Sermon Central
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Transforming Your World Series
Contributed by Warren Curry on Sep 23, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: God must do His work in you, before He can do His work through you. He needs for you to be transformed on the inside, therefore He can use you to do His work. He wants to use you as an example for those who don’t know Him. For those who have never acce
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Transforming Your World
Matthew 5:13-16
So far this week, we have looked at several areas where the Lord wants you to be transformed.
He wants to make you a New Creation
He wants to transform your mind (Make A Choice)
He wants to transform your attitudes (Wash Feet)
Finally we come to the end of the week. The final message.
Tonight we are going to look at transforming your world.
In saying, “YOUR WORLD”, this means your life, and the lives of those who you are closest to & anyone you come into contact.
As I mentioned Tuesday night, God must do His work in you,
before He can do His work through you. He needs for you to be transformed on the inside, therefore He can use you to do His work. He wants to use you as an example for those who don’t know Him. For those who have never accepted His perfect gift of love that He offers to every person on the face of the planet.
Mt 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
Mt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mt 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
Mt 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
This passage tells us that you have a purpose. God has created each and every one of you with a purpose. He wants you to be transformed by His incredible love so that you can understand how important it is to tell others about it.
If you are a Christian: You are salt in the earth/bringing flavor
You are the light that shines in this dark world
Don’t lose your saltiness. Don’t let your light be hidden.
There is a great way to stay fresh as salt & remain shiny bright.
It will surely make a difference in how you tansform your world.
That is you need to Run the RACE. It is a RACE that every Christian must run everyday of their lives. Paul gives us an illustration of how we ought to live our faith as we would run in a race. We can find it in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.
1Co 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
1Co 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
Do we have any runners from track here?
Come up here – Run in place
All kinds of races: 40 yard dash, marathons 26 miles/Crazy
In all these races only one person can be the winner.
They go through strict training: lots of exercise & running
Why train? So that you don’t go to the starting blocks and fall on your face. So you don’t tire out after the first 10 steps.
Training gets you ready to run the race. (SIT DOWN)
Same with our spiritual lives. We need to exercise our faith on a regular basis or it may become something you get tired of.
Tonight I want to break down the RACE that you all need to run:
I will break down the word RACE as an acrostic.
First: “R”
Repentance is needed daily.
a. What is it?
b. Recognizing sin in your life
c. Confessing it to God
d. Turning away from it
à Why do it? (Illustration with Duct Tape)
a. When you first commit a certain sin = it hurts
b. The next time it hurts less…and so on.
c. Finally the sin is just a way of life… no longer hurtful
d. This in itself is dangerous.
This is where the REPENTANCE comes in.
When you feel bad the first time, you should repent and stay away from doing it ever again.
The more you do it, the harder it becomes to stop.
It becomes harder to repent. Harder to turn away from the sin.
Matthew 4:17 records Jesus’ words:
Mt 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Act 2:38, the Apostle Peter replies to a group of :
Ac 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
