God's Voice Will Lead You To Be Like Jesus

You have heard similar stories I am sure. This is a true story of a Pastor in Brazil who was loved, respected, and faithful to Christ in every way. But it hadn't always been that way. He came from a generation of alcoholics and was himself addicted to alcohol. He spent so much money on alcohol that his family often had no food.

One day his wife and children were invited to attend a local church and they soon became Christians. It was through their witness and influence that this man soon came to faith in Christ. He started attending a Bible study group. As he grew in Christ, he moved from sitting in a group to leading the group. He continued to grow as a Christian and his leadership in the church grew as well until he became the pastor of the entire church. Do you see what God can do if we let Him?

This man was growing more like Jesus every day. And I can tell you that God wants the same thing for you. You may not need to be freed from an addiction like this man, but the transforming work of God is the same in your life. It's no less powerful and certainly it's just as marvelous.

This is the last message in the series of discerning the voice of God. If the word we are hearing leads us to being more like Jesus, it is certainly God's voice as He speaks and calls you to be more and more like His Son. PRAYER

We will be using Paul's letter to the Colossians today chapter 3. The Apostle Paul was writing to the church of Colossae when he wrote that familiar phrase "raised with Christ." To be raised with Christ is to experience a spiritual new birth. What this means is that people have died to their old self and have been born again with a new nature that naturally wants the things of God. You have heard it preached before that when we come to Christ, we are given a new nature that seeks to honor God. Paul says it this way.

Colossians 3:1-4 – “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Paul is writing to get us to focus on what is meant by living a Christian life. When you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, your journey is not over. Your journey has just begun. From that moment on, we are expected to focus our minds on things above. And I know this is a challenge in today's world when we are bombarded with social media, TV shows, billboards, and magazines that do their best to get us to focus on worldly things.

Paul pleads with us to do whatever is necessary so that we don't bog ourselves down with thoughts that are worldly and flesh-like. He pleads with us and exhorts us to focus on God's will. And that's a choice that we will all make. If we fill our minds with TV shows and social media we will undoubtedly be consumed with worldly thoughts.

It's time for the Christian to break away from that by choosing to immerse ourselves in Scripture and exposing ourselves to uplifting, Christian literature and Christian thought. We will elevate our thinking to a level that glorifies God. Or do Christians today even care about bringing glory to God in who we are?

Paul wrote and explained it this way.

Romans 6:8 – “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. . .”

When we gave our lives to Jesus, we died with Christ. And now our lives are closely linked with Christ. Before we were Christians, we had this sinful, fleshly nature, and we were in bondage to the passions of the world. But that nature died the minute we became Christian.

This doesn't mean that we will never sin again. But our basic nature is now driven by this desire to please and glorify God rather than to fit in with the world and be satisfied with the lusts of the flesh. Becoming like Christ is a lifelong pursuit. It's really nothing that ever ends while we are still here on earth. Each day we are supposed to grow more and more like Jesus. Just think about your life and the person you were before you knew Jesus. You should be able to say I have grown a lot since that day.