Truth That Changes Lives on Oneplace.com

You are not to take from this sermon that it is your God ordained roll to go over ot your neighbor and point out all the darkness in their life. You're not to get your sin-ometer and go down to work and focus in on a co-worker and say, you know I need to point this out to you because the sermon on Sunday was how I'm supposed to expose darkness. No! The only person you should be poiniting the finger at is yourself!

Nobody can earn favor with God. It is all a gift of His grace.The bible is so clear that salvation is by grace through faith. But the bible also says that when that grace of God comes into our lives, we become new creatures in Jesus Christ. We become new people in Christ. There is a new life priciple within us.

Renewing our minds. This is what Paul says in Romans chapter 12, when he says, "I urge you therefore bretheren by the mercies of God to present your body as a living holy sacrifice which is your spiritual act of worship. Stop being conformed to this world but be transformed". How? By the renewing of your mind.

Jesus Christ in Mathew Chapters 5, 6 & 7 lays out the values, the priorities, the focus of His kingdom and it stands in antithesis to this world. And in a very mini version of that, the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4 says "We're to be different." And that is something to embrace, that is something to cherish. It's something to be excited about because of what we've been saved from and what we've been saved to, and the power that comes from being different.

Peter says in 1Peter chapter 3, "Do not return a curse with a curse but return a curse with a blessing." Why? Because you were called for this very purpose. So that you could inherit a blessing. That's the idea behind long suffering. And then, if that wasn't enough, he says, "We are to bear one another in love". We are to sustain, hang in there, endure in our relationships in love.

So, what's our calling that Paul says right out of the blocks in Ephisians chapter 4? I therefore prisoner of the Lord entreat you and urge you to live a life worthy of your calling. Well our calling is, bless with every spiritual blessing, totally saved by grace. Made part of a new community, a body, the church. And so, we ought to live like it!

As we step into the vision that God has for us. We need to believe great things about God. We need to ask great things of God. And we need to attempt great things for God! When we discover God's vision, it will change our lives today, tomorrow and for all eternity!

How do we put ourselves in a place to discover God's will for our lives? What are the preconditions to be able to prove it for ourselves and know it personally? Well we've got to present our whole bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. We've got to stop being conformed to this world. And we need to be engaged in the ongoing mind renewal process of transformation.

I think alot of times in our Christian life, we agonize and we ask God to give us something and God is saying, "I have already given that to you in Christ. It is already yours. Understand who you are and step into the freedom of your new identity. Understand your resources. Understand your inheritance. Know what's true about you and it will transform your life.

The bible says this in Collosians 1:13-14, "For He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemtion the forgiveness of sins." God says that at one time we were in darkness seperated from God outside of a relationship with Christ. And the metaphor to describe what happens when someone crosses the line is moving from darkness into light into God's kingdom.