Critical Question: Are you developing a consistent devotional and prayer life
Key Passage: Romans 12:2
§ And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (NASB)
§ Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will. (NIV)
§ Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants – what is good, pleasing, and perfect. (God’s Word for Students)
§ Don’t copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you. (TLB)
There were two boys who were walking down an old dirt road. It was a hot day. They had just come from Mrs. Smith’s bakery in town. One boy bought a slice of apple pie. The other boy just wanted an apple. Mrs. Smith had a tradition of always giving an apple to anyone who would buy a piece of pie. This was an excellent deal. While they were walking, the boy with the apple pulled it out of his pocket, and was just about to take a bite out of the apple when he noticed something that just wasn’t right. There were two little eyes staring up at him. They were attached to a long, thin, slimy, brown body that had buried itself inside the apple. It was a worm. Now the boy had a decision to make. The worm didn’t look like it would taste all that great even though he has seen people eat worms before. His friend saw the worm in the apple and immediately threw his piece of pie out.
Years ago, Columbus was going to sail around the world and end up in the Indian Islands. They knew that it was way too dangerous to go down around the bottom of Africa, because more than likely their ships would be destroyed going around Cape Hope. They had seen it happen and they needed a safer way to go. Somehow, Columbus found out that the world was round. He believed it enough that he put his own life and the lives of many other men on the line. The perspective or belief up to that point was that you could only sail so far, and then you would fall off the edge of the world. Columbus’ perspective was right on. However, when they landed, they thought that they had landed in the West Indies. So, when Columbus saw the people where he landed, he called them Indians. It didn’t matter how much Columbus wanted to believe that he had landed in the Indian Islands. He was wrong. His perception was wrong. Because of that, this place is called America, named after Amerigo Vespucci. He wasn’t the first to come to America. He was the first to realize that he wasn’t in the Indian Islands.
That’s all nice, but what does that have to do with Real Life? How fast does a plane fly? ___________________It doesn’t look like it’s moving that fast. Are you sure? How do you know?
If someone didn’t believe that gravity was real, how long do you think it would take them to change the way they think if you pushed them out of an airplane going 180 mph?
Why did the boy throw his apple pie away without eating it? He figured that if there was a worm in his friend’s apple, then there was probably a worm in one of the apples used to make his apple pie. Chances are that the apple pie was not worm infested, but the boy didn’t want to take that chance.
Perception is not reality. Reality is reality. There is only one perspective that actually is reality, and that is God’s perspective. Why? Because he is the only one who knows what’s going on. Several years ago, I opened up my Bible to Genesis chapter one (31 verses). That’s the place where it talks about God creating everything. I went on to circle every time that it said someone did something. Every time the someone that did something was God. Do you know why? It’s because, there was no one else there. If you made a potato gun, and I walked over and said, “Oh, what’s down there and looked down the barrel”. You would say, “Don’t put your head in front of the barrel. You are going to get hurt.” What would you do if you saw your baby sister or brother looking down the barrel of a real gun? You would yell, “No!!!!” You would want to protect them, but they don’t know any better. You weren’t the creator of the gun, but you know how it works and you know what it will do.
How many of you have seen the Lethal Weapon movies? In the first movie, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are called to a scene where a man is standing on the edge of a roof. When you look at the scene, there are several police cars, rescue vehicles, and a lot of people trying to convince this one man that jumping to his death is not a good idea.
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…
Look at all of these times that it says in 31 short verses that God did something.
God created this place. You walk outside, and you are looking at what God did. The world and everything in it are his. He knows the right way to use the things in this world.
Let’s make it a little more personal
God created you.
Romans 12:2
Don’t be conformed to the way that this world thinks. Instead, have your life changed by renewing your mind.
We need to have the right view of life. Our view of life almost never equals reality.
We were in Tennessee, and a man came up to me, and said, “Are you a celebrity? I swear I saw you on T.V. last night. What’s your name? “John”. “No, that’s not it. Man, I can’t think of it.” He got in his car and left. Later, I was imagining what this guy went home to tell his family and friends. “You guys won’t believe who I saw tonight…”
I don’t imagine any of us are going to be jumping out of planes without parachutes from thousands of feet in the air. I imagine that we all know the dangers of staring down the barrel of a gun.
However, most of you will be asked at some time to smoke some pot, maybe take a line of cocaine, or maybe pop some vicatin pills, have some alcohol. Some of you already have been. Maybe some of you are the ones doing the asking. Some of you will enter into or are already in sexual relationships.
I see you looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, and I want to scream, “No!!!!” But in the end, the choice is up to you. Why? Because, “MY JOURNEY IS MY JOURNEY” (ppt)
Do you know why you are here? Do you know why God created you? What is your purpose? Is your life as exciting and full as it could be? Does your life consist of doing homework, going in and out of relationships, playing PS2 or XBOX or going skateboarding or snowboarding. What is your life all about? If that’s the way that that you spend all of your time, then you are having fun, but you are missing out on what your life could be like. I get a rush of overwhelming emotion when I see someone’s take the next step on their spiritual journey. That’s something you could never get from living a life with no real purpose.
What do you spend your day thinking about? What do you spend your time doing? When you die, how will you be remembered? Will you be a really fun person, or will you be a really fun person who changed his world?
God gave us His word, The Bible, so that we would be able to know what the right way is. God also gave us Himself. He gives each one of us the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. Jesus said, I have come so that you would have life, and that you would have it abundantly. You can’t have that outside of a relationship with him. No matter how hard you try you will never know life the way it could be without Him in it.
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