Transforming to the “new creature”

God’s WORD will transform us into the “new creature” He wants us to be.

ROMANS 12:1-2 (KJV) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Be ye transformed: So how does this transformation take place, does it just come with the package after salvation? No it does not, it is a process, now I  am not talking about the salvation experience, it is instantaneous, immediately when you believe with all your heart and call upon the name of the LORD. But, at that point we are babes in Christ, and just like when we were babies and when our children were babies, we didn’t come into this world knowing much, but the person who birthed us, from the moment the doctor spanked us on the butt, or however we were spurred into taking our first breath, we began to learn by actions and examples. Usually a baby sees his parents walking, his siblings walking other people getting places by a different mode than he/she does, so as he/she grows and their muscles develop and their coordination develops, they begin to crawl or walk by mimicking others. Same way with their talking. Now you all know this but I said it to show that “babes in Christ” learn mostly the same way. They see and hear how Christians walk, talk and live their lives so that helps them to transform themselves into loving, caring, and industrious Christians.

Now I am going to give you 2 points of what you and I need to do to begin transforming our minds so that we can become the vibrant Christian that I know you want to be. POINT #1

REFRAIN: Now remember we have been “born again” so we will need to “refrain” from going in the direction we were going, from doing things we were doing or at least in the same way we were doing them, or for the same reason we were doing them, or by the same strength we were doing them,  in other words we have to repent of what we were and what we were all about and turn from that way and begin another way, you might kind of shake your head and say why, what are you talking about pastor, well that actually brings us to what JESUS was talking about when he explained the concept of being “born again” how that we are no longer what we were but are a “new creation” God’s word says this in:

2 Cor 5:17  (KJV) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” You are not the same person that you were when you decided “I need Christ, and called upon HIS NAME” all of those old things that you and I did that was not pleasing to GOD have passed away, you are in the flesh, or in the world but you are not of the flesh or of the world. You see, when GOD saved you he placed your sins “as far as the East from the West. We, are now sojourners in this world, we are just passing through to a new home, a new life, we’ll have a new body and new home and be rejoined with our loved ones and friends, who were saved, and especially be in the presence of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. So, you are probably thinking right now, but, sometimes I still sin, well, you are thinking right, you will, it is inevitable and I am not saying that it is alright to sin but that we will fall, so we must “confess our sins to the LORD and he will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteous.” that word “cleanse” in the first epistle of John and the 1st chapter and the 9th verse, means “to completely wash away”, “obliterate” , “completely erase” it’s not like when you’ve made an error while writing something and you erase it and you can see a small brown smudge there or a hole in your paper where you tried to completely get rid of your mistake, but it is like the Bible says in Psalm 103:12 (KJV), and then in Micah 7:19 (KJV) where he says that God casts them into the depth of the sea, and Jeremiah 31:34 (KJV) where he says that GOD will remember them no more. 

 In Gal 6:15 (KJV) “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”

And then Paul says in Gal 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” so then when we are “born again” and we are refraining from the old habits we must “retrain” ourselves to complete the new creature that we have become, remember what the apostle Paul said in our opening scripture in: here let me read it again: 

ROMANS 12:1-2 (KJV) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Now to POINT #2

RETRAIN: This is the easiest one, the hard thing is the 1st one, living in the flesh and trying not to obey the flesh. But even the “refraining” part gets easier if you do this, the 2nd thing of transforming our mind. A smarter man than I (Warren Wiersbe a professor with a PhD from a southern Baptist theological seminary in Dallas Texas) said in his study bible and I quote him “If the world controls our thinking, we are conformers, if GOD controls our thinking, we are  transformers. If we copy the behavior and customs of the world, we become a cheap imitation; if we let GOD transform us into new persons, we will be original creations of HIS! GOD transforms our minds and makes us spiritually minded by using HIS WORD.” So we as a church “must” and I emphasize “must” teach and preach GOD’s holy word “raw and true” we must not “soft-soap” it. But preach it true and let the chips fall where they may, because the church must give the members the tools they need so they can transform their minds. Listen closely to me as I read this passage:

2 Cor 3:18 (KJV) and place a marker there or write this scripture passage down on a piece of paper or on the front inside cover of your bible and keep it in your heart so that you can remain a transformer. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Let me paraphrase it for you: “The old Doug died in Christ when I was born again, so when I look at the mirror of my life since then, the image should be changing everyday from my old self to the full likeness of a Christ-like person when God takes me home or when I see him and join him in the Eastern Sky when HE returns.”

May I ask you, are you a “CONFORMER” or a “TRANSFORMER” please don’t think of what your neighbor is or is not but let the SPIRIT of GOD touch your life and show you. Look back at the “mirror of your life” and let the SPIRIT of GOD reflect back to you what your image looks like. If you are not saved, if you have never really been “born again” then make this the day, the day you say yes to the drawing of the HOLY GHOST and let the new creature that you become, begin it’s journey as you serve GOD. If you are saved but have strayed from being transformed, Make this the day that you restart that journey.