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TLG Session Outline

Renewing Your Mind

Basil Marotta Jericho Ministries 719-487-9500

Session Outline: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 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. (Rom 12:1-2 NIV)

Life Implication: We are told that we should make a decisive dedication of our bodies…presenting all of our being…body, soul and spirit to Him as our reasonable service…and that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

The world and the Devil are constantly pressing us to be conformed to their pattern…peer pressure, especially among young folks and college students is really strong to reject things of God. We pressured by the news and TV constantly to reject God in the culture. Even our political leaders are promoting anti-God principles.

The Word tells us that we are in the world…but must not be of the world. We hear constantly, that all religions worship same God…wrong. Jesus told the religious leaders that they were of their father the Devil (John 8:44)….but only those born again believers in Christ will have eternal life with him.

We can and must be transformed by the renewing of our minds once we have become believers in Christ.

It is great to have people pray for us and lay hands on us to be transformed….but that isn’t enough. No one else can renew our minds…that is something we must do ourselves with the Holy Spirit’s help. We have to start by thinking God’s thoughts…and then saying them and acting on them.

What we say comes out of what we think. Our words are just spoken thoughts. We must reject the world and the Devil’s thoughts and schemes. It is the truth of God’s Word that makes us free…transformed to God’s image…by the renewing of our minds. So the right thoughts start the process.

Where do our thoughts come from….

God’s thoughts are precious…

Psalm 139: 1O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

17How precious to£ me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

It is interesting that we spend a great deal of time watching TV and movies and reading the latest books…but do we spend enough quality time reading and meditating on the Bible and absorbing God’s precious thoughts and making them ours. That is how we can renew our minds.

1Cor 1: 15-16 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he my instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Review ….How are we transformed….

1. We must decide and commit to do it. Deu 30:19-20a….John 15:5… be aware that we need to change…we are new creatures in Christ…make a firm decision and commit to a process …get in the Word…don’t be just a hearer, but do what it says…get in a group with an accountability situation…an atmosphere of growth where you are fed

(Deu 30:19-20aNIV) This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live (20a) and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him…

(John 15:5 NIV) "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

This is a decision and can’t be based on feelings.

2. Surrender and turn your will completely over to God…Isa 1:19-20

(Isa 1:19-20 NIV) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; (20) but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Jesus in the garden …your will be done, not mine…don’t fear that you won’t like the will of God…it is all good

3. You must possess a strong desire to change….Phil 4:8

This is done by giving your thoughts and attention to the things of God…practice the thoughts of God until they become your thoughts. Take no thought of worldly things…your thought life is crucial.

(Phil 4:8 NIV) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Phil 4…don’t be anxious about anything…

(Mat 6:33 -34NIV) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

(2 Tim 1:7 NIV) For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

4. Deepen your knowledge… do something to increase your knowledge base of God and his Word…submit even to the hard stuff…if you are hungry to change you will receive correction…Word is the power to change once the decision and commitment to change is made. …Mat 7: 24-27

(Mat 7:24-27 NIV) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

5. Look into the Word as a mirror of change…mirror shows you as you are…and tells you what needs to change…renew your mind now; don’t wait for a disaster to come upon you…the truth sets you free.

Word is the mirror of our lives and shows us what needs changing…God wants to transform us and redeem us to the original design…we were created in His image…you may be excited about the Word, but you must also be developed in it.

Worldly facts are not necessarily God’s truth…I am poor…I am sick…I’ll never amount to anything

(Eph 2:10 NIV) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Psa 55:16-19 NIV) But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.(17) Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.(18) He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.(19) God, who is enthroned forever, will hear them and afflict them-- Selah men who never change their ways and have no fear of God.

6. Diligently apply the truth you have learned…day after day …do the right thing long enough to see change…this is God’s reward…2 Cor 5:21

(2 Cor 5:21 NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Be that…

do that what is righteous…don’t be slothful…sometimes it takes a season of faithfulness to see change

Concentrate on doing what is right. .not trying to avoid what is wrong

Emphasize a do list, rather than a don’t list.

For Discussion: What steps do you need to take to start being transformed by the renewing of your mind?

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