WEBVTT
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This morning I'd like to talk about being transformed.
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Now the word transform is used three times in the New Testament, and it comes from the Greek word metamorphoo.
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It's the root of our English word metamorphosis.
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And a metamorphosis is a total change in nature, character, and form.
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It's when something completely changes or is transformed.
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Examples from nature is when a tadpole becomes a frog, or perhaps a prettier picture is when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.
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And there's a process of change that takes place.
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It emerges as something completely different.
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So it's used three times in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 17, in Romans chapter 12, and in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
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And we're going to look at each of these occurrences today and see three things that God uses to transform us to become like Jesus.
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And the first is in Matthew chapter 17.
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Why don't we turn there and have a look at Matthew 17, verse 1 through to verse 9?
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And this is the record of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop.
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And I would say the first thing that God uses to transform us are mountaintop experiences.
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Let's read from Matthew 17, verse 1 through to verse 9.
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And I'm reading from the English Standard Version.
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It says, And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
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Interesting how often you see Jesus just with those three, his closest friends, in his high points and also in his low points, like in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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And he was transfigured before them.
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He was transformed before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
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And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
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And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it's good that we are here.
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If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
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And while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.
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When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
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But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise and have no fear.
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And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
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And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them to tell no one the vision until the Son of Man was raised from the dead.
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Now in verse 2 it says, He was transfigured before them.
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He is transformed before them.
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And it's interesting how in verse 1 and verse 9 they went up the mountain and they came back down the mountain.
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You know, in life we have mountaintop experiences.
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Often a Sunday might be a defining moment in your life.
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When you come together and there's corporate worship and we sense God's presence and we meet him on those mountaintops.
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But the problem is we can't live there.
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And there was a desire that Peter had.
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He said, Let's make three little houses, let's stay here.
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Now it would be wonderful if we could meet here every day.
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We could have times of worship, we could spend time in God's presence together.
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But the reality is we can't.
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We have to go down the mountain, back into our everyday lives, and serve the Lord wherever He has placed us.
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We have to live our normal lives.
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And I think it's important to recognize that those mountaintop experiences are things that we should seek, we should celebrate, we should go after.
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So it might be when a guest speaker comes through, a Sunday meeting, a time of worship, a time where you draw aside and you experience God.
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Very interesting in verse 5 through to verse 7.
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They saw Jesus in a new light for who he really was.
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He was transfigured before them.
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His face shone and his clothes shone, and they and they they fell down on their knees.
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They were amazed at what they saw.
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Jesus spoke to them.
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They heard the voice from heaven.
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This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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They heard God speak clearly.
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And Jesus touched them and said, Don't fear.
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And we have those experiences where God touches us and wonderful, wonderful things happen.
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They wanted to stay on the mountain, but they couldn't.
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They had to move on with life.
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I'd like to now look at the second scripture we're going to look at, which is Romans chapter 12 and verse 2.
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And here we see the second occurrence of the word transformed.
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It's being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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Romans 12 and verse 2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
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Reading from the New International Version, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
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We're transformed as our minds are renewed according to God's word.
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Now that word renew could be translated to renovate, to completely gut and reestablish.
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To re-establish the foundations in our thinking, or perhaps a modern use of the word could be to rewire.
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And so there's times that we need to recognize that some of our thinking needs to change.
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Sometimes we've got stinking thinking.
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Sometimes there's things going on between our ears that need to change.
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And where the man, where the thought, where your thoughts go, you follow.
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You follow those thoughts.
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And there needs to be a transformation that takes place.
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It's very interesting.
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If we're not being transformed by the renewing of our minds, then I believe we are being conformed to the pattern of this world.
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And when he's talking about the world, he's talking about this world's thoughts, attitudes, and opinions.
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This cosmos.
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He's talking about this world's thoughts and attitudes and opinions of how we should live.
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And when those thoughts are in contrast to the scriptures, then the Bible calls those thoughts evil thoughts.
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He calls those thoughts things that we shouldn't allow to squeeze us into a mold.
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J.B.
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Phillips, in his translation, renders this verse this way.
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He says, Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.
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And there is pressure.
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There's peer pressure around us, there's pressure from the media, there's pressure from all sorts of things trying to squeeze us into a particular mold.
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And God has not called us to be squeezed into that mold.
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He wants us to take the truth of his word, he wants us to begin to renew our minds, to renovate our thinking according to the word of God.
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And it's a process, it's not a once-off event, it's something that you have to keep working on.
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It's interesting how he says, as you renew your mind, you'll prove what is God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.
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And I believe that talks about something that's progressive.
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There's a progressive change that starts taking place in our lives, where we go from being in God's good will for our lives towards his pleasing will, and then eventually into his perfect will for our lives.
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And if we take the promises of God's word, the principles, the precepts, the patterns of scripture, and we begin to say that's the way I should live.
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A transformation takes place when we start taking God's word and we start feeding on God's word and renewing our minds and our own personal relationship with God.
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We have a personal responsibility for this transformation to take place in our lives.
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Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world.
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Are we becoming more like Jesus or are we becoming more like the world around us?
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And you know, we live in a generation where things that have been accepted as normal are now being considered abnormal.
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And things that were considered abnormal are being seen as normal.
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I think every generation's had its challenges.
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And in every generation we need to say what does God's word say about this and how should we live?
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And I think it's important that we recognize I cannot renew your mind, I can simply renew my mind.
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Don't conform to this the pattern of this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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We all have a personal responsibility to do this.
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And then there's a transformation that begins to take place, a change that begins to take place as we spend time in God's Word.
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Faith arises, we reach out, we receive God's grace, there's a flow of God's power into our lives, and there's a change that takes place.
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But it's simply by taking the word of God and renewing our minds according to what the Bible says.
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It's very simple, really.
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What do you do when you're facing a challenge?
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Find out what the Bible says about it, get those promises, begin to meditate on them, which which means to not empty your mind, but to fill your mind, to muse over, to chew over those things.
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And as you begin to chew on that and you begin to muse over that, you begin to see how you can live.
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Don't let this book of the Lord depart from your mouth, but meditate on it day and night.
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Then you will make your way prosperous and successful.
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And the Bible says you'll deal wisely in the affairs of life.
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The third use of this word transformed is in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
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And we're going to read verse 17 and verse 18, is our personal time with God, how the Holy Spirit transforms us by spending time with Jesus.
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Verse 17 and 18 in the English Standard Version, it says, The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
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You know, the more time we spend with God, the freer we become.
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And then verse 18, he says, 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.
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For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
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As we spend time in His presence and we're exposed to His love and His grace and His mercy and His faithfulness, we're changed because we spend time with the Lord.
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You know, you you become like the people you spend time with.
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You really do.
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You begin to pick up their habits, you begin to pick up their idiosyncrasies, you begin to pick up traits from them.
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And if we spend time with Jesus, a transformation begins to take place in our lives.
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We begin to reach our full potential.
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It's a process of change from time spent in the presence of God.
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We behold his face and we become like him from one degree of glory to another.
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And as we spend time with him, we start to experience freedom.
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Now I think there's three distinct ways that he transforms us.
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First of all, there's those mountaintop experiences.
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Secondly, there's the renewing of our minds, which is the word of God, and there's the time spent with God, which is the Spirit of God.
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And he uses the word and the Spirit to transform us, to change us, to make us like Jesus.
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We need the Word of God and we need the Spirit of God.
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You can't just live on mountaintop experiences.
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God never intended our relationship with Him to be Sunday to Sunday, and somehow we have this long underwater swim in between.
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But he wants us to have a living relationship with him every day.
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Now, if you only have the word, someone once said, you will dry up.
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You'll dry up.
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If you only have the spirit, you'll blow up.
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But if you have the word and the spirit, you'll grow up.
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And I think that's a that's a wonderful thing.
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This week, I would encourage you to begin to develop a daily habit of spending time in the word and with the spirit and allowing him to transform us so we become more like Jesus.
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Should we pray?
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Lord, we thank you for this day.
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We thank you, Lord, that your desire is to meet with us.
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We want you to transform us, to change us.
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And we thank you, Lord, a touch from you can change everything.
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And I pray that you would continue to transform us.
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You would use these things to transform us to be more like you every day.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:32.850
This morning I'd like to talk about being transformed.
00:00:33.009 --> 00:00:43.090
Now the word transform is used three times in the New Testament, and it comes from the Greek word metamorphoo.
00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:47.170
It's the root of our English word metamorphosis.
00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:53.010
And a metamorphosis is a total change in nature, character, and form.
00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:57.730
It's when something completely changes or is transformed.
00:00:58.129 --> 00:01:08.689
Examples from nature is when a tadpole becomes a frog, or perhaps a prettier picture is when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.
00:01:08.770 --> 00:01:11.969
And there's a process of change that takes place.
00:01:12.210 --> 00:01:16.129
It emerges as something completely different.
00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:24.609
So it's used three times in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 17, in Romans chapter 12, and in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
00:01:24.770 --> 00:01:33.650
And we're going to look at each of these occurrences today and see three things that God uses to transform us to become like Jesus.
00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:36.290
And the first is in Matthew chapter 17.
00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:41.810
Why don't we turn there and have a look at Matthew 17, verse 1 through to verse 9?
00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:48.370
And this is the record of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop.
00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:55.010
And I would say the first thing that God uses to transform us are mountaintop experiences.
00:01:55.250 --> 00:01:59.489
Let's read from Matthew 17, verse 1 through to verse 9.
00:01:59.569 --> 00:02:01.650
And I'm reading from the English Standard Version.
00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:13.009
It says, And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
00:02:13.650 --> 00:02:22.530
Interesting how often you see Jesus just with those three, his closest friends, in his high points and also in his low points, like in the Garden of Gethsemane.
00:02:22.610 --> 00:02:24.930
And he was transfigured before them.
00:02:25.170 --> 00:02:31.810
He was transformed before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
00:02:31.889 --> 00:02:35.969
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
00:02:36.129 --> 00:02:39.569
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it's good that we are here.
00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:45.090
If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:56.050
And while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.
00:02:56.210 --> 00:02:59.409
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
00:02:59.569 --> 00:03:03.569
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise and have no fear.
00:03:03.729 --> 00:03:07.889
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
00:03:08.050 --> 00:03:16.770
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them to tell no one the vision until the Son of Man was raised from the dead.
00:03:17.009 --> 00:03:20.129
Now in verse 2 it says, He was transfigured before them.
00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:22.610
He is transformed before them.
00:03:22.849 --> 00:03:28.770
And it's interesting how in verse 1 and verse 9 they went up the mountain and they came back down the mountain.
00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:31.810
You know, in life we have mountaintop experiences.
00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:36.050
Often a Sunday might be a defining moment in your life.
00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:42.530
When you come together and there's corporate worship and we sense God's presence and we meet him on those mountaintops.
00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:44.770
But the problem is we can't live there.
00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:46.530
And there was a desire that Peter had.
00:03:46.610 --> 00:03:49.169
He said, Let's make three little houses, let's stay here.
00:03:49.330 --> 00:03:52.449
Now it would be wonderful if we could meet here every day.
00:03:52.610 --> 00:03:56.210
We could have times of worship, we could spend time in God's presence together.
00:03:56.289 --> 00:03:58.289
But the reality is we can't.
00:03:58.449 --> 00:04:05.330
We have to go down the mountain, back into our everyday lives, and serve the Lord wherever He has placed us.
00:04:05.490 --> 00:04:08.210
We have to live our normal lives.
00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:14.610
And I think it's important to recognize that those mountaintop experiences are things that we should seek, we should celebrate, we should go after.
00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:23.649
So it might be when a guest speaker comes through, a Sunday meeting, a time of worship, a time where you draw aside and you experience God.
00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:26.850
Very interesting in verse 5 through to verse 7.
00:04:27.090 --> 00:04:31.330
They saw Jesus in a new light for who he really was.
00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:33.730
He was transfigured before them.
00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:38.850
His face shone and his clothes shone, and they and they they fell down on their knees.
00:04:39.169 --> 00:04:41.730
They were amazed at what they saw.
00:04:41.889 --> 00:04:43.090
Jesus spoke to them.
00:04:43.250 --> 00:04:44.850
They heard the voice from heaven.
00:04:45.009 --> 00:04:47.410
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:48.290
Listen to him.
00:04:48.449 --> 00:04:50.610
They heard God speak clearly.
00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:53.730
And Jesus touched them and said, Don't fear.
00:04:53.889 --> 00:04:59.410
And we have those experiences where God touches us and wonderful, wonderful things happen.
00:04:59.569 --> 00:05:02.290
They wanted to stay on the mountain, but they couldn't.
00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:04.449
They had to move on with life.
00:05:04.610 --> 00:05:10.449
I'd like to now look at the second scripture we're going to look at, which is Romans chapter 12 and verse 2.
00:05:10.610 --> 00:05:14.290
And here we see the second occurrence of the word transformed.
00:05:14.449 --> 00:05:18.370
It's being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
00:05:18.529 --> 00:05:22.769
Romans 12 and verse 2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:30.769
Reading from the New International Version, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:39.009
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:44.769
We're transformed as our minds are renewed according to God's word.
00:05:45.170 --> 00:05:53.490
Now that word renew could be translated to renovate, to completely gut and reestablish.
00:05:53.649 --> 00:06:01.649
To re-establish the foundations in our thinking, or perhaps a modern use of the word could be to rewire.
00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:07.410
And so there's times that we need to recognize that some of our thinking needs to change.
00:06:07.569 --> 00:06:09.730
Sometimes we've got stinking thinking.
00:06:09.889 --> 00:06:13.329
Sometimes there's things going on between our ears that need to change.
00:06:13.490 --> 00:06:16.610
And where the man, where the thought, where your thoughts go, you follow.
00:06:16.769 --> 00:06:18.290
You follow those thoughts.
00:06:18.370 --> 00:06:20.689
And there needs to be a transformation that takes place.
00:06:20.850 --> 00:06:21.649
It's very interesting.
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If we're not being transformed by the renewing of our minds, then I believe we are being conformed to the pattern of this world.
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And when he's talking about the world, he's talking about this world's thoughts, attitudes, and opinions.
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This cosmos.
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He's talking about this world's thoughts and attitudes and opinions of how we should live.
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And when those thoughts are in contrast to the scriptures, then the Bible calls those thoughts evil thoughts.
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He calls those thoughts things that we shouldn't allow to squeeze us into a mold.
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J.B.
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Phillips, in his translation, renders this verse this way.
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He says, Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.
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And there is pressure.
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There's peer pressure around us, there's pressure from the media, there's pressure from all sorts of things trying to squeeze us into a particular mold.
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And God has not called us to be squeezed into that mold.
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He wants us to take the truth of his word, he wants us to begin to renew our minds, to renovate our thinking according to the word of God.
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And it's a process, it's not a once-off event, it's something that you have to keep working on.
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It's interesting how he says, as you renew your mind, you'll prove what is God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.
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And I believe that talks about something that's progressive.
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There's a progressive change that starts taking place in our lives, where we go from being in God's good will for our lives towards his pleasing will, and then eventually into his perfect will for our lives.
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And if we take the promises of God's word, the principles, the precepts, the patterns of scripture, and we begin to say that's the way I should live.
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A transformation takes place when we start taking God's word and we start feeding on God's word and renewing our minds and our own personal relationship with God.
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We have a personal responsibility for this transformation to take place in our lives.
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Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world.
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Are we becoming more like Jesus or are we becoming more like the world around us?
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And you know, we live in a generation where things that have been accepted as normal are now being considered abnormal.
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And things that were considered abnormal are being seen as normal.
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I think every generation's had its challenges.
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And in every generation we need to say what does God's word say about this and how should we live?
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And I think it's important that we recognize I cannot renew your mind, I can simply renew my mind.
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Don't conform to this the pattern of this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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We all have a personal responsibility to do this.
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And then there's a transformation that begins to take place, a change that begins to take place as we spend time in God's Word.
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Faith arises, we reach out, we receive God's grace, there's a flow of God's power into our lives, and there's a change that takes place.
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But it's simply by taking the word of God and renewing our minds according to what the Bible says.
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It's very simple, really.
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What do you do when you're facing a challenge?
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Find out what the Bible says about it, get those promises, begin to meditate on them, which which means to not empty your mind, but to fill your mind, to muse over, to chew over those things.
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And as you begin to chew on that and you begin to muse over that, you begin to see how you can live.
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Don't let this book of the Lord depart from your mouth, but meditate on it day and night.
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Then you will make your way prosperous and successful.
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And the Bible says you'll deal wisely in the affairs of life.
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The third use of this word transformed is in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
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And we're going to read verse 17 and verse 18, is our personal time with God, how the Holy Spirit transforms us by spending time with Jesus.
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Verse 17 and 18 in the English Standard Version, it says, The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
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You know, the more time we spend with God, the freer we become.
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And then verse 18, he says, 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.
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For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
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As we spend time in His presence and we're exposed to His love and His grace and His mercy and His faithfulness, we're changed because we spend time with the Lord.
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You know, you you become like the people you spend time with.
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You really do.
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You begin to pick up their habits, you begin to pick up their idiosyncrasies, you begin to pick up traits from them.
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And if we spend time with Jesus, a transformation begins to take place in our lives.
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We begin to reach our full potential.
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It's a process of change from time spent in the presence of God.
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We behold his face and we become like him from one degree of glory to another.
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And as we spend time with him, we start to experience freedom.
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Now I think there's three distinct ways that he transforms us.
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First of all, there's those mountaintop experiences.
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Secondly, there's the renewing of our minds, which is the word of God, and there's the time spent with God, which is the Spirit of God.
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And he uses the word and the Spirit to transform us, to change us, to make us like Jesus.
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We need the Word of God and we need the Spirit of God.
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You can't just live on mountaintop experiences.
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God never intended our relationship with Him to be Sunday to Sunday, and somehow we have this long underwater swim in between.
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But he wants us to have a living relationship with him every day.
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Now, if you only have the word, someone once said, you will dry up.
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You'll dry up.
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If you only have the spirit, you'll blow up.
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But if you have the word and the spirit, you'll grow up.
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And I think that's a that's a wonderful thing.
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This week, I would encourage you to begin to develop a daily habit of spending time in the word and with the spirit and allowing him to transform us so we become more like Jesus.
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Should we pray?
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Lord, we thank you for this day.
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We thank you, Lord, that your desire is to meet with us.
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We want you to transform us, to change us.
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And we thank you, Lord, a touch from you can change everything.
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And I pray that you would continue to transform us.
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You would use these things to transform us to be more like you every day.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
