BE TRANSFORMED PURSUING GOD HEART

							  BE TRANSFORMED:
PURSUING GOD’S HEART
        AVRIL VAVROSKY
           L.Th, M.A.
 OMF INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY
           SESSION ONE
TRANSFORMATION REQUIRES COMMITMENT

INTRODUCTION
  I. FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES
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. (Rom. 12:1)
A. EXEGESIS
1. I urge you. The Greek behind the NIV
    “urge” is parakaleo. It is stronger than
    ask, weaker than command.
   Exegesis: Offer your bodies
2. Offer your bodies. Rom. 6:13, 16, 19; 1 Cor.
  6:20. You are making a decisive dedication of
  your body to God.
Sacrifice has three ideas: consecration (set apart
  for God’s use), expiation (covering of sin) and
  propitiation (satisfaction of divine pleasure).
  Ancient Judaism often used sacrifice figuratively
  for praise or for a lifestyle of worship, so Paul’s
  readers would have readily understood what he
  meant.
     Exegesis: Living sacrifice
3. Living sacrifice just means that it is an
  ongoing sacrificial lifestyle. We need to
  continually crucify our flesh, deny what our
  flesh naturally wants because ―those who
  belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
  flesh with its passions and desires‖. (Gal.
  5:24)
     Exegesis: Living Sacrifice
Jesus offered his body as a sacrifice thus
  opening the way for complete forgiveness,
  reconciliation and sanctification.
  Therefore, as we offer our bodies back to
  God, it too opens the way for complete
  forgiveness, reconciliation and
  sanctification.
               Exegesis
4. Your spiritual act of worship or your
  reasonable service
The word service alludes to the work of
  priests in the temple and the word
  reasonable refers to the proper way to
  think.
           B. APPLICATION
1. II Tim. 2:19-22, 26
Paul gives a succinct statement on human
   responsibility and very clearly defines how we
   are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices.

Why does Paul urge us, and not command us, to
  make our bodies a living sacrifice to God? Why
  does he stop short of a command?
            John 10:17-18
The answer lies in Jesus’ attitude:
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I
  lay down my life—only to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down
  of my own accord. I have authority to lay it
  down and authority to take it up again.
  This command I received from my Father."
Paul wants us to do the same, willing to die
  to self. We are to have the mind of Christ.
               Application
. Robert Boyd Munger, an author,
  highlighted this truth: Jesus Christ, through
  the Spirit, makes the body of each believer
  his home. As the presence of the Lord
  once filled the temple in Jerusalem, so he
  now dwells in the hearts of all who belong
  to him.
               Application
4. Basically when we offer our bodies it is for
  His service. It is to live a life of holiness,
  separating ourselves from the world and
  drawing near to God. We must offer our
  bodies as dead to sin and the temple of
  the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:15, 19)
II. TRANSFORMATION BUSTERS
A. FLESHLY SINS THAT NEED TO BE
   CRUCIFIED

PLEASE REFER TO YOUR HANDOUT
Circle the ones that are a hindrance to your
   transformation. Keep it for the end of this
   session and also for the end of the third
   session.
  B. EXPERIENCES THAT NEGATIVELY
 AFFECT MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
1. Experiencing abuse as a child will cause one
   to view God as far away and not as Father
   God. Our first reaction is to blame God: why
   didn’t He protect me?
Some people have turned to atheism and
homosexuality as a result of abuse. In their minds,
God wasn’t there for them. Some became
Christians but never could break through to God,
always remaining on the outside looking in. This of
course is connected to rejection.
       Negative Experiences
2. Experiencing some type of trauma like
    accidents or near death experiences.
Here people wonder where God was and
    how come He didn’t stop the trauma or
    prevent it. They wonder too if God is
    more than able or whether He really
    cares about them.
        Negative Experiences
3. Rejection of any kind. This wound is
    even more agonizing than shame.
    Usually this stems from some form of
    broken relationship. In its earliest form, it
    is caused by parents who reject their
    own children. It takes the form of harsh
    punishment, verbal abuse, physical
    abuse or anything that is expressed in a
    harsh, negative way.
Or it takes the form of abandonment, failure
 to show love or acceptance. Divorce is
 another form of rejection. Jesus
 understands our rejection because He
 endured rejection in its most agonizing
 form: rejection by a father. At least one
 quarter of adults in America today suffer
 from shame and rejection. Indications are
 that it is rising.
       Negative Experiences
4. “Jung nan ching nyu”: regard boys more
    highly than girls. This one makes you
    feel worthless, like a second-class
    citizen. Many women experience low
    self-esteem, self-hatred and self-
    rejection as a result. This is a South East
    Asian problem. Muslim women suffer the
    same fate. This feeling causes you to
    hide from God, unable to accept His
    love.
     Negative Circumstances
5. Circumstances can have a negative effect
  on my relationship with God.
EXAMPLE: Norma and Mother Theresa.
Circumstances are there to mold you into
  the image of Christ, not to cause you to fall
  apart.
     C. SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS
1. Striving
• Our relationship with God should not be one of striving, but should
   flow naturally.
• Striving indicates that something is amiss in your relationship with
   God.
• This often comes from a family background where parents put
   pressure on the child to perform, to become great, to bring honor to
   the family. They take this pressure into their relationship with God,
   always trying to prove their love to God.
• Striving comes out of conditional love. Unconditional love is not
   something that they can understand.
• They have to prove something to themselves and to those around
   them.
            Spiritual Problems
2. Spiritual immaturity
 You cannot substitute a fake spirituality for
  sanctification
 Spiritual burnout results when you go around
  trying to be pious, trying to be holy.
 It is one thing to want to live a godly life, but it's
  another to actually master our habits and
  behaviors! Human willpower isn't sufficient on its
  own to tame our natural impulse toward sin--we
  need the help of God's grace.
        Spiritual Immaturity
Self-control doesn’t work
Living under the law, man-made rules and
 tradition.
Having a form of godliness only. (II. Tim.
 3:5)
             Spiritual Problems
3. Wordly living vs. godly living
   – refusal of believers to separate themselves from evil
     will inevitably result in the loss of fellowship with God
     (2 Cor. 6:16), of acceptance by the Father (6:17) and
     of our rights as children (6:18; cf. Rom. 8:15-16).
   – Amusements and worldly pleasure » A proof of
     spiritual death (1 Timothy 5:6)
   – Friendship with the world. “You adulterous people,
     don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred
     toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of
     the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
          III. ACTION STEPS
1. Matt. 5:27-30Jesus is not teaching us to self-
  mutilate! The principle here is that we should
  deal drastically with sin.
2. James 4:7-10 7 ―Submit yourselves, then, to
  God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
  Actually verses 7-10 are a series of ten
  commands on how to eliminate pride in one’s
  life.
3. Paul certainly understood the struggle in Rom.
  7:21-23. Get some professional help.
          IV. CONFESSION
Right now we are going to do some
  confession. Take out your sheets.
Keep the sheet; don’t throw it away as we
  will need it for the last lecture. No one will
  see the sheet of paper.
    V. QUESTIONS TO PONDER
•   Group Questions
•   What TV shows or movies could corrupt our minds?
    What video games, online games, magazines or
    websites would not glorify Christ? What about music?
    Think of some current examples and discuss the
    danger of their content in relation to a Christian’s walk
    with God.
•   What does the church consider to be worldly pleasures
    that are in direct defiance of God’s Word?
•   How far should we go in chasing fashion? How far is
    too far?
•   Is it a sin to wear name-brand apparel?
    To own name-brand goods? When does
    it become problematic?
•   I want to be a living sacrifice for Christ,
    but my reality is that I have Chinese
    parents who have expectations for me.
    Where is the happy medium for me?
•   What constitutes ―friendship with the world‖?
•   What should be the Christian’s relationship to
    the world?
•   How does offering my body as a living sacrifice
    demonstrate righteousness?
•   How does the enemy use our bodies to
    alienate us from God?
•   What tools has God given us to protect us from
    the enemy’s attacks?
      PRIVATE QUESTIONS
•   How do I pursue God through
    commitment? How have I lacked in my
    commitment to Christ?
•   What issues are hindering me right now
    from spiritual growth?
•   What issues has the Holy Spirit
    convicted me of tonight?
           Private Questions
•   What does it mean for me to be a living
    sacrifice?
•   Where has my feet taken me that I would not
    take Christ to? What have my hands done that
    is harmful, shameful or even dangerous? What
    has my eyes seen that would grieve the Holy
    Spirit of God? What things have I heard or
    listened to that makes me uncomfortable when
    I think of Christ?
•   Conversely, what has my feet, hands and eyes
    done to extend the kingdom of God on earth?