In the first message, we brief looked of how we need to renew our minds to Jesus Christ. Before we truly worship Him, we must turn our minds to Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews says, “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2a.)
If we don’t look unto Jesus in our daily lives, our minds will set on the world system, which Satan set up for everybody can come and worship him without realizing who he is. For example, almost every Christian believes that President is a genuine and born-again believer in Jesus Christ. But when we read on the newspaper or hear on the news, we see that our president would be doing other stuffs to make every religious community happy, even his action may against God’s words. And Satan would probably love him to make everybody confuse.
Yet, we don’t hear often what Satan is doing behind White House from Christian prospect view in the Christian media, because we are focusing on the world things and less on what God says.
Let’s read Romans 12:1-2 again to set our main study.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Now, last time, we discussed Romans 12:1. Remember, here in this verse, Paul set his speech for everybody to live our life for God as a living sacrifice. Again, it doesn’t mean that we need to die physically to help other person’s needs. But it means that we may have to take risks along with our living and not give up easy. We may have financial problem in the midst of our wonderful lives. Are we going to ignore the issue? No! If we have so much of bills and don’t have enough money, we need to keep deal with it until it would get resolve.
In Romans 12:2, Paul began by saying “…do not be conformed to this world…” This is clear that we do not need to make earth as our eternal home. No, not now! Don’t be confused with the New Earth in Revelation. Yes, God will turn this earth into New Earth and we will return here after He will judge the earth and Satan.
As we see in today’s world, we see that Satan is controlling the world system. Some of us may into his system. We see the fulfillment of Galatians 5:19-21 that Satan would like to see every do the works of flesh. We could name them in today’s terms, and all well-known words are fit these 17 categories. For example, the word “sorcery”: It’s Greek word “pharmakeia,” from which the English word “pharmacy” comes. It originally referred to medicines in general, but eventually only to mood- and mind-altering drugs, as well as occult, witchcraft, and magic. Many pagan religious practices required the use of these drugs to aid in the communication with deities.
I John 2:15-17 tell us if we love the world as our own, the love of our Heavenly Father is not in us. Instead, we love ourselves more than God, which Satan likes for us to do. Even though we have many churches in this country that proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, several of them are falling apart from God, because they would like to have more fame, power, and wealth as Hollywood does.
We need to wake up from our spiritual sleepy eyes and turn our minds to Jesus Christ. Here in I John 2, John gives us three ways that Satan would like to play with our minds. They are: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. If we look the ways Satan attacked Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4; Luke 4), he uses the same methods, which John named, to attack us.
But we don’t need to be lived as the rest of this world. We are not dumb as what Satan would think of us. We have one true King live in us. Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “I have come that they [we] may have life, and that they [we] may have it more abundantly.” Jesus came to us to give eternal life. He demonstrated His own love toward us, while we were sinners, by facing to the cross and died for us (see Romans 5:8).
We might ask ourselves: How we can pay Him back after what He had done for our sins? Even though He resurrected from the dead, we might still question ourselves of how we can have eternal life. Even though you accept Jesus Christ, you still might have problem to focus on Jesus Christ and want that relationship back.
In Romans 12:2b, Paul says, “…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.”
We need to change our thoughts as what God is thinking. The word “transformed” is a Greek, from which English word “metamorphosis” comes, connotes a change in outward appearance. Matthew uses the same word to describe the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2). Just as Christ briefly and in a limited way displayed outwardly His inner, divine nature and glory at the Transfiguration, we should outwardly manifest our inner, redeemed natures, not once, however, but daily. We should walk as Jesus walks with us each day. We should talk with others as Jesus talks with us.
If we do as Jesus did to others, we will begin act, talk, and walk like Jesus. And Satan will hate us, because we would become more like Jesus everyday of our life.
Let me ask you this question: If someone come to you and says that you would not many days to live, what would you do? Are you going to change your life around and surrender your wills and accept Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior? Or would you ignore the situation and go with your life until you die without realizing what the person told you? There will be chance when God would judge you as innocent person and receive your eternal life, or He would judge you as guilty person and end of your life at the place, where you’ll suffer for eternally.
Choice is yours and mine alone. Whom are we going to worship? Joshua said to the people of Israel, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15.)
Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)
If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
