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Transformation

Rom 12:2

Prophecy Today Ministries

2 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.

We are going to be discussing what changes take place for those who have come to know Christ by accepting Him as their savior.

 

Well, let me say from my own personal experience that coming to know Christ by truly believing that he died on a cross for me personally has changed me in ways I would not believe possible. This change has been a gradual process. The love I experienced overwhelmed me and I new I would never be the same.

 

Let us start by reading some scripture verses.

2 Cor 5:1

1 For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

TLB

What this is saying is that we not only have souls that live eternally but we will actually have new bodies given to us to dwell in. We know from the fall that our present bodies have death in them in that they decay and wear down.

Our souls are eternal. Although our present bodies decay and die, the soul continues on for eternity. This can be a bit scary, but be assured that God loves you so much that he took your place on the Cross to pay for your sins.

A type of cross is pictured for us in Numbers 21:8 where Moses was instructed to place a serpent on a rod of brass to provide healing for disobedient people who were being bitten by serpents.

The people had to look at this serpent lifted up on a brass pole in order not to die. As you might suspect, people would not bother to look and were faced with death instead.

In a sense this still holds true today. People won't turn to Christ because they do not truly understand what God has done for them. They don't understand what the scriptures actually say and mis-understand the Christian faith altogether.

We are given the promise that by believing and accepting Christ's work on the Cross, we will be given eternal life in bodies quite different then what we are in now and in an environment that will be perfect. Our happiness will be perfected as well as the scriptures speak of the Lord wiping away every tear from the eyes of those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We read in....

 

1 Cor 15:51-58

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -

52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable , and the mortal with immortality.

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He (God) gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

TLB

Starting in ... 1 Cor 15:42-

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.

43 ( Referring to the body we are presently in...)

44

 

45 So it is written:

 "The first man Adam became a living being"; (That is Adam of Adam and Eve of the earth. .dust)

 the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (Speaking of Jesus Christ the heavenly being)

 

46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

 

47

 

48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

 

49 And

 

50 I declare to you, brothers, (and sisters)

That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God , nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

TLB

(You must be born again to get to heaven)

As Jesus told Nicodemus, who had sought Jesus out, "you must be born again"...this applies to all denominations and not pointing to any one in particular. You must accept Christ finished work on the cross ...his sacrifice for your sin. We will lead those who would like to learn how to do this at the end of this meeting.

Although those who are in Christ have new found knowledge of God's infinite love for them through the spirit, we still don't see what god has actually done for us through the veil of this flesh and present life.

In other words, in human form we cannot perceive. The glorious things that been have done for us by god to their ultimate extent.

We need to see the cross, Christ torment under the lashings of the Roman soldiers, and know that he is god to begin to fathom his love for us from that point.

The scriptures state,

1 Cor 13:12-13

12

 

13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

ASV

 

2 Cor 3:16-1

16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord .

NKJV

What joy there is for those who are in Christ! We have joy unspeakable. Gifts of love that words cannot explain nor can words replicate. The power of this love is what held Christ to the cross ...it is his love for us. This is what keeps us holding on to the cross in all sorts of adversity. It is the knowledge of this love ...true knowledge that love brings to one's heart that keeps us faithful to his words. Not regulations made by men but by God's infinite law of love for us written upon our hearts.

 

1 Cor 2:9-11

9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-

10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

NIV

 

We know the things of God by His Spirit dwelling within us and testifying to our spirit. God speaks to us and ministers to us in worship. We are the benefactors of worship.

Once we are in Christ, that is have become born again, a veil that hinders our vision is removed from our eyes so we can discern the things of God more clearly. We can actually see a transformation take place that makes us more Christ like.

The things of this world will become dim compared to the brilliance of this everlasting love that grows in our hearts. This is part of the change that takes place. As you experience this incredible love, you will want to do so over and over again. He never leaves us. Though at times, we do drift from His presence in pursuit of other things.

By fellow shipping with other believers, going to church, or just listening to praise music at home, we draw near to Him in prayer and in songs. The Bible tells us this is why God created man. God made man in order to have his company. Sin separated us from His love and led to death - both physical and spiritual.

The Bible speaks of a transformation from glory to glory. What is this glory? It is this incredible love Christ has for us that we experience in his presence. Jesus himself is referred as the "Glory of Heaven."

( Rev 21:4-5; Rev 7:17) please take the time to read the handout of the scripture verses in this lesson. They are very beautiful and not just words on paper either. We believe these words to be true as we know the Bible has been proven correct time and time again through intense research over the centuries by skeptics as well as believers.

I would recommend reading a book by Lee Strobel called "The Case For Christ." I plan to bring some in for the students who may want to purchase one at a reduced price.

This book was written long before the Da Vinci Code had been written and shows why Dan Brown's book is in error.

Understand that Strobel did not set out to disprove the Da Vinci Code. He set out to disprove the Bible as an investigative reporter, but found the evidence for the gospels so overwhelming, he wrote the book "The Case For Christ" and in advance disproved the Da Vinci Codes before they were written.

The gospels we hold to be true have stood the test of time for over 2000 years. The Dead Sea scrolls prove they have been copied accurately for that length of time as well.

The Case For Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus -- by Lee Strobel; Paperback

Getting back to our scriptures we read in ...

1 Cor 15:45

45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

TLB

 

The original copy of man was Adam. The second Adam is referring to Christ. He is the first of a new creation as well in the sense that God will restore us to a state of Christ's likeness. The first step is to receive Jesus so that you will have His spirit dwelling within you.

Just as we know Adam, the first man, fell and brought death into the world, we know that Christ, the second Adam, had rose from the dead defeating death and being in the form of a man had made it possible for all men to enter into the kingdom of God.

We cannot discern this carnally. That is, we don't perceive this naturally. Our natural tendency is to seek our own desires and not to follow an example set by Christ. This is what is natural ...to 'do your own thing.' But your own thing will leave you empty and seeking for the next thing. Christ Love satisfies the thirst all men have.

Don't worry about how this change takes place for now. I will explain in a few moments what usually takes years of work by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life.

God gave us a promise back in Gen 3:15 where the Lord gives us the promise of a child being born of a virgin that would bring about an end to the fallen nature of our bodies and this world.

The transformation that takes place will eventually replace this world of pain and death.

We read in Matthew 1:18 (after the fact)

 

Matt 1:18

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

NIV

And this was prophesied by Isaiah ... reading in ...

Isa 7:14 (Approximately 750 BC)

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

NKJV

Immanuel means "God is with us."

What we have in the Bible, which separates it from all other man made religions, is that it tells us the future in advance so accurately that it is astonishing. This happens time and time again. We have historical documents and archeological evidence that proves the text of the Bible. We believe God spoke, and men wrote.

 

2 Cor 5:2-7

2 How weary we grow of our present bodies. That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies that we shall put on like new clothes.

3 For we shall not be merely spirits without bodies.

4 These earthly bodies make us groan and sigh, but we wouldn't like to think of dying and having no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will, as it were, be swallowed up by everlasting life.

5 This is what God has prepared for us, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. (Thank God for the comfort of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer.

6 Now we look forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies, realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus.

7 We know these things are true by believing, not by seeing.

TLB

 

2 Cor 4:5-7

5 We don't go around preaching about ourselves; we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. All we say about ourselves is that we are your servants because of what Jesus has done for us. (Christ needs to be the focus)

6 For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But this precious treasure - this light and power that now shine within us - is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.

NLT

 

2 Cor 5:17-21

17 What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!

18 All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him.

19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.

20 We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!"

21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (GOD HAS PUT HIS SON ON THE CROSS TO DIE IN YOUR PLACE!

NLT

 

Rom 12:2-3

2 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.

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

NKJ

 

2 Cor 4:13-14

13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak;

14 knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.

ASV

 

2 Cor 4:18

18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Thank you,

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