Sermon Central
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Extreme Makeover: Soul Transformation Series
Contributed by Todd Bishop on Mar 30, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Everyone has areas of their lives that need to be made new.
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I came across some interesting statistics a few years ago. Someone went to the trouble to research what people do with their time, & came up with these results:
If we live to be 75, most of us will have spent 3 solid years, 24 hours a day, acquiring an education - grade school, high school & college.
We’ll have spent 7 years eating, 24 hours a day, - some more, some less, obviously. We’ll have spent 14 years, day & night, working. We’ll have spent 5 years riding in automobiles or airplanes.
We’ll have spent 5 years talking with each other -again some more & some less. We’ll have spent 1 year sick or recovering from sickness. And get this, we’ll have spent 24 years of our life sleeping!
We’ll have spent 3 years reading books, magazines & newspapers. And 12 years amusing ourselves - watching TV, going to the movies, fishing, etc. That totals up to 75 years - & that is what the researchers say, on the average, most of us will have done with our lives.
As I looked at these statistics I began thinking. Let’s suppose that you spent every Sunday or Wednesday of your life, for 75 years - through infancy, childhood, adulthood, old age - in God’s house worshiping during the Church Service. Now if you did, how much time would you have spent worshiping God? Figure it out - the answer is less than 5 1/2 months.
Think about that - 5 years in an automobile & just 5 1/2 months in Church! Twelve years amusing ourselves in front of a TV, & just 5 1/2 months in Church.
LIFE PRINCIPLE: We are called to live our ENTIRE life to honor God!
Transformation will never happen in a day or a week or a month – it is a process that takes your time and commitment!!!
Our souls need to be transformed each and every day!
2 Corinthians 4:16: “… though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day” (NLT).
We need “extreme makeovers” every day of our lives!
Let me share with you 3 principles of transformation …
1. We should be “Jesus with skin on” more than simply wearing a “Jesus costume” (“…don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture…”)
There are a lot of teenagers that have “Halloween Christianity” all year round.
Hear this tonight …
We come to MSO and we put on the “Jesus costume” – maybe we sing or raise our hands or even use religious words … but when we leave … look out …
Hell owns our tongues – we curse to our friends – we yell at our parents – we cut down those around us!
Hell controls our actions – we “lead on” members of the opposite sex – we ignore those around us – we watch things we should not – we listen to things that hurt God’s heart – we think things that we would never tell anyone!
Gang – we have become too “adjusted” to our culture!
We need an Extreme Makeover in our souls!
We need a transformation in our lives that makes us look more and more like Jesus!
How can we become more and more like Jesus?
1. Spend time with Jesus in prayer and bible reading - because the more time you spend with someone the more you will become like them.
2. Hang with those who hang with Jesus.
3. Realize that people are watching you – live a life that can be written about!
4. Commit to being a part of a maturity process – we call that Life Development at MSO – each student needs to be a part of a GROWTH GROUP!
2. Real transformation will only happen when our hearts and minds are open to a DESTINY’S DREAM (“…be changed from the inside out…”)
Romans 12:2 teaches us to “fix our attention on God.”
When we “fix” our attention on God he will give us something specific to do for him!
Why do so many in life feel unfulfilled? Because they have no dream ... no vision for their life.
One of our own has been given a DESTINY’S DREAM … on Friday night we gathered at a cemetery and realized that’s where this life ends – nothing in this life will get to the next … many of our students got a DREAM …
C’mon Brittany share the dream God gave you this past Friday …
BRITTANY’S LIFE STORY …
“Hey everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Brittany. I’ve been coming to Bethlehem Assembly of God for about 12 years now and I’ve been part of MSO for about 4. I’m one of those people who was born in church. Before starting school, I really never knew there were people who didn’t have religion centered around their lives.
