3/11/2013「Conclusion for The Year of Training Remnants 1」 www.lifechurchmissions.com
Only When Transformed by the Renewing of Mind can One Obey God to The End 《Ro 12:1-21；13:8； 15:20,22-24》
Introduction: There are two kinds of believers living in a state of misconception. The first kind of believer always thinks that he is obeying God but his spirit is unable to rejoice always, give thanks in all things or enjoy communion with God continuously. Because he is engaging in religious activities hence he deems himself obeying God. Such complacent life hinders his spirit from humbling down and receiving the light of life. There is also another kind of believer who always feels that it is difficult to submit to God. To him, God’s standard is too high and therefore he dwells in disheartenment and feels powerless. In fact these 2 believers have a similarity: theirs hearts are not transformed after hearing God’s words. The intention why God wants to give us this gospel is not to lead us into weighing the benefits of it so that we can choose Jesus and enter heaven, or receive blessings because we obey the commands of God. God gives us gospel so that after listening and believing in it, our hearts can be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Lord said: “ no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”. Born again itself is a transformation of the heart. Before the transformation of our minds, we will only regard Lord’s commands as laws that we ought to obey, and gradually these commands become burdensome and difficult. As a result, it will give rise to various ungenuine passion and works. In fact, many believers do not even realize that they are leading such ungenuine faith until one day, they find that they no longer have strength to obey God. When the worries of their living and temptations of flesh lead them into accusations, guilt, powerlessness, helplessness etc that they cannot overcome, these believers will realize that they have exhausted all their self-determination and can no longer rely on their passion or past experiences to come out of their current deadlocks. The real test will definitely come to us one day, that’s our faith is led by Holy Spirit or self determination? Actually, the power of Holy Spirit is found in nowhere but the transformation from renewing of mind after listening to the word of God. [The mind that believes and follows God, and the mind that is being convicted by God’s word] is freedom, joy, and peace. Today let’s not deceive nor pity ourselves, we have to recognize our spiritual state and receive every word of God with humility until our hearts are tranformed.
1. The original intent of God’s words is to transform man’s heart so that they can go into submission
1）We need to discover that our spiritual problem is not our inability to live out the truth but the mind is not tranformed after listening to the truth
* In fact, we need not feel accused for not being able to do (the truth), rather, we ought to realize that we are unable to do because our minds have not changed. For example, why are we sick of God’s words? It’s because our minds are not set on knowing God; why we feel tired when we serve? It’s because our minds aren’t on serving God holistically; Why do we still feel accused even after confessing our sins in prayers? It’s because our minds aren’t on submitting to God (focus on sins); why is it so hard to love others? It’s because our minds have not changed to loving others as self; why is it so hard to evangelize? It’s because our minds aren’t seeing ourselves indebting to gospel etc. Actually, man is not foolish in Words but in hearts. Although God is awakening us through various situations or problems, we only call upon Lord when being disciplined. We have not realized that we have offended God in our hearts and we ought to repent and turn to God. Many come to God for help but they do not regard His words as the absolute truth. The death and resurection of Christ, the existence of heavenly kingdom, God’s promise of Emmanuel, the teaching on Holiness etc are all truths, yet ironically, man treat the fleeting world, the living on earth, their conditions, success, failures and feelings as truth.
2）God works through His Word, enabling man to be transformed by the renewing of minds
① Through His Word, we are born again and receive the spirit of sonship through believing in Christ. This is a born again given by God, not our rational calculation nor our decisions.
② Through His Word, we have a sense of belonging to His heavenly kingdom. Our desires and priorities are on the heavenly kingdom , so much so that we seek first the kingdom of God. This is not the same as giving onself to the kingdom in exchange for the earthly blessings.
③ Through His Word, we have new relationships with man and give birth to a heart of loving brethrens. The compassion, embracement, harmony, humility and intercession etc are thus genuine and not hypocrisy.
④ Through His Word, we know His character of Holiness. Because we believe in Him, we love holiness and hate sins and darkness. Thus, true holiness is living before God, not man.
3）After being transformed by the renewing of minds, Lord wants us to pay attention to the conviction coming from Him and submit to Him
* It is a torture to ask man to obey if he lacks conviction in his heart; but if one has clear conviction in heart, submission is easy. However, we ought to be cautious and not fall into seeking our feeling and treating it as God’s conviction. Actually, when one hears and receives the truth, Holy Spirit is continuously convicting him through what he understands. Sometimes the conviction is very weak because we have not [focused on how Holy Spirit is convicting us]. As we focus on the conviction which the Holy spirit has put in our hearts and submit to Him, our hearts will become more sensitive to the voice of Holy Spirit and abandon the feelings coming from the flesh. For example: When we know the value of kingdom, we look into our hearts and see what we truly value, and live out the priorities in life according to the conviction we receive; when our brethrens are weak, we do not ignore the compassion in our hearts and offer help according to the compassion we have; when trials come, we value the heart of wanting to pray and go into prayers immediately; when we say and do something wrongly, we are mindful of the rebuke in our hearts and thus humble and repent before God. If we are not mindful about the conviction in our hearts, that convictions will flee rapidly and we will slowly dwell in our flesh and respond according to our flesh. But if we are always focussing and submitting to the conviction, we will become someone with sensitive spirit and have the strength to submit to God all the time. In fact, God’s words are shared so that we can receive conviction.
2. Connect God’s words with heart through prayers, give birth to a lively spirit
1）We have to meditate, confirm, test and approve, apply, obey and repeatedly examine the word of God so that it can readily become the conviction in our hearts at all times
* Refer:《Jos 1:8》《Jn 15:7》《Ac 1:1-3,8》《Eph 6:13-18》《Php4:10-13》, these scriptures talk about the mystery of prayer, but they are not mystical, empty or meditative drills. Rather, it is the content of God’s words becoming the foundation of how we meditate, make decisions, confirm, test and approve. Indeed, man cannot meditate aimlessly but on the word of God. Only through meditating, confirming, testing and approving the word of God that our minds can be like God more and more. Eventually our desires and prayers becoming like our Lord’s and thus will surely be fulfilled. Although it is a process, it will surely happen in one who, after listening to the word of God, is determined to meet God and receive answers in his prayer. A believer who does not pray grow very slowly in his spiritual life. He might have good grasp of head knowledge and the system of the messages, but his spirit is not lively and rely much on his eyes rather than faith in all his doings.
2）The correct prayer enables us to increasingly detect and reject the thoughts that are not in line with the truth
* Refer：《Mat 12:28-29》《Eph 4:27,30；6:11》, if our prayers are not dead nor mystical, but of truly meeting God through His words, knowing His perfect will and receiving His power, we will be able to expose the enemy’s schemes in our prayers, and drive out demons practically. This causes our spirits to restore righteousness, peace and the joy of Holy Spirit. Some believers seem to pray very strenuously, but in their hearts they still harbour much bitterness, disappointment, anger, resentment etc towards man and things, or they still have much hidden guilt, low self-esteem, fear, jealousy, comparative spirit, helplessness etc in their hearts. In fact, these are the forces of darkness which influence us subconsciously, causing us unable to rejoice always or give thanks in all things We also cannot see the works of God in all things. Honestly, if we always pray, we ought to examine if we have been driving out demons by the Spirit of God and experiencing the kingdom of God coming upon us.
3）Answered prayers cause us to put down ourselves eventually and love to do all things in the Spirit
* We need to become men of convictions, not men who merely know the truths; we need to become people who are watchful and pray, not man with boldness; we want to become one who can walk with God in all things, not one with courage to sacrifice for the Lord. There is a fine line between relying on the power of Holy Spirit in our faith living and acting in accordance to our flesh. <Pastor’s testimony: In serving Lord it is most difficult to learn about the secret of God-drivenness, for it is easy to rely on my own conditions when I have good conditions, but it is also disheartening when the conditions are less ideal.But the greatest problem in all these is actually losing the heart of praying and relying on God. To rely on God, one needs to have a clear system of truth in his heart, examining and seeking God step by step, receive the conviction of Holy Spirit in the heart and obey to the end. It is only through this can one confirm the work of the Spirit and understand what a light-hearted ministry truly means
3. One who is transformed by the renewing of mind will show the beautiful evidences of [God living through him]
1）Through faith, receive your roles in life ministry and concentrate on it <Ro 12:3-8>
* Some believers carelessly lead their lives. They do not have an unshakeable conviction in lives and they have not received the determination to concentrate on the roles and ministry given by God. Such living cannot glorify God and it shows that he is one who relies on his flesh to respond and is easily swayed by situations and conditions. He has never confirmed the works of God in his life and is not skilled in receiving conviction in his doings. In fact, one who is transformed by the renewing of mind will not allow himself to live like this – his goal is on the kingdom, he is led by the truth and is convicted by the perfect will of God, therefore he attains a focussed heart in life ministry.
2）Always seek to do all things in love, and complete the will of God through this 《Ro 12:9-21；13:8》
* Certainly, none of us have complete love and we can never love everyone with the same degree of love. But the bible says [continuing debt to love one another]. In fact, a person with humility and love the Lord will not be accused for not being able to love, for he knows that he has insufficient love, thus he seeks to grow in love everyday. One who has a continual debt in love has fulfilled the law for his motive is love, and he attracts people to Christ through love. Today many teach love as a theory, using various examples to explain love, emphasizing the manifestation of love. But eventually, love can only come when one is always thirsty for the word of God and deeply comprehending the character of Christ through prayers.
3）In accomplishing the will of God – evangelism as the ultimate goal 《Ro 15:14-33》
* If the core of living is not on evangelism, one absolutely cannot receive clear conviction of the Holy Spirit. Today, many believers have known the word of God, but their lifetime goal is not evangelism. They pursue certain spiritual gifts, conviction of the Spirit, selectively focusing on certain scriptures and pray according to the selected promises. They may have partial conviction in their living but their lives and living can never enter God’s complete will. This is because the big direction of God’s words and the biggest promise of His promises <Ac 1:8> have yet to become the main foundation of how they perceive all things.