I am short.

People always make fun of me for that.

I am overweight, I'm skinny, I'm muscular, I'm not.

You notice how we often define ourselves based on our appearance.

Many people will define themselves according to their hobbies.

I'm a golfer, I try to golf a hundred times a year, or I'm a skier, or I run marathons.

These are the hobbies that I like.

I'm a gardener, right?

We we that's who we are, that's what we think, anyways.

Some of us define ourselves based on our experiences, and some of those experiences have been quite dark.

I'm a I'm an I'm a victim of abuse.

It's something that you went through when you were younger, and now that is who you tell you yourself you are.

I'm a victim.

I'm maybe for you it's you grew up and your family had a lot of money, and so you see yourself automatically as successful and maybe better than other people because of that.

Right?

Do you notice all these examples that I just Gave.

All of them.

Not one of them is how Christ defines you.

Not one of those things is who you truly are.

Okay, for this, let's take a look at Ephesians chapter one.

It's just if, you know, just kind of flipping ahead one or maybe two pages in your Bible.

It's the next uh book right after Galatians, but Ephesians 1, uh verses 1 to 14.

Now, again, we did a whole series actually on this passage, an eight-part series at the early part of 2019.

And if you want to do kind of a deeper dive into all of these things we're gonna look at very quickly here today, I encourage you to go do that.

Go back into the podcast or into the website, and uh you can dig in there.

Okay, but notice here as we read through this, uh who God says you are.

Okay, not who you're becoming.

If you could only get your act together, this is who you would be.

No, this is actually who you are as a Christian right now.

Hold on a second, Pastor.

I've only been a Christian uh for a week.

That's okay.

This is who you are.

I've been a Christian for 50 years.

This is who you are.

Take a look at this now, starting in verse one.

This is who we are in Christ or in him.

Notice how many times it says that.

Verse one says this Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

Faithful is who you are.

Now you might be thinking, well, wait a second, I'm not very faithful.

I didn't live a very faithful life to Christ this week.

I didn't even read my Bible.

I I didn't I didn't share my faith.

I I behaved sinfully.

I'm I'm I was actually quite faithless this week.

Well, according to this, God sees you as though you are faithful.

Why?

Well, because Christ was faithful for you.

When you get saved, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, he views you now as everything that Christ did, you did.

Christ was perfectly faithful in your place, so now therefore you are faithful.

Not someday, you are now.

That's who you are.

That's your identity.

I am faithful.

Keep going, verse 2.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

So what are we there?

According to our identity, we are blessed.

We are blessed.

How many of us, though, have lived this week as though, like, when is God gonna finally bless me?

When is God gonna finally give me the thing that my heart longs for?

You're already blessed.

He's given you every spiritual blessing.

But so many of us live as though we're in this place of deficit when we are already in this place of rich, rich blessing.

Yeah, I love 1 Peter 1, verse 3.

1 Peter 1:3

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

He's already given us all things that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him, through Christ, who called us to his own glory and excellence.

We already have everything we need.

We have our salvation, we have the word of God, we have truth, we have the Holy Spirit, we've got everything.

Let's live according to these things now.

We are richly, deeply blessed.

It's who you are.

Okay, this verse four, keep going.

It says, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which we at He which He has blessed us, he says it again, in the beloved.

Okay, so we see there in those couple of verses that we're chosen.

We're chosen by God.

It's not based on your performance, right?

The scriptures say that while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

Right?

You are chosen.

No more thinking that you lack value, no more thinking that you have no worth just because you know your mom told you that when you were young, or you had a teacher who was mean to you when you were like in grade five.

Okay, you have worth and you have value because God says so.

He chose you.

You're you've been predestined, you've been rescued.

Okay, you were a son, you were a daughter of the king.

It's who you are, you were chosen.

Keep going, verse 7.

In him we have redemption, something we have through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

Okay, you are redeemed.

You're not going to be redeemed someday if only you could behave properly and follow all of God's rules.

Okay, that's not how it works.

You are redeemed already by way of Jesus Christ.

You are it, it's who you are, it is your identity.

Verse 9.

Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to the purpose which he has set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

So, what do we see there?

Well, it shows us that God has made known to us some things.

He's made known to us the mystery of his will.

We are enlightened.

We know some things.

We know the purpose of life, we know the pathway to salvation.

His name is Jesus.

We know how we're supposed to live, we know what our ultimate future holds.

Do you realize that there are millions of people out there who have no clue about any of this?

And they're wandering around looking for purpose in certain things.

Don't be like that.

You already have purpose.

You know you've been you've been enlightened.

Think about how amazing that is.

It's who you are.

How about this?

Verse 13, verse 11 rather.

In him, okay, in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

I think many of us walk around in any given day wondering what the future is gonna hold.

I think 2020 has brought a lot of that out of us.

And so many of us have have lost hope, but but that should not be the case.

Right?

In Christ, we are hopeful.

Right?

We know what the future holds.

We know who holds the future.

Don't allow yourself to succumb to that slavery of thinking, I've got no hope and my future is bleak.

It is not, it is the most amazing future ever.

As difficult as this life might be, everything is gonna work out so perfectly for you, you've got heaven waiting for you.

Right?

You are hopeful.

Verse 13.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

So what we see right there is that we're we're sealed.

That's our identity.

Your inheritance, your your eternity is stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Your glorification, your new body, that that eternity in heaven with God, where there will be no more sin and no more tears and no more death, all of that is guaranteed.

You are sealed.

That is a massive component of your identity.

Listen, church, why do you and I tend to live these fear-filled, worry-stricken, anger-fueled, addiction-riddled, confidence-lacking, self-centered, joyless, passionless existences.

Why do we tend to live like that?

Well, because we do not know actually who we are deep down.

We don't know it, even though God's word tells us very clearly.

And so we chase after and and attach our identities to these flimsy idols, okay, who have no right to tell you who you are, and no power to actually deliver on their very many promises to fulfill you and make you thrive.

Only God, as our creator, has the right and has the power through Jesus Christ to tell you who you are as a person.

Only God has that right.

And notice who He says you are is not who you will be someday.

It's who you literally are the moment that you get saved.

Why?

Because he declares it so.

And his will for your life and my life is that we would experience the awesomeness of recognizing that, understanding that, believing that, and then living out from that identity.

Where we live as God has created us, as a transformed person does that.

Okay, uh a transformed person pauses after submitting again to a yoke of slavery, remember Galatians 5, 1, by reminding themselves of this truth, okay, that I am who God says I am, okay?

They they renew their mind by anchoring themselves to that truth, and then they decide to move forward now in the reality of that truth.

Okay, where they're saying, wait a second, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna give in to this lie about what I'm feeling about myself or what somebody else has told me or who the world says I should be.

I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not I'm not, for example, one who has no value.

I'm not one who has no worth.

I'll it's not that I'll never amount to anything or that I'm alone truly, because God says that that's not my identity.

My identity is that I'm chosen, that I'm redeemed, that I'm faithful.

I'm gonna allow those things to be my confidence.

I'm gonna allow those things to fill me with with hope that I feel slipping away in this emotional moment.

God's will is that you and I would experience the greatness of living and actually functioning and operating like that.

That's exactly how He has created you and I to live.

Let's keep going here, lasting.

I am truly transformed as I experience the greatness of God's will for me, trusting God to work out the challenges of my life.

For this, jump over to Romans chapter 8, verse 28 now.

Romans 8:28

Uh Romans is just an incredible uh book of the Bible, and chapter 8 is amazing.

I mean, I don't even know what else to say about it.

We could spend the rest of our lives just meditating on chapter 8 alone, and we'd be uh so well off for it.

But here's what it says, Romans 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

It says this, and we know, okay, so we got it locked in.

We know that for those who love God, that's Christ's followers, okay, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

All things work out.

Now, maybe you're thinking, listen, Mike, I I kind of hear what you're saying today, and I hear what you've been saying over the last few weeks, but you know, that that we're to live in freedom and we're to thrive and and and and there's hope for us and our identity and all of that.

But what about the just kind of the reality, the fact that life is hard?

Right?

And I'm experiencing all kinds of challenges, and and more challenges are kind of around the corner.

What about that?

Well, I mean, I can't I can't disagree with that.

I mean, in fact, I actually deeply appreciate and love how the Bible is is very straight up with us about the reality of trials and and difficulties.

I mean, multiple passages talk about it.

But God's will for you and I is that as we're transformed by the renewal of our mind and experience what it means to live out this freedom that we have through Jesus Christ instead of submitting to slavery, okay, and then as you and I embrace and really live out of this identity that Christ has given us, if we do that, then we'll then we'll know, okay, deep down, we'll trust and and we'll believe that that all the challenges that you and I will encounter in this life will will work together for good.

So if you're if you're thinking like like, man, what's gonna happen to me now that I've lost my job because of COVID?

You know, or my kids are really struggling through their through their teenage years, and and I'm concerned because I think as a parent, and some of the decisions I made in my parenting is to blame, or partially anyways.

Or for you, maybe it's when will the doctor know what's really wrong with me and the fear that comes in all of that, or my marriage is crumbling, and how am I gonna move forward from here?

It kind of feels like it over like it's over.

I mean, these are the kinds of very real moments that that we experience, that many of us go through.

But as we're transformed in our minds and in our hearts, we begin to live out and actually experience in in everyday life a truly unshakable trust in God that it'll all work out as it's supposed to.

That's what a transformed person does.

It's gonna work out as as as he decides.

And ultimately it'll work out for my good.

God's not just gonna leave me broken and wrecked over in the corner here.

Now, in this moment where I'm going through the trial, I'm going through the difficulty, it's it's pain and it's it's it's mega problems, I may not see how it's gonna work out, I may not see exactly where it's going, I may not understand when it's gonna get better, I may not see hardly anything at all.

But as I am, as I am living as a free person, as my mind is being renewed, okay, I will deeply trust that these challenges, that these problems are in his hands.

Right?

And I will feel peace about that.

Because in his hands are the best place for them.

As we're transformed and as we as we believe truth deep down, we we learn to live, functionally live with these beliefs and these truths actually governing us.

You're looking forward to that?

Like this truth is actually guiding my mind and how I think.

It's guiding my heart, guiding my emotions and my decision making, it's guiding my motivations, why I do what I do.

And it's it's motivating and guiding my actions and how I actually live my life in any circumstance, in all circumstances that I might face.

This deep trust in God, this identity that we're learning to embrace, this freedom that Christ has given us literally becomes our experience as we wake up each day.

You looking forward to experiencing that if you're not already?

I mean, that is God's will for your life today.

That is God's will for your life going forward.

And so, really, this is this is where we're going this year, church.

These are the kinds of things that we're gonna kind of continue to come back to and unpack and press into.

It's like a million more things that I wanted to say in this series that just landed on the cutting room floor.

But don't worry, we're gonna get to some of that stuff.

We're gonna be jumping back into Acts very soon here, and and as we jump into other passages of scripture as well, how to be transformed and renewing our minds in truth and rejecting the lies and spotting the idols and repenting of it and then moving forward as transformed people.

That's what we're gonna focus on here this year.

I'm so excited about this.

I'm excited to weave this in as I'm learning these things, and we're all learning these things this fall and uh and beyond all of this.

And so, really, what I want to do is I want to pray for us now.

I want to pray that the Lord would continue to do this work.

I've been so encouraged to speak to a number of you, and it's like there's a light bulb going on here, and you're realizing, man, like I need, like I like I get this, I need to I need to hold on to this, and I want to see the Lord transform this, that, or the other thing in my life.

And if you're here this morning or you are you are watching online, listen, understand that that transformation begins with knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

Okay, if you have not become a Christful or a Christian, but you're trying to like improve yourself, it's it's it's just gonna result in frustration.

You have to get your life right with God.

And God says some things that you need to reconcile, that you need to you need to accept.

He says that that left to our own self, we're we're sinful, and our and our sin has has gone against him.

Our sin has offended God, and and nothing we can do can can fix that, can appease that.

And that's the very reason why he sent Jesus Christ to the cross.

He sent Christ to the cross, first of all, to live the perfect life that you could, and he followed all of God's commands perfectly.

And then when he went to the cross and he was crucified, that was for you.

That was in your place.

He suffered God's wrath that was that's meant for you.

He took it all on himself.

If you would believe that, if you would trust that that is for you, you're a Christian.

That's where transformation starts.

We're gonna continue to unpack those things as well throughout this year as we always do.

And I would challenge and and always urge you if you have more questions about that, just come talk to me afterwards.

I'll make myself available.

Would love to lead you in these things.

Listen, normally we we close our service in a song, but I know I've kind of kept you a little bit here.

And so I want to close our time uh in prayer.

I want to pray for you that the Lord would have his way in these things that we're talking about.

So join me as I pray.

God, we thank you so much for this time together, Lord, over the last four weeks talking about and kind of mining into just a couple of verses even about what transformation is about.

We see, Lord, it's that the mind is so key in this.

Lord, I pray that you would teach your church to know and understand truth, to believe it deep down, to identify the different lies that go against that, to reject that.

Lord, to to meditate on what is true, to cling to your scriptures, to believe what you have declared.

Lord, I pray that as as we do that, Lord, your Holy Spirit would truly do a work of transformation in us.

Lord, I pray that you would renew our minds.

Lord, I pray that we would live in step with the truth of the gospel.

Lord, it's not just so that we could feel good or or feel more at peace.

Those are amazing things that happen as a result, but Lord, it's that we would bring glory to you.

So that people would look at our lives and say, wow, what's different about that person?

And we would say, Jesus.

We say, Jesus has saved me and he has transformed me, he's continuing to do it.

Let me tell you about him, Lord.

I pray that that would be the heartbeat of our church.

Lord, thank you for these things here today, Lord.

And I pray that as we engage in your word this fall, that you would transform Redemption Church.

Continue to do it, Lord.

Help us to live out of the identity that we've been given, live out of the freedom that you have secured for us.

Lord, I pray that you would help us now to the glory of Christ if we pray all this in his name.

Amen.