Transformed Moms

• "Secret sin and incomplete obedience lead to faith, holiness, and life being sucked right out of us!"
• We are set aside for sacred living... holiness... to be a saint... to be a sanctuary... .

• HOLY: And now all I have is gratitude to offer You! ...and somehow all that matters now is: You are Holy,,, Holy! Only me! On my knees! ...singing “Holy! Holy!”
• SANCTUARY: "Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and Holy, tried and true... with thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You..."
• TESTIFY TO LOVE: "I'll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough... with every breath I take I will give thanks to God above.For as long as I shall live I will testify to love..."
• THERE IS A FOUNTAIN: "There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day And there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away..."
• IN CHRIST ALONE: In Christ alone, who took on flesh Fullness of God in helpless babe This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save ‘Til on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laid Here in the death of Christ I live There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious Day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me For I am His and He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ

• "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
• "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you SHINE LIKE STARS in the universe..."

3. STEVE SHARED LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT HOLINESS FROM PEOPLE IN THE OLD and NEW TESTAMENT:

• Joshua 7: Achan's secret sin and it's consequences led to the death of 36 men; He saw... He coveted... He took... He hid...
• 1 Corinthians: The people of Corinth struggled with sin, especially sexual sins. In chapter 6, Paul tells the Corinthians that:
• .....The body is for the Lord and NOT for fornication.
• .....Bodies of Christians are members of Christ.
• .....Fornication is a sin against our own bodies.
• .....Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit
• .....We are under obligation to glorify God with our body and spirit.

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4. FINALLY, STEVE SHARED LESSONS ABOUT HOLINESS AND HOW TO OVERCOME SIN: I will use his thoughts several times this week. For today, I'll share a short 5 chapter version by Portia Nelson about how this might work.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS

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by Portia Nelson

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I
I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost ... I am helpless.

It isn't my fault.

It takes me forever to find a way out.

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II
I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don't see it.

I fall in again.

I can't believe I am in the same place but,

it isn't my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

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III
I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in ... it's a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

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IV
I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

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V
I walk down another street.

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Philippians 2:12-13
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• "Therefore, my dear friends,
  

• Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-
  

• Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-not only in my presence

• "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-

• "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION

• "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling,

• "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling, for it is GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU

• "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have ALWAYS OBEYED-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling, for it is GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU to will and to act according to His good purpose."

Revelation 21 (in part)

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"Now the dwelling of God is with men,

and He will live with them.

They will be His people,

and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death

or mourning or crying or pain..."

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My FEBRUARY VISUAL OF HOLINESS INCLUDES THESE 3 LITTLE GUYS: Born in February, my nephew Eric's, and his wife Lindsey's, new little one, Clayton...

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We come into this world from God, pure and holy... sinless...

God, thank you for the visuals! I get it!

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1. SANCTUARY: Your HOLY residence now and forever!

• 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord."
• Revelation 21:1-4 "I saw the HOLY City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God."

2. BABIES: You desire for us to be sinless... HOLY!

• 1 Peter 2:1-3 "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation..."
• Matthew 19:14-15 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

3. SIN = DEATH; NEW BIRTH=ETERNAL LIFE:

• 1 Peter 1:3-5 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you..."
• Colossians 3:5-14 "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

4. HOLY LIVING FOR GOD'S HOLY PEOPLE:

• Colossians 3:12-14 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, HOLY and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

• God is the builder!
• Jesus is the foundation!
• Each of us is the temple (sanctuary)!

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Ahhh! God was at work again! I had already posted SANCTUARY as our theme for the week and Steve already had this lesson planned but neither one of us had made the connection as to how connected the two were. It is the connection that I would like us to meditate on today:

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The root word in Greek for HOLY is the same as the root word for the following words:

• holiness
• hallow
• hallowed
• consecrate
• saint
• sanctify
• sanctification
• sanctuary

Meditate on that today and ask God to help you make the connection!

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Philippians 2:12-13

"...continue to work out your salvation

with fear and trembling,

for it is God who works in you

to will and to act

according to His good purpose."

"For it is by grace you have been saved,

through faith-and this not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God- 9 not by works,

so that no one can boast.

For we are God's workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do."

• body
• wardrobe
• house
  

• 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call."
• 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
• 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
• 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
• 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
• 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
• 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
• 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. "

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Here's another New Testament example of salvation:

Acts 16:25-34

• 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
• 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.
• 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
• 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
• 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
• 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
• 31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household."
• 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.
• 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
• 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God-he and his whole family. '

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Acts has many stories of people converting to christianity after accepting the message of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Each new convert did not become "perfect" because "christians aren't perfect... they're just forgiven. Each convert became God's work in progress!

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If you have not yet read the poem over on the right side bar, close to the top and right underneath the clock. I hope you have time to read it now. Be blessed!

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• If you choose, then there are things you need to do like humble yourself and let them see all your blemishes, OR your lousy wardrobe, OR your house that's falling apart. Usually this entails accepting it on their terms and following their guidelines, saying "Whatever it takes!"


• You may be so sorry for not doing a better job ... so embarrassed... feeling so helpless that you wish you would have taken better care of your body/appearance, OR taken better care to select your wardrobe, OR cared enough to do timely repairs on your house... you articulate those feelings...


• Your choice leads you to sit down in a chair and allow them to begin their work on you, OR give them permission to have access to your closet, OR give them the keys to your house to go in and literally take over the work...
  

I hope by now you're beginning to make the connections to a personal transformation from darkness to light. Salvation has been offered to us as a gift of God by the faith and grace of Jesus Christ who gave His blood sacrifice for it to happen. Yes! It is a free gift, but I still have to accept it on His terms. Remember the verse last month? "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- ..."

• If you choose salvation, then there are things you need to do like humble yourself and let God see all your blemishes (sins), OR all your lousy attitudes/habits (sins), OR your spiritual house that's falling apart (sins). This entails accepting on God's terms and following His guidelines... saying "Whatever it takes!"



• You may be so sorry for not doing a better job ... so embarrassed... feeling so helpless that you wish you would have done things differently.... you articulate those feelings...



• Your choice leads you to give God access to your heart and the reins of your life..., OR give them the keys to your spiritual house / heart to go in and literally take over the work...

The work is quite a MAKEOVER! In fact, it is all about God's work. God's work is transforming! God is the One who does the transforming...

• From hate to love


• From death to life
  
• From backbiting to encouragement


• From lies to truth
  
• From stealing to giving


• From murder to rejuvenation


• From discord to harmony


• From impatience to patience


• From unkindness to kindness


• From faithlessness to faith


• From hopelessness to hope

Come back tomorrow to look even more deeply at how scripture says this transformation takes place in the FAMILY!