Transformed by Faith In Jesus Christ

Pastor Miles' latest newsletter centers on transformation. In the book of Mark, we are going to study some of the miracles that Jesus performed and how the lives of these individuals were transformed by the faith they had in Jesus and the work that He performed.

The following is the newsletter sent by The Rock Church:

Transformation - Romans 12:2 ...be transformed by the renewing of your mind...

In a world of extreme makeovers and reality shows, sometimes our perception of what it means to be transformed by God can get a little distorted. In our next series we iwll look at how people are transformed by faith. According to Webster's dictionary, transformed implies a major change in form, nature, and function - being nothing like it once was.

When we were born, we may have been small, screaming and sort of wrinkled-looking babies, but were still human. As we grew up we didn't become more human, but simply more aware of our humanity and our individualism. Instead of screaming we began to talk. Instead of being carried everywhere we began to decide for ourselves where we would go and what we wanted to do. Your behavior, even abilities, were transformed by the growing awareness of what it means to be human - a person. If for some reason you decided to reject that knowledge or forgot it, you'd go back to acting like a baby.

This same thing happened to you when you were born into the spiritual family of Christ., you were made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have been transformed. You were once unholy, but now through the righteousness of Christ you are holy. You were once unworthy to be in the presence of God and now you can speak to Him face to face as a friend. You were once lost without hope and destined for eternal damnation, but God has redeemed you and called you His child.

Can you imagine one of the former blind men that Jesus healed reverting back to his blind ways because he didn't have the faith to believe in God's gift? Sometimes we do exactly that. We forget or lose faith in the work that God has done, go back to acting like that old person, and are actually living a lie.

In Mark we are going to study some of the miracles that Jesus performed and how the lives of these individuals were transformed by the faith they had in Jesus and the work that He performed. Going through this will help us renew our minds, or remember what God has already done for us. I ask that you begin praying about how He iwll choose to reveal to the world the amazing transformation He has done in you. Fix your minds and hearts on God, and His truth will never lead you wrong.

Written by Pastor Miles McPherson

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Wow...that was powerful! I just love the illustration that when we were babies...we acted like babies. When we grew, we went through the transformation of becoming adults. The same is true of our spiritual re-birth. Before becoming a Christian, I was a 'spiritual baby' in that my life and relationship with the Lord was immature, at best, being ignored, at worst.

Have you ever noticed how children can completely block out your calls to them when they are busy doing something? A young child can be at play outside and ignore his mother's call to come in for dinner. An older child can be on the computer and so engrossed in a game that they may not even hear you calling them to dinner (been there, done that!).

I liken this to God calling us to repentance. There are some who hear the call, but decide to ignore it, thus blocking out His voice. There are some who don't even hear the call in the first place mostly because they are not even seeking after God! Then, there are those who hear the call, make the decision to repent, and are thus transformed by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation may happen in a moment in time, but sanctification is something that develops within us over the course of ones lifetime. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds to the mind of Christ. Once we are children of God, we desire to be more like Jesus and want to follow His Word in the Bible. We want what He wants for us in this life. We love what He loves in this life. We hate what He hates in this sinful world.

The transformation includes taking our own thoughts, works, desires and actions off of the "throne" of our lives and placing Jesus Christ there.

I am truly looking forward to this wonderful series and I will keep you updated on what we learn!

In Christ's service,
Christine