THREE SECRETS OF Being An Effective Believer-2
ROMANS 12:2
It is said that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, once had captured a prince and his family.
When they came before him, the monarch asked the prisoner,
"What will you give me if I release you?" "The half of my wealth," was his reply.
"And if I release your children?" "Everything I possess."
"And if I release your wife?" "Your Majesty, I will give myself."
Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all.
As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, "Wasn’t Cyrus a handsome man!"
With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, "I didn’t notice. I could only keep my eyes on you- -the one who was willing to give himself for me."
Doesn’t the world have a lot to offer, to discover, fun things to do,
The things of the world grow STRANGLY DIM in the Light of His Wonderful face
• Because of what God has done thru Jesus Christ for each one of us we should be compelled to lay it all on the altar.
• God calls us to Surrender: Present ourselves: Body – Mind – Will
I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
• Our sacrifice is to be Living(daily, constant, 24/7) and Holy(complete separation from the world.
• This decision is ACCEPTABLE – REASONABLE – TRUE WORSHIP
PRESENT YOUR MINDS: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,..
• TWO CHOICES: Which defines your life? Conformed to the world or transformed by the Word.
• Two present tense: meaning based upon the one time surrender we are to daily do these two commands: Do not & Do.
1. DO NOT BE SQUEEZED INTO THE MOLD OF THE WORLD: constant pressure to conform to opinions and ways of the world. To be fashioned in it’s image. Continual SPIN of ideas to ridicule and attack that which is holy and right.
Work place, school pressure to fashion you into surrounding mold.
a. Schematic of this world. Popular thought, that which is constantly changing, mold.
1) Identify with the world to win people? God told His people to walk different, talk different, live different, different in our marriages, in our families, in our priorities.
2) Pattern and philosophies of this world revolve around self. Benefit me, advance my ends, my happiness, my needs.
2. DO BE TRANSFORMED: Unique spiritual truth.
a. Church has ‘conformed’ people in the pews every Sunday. Conformed to certain beliefs, conformed to expectations but not transformed by relationship with Jesus Christ.
1) Conforming is to response from pressure from without, but transformation is to release a power from within.
b. Metamorphisis: Transfiguration/Butterfly. Take on a new appearance because of the revealing of an inner nature.
It is the inside coming to the surface.
A new nature freely developing and evidencing itself.
‘change of form’
Same word used of Jesus on the Mount of TRANSFIGURATION: The diety within came to the surface to be seen. Witnessed that there was something more there than had met the eye.
We have a brand new nature that needs to come to the surface for the world to see. We are NEW CREATURES.
1) HOW: by the renewing of your mind: Is your mind any different than a lost person’s.
Talk alike, live alike, watch the same TV, go to or rent the same movies,
tell the same jokes then you are living life out of the same old lost mind.
1 Cor 2:16 We are to have the mind of Christ
Phil 2 have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, behold new things have come. Put aside the old self ….put on the new man
Phil 4:8 Think on the things that are true, right, pure. Lovely, excellence, worthy of praise…..
JIM CYMBALA: 6 million dollar shortfall for new church site. South America Mission trip. Don’t worry, it is my concern, just trust, pray and wait’.
Returned and going thru mail. Went thru two letters in 10 minute timespan.
First letter from man whom he had met only once and in passing, ‘God told me to give you 1 million dollars’. Another group whom he had never met gave the additional 5 million.
PRESENT YOUR WILL: so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Daily challenge
1. A sacrificed, surrendered life is a proof of God’s hand at work. How can I prove the will of God? Surrender my life and watch what happens.
2. Threefold Proof: Substantives(nouns) Prove what is good, what is acceptable, what is perfect.
a. SUBSTANTIVE and not adjectives. They are nouns. Proving WHAT is… Look at your life and see these things defined by action.
Your life will become a living example of these truths.
Young Businessman: making a list of the reasons why he chose to stay at his present job. Salary, prestige, status, pleasure(This is a human list)
What is God’s list? Person at next desk…witness to this organization…. help others with their problems….
Comparing the list it made him realize that money and advancement were very trivial but God had a definite purpose for his life at the job. Resources to give to God’s work. A SURRENDERED LIFE LIVES OFF THAT SECOND LIST.
ISAIAH: Among a people of unclean lips….
Look around and say ,I am better than ______, I do more religious things than____, I am in church more than _____, I give more than ________
LOOKED AT GOD, HOLY HOLY HOLY
Who shall I send, who shall go for us? Here I am send me. Let me live life with your priority list foremost in my mind.
TOWER OF LONDON: Crown Jewels….
One is the Courinor Diamond….186 carots…value was worth of the daily expenses of the whole world….passed round about and ended up in India in the hands of an Indian punja prince….he was only 10 years old…gave the diamond to Queen Victoria.
LATER: Grew to be a man…went to the Tower of London and asked to see the diamond…brought it out….’would you place it in my hand’. UH OH He now realizes the value …..Turned to the Queen and said, ‘When I was a boy I gave you this diamond, I did not know what it was worth, now as a man, fully realizing what it is worth, I want to give it to you one more time’.
Many of us gave our hearts to Jesus, when we grow in grace and knowledge. ‘Lord, Jesus I gave You my life as a child, I meant it. But now realizing more about you and more about me I give you my life, new and afresh. I PRESENT MYSELF TO YOU A LIVING SACRIFICE.
