Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Well,
Speaker 1: for those of you I haven't had the chance to meet,
Speaker 1: my name is Jonathan on the campus pastor here at
Speaker 1: our Balentine location, and this weekend, Pastor Steven's giving me
Speaker 1: the opportunity to share God's word with you, and it's
Speaker 1: an incredible privilege. But I do want to take a
Speaker 1: moment to say, well, this is a privilege for me.
Speaker 1: The real privilege is every week getting to sit in
Speaker 1: that seat right there and listen as Pastor Stephen preaches
Speaker 1: incredible sermons week after week. Because God has used his
Speaker 1: messages to give me courage when I needed courage, conviction
Speaker 1: when I needed to be convicted, perspective when I needed perspective.
Speaker 1: And so if you've been blessed through his messages on
Speaker 1: any level, can you just help me and take a
Speaker 1: moment thank God for our pastors, Pastor Stephen and Holly. Well,
Speaker 1: I want to jump into God's word to today stay
Speaker 1: standing for just a moment, and I want to look
Speaker 1: at a scripture that I think will be familiar to
Speaker 1: a lot of us, but I want to approach it
Speaker 1: on a level that I think will be really practical
Speaker 1: for you today. In my heart, I see people who
Speaker 1: have been circling around about in life, and you've been frustrated,
Speaker 1: wondering when am I going to move forward into all
Speaker 1: that God has for me? And I think his word
Speaker 1: today is going to bring some clarity and some changes
Speaker 1: that we can make in our lives. So we're going
Speaker 1: to be looking at Romans chapter twelve. This is a
Speaker 1: scripture that Paul wrote to the church in Rome, and
Speaker 1: we're going to read just a few verses from their
Speaker 1: Roman chapter twelve. Verse one, he says, therefore, I urge you,
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer
Speaker 1: your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
Speaker 1: This is your true and proper worship. One translation says,
Speaker 1: this is your reasonable act of worship. And so maybe
Speaker 1: you came into church today and the person on your
Speaker 1: row they don't understand the why you worship God the
Speaker 1: way you worship God, but in view of God's mercy.
Speaker 1: If they knew what God had done in your life
Speaker 1: and what God has brought you out from, they'd understand
Speaker 1: why you lift your voice, why you clap your hands
Speaker 1: the way you do. Will you give them praise at
Speaker 1: the top of your love if you only knew about
Speaker 1: its mercy, if you only know about the grace that
Speaker 1: He's given me. In view of God's mercy, we offer
Speaker 1: our lives up as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing.
Speaker 1: It's our proper worship. Verse two, he says, do not
Speaker 1: conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
Speaker 1: by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
Speaker 1: able to test and approve what God's will is, his good,
Speaker 1: pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me,
Speaker 1: I say to every one of you, do not think
Speaker 1: of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think
Speaker 1: of yourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith
Speaker 1: God has distributed to each of you. For just as
Speaker 1: each of us has one body with many members, and
Speaker 1: these members do not all have the same function, so
Speaker 1: in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each
Speaker 1: member belongs to all the others. Back to verse two
Speaker 1: for just a moment. It's our key scripture for today,
Speaker 1: and he says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Speaker 1: My title for today's messages. I've changed my mind, and
Speaker 1: I need you to look at the person next to
Speaker 1: you to say, neighbor, I wasn't so sure about sitting
Speaker 1: next to you, but I've changed my mind. Go ahead
Speaker 1: and grab a seat. Thank you, worship team. You know,
Speaker 1: as a pastor in the church, one of the privileges
Speaker 1: I get is every now and then someone will ask
Speaker 1: me to officiate their wedding, and it's always it's a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I love being able to be a
Speaker 1: part of that people's moment in their lives. But I
Speaker 1: take it very seriously. As you know, I give God's
Speaker 1: blessing over this relationship and the two become one, and
Speaker 1: so one thing I try to do is make sure
Speaker 1: that I'm setting up the couple for success in the relationship.
Speaker 1: And now, listen, marriage is a lifelong journey. There's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of things will have to work out.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to pre marital counseling, one thing
Speaker 1: I like to do is just you know, bring up
Speaker 1: conversations that maybe the couple hasn't had before, because it's
Speaker 1: always helpful in any relationship just to you know, clarify
Speaker 1: some things. And so you know, there's a session that
Speaker 1: we'd spend all the things you'd expect, you know, family
Speaker 1: backgrounds and family dynamics, and that's always tense, and because
Speaker 1: when you marry the girl, you don't just marry the girl,
Speaker 1: you marry into a family. Amen. And you know, then
Speaker 1: you'll spend a week on financing, going through budgeting, because
Speaker 1: it's really important that couples are on the same page
Speaker 1: with spending, because you might like the way that she
Speaker 1: always looks when you go out on dates, but you
Speaker 1: don't realize that there's a credit card bill on the
Speaker 1: other side of that outfit. But one thing I like
Speaker 1: to do, and this seems a little bit basic on
Speaker 1: the surface, but it's actually really helpful, is we spend
Speaker 1: a little bit of time going through a list of
Speaker 1: just basic household responsibilities and having a conversation around who
Speaker 1: in this relationship is going to be expected to do
Speaker 1: what you know, not that you don't always ship in,
Speaker 1: but just kind of clarifying you know, who's gonna be
Speaker 1: the one taking out the trash, and who's gonna be
Speaker 1: making the bed, who's gonna do the laundry, who's gonna
Speaker 1: cook dinner, who's gonna do the dishes. And it seems
Speaker 1: really simplistic, but it's really important because in her house,
Speaker 1: her mom always cooked, but dad always did the dishes after.
Speaker 1: But the way he grew up, mom cooked and did
Speaker 1: the dishes. And so they can get into the relationship
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden they're arguing about who's supposed
Speaker 1: to do what. But I think for any relationship to
Speaker 1: be healthy, it's important that we clarify whose responsibility is what.
Speaker 1: And I'm going somewhere with this because I think in
Speaker 1: our relationationship with God, it's really important that we have
Speaker 1: a clear understanding of what is God's rule and what
Speaker 1: is my role? Because God has immeasurably more exceedingly, abundantly
Speaker 1: more plan for us. He says, I've got plans to
Speaker 1: prosper you, not to harm you. But in this life
Speaker 1: that we live with Christ, as we're following him, there
Speaker 1: is a part that only God can do, and there
Speaker 1: is a responsibility that we carry as Christians. And so
Speaker 1: I love the grace and mercy of God, because when
Speaker 1: it comes to our relationship with him, there are things
Speaker 1: that God does that are purely out of his good nature.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Bible says, whether you believe in God
Speaker 1: or not, he says, He'll never leave you nor forsake you.
Speaker 1: David said, if I go to the heavens, there he is.
Speaker 1: If I go to the depths of Hell, I can't
Speaker 1: escape the presence of God. That's something only he can do.
Speaker 1: He gives us his presence. But all through the Book
Speaker 1: of Romans, in Chapters one all the way through eleven,
Speaker 1: Paul spends a significant amount of time helping this Roman
Speaker 1: church understand God's part as they come into this new
Speaker 1: covenant with him, and it's one of the most comprehensive
Speaker 1: breakdowns of the new covenant we have in Christ. In
Speaker 1: all of Scripture Romans one through eleven, I mean, Paul
Speaker 1: covers everything. He covers how through Adam, through one man,
Speaker 1: Sin entered the world, but through one man humanity has
Speaker 1: been justified through the person of Christ. He talks about
Speaker 1: how God has drafted us in to the promise and
Speaker 1: covenant that he gave to Abraham, and how now we
Speaker 1: can be children of faith and justified and declared righteous
Speaker 1: through faith. He talks about how we are no longer
Speaker 1: slaves to our sin, but we have been given the
Speaker 1: spirit of God. Come on, I'm preaching already. We have
Speaker 1: been given the spirit of God so that we can
Speaker 1: live a holy life that's pleasing to him. He talks
Speaker 1: about the future glory that awaits us, and for eleven
Speaker 1: chapters of this book, and it's worth taking time this
Speaker 1: week to read it and acquaint yourself with all the
Speaker 1: things that God has done for you in this relationship.
Speaker 1: For eleven chapters of the book, he shares about all
Speaker 1: the things that God can do for us, and all
Speaker 1: the things that only God can do. And then in
Speaker 1: verse twelve he makes this shift. He says, in view
Speaker 1: of all that grace and in view of all that mercy,
Speaker 1: here's what I want you to do. And he'll spend
Speaker 1: the rest of the book sharing with the believers what
Speaker 1: it looks like for them to live a life that's
Speaker 1: holy and pleasing in response to the mercy of God.
Speaker 1: So even the order in which Paul writes this book
Speaker 1: is a revelation, because religion would put it the other
Speaker 1: way around. Religion would say, if you live this way,
Speaker 1: and if you do all these things, then God will
Speaker 1: accept you and love you. But Paul writes it the
Speaker 1: other way around. He says, no, God has already declared
Speaker 1: you righteous, and God has already said you are His son.
Speaker 1: And God has already accepted you just as you are.
Speaker 1: So I don't need to change for God to love me,
Speaker 1: but in response to his mercy and grace, my God.
Speaker 1: And he wants us to understand that in this relationlationship,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the transformation that God wants to
Speaker 1: occur in our lives, there is a part that He
Speaker 1: does and there is a part that we do. And
Speaker 1: in Romans chapter twelve, he say lets us know that
Speaker 1: changing our hearts is God's job, but it's up to
Speaker 1: us to change our minds. In the changes that God
Speaker 1: wants to make in your life and all that He
Speaker 1: wants to bring you into, God will change your heart.
Speaker 1: He says that in his grace, he changes our inclination
Speaker 1: from rebellion towards him and he actually shows us his goodness.
Speaker 1: It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. And he says, therefore,
Speaker 1: in view of God's mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices.
Speaker 1: But before he goes into all the behaviors and the
Speaker 1: ways that we should live as believers, he says, he says,
Speaker 1: we need to renew our minds, because I cannot really
Speaker 1: change my behavior without first addressing my thinking. And so
Speaker 1: in these verses that I read to you today, I
Speaker 1: think there is a few things that Paul is calling
Speaker 1: us to change in our minds to help us live
Speaker 1: a life that is an alignment with all that God
Speaker 1: has for us and his intent for us. And the
Speaker 1: first one I want to share with you is in
Speaker 1: verse two. It's a little bit under the surface, but
Speaker 1: the first thing that Paul calls us to change is
Speaker 1: our motives. Now, in verse two, he writes, do not
Speaker 1: be conformed to the pattern of this world. And I
Speaker 1: always heard that preach like it was all about the
Speaker 1: external things, you know, like how you dress and what
Speaker 1: music you listen to and what movies you watch. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you can't have a personal standard for
Speaker 1: those things. But when Paul uses this phrase, the pattern
Speaker 1: of this world is actually one word in Greek that
Speaker 1: refers to the aims and aspirations of this current age.
Speaker 1: Paul is talking about something much deeper than what we
Speaker 1: do on the surface, and he's saying we need to
Speaker 1: change the way we think about our motivations. As followers
Speaker 1: of Christ. We have to evaluate our reasons for doing
Speaker 1: what we do because the I don't know. This world
Speaker 1: has a habit of setting up idols that we run after,
Speaker 1: and so often, as Christians, we get caught up in
Speaker 1: chasing after the same things that the world is chasing after, success, significance,
Speaker 1: meaning joy in all the wrong places. And what Paul
Speaker 1: understands is that God has given us a mandate as
Speaker 1: the Church to change the world. But I cannot change
Speaker 1: to what I'm conforming to, and so I can't spend
Speaker 1: my life chasing after what the world is chasing after.
Speaker 1: And again, this is less about what you do for
Speaker 1: a job or where you choose to go to school.
Speaker 1: Paul is trying to get us to dig down and say,
Speaker 1: what is my reason for doing what I do? And
Speaker 1: I think so often as Christians, we spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time thinking about God, what should I do? What
Speaker 1: should I do? And I've come to realize that God
Speaker 1: is far less concerned with what we're doing, and so
Speaker 1: much more concerned with why we're doing it. In Proverbs,
Speaker 1: it says that a man's ways seemed pure to him,
Speaker 1: but only the Lord can weigh the motives of the heart.
Speaker 1: In other words, I can be doing the right thing,
Speaker 1: but for all the wrong reasons. And maybe today the
Speaker 1: reason that you are frustrated and discouraging your situation asking
Speaker 1: God to change all these external things. Maybe it's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with what you're doing it, But I wonder have
Speaker 1: you taken the time to think about why am I
Speaker 1: doing this in the first place? Am I trying to
Speaker 1: prove something to someone who disrespected me ten years ago,
Speaker 1: who isn't even paying attention to my life anymore? Why
Speaker 1: am I posting this to impress people who follow me
Speaker 1: on social media that don't even really know me. What
Speaker 1: is my reason for doing what I'm doing it? Can
Speaker 1: I be honest with you? The hardest part of preparing
Speaker 1: a sermon to preciate you is not figuring out what
Speaker 1: to say. God's word is living an active sharper than
Speaker 1: any double edged sword. So I could get up here
Speaker 1: and share any scripture with you and it would be
Speaker 1: a blessing. The hardest part for me as I get
Speaker 1: ready to prove a message is going through the process
Speaker 1: of getting before God and saying, God, help me eliminate
Speaker 1: all these impure motivations that are clouding my mind. Because
Speaker 1: if I get up here and in my mind and
Speaker 1: in my heart and in my mind I have motives
Speaker 1: to impress you, then I limit what God can do
Speaker 1: in and through my life. And so my intention cannot
Speaker 1: be to impress you. I have to have the intention
Speaker 1: of being a blessing to you. And I'm not saying
Speaker 1: any of us ever have one hundred percent pure motives,
Speaker 1: but I think so often we go through life and
Speaker 1: we never really evaluate them. So I can be standing
Speaker 1: up here doing a good thing, but miss out on
Speaker 1: what God has for me, the reward that He has
Speaker 1: for me, because I'm doing it for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: Paul saw that when he said that there are these
Speaker 1: preachers who were preaching the Gospel because they saw what
Speaker 1: they could get out of it. He said that they
Speaker 1: preach only out of selfish ambition in vain conceit. But
Speaker 1: he said, the important thing, though, is that the Gospel
Speaker 1: is being preached, no matter what my motives are, the
Speaker 1: Word of God is being preached, and you can receive
Speaker 1: something from Him today. But if my motives aren't pure.
Speaker 1: It limits the reward that God can give me. Because
Speaker 1: do you remember when in Matthew when Jesus was talking
Speaker 1: about the hypocrites who when they give to the poor,
Speaker 1: they do it in such a showy way because their
Speaker 1: motive is to be honored by men. And he said,
Speaker 1: surely they have received a reward in full. If my
Speaker 1: motive is to impress people, if my motive is to
Speaker 1: get people to think that I'm awesome or I'm anointed,
Speaker 1: then that's the limit to the reward that God can
Speaker 1: give me. And so, as a follower of Christ, I've
Speaker 1: got to live for something greater than impressing people. My
Speaker 1: motivation is not to get them to honor me, but
Speaker 1: to stand before my Father in heaven one day and
Speaker 1: hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant. I'm
Speaker 1: not living for the glory of me. I'm living for
Speaker 1: the glory of my Father in Heaven, who is worthy
Speaker 1: of all adoration and worthy of all praise. And so
Speaker 1: Paul is saying, don't conform to the pattern of this world.
Speaker 1: But in view of all that God has done for you,
Speaker 1: don't you think he's worthy of you living your life
Speaker 1: for his honor. I've got to think about my motives.
Speaker 1: And so Paul begins to really deal with the dialogue
Speaker 1: in our minds when it comes to the way we
Speaker 1: think about why we do what we do. But then
Speaker 1: in the next verse he begins to address our identity.
Speaker 1: In verse three, look at this, he says, do not
Speaker 1: think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather
Speaker 1: think of yourselves with sober judgment. In other words, as
Speaker 1: you go through life, make sure that they're actually waving
Speaker 1: at you before you start waving back, and realize they're
Speaker 1: looking at the person behind you. Realize that life is
Speaker 1: not all about you. Do not think of yourselves more
Speaker 1: highly than you ought. But I always took it to say,
Speaker 1: as Paul is calling us to this life of humility,
Speaker 1: that Paul is calling us to lowly thinking. He says,
Speaker 1: don't think of yourselves too highly. But that's actually not
Speaker 1: what he says. He didn't say don't think of yourselves
Speaker 1: too highly. He said, don't think of yourselves more highly
Speaker 1: than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgment.
Speaker 1: In other words, the opposite of humility is not arrogance
Speaker 1: but ignorance. He says, when you think about yourself in
Speaker 1: your mind. I need you to think of yourselves with
Speaker 1: sober judgment. So humility is not self deprivation, but self awareness.
Speaker 1: And I think so often we go between two extremes
Speaker 1: so quickly. One moment, we're thinking too highly of ourselves,
Speaker 1: thinking that the world revolves around us, thinking that we
Speaker 1: got to where we are today because of our own
Speaker 1: hard work and our own intelligence, thinking that everything's okay
Speaker 1: with us, and the problem is with them, always casting blame.
Speaker 1: One minute we're thinking too highly of ourselfs else, But
Speaker 1: the next moment, as Christians, I think we can be
Speaker 1: thinking too lowly of ourselves. This internal dialogue that leaves
Speaker 1: us in this cycle of condemnation. And so we're praying
Speaker 1: for a change, and we're asking God to bring us
Speaker 1: into something new, but at the same time, we are
Speaker 1: talking ourselves out of what God is bringing us into,
Speaker 1: and we find ourselves like Moses when God says I
Speaker 1: need you to go deliver my people, and we start
Speaker 1: making excuses like but I'm slow to speak and I'm unworthy,
Speaker 1: and how can God you someone like me? But Paul says,
Speaker 1: when you think of yourselves, I need you to think
Speaker 1: of yourselves with sober judgment, not living in the extremes
Speaker 1: of too high or too low, but in view of
Speaker 1: God's mercy, in view of his grace. I got to
Speaker 1: think of myself in a way that is accurate with
Speaker 1: what He declares about me. So when I think about myself,
Speaker 1: I can't do it in isolation of what my past
Speaker 1: says or what my current circumstances say. I need to
Speaker 1: do it in view of Romans one through eleven, where
Speaker 1: I see the love that God has for me when
Speaker 1: he gave up his one and only son, that while
Speaker 1: I was still a sinner, he gave his life for
Speaker 1: me so that I could be made righteous. Come on,
Speaker 1: give God a praise if you're thankful for the way
Speaker 1: He sees you. And so often we say stuck in
Speaker 1: these cycles in our minds because we fail to see
Speaker 1: ourselves the way God sees us. And I guarantee if
Speaker 1: you took time to take inventory of the thoughts that
Speaker 1: you have about yourself that go through your mind, you
Speaker 1: would find more often than not you're living in those extremes.
Speaker 1: But what does it look like to fill our hearts
Speaker 1: with the word of God that remind us about who
Speaker 1: we are in Him? That's the source of my confidence.
Speaker 1: That's the source of my joy, that's the source of
Speaker 1: my peace. That's the source of the miracle that I'm
Speaker 1: praying for. Is knowing who I am in Christ. That's
Speaker 1: why David said I have hidden your word in my heart.
Speaker 1: I got to know who God says I am. You
Speaker 1: are His child. You're more than a conqueror. You are
Speaker 1: the righteousness of God in Christ. He's given you the
Speaker 1: hope of glory on the inside of you. So as
Speaker 1: you live your life for God, you can't just try
Speaker 1: to modify your behavior, Paul says, without really addressing your identity.
Speaker 1: But it's interesting because as Paul is talking about the
Speaker 1: changes that we need to make in our mind, he's
Speaker 1: really hitting on some internal things like our motives and
Speaker 1: our identity. But then in verse five he begins to
Speaker 1: share about something external that actually impacts the way we think,
Speaker 1: and he begins to talk about our network. He says
Speaker 1: in verse five, so in Christ, we though many, form
Speaker 1: one body, and each member belongs to one another. Touch
Speaker 1: your neighbors say I need you. No touch your neighbors
Speaker 1: say I need you. You said it like you don't
Speaker 1: really know him, Like not really sure we belong to
Speaker 1: one another, and get this. The way the parts of
Speaker 1: our brain are connected is through neural pathways that form
Speaker 1: a network, and those neural pathways are formed through new
Speaker 1: thoughts and new experiences. So when it comes to our brains,
Speaker 1: which is different than our minds, the network is established
Speaker 1: through our thoughts. But when it comes to our mind
Speaker 1: Paul wants us to understand that the opposite is true,
Speaker 1: that the network we have is what influences our thoughts.
Speaker 1: And so one of the ways to change your thinking
Speaker 1: is through changing your network. Who are the relationships in
Speaker 1: your life? Because if I am still hanging out with
Speaker 1: Eric and Eric is always cynical and Eric is always bitter,
Speaker 1: no wonder I'm still always thinking cynical thoughts and bitter thoughts,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering why I'm still hopeless. But I'm still
Speaker 1: hanging out with Sally and She's always discouraging me. I
Speaker 1: need to change my network. And some of you are
Speaker 1: stuck in cycles. And maybe what God is calling you
Speaker 1: to do today is to upgrade your network. Because if
Speaker 1: I can expose myself to new people, I can expose
Speaker 1: myself to new ways of thinking, I can get around
Speaker 1: some people who instead of pulling me down into old
Speaker 1: thought patterns and the patterns of this world, they can
Speaker 1: lift me up into something higher. And that's why when
Speaker 1: we gather together at the end of our worship experiences,
Speaker 1: when we get people the opportunity to place their faith
Speaker 1: in Christ, it's so important to me that as the church,
Speaker 1: we take initiative to introduce ourselves to them and help
Speaker 1: them get connected, because only God can change their heart.
Speaker 1: But for them to really see some significant transformation in
Speaker 1: their life, it requires that they get connected and that
Speaker 1: they get a new network. And so we got to
Speaker 1: get them surrounded around some believers who can begin to
Speaker 1: speak life over them and let them know who they
Speaker 1: are in Christ. We need a new network. And one
Speaker 1: of the greatest blessings that God ever gave me in
Speaker 1: my life was on the second day of high school
Speaker 1: when I sat down next to a kid named Sean Hugh.
Speaker 1: Because up until that light, up until that moment in
Speaker 1: my life, the wrong pathways were leading me down the
Speaker 1: wrong path. But on that second day of high school,
Speaker 1: I met a guy who actually lived out what I
Speaker 1: confess to believe. And I really think that God spared
Speaker 1: me from a lot of mistakes in high school because
Speaker 1: He allowed me to meet someone that started taking me
Speaker 1: to his youth group, and I met some new friends,
Speaker 1: and I met a new network, and what could have
Speaker 1: been one of the most destructive seasons in my life
Speaker 1: became one of the most fruitful when God began to
Speaker 1: show me about my purpose and my calling and transform
Speaker 1: my heart. But the way God changed my thinking was
Speaker 1: through a new network. And I'm not saying you need
Speaker 1: to delete your entire contact list today, but I wonder.
Speaker 1: I wonder maybe there are some new people that God
Speaker 1: needs to bring into your life to help shape the
Speaker 1: way you're thinking. And that's why the author of Hebrews says,
Speaker 1: do not forsake gathering together, because he understands that this
Speaker 1: life that God is calling us to is more than
Speaker 1: just sermons and worship music. It's about community. We belong
Speaker 1: to one another. This is a network. We make up
Speaker 1: a body together. And I get discouraged when I hear
Speaker 1: people say, yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'd just like
Speaker 1: to listen to the podcast. God's plan for your life
Speaker 1: is more than just good content. He wants you to
Speaker 1: have community, people who can help you grow. We belong
Speaker 1: to one another I think about Joyce. She serves on
Speaker 1: our Greeter team here and she also leads an E group.
Speaker 1: She gave her life to Christ here at Elevation five
Speaker 1: years ago on Easter. And when she came here, she
Speaker 1: was struggling with an alcohol addiction. And through this ministry
Speaker 1: and some choices that she made, God really set her free.
Speaker 1: But she knew that there would be other people who
Speaker 1: would come to this church and sit in these seats,
Speaker 1: who would be in the same position that she found
Speaker 1: herself in. So she started an group for other women
Speaker 1: who are struggling with substance abuse. And so many of
Speaker 1: these women God has transformed their lives and she's on
Speaker 1: a mission to see them all get baptized. And one
Speaker 1: of those ladies in Joyce's E group is Kelly. If
Speaker 1: you came in this door today, you saw Kelly out
Speaker 1: the door. I got to baptize Kelly not too long ago.
Speaker 1: Here's a picture of Kelly up on the screen. Came
Speaker 1: to our church addicted an alcoholic, and she got connected
Speaker 1: to Joyce, and through new friends and a new network,
Speaker 1: God began to renew her mind. God set her free
Speaker 1: for what was holding her back in her sin and
Speaker 1: her dysfunction, and she said it can't stop with me. Now,
Speaker 1: Kelly's leading a negroup with seven other women in it
Speaker 1: who are getting free. And so even if you're so
Speaker 1: arrogant to think that you don't need anybody else, I
Speaker 1: want to challenge you. Did you ever wonder maybe someone
Speaker 1: else in your road needs you? Maybe there is someone
Speaker 1: in your road today who is where you used to
Speaker 1: be and God brought you out through his grace. But
Speaker 1: how selfish when we keep it to ourselves, Because that's
Speaker 1: what the Bible says. It says that they overcame by
Speaker 1: the blood of the Lamb. That's what only God can do,
Speaker 1: and the word of their testimony that's saying, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take everything that God has done in my life, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna declare his goodness and his faithfulness, and I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna keep it to myself, but I'm gonna share
Speaker 1: what God has done in me so that someone else
Speaker 1: can experience the freedom that I have in Christ. Be
Speaker 1: transformed by the renewing of your mind. Paul says, he
Speaker 1: got to change the way you think about your reason
Speaker 1: for doing things, and you got to change the way
Speaker 1: you see yourself. And maybe God is calling you to
Speaker 1: surround yourself with some new people. But in all these things,
Speaker 1: it all comes together in the little decisions that you
Speaker 1: and I make every single day. That's why he says,
Speaker 1: be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you
Speaker 1: will be able to test and approve what God's good
Speaker 1: and perfect will is. The way we know the will
Speaker 1: of God is not some voice that we hear coming
Speaker 1: from the clouds, but it's when we renew our mind
Speaker 1: and we align our thinking with the mind of Christ.
Speaker 1: And so I've got to be transformed in my motives,
Speaker 1: in my identity, in my network, and in my decisions.
Speaker 1: And every day I've got to make choices that align
Speaker 1: my life with what God has designed for me. I
Speaker 1: need to change my mind. And I've always wanted to
Speaker 1: spel something with my sermon points. Yeah, so as we
Speaker 1: live our lives to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice,
Speaker 1: holy pleasing to God. He says, it only happens when
Speaker 1: we renew our minds. And here's the thing. When he
Speaker 1: uses that word renew, it's not talking about just a
Speaker 1: subtle change or a little tweak, but the word actually
Speaker 1: means a renovation. It's taking out the old and bringing
Speaker 1: in the new. And God can change your heart today,
Speaker 1: but it's up to you to change your mind. But
Speaker 1: here's what Paul said in First Corinthians too. He says,
Speaker 1: we have been given the mind of Christ and for
Speaker 1: some of us in this place today, God has changed
Speaker 1: your heart through his grace, through the blood of his
Speaker 1: son Jesus. But he wants to change your mind today.
Speaker 1: He wants to renew your mind, to align it with
Speaker 1: the mind of your savior, Jesus Christ, so that you
Speaker 1: can know his thoughts towards you, his feelings, his intentions
Speaker 1: for your life, and so that you can make decisions
Speaker 1: in accordance with His good and perfect will. And so
Speaker 1: I want to pray for someone today who has been
Speaker 1: trapped in a cycle. And I want to pray for
Speaker 1: you that God would help you renew your mind so
Speaker 1: that He can transform you and so that you can
Speaker 1: live a life that is a worthy sacrifice to Him
Speaker 1: in response to what He's done. Would you stand to
Speaker 1: your feet? So, Father, that's our prayer today, that not
Speaker 1: only in your grace would you change our hearts. But
Speaker 1: we ask God that you would give us the mind
Speaker 1: of Christ and impartation of the thoughts and attitudes of
Speaker 1: your son Jesus, because we want to be like him.
Speaker 1: And our response to what you've done in our life
Speaker 1: is to offer ourselves up to you, not just partially, God,
Speaker 1: but we want to give you our whole lives. And
Speaker 1: it's not because we think we need to earn your love.
Speaker 1: It's because you already demonstrate your love for us, and
Speaker 1: so our reasonable response is to give you everything that
Speaker 1: we are, to lay our lives down at the altar God,
Speaker 1: to be consumed with your grace, to be consumed with
Speaker 1: your mercy, and to be a light up to this world,
Speaker 1: so that you can send us into this earth to
Speaker 1: change in God, So renew our minds, change our thinking,
Speaker 1: align our motivations with your intentions. God, help us see
Speaker 1: ourselves the way you see us. Lord. Hey, God, I
Speaker 1: pray that you would use us to adify your body
Speaker 1: because we belong to one another. Lift your hands in
Speaker 1: his presence. We'll hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If
Speaker 1: you did, there are just a couple things I'd love
Speaker 1: for you to do. Number one, subscribe to our show.
Speaker 1: That way, the most recent episode will always be in
Speaker 1: your feed waiting for you. Ready when you are. And secondly,
Speaker 1: if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to
Speaker 1: help us continue to reach others, you can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description and you can give now and
Speaker 1: I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast m
Speaker 1: HM