God Can Transform Our Lives Series

“God Can…Transform Your Life”

Introduction:

Motor Homes have allowed us to put all the conveniences of a home on wheels. A camper no longer means sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now people can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. That is not really what I’d call roughing it. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. People buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet they deck it out with the same furnishings as are in their living room. Thus nothing really changes. They may drive to a new place, set themselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we’ve only carried along our old setting.

I believe that there is a lot of Christians that try to live their Christian lives like that. They try to enjoy all that they can of the world, yet never fully submit themselves to Jesus and therefore they miss out on so much that God has intended for us. We see that since Adam and Eve sinned and sin continued to progress through the world that God has been seeking us out. He has been seeking to reconcile us to himself. He has been seeking to restore us to who he made us to be. He has been seeking to transform our lives from self-seeking sinful people to selfless people who have a pure mind and heart. I want to ask a question that maybe only you know the answers to. What difference does being a Christian have upon your life? How does your faith come into play into how you act, what you say, what you do, and your decisions? How have you changed when you became a Christian, what things did you have to leave behind?

I believe on of the greatest problems with the church today is that there are many people who come in and sit in a seat within a church building who have never been transformed. One of my passions that is above anything else is to see a church that will transform the world. I am burdened by what I see and hear in our society and I know that the reasons for those things is a sin problem and that the problem will never be cured until Jesus becomes Lord of peoples lives. I am upset about issues like abortion, homosexual marriage and the gay agenda; I am bothered by the increase in violent crimes in our country. I want that to change, but yet I realize that the church cannot impact, influence or transform the world until we first have been transformed.

A few years ago the most popular show among young children was the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” This show was about a group of teenagers who would change into superheroes and fight evil. On any given day these kids were just normal teenagers, but when they morphed they could do extraordinary things.

To me one of the most amazing things in creation is the way that a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar makes a cocoon and while in there goes through some great physical changes. Our greatest goal too should be a metamorphosis or transformation. Not a physical change in appearance, but an inward transformation of the soul. I want to tell you today that no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been God can transform your lives and change your life incredibly. I have read about, I have seen, and I am a product of a transformed life.

What makes awful wicked people change so dramatically? How could someone like Paul, who spent his life seeking to destroy Christianity in its infancy by killing Christians, become a devoted preacher and herald of Christ? What makes someone like Peter, who was at time irrational and immature, become a godly follower of Jesus? What makes people change dramatically? Do you believe such a life is possible for an ordinary human being? Do you really believe transformation is possible for you? Today, we too can be transformed!

Text: II Corinthians 3:7-18

I did not grow up in a Christian home to say the least. The thing I remember the most about my childhood was chaos. My parents were always fighting, and I was right in the middle of everything that they did. I hated my home life and was embarrassed of my family. My Father was an abusive alcoholic, with many problems and I just wanted to get away. When many kids grow up in a dysfunctional home they rebel and I did just that. My rebelling was not with drugs, alcohol or promiscuity, but was with a cold heart. I stayed in trouble in my early teen years. I was constantly in fights in school, and in trouble for my attitude and many other things. Until the age of 17 I had never attended a church. My views towards God and religion were warped. I was probably a typical teenager in many ways. When I was 17 I was invited to attend a revival, and when I did something happened. I do not necessarily remember the sermon being incredible, the music wasn’t anything to boast about, but what was incredible is that through an opportunity to hear the Word God had gotten a hold of my heart. I have no idea where I would be today if I had not encountered Jesus that night, but my life was transformed dramitically. What I enjoyed doing changed, the people I hung around changed, the way I acted, thought, and talked all chaged. In fact it changed so dramitically that my parents were very concerned for me. I do not say this because I am proud, but before Jesus I was a very wicked person, with a heart that was hard as stone. I tell you that to tell you that if God can transform me he can transform anyone.