Morning Message Texts: Joshua 5: 9-12 & 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.
10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.
11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.
12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Morning Message:
All of us…Seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. 2 Corinthians 3: 18. That is the great conversion in our life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for his return. (Henri J. M. Nouwen). This week I want us to look at our transformation toward glory. What is that you asked? I’m glad you asked; if not, this would have been a short sermon. When you are saved, the very moment that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, a transformation begins. You are changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive, but that’s just the beginning of the process. Your transformation toward glory is a process that takes the rest of your earthly life. Many of God’s people reach an age or stage of life when they believe they have served their time in the Lord’s service. They rest on their laurels and wait for glory everlasting. All of us who have been blessed to see by faith the glory of God shining in the face of Christ, are being transformed by God’s Spirit throughout our life, from one degree of glory to another. This means that our role as a servant of Christ is never finished. God continues to mold our hearts and lives as he prepares us for his glorious return. As we adjust to unexpected event in our lives, as well as the changes that aging brings, our roles and tasks in the service of our Lord will change. But our purpose never changes. It is always to bring glory to God, as we work together with our fellow believers for the good and growth of his kingdom, until that day when our transformation toward glory will be complete. When is that day? When you die.
God provides what you need in season. At every stage of our lives God sustains us. Everything that I have ever read in scripture has pointed forward, never backwards. God took care of the Israelites in Egypt and when he called them out of Egypt and lead them in the desert, he provided exactly what they needed to sustain their lives. They didn’t have luxuries; the road was hard and hot and treacherous. They were given manna, bread from heaven to eat, and when they were thirsty God would bring water from a rock. This same people who cried out to the Lord to free them from Egypt, they longed for their own land; for freedom. When the going got tough they rejected God’s provisions and cried to go back to Egypt. They said, “Oh how we remember and long for the fresh vegetables and meat that we enjoyed in Egypt.” God does not lead us backwards, and we are wrong when our desire is for the good old days. People will say, “Oh how I miss those days; life was so much simpler then, I think that I will try to recapture some of my old self; I liked that part of me.” Good luck with that! Things always seem better when you look back on them, but you can’t go back, and you wouldn’t be happy if you did. You are exactly where God wants you today, and if you allow God to have his will in your life, tomorrow you will be different from today. Listen, the provisions for yesterday are gone, and God wants to provide something new and better for today and tomorrow. The manna is gone, but the land flowing with milk and honey is before you.
How does this change how we should think as God’s people? We should not continue to view the world around us through the lens of our past. The scripture says, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone; the new is here.” As Christians we don’t see things today the same as we did before we came to Jesus. When we try to go back to what we think is a more comfortable place in life, what we find is we no longer fit. We can no longer look at people in a worldly way but instead through spiritual eyes. We should see souls instead of people. We should be focused on the eternity of God’s kingdom and the needs of the souls around us that have not found their way. We can’t do this if we are longing for the past and focused on what we were instead of who we have become in Jesus. Onward Christian soldier – you have been transformed toward glory. We are ambassadors of Jesus the Christ.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
Views: 4
