(# 389) Romans 12 - A Renewed Mind Sees Life From God’s PerspectiveWelcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church with worldwide impact based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We know He is God and we believe in His Person. For some, a sad but true fact about our God is revealed through biblical truth in Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 18 to 20…
ROMANS 1:18 For the wrath of God the Father is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and against all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (withholding it from disclosure)…
ROMANS 1:19 …because that which is known about God the Father is evident within them…for God the Father made it evident to them.
ROMANS 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes (His essence), His eternal power (omnipotence) and His divine nature (His Deity), have been clearly seen, being understood even through what has been made, so that unbelievers are without excuse.
Ignoring the truth about God is indefensible in His sight. While God the Father loves unbelievers unconditionally, He hates unbelief. The rejection of the Person and the work of His Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who died on a Cross and shed His blood to offer salvation to all mankind, unconscionable in the Father’s eyes. The unrighteous man rejects the Lord and His work at the Cross. The righteous man lives the resurrection life by faith in the Lord, who was declared the Son of God the Father with power by His resurrection from the dead, according to the God the Holy Spirit. Welcome to a place where you can learn how to get to heaven and who is willing to escort you there personally when you close your eyes in this life…our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON A Renewed Mind Sees Life From God’s Perspective
Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2 says…
ROMANS 12:2 …keep on being transformed by God the Holy Spirit through the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND (by studying the Word of God)…
How do you know if God has renewed your mind? The surest sign is that you will see every situation in your life exactly as God sees it because you have decided to adopt His perspective. We’ll take a look at life from God’s perspective in this lesson.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
CHANGE MY HEART OH GOD Eddie Espinosa
When God renews our mind, He gives us a change of heart. As part of our prayers we ask God to keep on using His Word to completely renovate our perspective while we live here in Satan’s kingdom. Here is Eddie Espinosa to sing about the renewed mind in the song, CHANGE MY HEART O GOD.
OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...
Father, thank you for changing our heart…for the continuous renewing of our minds…replace our human heart with one that looks at life from the divine perspective…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON A Renewed Mind Sees Life From God’s Perspective
The current passage under study is Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2…
ROMANS 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world (by Satan, by his world system of thought, and by the flesh)…instead, keep on being transformed by (God the Holy Spirit)…through the renewing of your mind (by studying the Word of God)…
ROMANS 12:2 …so that you may see clearly…through testing…what the will of God is…and the will of God is that which is good and that which is acceptable and that which is perfect.
A renewed mind sees life from God’s perspective.
One of the definitions of the word “renew” is to make something effective, as in the renewing a lease, for example…and that definition certain explains what God the Holy Spirit does in renewing our minds. He gives us effective minds.
The Holy Spirit begins by tearing down old, ineffective thoughts from our minds…removing the thoughts that motivate fear and worry…replacing those emotions with biblical thoughts…in Isaiah, Chapter 41, Verse 10, the Lord says…
ISAIAH 41:10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you…do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God…I will strengthen you…surely I will help you…surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
In Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 6 and 7, the Lord tells us…
PHILIPPIANS 4:6 BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING (in other words, stop worrying about anything), but in everything by (regular) prayer and by supplication (urgent prayer) with thanksgiving…let your requests be made known to God the Father.
PHILIPPIANS 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will be a garrison for your hearts and your minds…(for those) in union with Christ Jesus.
As the tear down process continues, God the Holy Spirit simultaneously renews the minds of believers in Christ by building in a spiritual perspective that offers spiritual peace and spiritual purpose. It’s a perspective the immature do not have. What is spiritual immaturity?
SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY Thinking that getting to know God means following a set of rules, treating them as “have to,” and attributing to God a dictatorial and punishing approach to His creatures that He does not have.
God the Holy Spirit has a different idea of spiritual maturity. Colossians, Chapter 1, Verse 28…
COLOSSIANS 1:28 We proclaim the Lord, admonishing (warning) every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete (spiritually mature) in (union with) Christ.
God the Holy Spirit’s idea is to use teachers like the apostle Paul to inculcate the truth of the Word of God into every person, use the Word to warn and to instruct and to build wisdom in the innermost being. Psalm 51, Verse 6…
PSALM 51:6 Behold, You (Lord) desire truth in the innermost being… What is spiritual maturity? As I see it, it’s…
SPIRITUAL MATURITY The moment you decide, because of what your life experiences have taught you, that it is best to adopt God’s viewpoint as your own. It’s the moment when you agree with God after salvation the same way you agreed with Him for salvation. It’s when your soul switches permanently to “want to.”
It takes time and endurance to become mature, and when you are mature, you have no lack. James, Chapter 1, Verses 2 to 4…
JAMES 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…
JAMES 1:3 …knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
JAMES 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
What God the Holy Spirit is doing is renewing of your mind by giving you God’s perspective on everything. He is leading you into all the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So…
In a spiritual sense, your mind is renewed when you see everything in life from God’s point of view…and you can’t see everything in life from God’s point of view without taking in the Word of God on a regular basis to learn God’s point of view.
When I think of God’s viewpoint, I think of the Jesus the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue is beautiful when you look at it from your point of view.
But it is even more gorgeous if you could look though the statue’s eyes.
So it is with life. Life is so much more beautiful and so much clearer when we look at life from God’s point of view. First Corinthians, Chapter 14, Verse 33…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 14:33a …for God is not a God of confusion…
In the Bible, the words “understanding,” “discernment,” and “wisdom” all have to do with seeing things from God’s perspective. When we do, we understand…we discern…we are wise.
When we make our own rules in life, and handle every problem as seems best to us, the result is “hardness of heart,” “blindness,” and “dullness.” Proverbs, Chapter 3, Verse 5 warns us…
PROVERBS 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
Yet the human perspective does not have the same result as the divine perspective…Proverbs, Chapter 14, Verse 12…
PROVERBS 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Sin leads to death.
In a spiritual sense, your mind is renewed when you see everything in life from God’s point of view.
So what is spiritual perspective?
SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE Knowing what God does and knowing why He does it, and knowing God’s rules are in place to serve you. It’s the time when you want to do what is in your best interest and when you want to do what works.
Does this take a long time?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
For example, how long did it take you to obey traffic lights? Not long. You knew it was in your best interest because if you run a red light you can get dead!
Seeing things from God’s perspective is the difference between seeing things from the ground and seeing things from the air. The perspectives are quite different.
In a spiritual sense, your mind is renewed when you see everything in life from God’s point of view.
Let’s take a music break, and we’ll see what God’s point of view is regarding Himself, others, and you! All God needs from us is to cease striving and to know that He is God. Here’s Hillary Scott to tell us that God wants us to be STILL.
MUSIC BREAK STILL Hillary Scott
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON A Renewed Mind Sees Life From God’s Perspective
Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
GALATIANS 6:9-10 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.//So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. OFFERING FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE Dave McClure, Instrumental
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON A Renewed Mind Sees Life From God’s Perspective
We continue our study of Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2…
ROMANS 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world (by Satan, by his world system of thought, and by the flesh)…instead, keep on being transformed by (God the Holy Spirit)…through THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND (by studying the Word of God)…
ROMANS 12:2 …so that you may see clearly…through testing…what the will of God is…and the will of God is that which is good and that which is acceptable and that which is perfect.
How do you know your mind is renewed?
Your mind is renewed when you see everything in life from God’s point of view.
First, when your mind is renewed, you see God from God’s perspective. Some people see God as Bette Midler portrays Him in one of her songs… God is watching us…God is watching us…God is watching us…from a distance. Some people see God as someone who is out to get them. He is looking down from heaven with a giant foot raised, just waiting for us to make a mistake so He can “come down” on us. Some people see God as a parent who puts on us a pressure to perform that we could never live up to. Those images of God are from the human viewpoint, and they are dead wrong.
How does God see Himself? Psalm 46, Verse 1…
PSALM 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31 to 32…
ROMANS 8:31 What then shall we say then, face-to-face with all these things (in Romans 8:28 to Romans 8:30)? If God the Father is for us, and of course He is, who is successful against us?
No one can successfully oppose a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand on victorious ground for all eternity.
ROMANS 8:32 God the Father, who did not spare His own Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), but delivered Him over for us all, how will the Father not also, now that we are in union with Christ freely give us all things?
How did the Lord see His work on the Cross? Many feel sorry for Him. He certainly didn’t feel sorry for Himself…Hebrews, Chapter 12, Verse 2…
HEBREWS 12:2 …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author of faith and the perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Lord counted the Cross as joy!
In the human realm there are two perspectives…lies and truth. With God, there is only one perspective…TRUTH. In that way, God is not at all confusing…He is crystal clear, and He sees Himself that way. The best thing for us about God is that we don’t have to work to “develop” God’s perspective…He gives us His perspective when we show up to have our minds renewed. We merely say “yes” to what He wants to do for us.
First, when our mind is renewed, we see others from God’s perspective. When we see things from God’s perspective, we are like little kids that daddy puts on His shoulders. From the ground everything looks confused and confusing, but once we are on His shoulders we can see everything with crystal clarity. Isaiah, Chapter 55, Verse 8…
ISAIAH 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
How does God want us to see others? Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 16…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh…even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
In other words, we don’t evaluate others by the external things we see in them. How are we to see unbelievers when we look at them from God’s perspective? First Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 14…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:14 But a natural man (the unbeliever) does not accept the things of the Holy Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him…and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
When we look at unbelievers from God’s perspective we see them as we see someone who does not understand the language we speak. We get a translator. Our translator is God the Holy Spirit, whose convicting ministry makes the gospel message clear to unbelievers.
How are we to see believers in Christ when we look at them from God’s perspective? Well there’s the carnal believer…here’s what Paul says about carnal believers in First Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 3…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:1 And I (Paul), brethren, could not speak to you as I would speak to spiritual men, but I speak to you as I would speak to men of flesh, as I would speak to infants in Christ.
FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food…for you were not yet able to receive solid food. Indeed, even now you are not yet able…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:3 …for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
How are we to see believers in Christ when we look at them from God’s perspective? There’s also the spiritual believer…Hebrews, Chapter 5, Verse 14…
HEBREWS 5:14 But solid food is for the (spiritually) mature, who because of practice (experience) have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Mature believers look at life from God’s perspective and offer a great perspective on life even though they know they are far from perfect. So when we look at others from God’s perspective we are taking the suggestion of Colossians, Chapter 3, Verse 2…
COLOSSIANS 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Finally, when your mind is renewed, you see yourself from God’s perspective.
From the human viewpoint, we see ourselves as if we are looking from the wrong end of binoculars. We see a distorted view of ourselves. We see ourselves as we see the back side of a crochet pattern, where all the stitches look disheveled. God sees us as the other side of the pattern…a beautiful series of things woven together into a beautiful mosaic. God’s plan and God’s viewpoint is broader than our shiny object perspective.
In omniscience, God sees and knows our potential. God wants us to be mighty warriors. God doesn’t bother worrying about our weaknesses because He knows what His power can do in weakness. He and He alone can take you from brokenness to brilliance. He and He alone can make something from nothing. He and He alone can speak your success into existence. And God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Amen?
Take Gideon, one of the great cowards of all time whom the Lord used to do a mighty thing…the deliverance of Israel…Judges, Chapter 6, Verses 12 to 16…
JUDGES 6:12 The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.”
JUDGES 6:13 Then Gideon said to the angel of the Lord, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us (in Israel)? And where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
This is a great example of looking at things from the human point of view. When God is blessing us, He is wonderful. When He is training us with adversity, He has abandoned us. A viewpoint straight from the pits of hell sponsored by the one who keeps on fathering lies…God’s enemy…Satan.
JUDGES 6:14 The Lord looked at Gideon and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
JUDGES 6:15 Gideon said to the Lord, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
I’m so weak Lord!
JUDGES 6:16 But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
God doesn’t need an army to guarantee a win…He just needs a few good men! When God is at work numbers are meaningless. Good news for Barah Ministries! David knew…here’s what David said to Goliath in First Samuel, Chapter 17, Verses 45 to 47…
FIRST SAMUEL 17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.”
FIRST SAMUEL 17:46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel…”
David was the original trash talker. Amen?
FIRST SAMUEL 17:47 “…and all this assembly will know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear…for the battle is the Lord’s and He will GIVE you into our hands.”
When I think of human viewpoint I think of Roger Bannister. He was the first man to do what most thought was impossible. He ran a mile in less than four minutes. After he broke the barrier, within three months over 100 others broke the barrier. Today, to even compete in the Olympics, you have to be able to run a mile in 3:39 or less.
Looking at things from God’s perspective changes everything, and that’s what your mind is like when you let God renew it. Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verses16 to 18…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:16 Therefore we believers in Christ do not lose heart…an even though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (by God the Holy Spirit).
God can even use EVIL to renew our minds.
SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:18 …and we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
God receives the glory for our victories. God receives the glory for deliverance. God loves working with small numbers. God uses the weak to confound the mighty…all through the renewing of minds. We trust God for the victory. We trust God with faith. In God we have hope. God loves us unconditionally. First Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verse 13…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 13:13 But now faith (in God), hope (in yourself), and unconditional love (for others)…abide in the sphere of these three…but the greatest of these is unconditional love (for others).
None of these things are obvious when we look at things from the human perspective. God wants us to view life from His perspective. Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 14…
EPHESIANS 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men in their craftiness and deceitful scheming…
You can apply your knowledge and your perspective to a situation, or you can use God’s perspective and God’s wisdom in a situation. Take your pick. As for me and my house…we will view things from the Lord’s perspective.
GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
There’s only one way to get to heaven…in John, Chapter 14, Verse 6, the Lord Jesus Christ said…
JOHN 14:6 …to Thomas, the doubting apostle, “I am the way (to salvation), and (I am) the truth (the Word of God)…and (I am) the (resurrection) life (eternal life)…and no one comes to God the Father but through believing in Me.”
In John, Chapter 3, Verse 3, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself gives instruction on how to be saved to Nicodemus…a religious Pharisee…
JOHN 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born again (the spiritual birth) he cannot see the kingdom of God the Father.”
JOHN 3:4 Nicodemus said to the Lord Jesus Christ, “How can a man be born again when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
JOHN 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water of the Word (the gospel message) and the (baptism by God the Holy) Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
JOHN 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh (in other words, that which comes from mortals is mortal), and that which is born (again) of the (baptism of God the Holy) Spirit is spirit.”
JOHN 3:7 “Do not be amazed (Nicodemus) that I (the Lord Jesus Christ) said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
So if you want to be born again…if you want to move from spiritual death to spiritual life, you can follow the apostle Paul’s advice in Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
John, Chapter 3, Verse 17 says…
JOHN 3:17 God the Father did not send the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) into the world to judge the world, but God the Father sent the Son in to the world that the world might be saved through union with Him.
Thank you Father for providing a single, crystal clear way to get to heaven that requires no work on our part.
CLOSING SONG HUMILITY SONG June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION
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