Church Defined: Health Indicator #4 - Understanding Conversion
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This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye have not so learned Christ;
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Have you ever heard, “people don’t really change.” This statement can be heard throughout philosophical debates, on shallow comments posted on social media, and rehearsed in box office movies that Net 1.4 billion dollars.
We are taught that we must identify and live with our internal struggles and forget about finding a way to conquer and change them.
Outside of the miraculous work of Christ in an individual there is no true way of seeing an inward change.
The initial work of Conversion
The initial work of Conversion
Changed from what we were.
Changed from what we were.
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
To What We Were Created to Be
To What We Were Created to Be
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
300 Illustrations for Preachers The Lost Dog Is Found
Chuck and Elicia James decided it was time for their daughter to have a dog; they named him Reckless. But Reckless got out and disappeared during Hurricane Sandy. The whole family was heartbroken. “It was like losing a family member,” commented Chuck. For their daughter’s 10th birthday, over a year and half after Sandy, they went to the Monmouth County, New Jersey SPCA to adopt. The first dog they saw looked familiar. Reckless recognized them immediately, and they were sure it was him when they saw the scar on his head.
Finding the lost is reason to celebrate.
—Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
The lifelong work of Conversion
The lifelong work of Conversion
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Since change is fundamentally possible and accessible through faith in Jesus Christ, how is it maintained?
Some would echo Joan of Arc’s response to the question “Are you truly in God’s Grace?” her response was “If I’m not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God keep me in it.”
If you know the promise of God found by faith in Jesus Christ then your answer will be more like John Newton’s (the author of Amazing Grace), “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not what I hope to be. Yet I can truly say, I am not what I once was. By the grace of God, I am what I am.”
This transformation is through faith:
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
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.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The final result of Conversion
The final result of Conversion
Eternity with God
Eternity with God
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.