Slide # 1
Keys for a transformed life and a renewed mind!
Part 1 of 2
Introduction
Lifting the Band-Aid!
Credit given to David Riddell – Living Wisdom – Friend, Mentor and Supervisor
Slide # 2
In the last days – God’s Word promises us – that Christians will ‘leave behind sound doctrine, and gather around themselves teaches who will ‘tickle their ears’ and tell them nice things to entertain them and make them happy!’ (2nd Tim 4:3)
Now - I’ve had literally dozens of people thank me for being so honest and direct in the messages of the last several weeks,
…as we’ve looked at the way God works in our lives –
…to transform and sanctify our character – by bringing the ‘dross’ to the surface through the pressures of affliction and trouble. (Malachi 3:3, Isaiah 48:10)
But - I’ve had people ask me directly:
Once God has done that – brought my character faults and flaws to the surface,
• ‘How then can I change the darkness in my heart?’
• ‘How do I let go of the pain of my childhood?’
• ‘How do I find release from this cycle of destructive emotions?’
• I’ve dedicated two Bible Studies to these questions.
Slide # 3
Today’s study – titled:
Lifting the Band-Aid
Based upon Romans 12:2,
…and next Sunday’s sermon titled:
Going to the Heart of it!
Based upon Proverbs 23:7.
If there is ONE thing I want you to know today, is that it is God’s desire for you to experience healing, freedom and deliverance this morning!
It is God’s desire that you be ‘set free’!
And those whom Christ sets free – are free indeed! (John 8:36)
Praise God!
Question: Do you believe that – really believe that???
The reason I’m asking this, is that my personal experience is exactly the opposite.
I’ve found that most people don’t want to change.
What they want, is for God to wave some ‘magic wand’ over their lives where they are instantly changed – without much effort of their own!
They want to have a demon cast out of them, and think that will make them a different person.
Believe me – it’s never that easy!
Slide # 4
In fact, as I reveal the truth of how God transforms our lives, your reaction to this message will be an indicator of how serious you are about letting God change your heart.
Let me explain today what that sometimes involves – the process and steps along the journey.
Have you ever had a splinter or abscess in your finger or in your hand – or some other part of your body,
...and you’ve not even realized it was there – slowly festering away under the surface.
Until one day, somebody bumped you or touched you on your sore point – and the pain made you realise something was not right.
But your natural and immediate reaction was to withdraw, to pull away from the source of pain, from the person or situation –
…not realizing that the pain is actually inside you, and not from the person who brought it to your attention!
You know, sometimes we can go through life with splinters – or even shrapnel - imbedded into our heart, soul and emotions.
We think everything is okay, that life is fine – and then somebody ‘bumps’ into us, or says something, makes a comment, makes a decision, or we experience some pressure upon our lives.
And our immediate reaction is to pull away and withdraw from that person (church or friendship) – or else launch into a verbal or even physical attack!
And we realise, ‘Ouch! – There’s something below the surface in my life that needs attention!’
Slide # 5
Somebody just touched a sore spot!!!!
That our coping mechanisms or survival kits are not working as they should!
But what most of us do, is ignore the cause of our pain, and instead blame the one who made us realise our pain.
We ‘protect’ our wound - and blame others, instead of identifying that the pain is our responsibility to address, remove and heal.
To Trace, Face and Replace!
Well, it’s been said that the purpose of preaching is to: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable!
Today I’m going to be lovingly honest and open with each of you.
We might even touch a few ‘sore points’ in some of our lives – in order to reveal the splinter, the shrapnel – and to start draining the abscess!
Slide # 6
You see, many people come to Christ, but their pain and sorrow, their dysfunction or prejudices remain the same.
Let me share some examples with you this morning.
How I’ve seen some people ‘baptize’ their dysfunction into the church and Christianity.
Instead of crucifying it and leaving it behind, they ‘dress it up’ and make it look spiritual – and put it to use within the church,
…but it is still the same sinful attitude they had as a non-Christian.
And my personal experience is, that if I address any of these issues in people’s lives – they leave the church rather than desire to change their sinful attitudes.
As Brian Winslade (Former leader of the Baptist denomination) recently said in an issue of the Baptist newspaper.
Church discipline in the 21st century – is nothing short of a joke! If you address sin in a person’s life – all they will do – is leave your church – and criticize you to the next one they join!
Instead of dealing with sinful or hurtful attitudes in our lives, this is what happens in the majority of cases.
• What was perhaps an addiction to work or pleasure, now becomes an addiction to ministry or worship!
• How an aggressive, charismatic gang leader now uses the same techniques as a church leader or pastor - to motivate or manipulate the people in their congregation.
• A person with a deep anger problem makes it look better by excusing the same actions as ‘passion for the Lord’ and ‘righteous anger’ against anything unholy.
• How a person who was abused as a child – who needed rescuing and saving – but wasn’t – now projects this some need onto others,
…becoming a chronic ‘rescuer’ – even a devout ‘winner of souls’ for the kingdom,
…but the motivation is still an unhealed wound within their own heart and soul to be rescued themselves!
And what else happens, is that other Christians applaud people like this, look up to them, follow them, and even make them leaders it the church!
Instead of being healed and restored in these and many other areas,
…what happens is a ‘Band-Aid’ is put over the top of that experience or habit, and the infection continues to grow, until somebody bumps it, or the pressures of life bring it out to the surface!
Slide # 7
The reason I’m sharing this with you…
…is that you may find the ‘life – and life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10) that Jesus Christ has promised everyone who chooses to follow the ‘small and narrow gate that leads to life’ (Matt 7:14)
The trouble with the ‘small and narrow gate that leads to life’, is that Jesus also said, ‘Few are those who find it’.
I’ve got to be honest with you this morning.
My experience is, that many Christians would rather live with the darkness in their hearts than expose it to the light and have it removed.
And I guess your reaction to today’s message will depend on whether you are feeling afflicted or comfortable this morning.
On whether you are hungry for Christ or ‘feeding’ on this world and the way it has conformed people to react to these things
Slide # 8
You see, Romans 12:2 says:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The Christian life is the transformed life.
It goes beyond conforming – either to the world, or to the standards of the church.
Conformity is simply sticking a Band-Aid over your wound!
Outward appearances of conformity do not survive the hard times.
God’s Word encourages us to go deeper than mere outward ‘patterns’ or images.
It goes to the heart of the matter, to our minds, to our very souls.
And it is here – that we are to be transformed, to be renewed, to be made whole.
What we believe in our hearts is of vital importance, for Proverbs 23:7 says, ‘As a man thinks in his heart – so he is!’
Next week we are going to get to the heart of it, and understand more fully what this Scripture means, but today, it is vital that we understand this:
It is God’s desire, and our purpose – to be transformed into the image of God – to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is God’s desire for your life – that you ‘come out from under the influence’ of the world, to stop following its pattern, and instead become transformed by the renewing of our minds!
We’ve somehow been fed a lie that Christian victory is an absence of pain and trouble,
…when in reality, true Biblical victory is not an absence of pain, but because of it, and despite it!
And the problem with this, is that we have a whole generation of ‘superficial’ Christians, who aren’t prepared for the disappointments and hardships of life, and get disillusioned when they come!
We have churches full of people with Band-Aids covering and masking the pain in their lives, and in their families.
I believe God has a message for the church today, for the theology and doctrines it teaches, and it is this:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!
We need to hear this today, and take notice.
Most Christians today do NOT have a correct theology or doctrine of the Lordship of Christ.
We don’t understand pain, hardships or poverty, and therefore do not recognize the hand of God in and through these things when they happen to us.
If you don’t believe me, than ask yourself how many times you hear people saying, ‘That’s an attack of satan’!
Be wary of people who say that a lot – as it masks an underlying dysfunction.
C.S. Lewis said, ‘Pain is the chisel in the hand of God that transforms our lives’.
It’s been said, that there is more of the world in the church, than there is the church in the world.
But as disciples, true disciples of Christ, we are called to be radically different than the people who belong to this dark and evil world.
Slide # 9
2nd Corinthians 6:17 says,
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
I guess what I’m trying to say this morning, is this:
Do you really want to be a disciple of Christ today?
Do you really know the cost involved, and just as importantly, do you really have the desire in your heart to want to be transformed, to have your mind and life renewed and changed?
Listen to these words of wisdom and truth, because they may be the most important words you hear today:
Slide # 10
‘Your desire to change – to be transformed and renewed – must be greater than the comfort of staying the same!’
In other words:
Slide # 11
‘The pain of staying the same – living with your ‘hidden sins’ must be greater than the pain of wanting – of needing to change!’
You know that saying, ‘Can a leopard change its spots?’
Do you know where that comes from?
It comes from the Bible, in Jeremiah 13:23
‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.’
Can you see the problem this morning?
God wants us to be transformed, for our minds to be renewed, but it is up to US to also desire and want this to happen as well.
One thing God will NEVER do, is override your sovereignty.
That’s why we have been given free will – to choose this day whom ye will serve – but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!
Serving God – means to be constantly transformed and sanctified!
This morning – God’s Word is going to give us many keys on how to actually achieve change in or lives.
You’ve already received at least 10 of them already!
These are ‘practical steps’ on how to live a ‘renewed and transformed’ life!
But before we get to more keys, we need to understand what it means to be transformed, this morning, to be free!
Slide # 12
It means – a life long journey to be:
• Free from the love of this evil world
• Free from the love of money
• Free from the lure of luxury
• Free from the lust of the flesh
• Free from pride or needing to feel important
• Free from anxiety or addictions
• Free from character flaws – anger or depression
• Free from compulsions
• Free of an overwhelming ‘body image’
• Free from low self esteem
• Free from perfectionism
• Free from OCD’s
• Free from toxic religion
• Free from the fear of authority
• Free from feeling a failure
So first of all, we need to settle something ‘once and for all’.
Do you want to be free from these things, or do you still want them to be your friends?
You see, most, if not all of the foundations for these character traits were installed into our lives when we were children.
You see - children are wet cement, and that’s why you owe it to yourself and to your children to have your heart and mind ‘renewed and transformed’.
All of us here today need to break the cycle of generational sin and dysfunction.
Sometimes these generational sins, the ‘wet cement’ we grew up with – has hardened so much, or the abuse, neglect, indulgence or dysfunction was so great, that it seems impossible to change, no matter how hard we try.
Sometimes we don’t even realise that we need changing!
Sometimes the pain of staying the same needs to be greater than the pain of having to change.
Do you know what an emotional or mental breakdown is?
It’s simply this, the hardened concrete being broken apart, so it can be examined and put back together again – they way it should have been, in accordance with God’s Spirit and His Word.
Slide # 13
Isaiah 48:10 says:
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Slide # 14
In 2nd Corinthians 7:10, the Living Bible says:
For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it.
Sometimes we don’t want to change, to be transformed or renewed, and that’s when the grace of God enters the picture.
That’s when the prayers of a faithful mother, father, loved one or pastor are able to impact the situation and bring change into our lives!
Sometimes the concrete needs to be broken, so it can be reset properly.
Sometimes we don’t even know what the problem is, but we do know that our ‘coping mechanisms’ have stopped working!
And at these times, if you don’t examine your foundations, your assumptions and belief structures in life, you’ll end up ‘going round the mountain’ until you do!
We mentioned ‘hidden sins’ before, and most of you would probably think this means the ‘sins we hide from others’, and to a degree this might be right.
Slide # 15
This term also comes from the Bible, from Psalm 19:13.
We studied this verse at MenTors during the year, and one of our men read it from a translation I’ve never heard before, but I remember it ‘word for word’.
No one can see their hidden sins, we all need others to help discern them.
The question I put to our men is this:
Slide # 16
‘How can we see the ‘blind spots’ in our lives, the sins that are hidden even from ourselves?’
Isn’t it so amazing how we are clearly able to see the ‘hidden’ faults in others, yet are so blind to our own?
Slide # 17
Doesn’t that give you a fresh insight into God’s Word where in Luke 6:41 it says:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
If we were to ‘sum’ up this whole parable in one word, I think it would be ‘self awareness’.
Isn’t that what Psalm 19 is talking about?
Desiring to understanding the ‘hidden sins’ in our hearts and lives?
This is exactly what the Bible talks about so many times, when it refers to ‘darkness’ turning into light.
Slide # 18
Isa 42:7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Slide # 19
Isaiah 49:9 The LORD will say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
Slide # 20
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Slide # 21
John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no-one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Beautiful verses, but then we have a warning, a dire warning!
Slide # 22
1John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth
Let me finish with listing several of the more Biblical truths we have covered today:
Slide # 23
• God desires to transform the dark areas of our lives.
• It is natural for us to hide from our own pain, and blame others for it - however, healing comes as we accept our responsibility to trace, face and replace the faulty structures and habits in our lives.
• Many new Christians simply ‘adjust’ their dysfunctions to appear more ‘Christian’! However, the Christian life is the transformed life!
Slide # 24
• It is our minds – our belief structures, our mindsets and assumptions that must be renewed and changed.
• True Christian victory is not an absence of pain, but because of it, and despite it.
• Your desire to change must be greater than the comfort to stay the same.
• Or – the pain caused by staying the same must be so great that it is less than the pain needed to change! (I.e. It gets you into trouble).
Slide # 25
• God will NEVER override free-will. (It’s YOUR choice!)
• Children are wet cement – you owe it to yourself and your descendants to break the generational sin.
• Prayer for ourselves and others can often break a resistant heart or attitude.
• A ‘break-down’ is a breaking of the cement that shaped our personality and belief structures – it is a good thing! It enables re-building on the correct structures of God’s Word.
Slide # 26
• Examine your foundations – search out your hidden faults – get rid of the log!
• God wants you to be set free!
• Whilst prayer is absolutely vital – Jesus said it is the TRUTH that shall set you free – the renewing of our minds!
Slide # 27
If there is ONE thing I want you to know today, is that it is God’s desire for you to experience healing, freedom and deliverance this morning!
It is God’s desire that you be ‘set free’!
And those whom Christ sets free – are free indeed! (John 8:36)
Praise God!
Slide # 28
Question: Do you believe that – do you really believe that???
Let’s pray together.
