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We exist to connect all people to the person, power and purpose of Jesus
0.000000 6.160000 Hello bridge fam and welcome to bridge online today we hope you're enjoying the
6.160000 12.860000 snow this weekend stay safe stay warm and stay together amen we're together in
12.860000 17.600000 God's house not in a physical building but online today I want to take out your
17.600000 21.160000 Bibles in turn to Romans chapter 12 and we're going to be looking at two
21.160000 26.240000 verses verses one and two today we're going to talk about the process of
26.240000 32.460000 transformation there's a story of an old Tennessee man who visited a large
32.460000 37.360000 city one time he was standing in front of an elevator he had never seen an
37.360000 42.560000 elevator before the elevator doors opened and an old woman got on to the
42.560000 47.680000 elevator within a few minutes the elevator came back down and opened up and a
47.680000 54.080000 beautiful attractive woman got off the elevator the older guy looked at the
54.080000 59.200000 woman then he hollered for his son and said Billy go get your mother how
59.200000 64.480000 many you know sometimes transformation is not that easy I believe all of us
64.480000 68.960000 desire change in our lives whether it's change in our marriage change in our
68.960000 75.240000 finances change in our attitude change where we work where we live there's
75.240000 81.800000 something about us within us that desires change I believe change is
81.800000 87.000000 possible I believe God wants to transform our lives and so we're going to look at
87.000000 92.000000 the book of Romans Romans was written by Paul who was an apostle of the Lord Jesus
92.000000 98.560000 Christ he wrote it in 57 AD the first part of the book of Romans chapters one
98.560000 103.720000 through 11 talk about doctrine talk about teaching the latter part talks about how
103.720000 110.000000 we apply doctrine to our lives it talks about how to live out the Christ like
110.000000 115.400000 life on earth and so today we're going to look at Romans chapter 12 verses
115.400000 119.600000 one and two and I want you to take out your Bibles and read with me even though
119.600000 124.920000 you're sitting in the comfort of your own home it says therefore I urge you brothers
124.920000 133.960000 and sisters in view of God's mercy now look what he says he says therefore why is
133.960000 140.560000 the therefore therefore because he's talking about chapters one through eleven he's
140.560000 147.600000 talking about the mercy of God that's been offered to us and in light of that great
147.600000 154.320000 mercy in which we've been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ there's
154.320000 159.640000 no condemnation because of that mercy because we're in Christ there is no
159.640000 166.860000 separation between us and God because we are in Christ it's all the mercy that we
166.860000 172.640000 receive from God therefore I urge you brothers so that word urge there it
172.640000 177.560000 means to beg it means to plead I urge you brothers and sisters who is he
177.560000 182.320000 writing to he's writing to the church at Rome he calls those at the church brothers
182.320000 187.960000 and sisters in view of God's mercy in light of what Paul had just written
187.960000 193.440000 between chapters one and eleven he said in view of God's mercy to offer your
193.440000 201.640000 bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper
201.640000 208.040000 worship some translation say this is your spiritual act of worship did you know
208.040000 213.960000 worship is just not gathering and singing songs worship is our life that's who we
213.960000 220.880000 are it's our lifestyle is it pleasing and holy to God that is our worship this is
220.880000 227.240000 our spiritual worship look what he says in verse two he says do not be conform to
227.240000 232.880000 the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then
232.880000 240.840000 you will be able to attest and approve what God's will is he is good pleasing and
240.840000 250.680000 perfect will his good pleasing and perfect will I've come to realize in life if you
250.680000 258.680000 change nothing nothing will change nothing will change so Paul writes this letter in
258.680000 264.440000 57 AD and he's writing it to the Christians at Rome Rome was a city of
264.440000 270.740000 polytheism there was many gods the emperor ruled and rained there and he's
270.740000 276.620000 writing to a culture that is is being conformed to the pattern of paganism and
276.620000 283.660000 he's talking to Christians about being transformed transformation is just
283.660000 290.460000 not a one-time event transformation is a process so in the beginning part of this
290.460000 295.220000 book he's talking about doctrine and that word doctrine you might be saying what is
295.220000 301.380000 doctrine it's it's teaching it's it's it's the teachings of Christ it's what you
301.380000 307.780000 are supposed to believe as a Christian it's the foundational principles of
307.780000 314.220000 Christianity that are laid out in God's Word and Paul talks about doctrine in many
314.220000 321.100000 of his books in fact and when he's talking to his spiritual son Timothy he says
321.100000 327.660000 this to him in 1 Timothy 416 he says watch your life and your doctrine closely look
327.660000 332.780000 at that he says watch your life and your doctrine closely how many you know you
332.780000 338.340000 can't separate your life from your doctrine because the way you live flows
338.340000 344.500000 out of what you believe you're believing produces your behavior so Paul says
344.500000 352.100000 watch your life and watch your doctrine closely persevere in them persevere and
352.100000 358.020000 what your Christ likeness your life and your doctrine because if you do you will
358.020000 364.820000 save both yourselves and your heirs then he goes on in the second Timothy chapter
364.820000 370.540000 4 verse 3 he he keeps talking to Timothy he says for the time will come when
370.540000 376.220000 people will not put up with sound doctrine says he will not put up with sound
376.220000 382.660000 doctrine instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great
382.660000 389.500000 number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear what is Paul saying
389.500000 395.380000 he's saying in the last days one of the marks of the last days is that people would
395.380000 401.980000 not put up with sound doctrine people would walk out of Bible believing Bible
401.980000 408.060000 preaching churches because they refuse to put up with sound doctrine I've seen
408.060000 412.860000 that in my own ministry I've seen that in my own teaching when I get to the word of
412.860000 418.500000 God and I begin to preach the word of God people don't like what they hear because
418.500000 423.340000 it doesn't tickle their ears they get up and they walk out that's what Paul's
423.340000 427.740000 talking about and that's one of the marks of the last days is that people would
427.740000 433.100000 not put up with sound doctrine instead they suit their own desires they will
433.100000 437.780000 gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
437.780000 443.900000 want to hear how many you know sometimes the word of God will offend you before
443.900000 450.780000 it heals you every time I open up the word of God it challenges me to change it
450.780000 457.580000 challenges me to become more like Jesus Christ that's the importance of the word
457.580000 465.500000 of God I want to tell you today we serve a God who is unchanging Jesus is unchanging
465.500000 471.460000 Jesus was the word made flesh according to John chapter 1 in the beginning was
471.460000 477.300000 the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh
477.300000 484.580000 first 14 of chapter 1 of John and 12 to Mungus Jesus was the word made flesh
484.580000 492.060000 how many you know God's word never changes it never changes therefore Jesus is
492.060000 499.220000 unchanging Hebrews 13 8 says Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever the
499.220000 505.100000 nature of God is immutable that word immutable actually means unchanging that
505.100000 512.300000 that God's nature never changes we see that in malachi 3 6 where it says I the
512.300000 518.420000 Lord God do not change therefore oh sons of Jacob you are not consumed having
518.420000 524.700000 you the mercy of God never changes it is pushing toward us and reaching
524.700000 532.700000 toward us and and God even in the old Texas says I don't change Jesus doesn't
532.700000 540.500000 change he is God with us he is God that came among us he is Emmanuel God with us
540.500000 547.700000 and he does not change in fact in James chapter 1 verse 17 it says there is no
547.700000 554.900000 variation or shifting shadow in him who Jesus Jesus who is God not only is
554.900000 563.020000 Jesus unchanging but Jesus who is unchanging is constantly changing us he's
563.020000 569.620000 constantly changing us he's constantly transforming our lives 2 Corinthians 517 if
569.620000 574.820000 any man be in Christ he is a new creation the old is gone behold all things
574.820000 580.540000 become new it's at that moment of salvation that my life is transformed but
580.540000 585.060000 that's not the stopping point that's the beginning point that's not the end
585.060000 590.740000 it's the beginning so I don't stop with the initial transformation of my
590.740000 595.260000 heart when God takes out my heart of stone and gives me a heart of flesh I keep
595.260000 601.900000 moving toward Christ likeness through daily transformation see as we followed
601.900000 607.100000 Jesus we're in constant we're in a constant state of transformation daily we're
607.100000 612.020000 becoming more Christ like Jesus said if any man wishes to come after me he must
612.020000 618.100000 deny himself take up his cross and follow me Matthew 1624 it's in the following of
618.100000 626.820000 Jesus that I am being changed and I am being transformed into his likeness so
626.820000 633.420000 after my initial salvation experience what does Jesus use to transform my
633.420000 639.220000 life what is the process of transformation number one it's information say
639.220000 645.340000 information the importance of information I can't overstate this now I'm not
645.340000 650.260000 talking about just technical information scientific information governmental
650.260000 654.860000 information I'm talking about the importance of God's word and the life of the
654.860000 662.060000 believer that that God's word is so important to us is the information that God
662.060000 668.660000 sins our way that that we began to interpret that we began to digest it's the
668.660000 673.020000 doctrine it's the teaching it's the foundational principles and teachings of
673.020000 680.060000 Christ in the Bible and that information is so important did you know we live in a
680.060000 686.660000 world of information technology we live in a world where information is
686.660000 693.220000 exploding in fact the Old Testament book of Daniel prophesied that there would
693.220000 698.860000 come a day where there would be a literal knowledge explosion you can find
698.860000 706.420000 anything you want to find check GPT any kind of AI can help you you can go on
706.420000 711.580000 Google you can go on any search engine and you can find information but the
711.580000 718.020000 information that's on all these AI chat boxes and all this Google searches will
718.020000 723.940000 never be more important than the word of God to the believer so God gives us
723.940000 728.420000 information did you know the Bible wasn't written to us but it was written for
728.420000 733.780000 us it was written for our identification for our learning for the principles of
733.780000 738.820000 God's word to be applied to our hearts so Jesus gives us this information and
738.820000 743.980000 number two there's illumination that's when the Holy Spirit comes in and
743.980000 748.500000 illuminates the word of God have you ever read a Bible verse and it seemed like
748.500000 754.020000 it jumped off the page it was illuminated to you God God did something with that
754.020000 759.260000 word and it spoke to your heart that's the job of the Holy Spirit in fact John
759.260000 765.380000 16 says that the Holy Spirit would would teach us and lead us into all truth
765.380000 771.460000 that the Holy Spirit is the giver and the illuminator of truth this word the
771.460000 777.900000 Bible is God breath that means it comes as the breath of God the Spirit of God to
777.900000 783.340000 us so not only we need the Bible the information but we need the Holy Spirit to
783.340000 788.420000 illuminate it to shine a bright light on it and that illuminated word becomes
788.420000 794.620000 revelation it becomes reveal truth Jesus said this you will know the truth and the
794.620000 800.780000 truth will set you free oftentimes we just think truth sets us free no it's
800.780000 806.300000 just not truth it's the truth that you know and it's the truth that you apply
806.300000 812.460000 that sets you free it's the word revelation of God's word that sets you free you've
812.460000 816.580000 got the information the Holy Spirit illuminates it and it becomes revealed
816.580000 823.180000 truth to our lives it becomes something God uses and then number four
823.180000 830.620000 transformation see truth sets us free because every news our mind it changes the
830.620000 838.380000 way we think now let's go back to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 therefore I
838.380000 842.660000 urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to present your bodies as living
842.660000 850.220000 sacrifices holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship the
850.220000 854.660000 first thing we have to do if we're really gonna experience transformation is to
854.660000 860.180000 give God all of our lives not just some of our lives all of our lives and then he
860.180000 866.420000 says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your
866.420000 871.020000 mind did you know we live in a world that's constantly trying to put you into
871.020000 878.860000 its pattern it's tried to conform you to its way of thinking every day you're
878.860000 885.460000 inundated with information that's tried to conform you to the image of the
885.460000 892.580000 gods of this world Paul understood that and telling the Roman Christians he says
892.580000 900.620000 don't be conformed to the pattern of the Roman Empire don't be conformed to the
900.620000 909.140000 principles of this world he says be transformed transformed what is that word
909.140000 916.500000 transformed it's a Greek word it's metamorpho it's the word that in which we get
916.500000 922.300000 our word metamorphosis it actually means that when we get into the word of
922.300000 926.220000 God the word that's the information illuminated by the Holy Spirit that becomes
926.220000 933.540000 revealed true to us brings about a metamorphosis in our lives we are metamorphosed
933.540000 942.260000 into the image of Christ so it's not by works it's by grace and my willingness to
942.260000 949.340000 surrender my life as a living sacrifice to God so Paul is using this word
949.340000 956.420000 picture of a metamorphosis it actually gives us a word picture of a caterpillar
956.420000 963.660000 spinning a cocoon and waiting and within the darkness of that cocoon that
963.660000 970.460000 caterpillar is being metamorphosis to the point that one day that caterpillar
970.460000 977.780000 becomes a beautiful butterfly and begins to soar high above the trees that he
977.780000 983.940000 once climbed I'm telling you God wants you to soar but you will never soar into
983.940000 990.140000 the purpose and destiny of God until you allow the word of God and the Holy Spirit
990.140000 995.580000 of God to begin to metamorphosize your life so you can become what he's called
995.580000 1002.300000 you to become we cannot be content just to get saved and remain to remain the
1002.300000 1009.140000 same Paul says watch your life and your doctrine because your behavior flows out
1009.140000 1017.060000 of what you believe my behavior flows out of what I believe so in this process of
1017.060000 1023.140000 change I got to resist being conformed to the world and I got to embrace being
1023.140000 1031.700000 transformed by the renewing look here the renewing of my mind Peter in his book
1031.700000 1038.540000 he says prepare your mind for action how many know we have to prepare our minds how
1038.540000 1043.620000 does that happen by the word of God by the spirit of God illuminating it by
1043.620000 1051.980000 becoming revealed truth he says be transformed by the renewing of your mind so
1051.980000 1058.300000 what does that take it takes me depositing the word of God in my life I want to
1058.300000 1067.060000 encourage you you're in a cocoon today it has snow a big snow and you're sitting at
1067.060000 1073.420000 home why not take the word of God and begin to read it I know you can do a lot
1073.420000 1079.300000 of other things you can binge on your favorite television shows or you can
1079.300000 1085.980000 binge on food or you can take some spiritual food and get wrapped up in the
1085.980000 1091.820000 word of God and allow the word of God in the spirit of God to metamorphosize your
1091.820000 1098.460000 life and transform your life Hebrews 4.12 says the word of God is living active
1098.460000 1103.020000 operative energizing effective sharper than a two-edged sword piercing as
1103.020000 1107.100000 far as the vision of the soul in the spirit and able to judge the thoughts and
1107.100000 1113.740000 intentions of the heart the word of God is powerful in fact the psalmist in
1113.740000 1119.500000 Psalm 119 captures this he says how can a young man keep his way pure by living it
1119.500000 1127.380000 according to that word the word of God is powerful I want to encourage you today to
1127.380000 1132.780000 be transformed to go through a metamorphosis don't be content with a one-way
1132.780000 1137.940000 ticket to heaven Jesus said the thief comes to kill still and destroy but I have
1137.940000 1143.020000 come that you might have life and life more abundantly the life the abundant life
1143.020000 1149.460000 is connected to the renewal of your mind of Solomon says as a man thinks in his
1149.460000 1156.220000 heart so is he so if I'm going to really embrace the abundant life that God has
1156.220000 1163.740000 for me I've got to have a transformed life through the renewal of my mind yeah
1163.740000 1169.220000 that's going to take a little bit of work but God's going to add his grace to your
1169.220000 1176.580000 discipline it's called spiritual formation God uses spiritual disciplines to
1176.580000 1181.820000 transform our lives see transformation is possible when you follow Jesus and
1181.820000 1188.260000 allow him to be the Lord of your life see Paul in Acts chapter number nine he
1188.260000 1197.620000 went from a a persecutor of the church Saul of Tarshis he destroyed Christians
1197.620000 1204.040000 but God transformed his life and he became Paul the Apostle who wrote two-thirds
1204.040000 1208.900000 of the New Testament went on three missionary journeys transformed the world
1208.900000 1216.460000 why because he was transformed by the power of Jesus the process of transformation
1216.460000 1222.540000 leads us to Christ's likeness aren't you about your head but I just thank you
1222.540000 1226.060000 that you've given us an opportunity to come into your presence to learn your
1226.060000 1232.000000 word I thank you God that we can gather and we can learn and your word can
1232.000000 1237.380000 transform our hearts your spirit can empower us today I pray that you bless each
1237.380000 1242.920000 person God keep them safe in the storm bless their families and God may we
1242.920000 1250.520000 experience the transformative power of grace in our lives in Jesus name amen
1250.520000 1251.730625 [MUSIC]