Our Work of Metamorphosis

Well, thank you again, Mark. Happy Sabbath, brethren. Well, we are ready to begin another Holy Day season, aren't we? The day of Pentecost is coming up. And once again, we are reminded of the basic theme of each and every one of God's Holy Days. The theme for Pentecost is that it's an annual reminder of the fact that we are now living a new life in Christ. And that's what I would like to talk about a little bit today. A few weeks ago, we observed the Spring Holy Days, the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Passover.

It gave us another opportunity, as we do each and every year, to remind ourselves of the fact that we need to do a self-examination. It's a good time once a year to do a self-reflection in our lives. And it was a reminder when we ate that Unleavened Bread of accepting Jesus Christ, the bread of life, incorporating Him and His way of life into every fiber of our being, into our hearts and into our minds.

We were reminded of His grace and forgiveness because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That was through the Passover. Yet, that's not the end of the plan because God knows we can't do it alone. God knows that even with forgiveness and even with His law and even understanding the kind of things we need to do, that we are incapable of ourselves of the kind of growth that we desire and achieving the kind of things that God wants us to achieve.

We're incapable of doing that alone. So God, as part of His plan, offers a wonderful and a magnificent gift, and that is the gift of His Holy Spirit. And we are reminded of that in each and every Pentecost. He promised that the very same spirit that resides in Jesus Christ and in the Father would reside in us. That is an incredible promise. Let's go to John chapter 14, beginning in verse 12, and read a few verses here to remind ourselves of the promise that Jesus Christ gave His disciples.

The same promise He gave them applies to each and every one of us today. And it's encouraging and it's beautiful because God is creating new creatures in Christ. He is transforming us from one form of existence into a completely different form of existence that will last for eternity. John chapter 14 and verse 12. Here's what Jesus was saying. On the eve of His death, He's talking to His disciples. This was after the, if I recall correctly, after the Passover. He says, Most assuredly I say unto you, He who believes in me, the works that I do, He will do also, and greater works than these will He do because I go to my Father.

As I mentioned in the past, He preached the Gospel in a very limited geography of the world. He was never more than so many miles away from Jerusalem, as far as his little legs could carry him. But we have the ability to preach the Gospel in different languages, and we have sent out the Word of God through all the continents of the earth, and people have responded to the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. So in that way, we're certainly doing greater works than Jesus was able to do in His physical ministry.

Verse 13. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Reminds us of the power of prayer. Why we need to be prayer warriors. Why we need to be a praying people who pray for one another. And why we need to take time out each and every day to give up our supplications to God, to send up our supplications, our pleas to Him in prayer. Verse 15. He said, If you love me, keep my commandments.

And you know when you love something, you invest time in it, don't you? If there's another human being that you truly love, you spend time with them. That's how you demonstrate your love. And Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. That means we are willing to take time out, invest time in building a relationship with God. That's how we show our love. Verse 16. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another helper. That He, and I won't go into all the details here, but in Greek this is a neutered gender. It is not a male, it is not a female.

By the way, the spirit in ancient Hebrew had a feminine gender, just to give you something to think about. The Hebrew word for spirit in the Old Testament actually had a feminine gender. So if you thought hernia and himnia was tricky, in the Greek language, of course, the word is not male or female, it's neuter.

So it should more properly be translated that it may abide with you forever. Verse 17. The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees it nor knows it, but you know it, for it dwells with you and will be in you. Jesus Christ said it dwells with you because of the presence of Christ. For three and a half years. He had loved and worked and trained and mentored those disciples, and through His presence among them it dwelled among them.

But He gave them a promise. He said it will be in you, just like it was in Jesus Christ. And of course, that occurred on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. He said the world cannot understand this. To them, the concept of the Holy Spirit is formed in them because they're blind. They have blinders on. They don't understand anything that's spiritual. They'll spend six hours a night watching Twilight episodes of the living dead eating one another.

But when it comes to something truly deep and spiritual, they're clueless. They have no interest, no concept of the spirit world, because they are distracted by all the stuff that exists in our world today. Verse 18, He says, I will not leave you orphans. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to abandon you. I'm not going to leave you without a parent.

He says, I will come to you. Now, this word I want to focus on, helper, that we first saw here in verse 16. He says he will give you another helper. Speaking of what the Father would do. From the Believer's Study Bible, it says, and I quote, the Greek term perkeletos used of the Holy Spirit is particular to John. John's writing, that is. It can be translated comforter or advocate signifying one who is called alongside.

Pera means alongside. Kletos means called. So putting it together, it is a presence that is called alongside to help us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to strengthen us, to mentor us if we're yielding to it, if we're tapping into it. Continuing here with their definition, they say, quote, to give help and advice, and especially to give counsel for the defense.

The way that Jesus would come to his disciples and have his presence in their lives was through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is this presence of Jesus in us that becomes our righteousness.

And that's why even though we fall short in our lives and we sin and we struggle with issues and problems in our life, it's because the righteousness of Christ dwells in us that we are right with God, that we are just in God's sight because of that presence of Jesus Christ.

Let's take a look at verse 23. Here's what he's continuing in his promise. He says, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The older I get, the more this becomes my favorite scripture in the entire word of God. Think of the power behind that. The literal God of the universe, Jesus Christ and the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, their presence will literally make their homes in our minds, in our hearts, in our lives.

Wow! Powerful! Encouraging a literal promise from Jesus Christ. What an incredible blessing and a resource to have something that's of spiritual nature like God's Spirit within us as our guide for continued personal encouragement and growth.

Pentecost reminds us that we are not on this Christian journey alone.

We have not been abandoned. We have a parent. We're not orphans. We have a parent that is our spiritual loving Father who has not left us to our own devices, but offers us his very daily 24-7 presence within us through the gift of his Holy Spirit.

We can use that Spirit if we choose. We can use that Spirit to reinvent ourselves into better disciples and spouses and children and parents and workers and friends because of this paracletus, this one given to us to be alongside, to help. If we tap in again to the power of that Spirit, it can help us to change. The word Spirit in Greek is numa, and it means a blast or a breeze. If any of you have ever been around manufacturing or construction, you've heard the phrase something is pneumatic. That means through little air tubes.

Air is pushed and allows people to run things like jackhammers that can break up concrete. That allows machinery to come down and stamp metal into pieces. I mean, the power of air is incredible. The only thing that they could liken it to—they didn't live in the 21st century—the only analogy they could come up with, with how powerful the Holy Spirit was, is likening it to a blast of air. They knew what tornadoes were, right? They knew what rainstorms were when a tremendous wind comes blowing through their city or their village, could literally have the power to destroy their crops, or in a good way, might have the power to blow away locusts or pests who were eating their crops and to blow them out of their vicinity. So they understood the power of wind, the power of air. They understood that completely. Again, the word numa means a blast or a breeze, something driven by air. The Holy Spirit is an invisible power and a presence that transcends the limits of our physical world. It's spiritual. It cannot be perceived in a physical way. It can only be perceived by those whom the Father has blessed and opened their minds to understand spiritual things. Let's go to Romans 12 and verse 1. Romans 12 and verse 1.

Let's continue to look at this understanding of being a new life in Christ.

Romans 12 and verse 1. Paul writes, You see, God turns the world upside down. Most of us present our bodies as pleasing me. Every thought is about me being happy and taking care of me.

Paul says, no, the crux of what Christianity is all about is a sacrificial love. It's not a love toward self. It's demonstrating an outward love toward others. Paul says, being a living sacrifice, and when we, among our co-workers, demonstrate like an ambassador the values of Jesus Christ, we're a living sacrifice. If, for some reason, we lose our jobs because we keep God's way of life, we are living sacrifices. If we receive persecution, if people condemn us, if people mock us, we are living sacrifices. We're willing to take that abuse. We're willing to accept that because Jesus Christ accepted it himself. He was willing to be a living sacrifice, and our goal is to emulate his life, his values.

He says that you present your body as a living sacrifice wholly, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. It's the right thing to do. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

What is the perfect will of God? That we become more like him. That we literally become transformed from the type of beings and creatures we are now into something far more beautiful, something far more beneficial to help the world and to serve the world for eternity.

This word, transform, that we find here is from a Greek word that you and I will recognize. In Greek, it's metamorpho, and it means to transform or change into a new state. We call it a metamorphosis, having anglized it in our English language.

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, transformation means a complete or major change in someone's or something's appearance and form.

So it's being one thing and literally changing, morphing into something that's totally different. Let's see where this word is used again. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17. If you'll turn there with me, we'll see the other place.

Where this word, metamorpho, is used in the New Testament and is used again by Paul. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Why is there liberty? Because when the presence of Christ is in you, you don't live in fear. You have a can-do attitude. You're not under the condemnation of sin. That sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ. The righteousness of Christ lives within you and now overwhelms your life and covers up any flaws or difficulties or things that you still suffer with and what do you call it? You call that liberty. Living a life of confidence. Living a life of can-do, a belief, a faith that God is working through you in your life. He says, so where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. That's the Greek word metamorpho. Being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So it is that Spirit that can help us, if we are willing, if we are yielding to it, that can help us to go from one form of glory into a greater form of glory. As we look into that mirror and we say, that's the example, I need to change this and I need to overcome that. And there are some things that I've been struggling with for 20 or 30 years that I've been ignoring or living with. It's time to deal with those. And as we look in that mirror, just by the Spirit of God, we can go from one level of glory into greater glory. Because the closer you become like God, the greater the glory. Again, the word transformed is from the Greek word metamorpho and it means to transform or change into a new state. We have an example of this in the natural world. And the example is going to be happening very quickly in this time of year. It's called a lowly caterpillar. Soon we'll be seeing lowly little caterpillars, hairy ones probably, walking around our yards.

A lowly caterpillar hatches from a little egg and it lives its early life as a crawling insect. It's not much to look at. It has large mandibles, kind of fat and pudgy waddles when it walks. It's not really that attractive or that good to look at. As a matter of fact, what it basically is, it's an eating machine. All it basically does is eat and eat and eat and eat. Normally, this thing is in my garden. What's it doing? It's storing up nutrients. It is preparing for a time cycle of metamorphosis. And in time, it goes into a period of inactivity. It creates a little cocoon. And within that cocoon, it just appears to be in suspended animation. It appears to be in waiting. And finally, after a period of time, it emerges as a new creature, usually far more attractive and capable of flying. We call that a butterfly. And this whole process is through metamorphosis. It takes place literally. And it changes the caterpillar from one kind of creature into another kind of creature. And there's a spiritual analogy to this for you and I. Let's read a scripture, and then I'll try this analogy together with what we see in the natural world. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. We're already in 2 Corinthians, so this shouldn't be too long of a journey for you. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You see, that process begins when we receive God's Spirit. When we are baptized and receive God's Spirit, that process of becoming a new creation begins for us. And that process continues throughout the rest of our physical lives. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And we have the opportunity when we receive God's Spirit to look in the world at a whole new and different way, in a refreshing way, in a way of living a life of confidence with guilt gone and shame gone, and being able to reach out for the potential that God gives for us through His Holy Spirit. We have the opportunity to live positive lives, productive lives, and to develop the spiritual gifts that God has given us so that we can serve one another and serve Him in a greater way. So all things have become new. That's a perception. That's an attitude. That's something that happens in our mind. The plant may be the same, but the reason that I look for the purpose of that plant will have changed. You see, the material thinks our house may be the same, our car may be the same, our spouse may be the same, but our attitude towards our house and our wife and everything we own will change. It should become more positive. It should become a deeper sense of appreciation for the blessings that we have received. That's how all things become new. Verse 18, Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, He says, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. We should be the epitome of reconciliation in our lives as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and rather spending all of our energies pointing out everyone's flaws and defects, we should be the ones pointing out the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The good news that Jesus Christ is returning to earth to solve these problems, instead of condemning everybody for their problems and condemning the world for its problems, we should be examples of reconciliation.

We should be the ones who encourage people to understand that a better age is coming, that a better world is right around the corner, and is promised by God, and it will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

We just spoke about how a caterpillar, a lowly little hairy caterpillar, is transformed into a butterfly through a process known as metamorphosis, the same word that Paul used when he said we need to be transformed. We, too, are in the process of being changed. We're in the process of changing from carnal and mortal, which is what we are in our little caterpillar stage, carnal and mortal, into something that is godly and immortal. And we do this by digesting and incorporating Jesus Christ into our lives. You see, we, too, should be eating machines. But what we should be eating is a relationship with Jesus Christ and absorbing prayer and absorbing the studying of His word and singing praises and psalms to God, as we take time out during the day to think about Him. And during our meditations, we should be feeding on the bread of life, just like that little caterpillar. All it does is eat and eat and eat because it's preparing for that metamorphosis. We need to be preparing for that metamorphosis as well. Like the caterpillar grows and changes and goes into a cocoon to emerge as a butterfly, we, too, unless we're part of that generation when Christ returns, we, too, shall enter something called death, which is our little cocoon. Our little state of suspended animation. We, too, will enter death, but we will emerge at the resurrection, incorruptible, and immortal, and totally new creatures in Christ. So we will be transformed from what we were, physical, carnal, mortal, into something that's beautiful, eternal, immortal, incorruptible. And we're all in that process now, little caterpillars. We're all in that stage right now. How are we doing eating? Are we eating the Word of God? Are we eating the bread of life? Are we digesting God's way of life? Are we spending too much time digesting the swill from our modern media sources? What's influencing our lives? Where are our heads at? What are we focusing on? Being a new creature in Christ isn't easy. It doesn't happen by fancy words, whether it's hocus-pocus, abracadabra, or I believe in Jesus. It doesn't happen by myth, by magic words. It takes work to be a new creature in Christ. It's not as easy as it sounds.

I want to ask us, as we think about the power of God's Holy Spirit in our lives, are we tapping into that Spirit? Are we allowing that Spirit to be our mentors, our coaches, our guides? Or have we put a barrier up? Maybe we don't even understand what the Holy Spirit is. Maybe we look at it as an external power, not something that literally has made its home in us. That is just waiting for us to ask. Waiting for us to approach God and say, God, through the power of your Spirit, help me to deal with these issues. Help me to solve these problems. Help me to be more than I am. Let's take a look at Ephesians 2, verses 1-10.

In our struggle to be new creatures, there are two enemies that we face. We'll be very candid about who these enemies are today. These are enemies who are determined that we do not become new creatures in Christ.

One is external, and one we look at the mirror. We see in the mirror every morning.

Those are the two enemies we face to try to stop us from becoming new creatures in Christ. Let's read about the external one, Ephesians 2, verse 1. Paul says, The New Century version says, So if you're dead to trespasses and sins, you're spiritually dead. You need a Savior, don't you? He said, The New Century version says, Our minds were open to the truth, we were just like everyone else. And then he sets it up in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, when we were acting like everyone else, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, obviously, we're not in heaven yet. We're not going to heaven. That wasn't Paul's purpose in making this statement. His purpose was looking into the future, saying that at the time of the resurrection, that we literally will be raised from this earth and we'll meet Jesus Christ in the air as He returns.

And we will rule and reign with Him. We will be with Him. We will sit together with Him in the wedding supper. Verse 7, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So we cannot earn salvation by good works, by anything that we do. It's a gift. Something undeserved, and in our case is unexpected. But yet, because He says God who is rich in mercy and because of His great love, He has offered us the gift of salvation. Verse 9, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So the first powerful enemy is Satan and a very evil spiritual world. And we see that reflected in our media. We see that reflected in a lot of things in our world today. When kids go on college campuses and through guns or knives kill five or six fellow students. I mean, this is so sad because it's becoming so commonplace in our society today. I hope it helps us to all appreciate the protection that we have, the love that God has towards us. But also the fact that we live in an evil world where evil surrounds us. I know it's not popular thinking in our Western culture today to believe in a devil, because most people don't. Like I say, they'll believe in the living dead, but they won't believe in a devil. They don't believe that there is a dark spiritual influence that is powerful and that is unrelenting on destroying mankind. There are dark spiritual attitudes that are broadcast like an invisible Wi-Fi throughout the world. And those attitudes are negative and they're self-destructive and they have plagued mankind for millennia. Dr. Shad Helmstetter, this is what he said, this is a behavioral psychologist, Dr. Shad Helmstetter, quote, leading behavioral researchers have told us that as much as 75% of everything we think is negative, counterproductive and works against us. 75% of our self-talk is negative, self-defeating. Putting ourselves down or the person next to us down, or our mate down, or our neighbor down, or our co-worker down. And why is that? Because it's the influence of the prince of the power of the air. And through his spiritual Wi-Fi, telegraphing negativity everywhere and in our entire world in virtually every setting. These negative attitudes encourage selfishness. They encourage a world of discontent and a world of violence. Unfortunately, that's the world that we live in. And we can all look forward to the Day of Atonement, which reminds us the fact that Satan is the ultimate first cause of all evil in the world. And someday he will be dealt with. He will receive his just reward for who and what he is. But as the children of God, we need to understand that God gives us protection from being controlled and dominated by Satan. And where the God Spirit dwells, demons cannot dwell in the same place. And when we receive God's Spirit, we have protection from being dominated by Satan. Not the negative influences, not the negative self-talk that we have, but we are protected from being dominated by those evil forces. Let's go to Acts 10 and verse 36 and see what Jesus Christ was able to do, what that same power within us can do. Acts 10 and verse 36.

Acts 10 and verse 36.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Well, you and I have been imbued with that same power. How are we doing on our life mission? Are we living examples? And by our examples, are we doing good? Are we showing people in our communities and in our families that we do good by our lifestyles, that we believe in the law of God, that we are responsible citizens, we're respectful people, we are contributors to the world? Is that the kind of example we're setting? That's what Jesus Christ did. He said he went about doing good. He also did something else here. It says, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Now, maybe we don't have the ability to physically heal people, but I can tell you there are millions and millions of discouraged and despondent and depressed people who need to hear something encouraging, who need to be encouraged. We can provide emotional healing by encouraging someone who's down, or encouraging someone who's struggling with something going on in their lives. Instead of beating them down harder or making them feel more ashamed or more guilty over the dumb things that they've done, we can help heal emotionally by being encouragers, by allowing the fruit of that spirit. Remember, it's love. Kindness is another one of those fruits. Gentleness by allowing the fruits of that spirit to come out and to encourage someone who needs emotional healing. We can do that because we have the same Holy Spirit and power that Jesus Christ was demonstrating right here. So, the first enemy is the God of this world. It's Satan. And in all fairness, he does not like us. He does not want us to complete our mission. He does not want us to fulfill our calling. And he'll do everything within the limitations he's given to try to stop us from doing that. If you look at the book of Job, God told Satan just how far he could go to test Job. And he could go no further. He said, you can do such and such. You can't take his life. You cannot do certain things. You can do such and such. But God put a barrier up and said, you can only go so far. And God has done the same for us. Yes, Satan's a negative influence. But he cannot control us. He cannot dominate us. Because he cannot dwell in the same vessel in which the Holy Spirit of God dwells. Our second enemy, let's go to Romans 7 and verse 14. Michael Jackson had a song about him looking at the man in the mirror. In what is probably one of the most candid expressions of Paul's weaknesses with the flesh that have ever been written anywhere in Scripture. I mean, to me, you talk about making yourself vulnerable. He was an apostle. He knew Jesus Christ. He had the righteousness of Christ in him. He wrote about it all the time. He was a man of God. He had God's Spirit. He was a man of great faith. Yet he was also a man that struggled against who and what his carnal nature was. Because that process of metamorphosis, little caterpillars, is not an easy one. He said, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He said, the part of me that's not spiritual, that's just Paul's flesh, Paul's carnality, it's just very selfish. It just wants to please itself. It wants to avoid pain and discomfort. All it does is it's consumed with self.

Verse 15, for what I am doing I do not understand, and what I will to do I do not practice, but what I hate that I do. He says, I'm struggling. I know what I'm supposed to do. And sometimes he's saying, frankly, I don't do it. I know the things that are bad and evil, the kind of thoughts that I shouldn't be having. He says, and those are the thoughts that I have.

He's kind of perplexed. Again, he's being very vulnerable here. Verse 16, if then I do what I will not do, I agree with the law that it is good. So he's not condemning the law of God, the Ten Commandments. He's saying that the very fact that he knows he should not do certain things shows that the law is good. The law says you shouldn't think about stealing from somebody. The law says you should not hate somebody. The law says you should not covet something or be jealous of someone who has something more than you have. He says that's how he learned that the law is good. It reminded him of that. It taught him about that. Verse 17, but now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. He says there's a battle going on within my life. There's a spiritual side of me that's heading towards that metamorphosis. And there's a carnal side of me, the carnal Paul, the human side that lacks spiritual acceptance and awareness and that just longs to please itself. Verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. Aren't you an oil like that? We often have a lot of great intentions, but we don't follow through on a lot of our great intentions. We have the will. We know we should do it. We want to do it, but we just don't seem to follow through on the things that we know we should do. Verse 19, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. The good stuff, he says, I don't seem to do that, and the bad stuff, that's what comes out. That's what's revealed. Verse 20, now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Again, he's drawing this distinction between the spiritual nature that he has and still that carnal flesh that he is struggling with as a human being. And he would continue to struggle with it until his last breath, and you and I will as well. Verse 20, now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Verse 21, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. He says, so on the spiritual side of me, I delight according to the law of God. I know the commandments, they're good, they're holy. They provide happiness in my life and balance.

Verse 23, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, warring against the spiritual side, the best intentions, the part of me that wants to buy in totally to God's way of life.

Warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. You know, what does carnality do? So it's what is the ultimate cost of carnal human nature? It's death. It's the cessation of life.

Then he gives the answer, verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Let's go now into chapter 8, just a couple of verses.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Pretty powerful statement from a man who just candidly talked about his internal struggles, isn't it? His internal weakness is the issues that he's dealing with as a man in a very candid way. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. What he's saying here is he walked according to the Spirit.

He certainly struggled with issues and he struggled with problems, but there was no issue that controlled him. No sin that dominated his life. No sin that was an addiction. He walked according to the Spirit. Verse 2, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. How does that work? Well, I mentioned about that little caterpillar. It eats and eats and eats. And it goes into that cocoon and the caterpillar dies. That first stage of creation is gone because when that cocoon opens up so many months later, what comes out isn't a caterpillar anymore. It's a new creature. And all through our human lives, we will struggle with our weaknesses and there will be a spiritual battle that goes inside of us. Good, my friends. Keep battling. Keep struggling against the carnal flesh. Don't ever give up. We wrestle in a spiritual way with the prince of the power and the air and with our own carnal selves. So the second enemy that we face in all fairness and frankness is ourselves. We have carnal minds. And if unchecked and undisciplined, our minds will want to seek pleasure and comfort. They'll want to control everybody at the status and the expense of other people. Unfortunately, it's natural to be self-centered within the carnal human mind. But God has given us something that can give us liberty. We read about that a little earlier. God has given us a wonderful gift that can help us in our walk of metamorphosis. That can be there to comfort us. Sometimes the products are our conscience. Sometimes, like Paul, he was reminded of good intentions that he needed to follow through with. Yes, this spirit will give us those intentions as well and remind us where we fall short. And that's okay. God gives us a comforter, a guide. He gives us something to strengthen us and to make us something more than we are. To lead us in that path of transformation. Let's go to Philippians 2 and verse 12.

Salvation is not something that we can earn by what we do. It's a gift from God.

We can't earn salvation. But salvation is also a process. And every day, through what we do, we can contribute to the process of transformation. We can strengthen the process of transformation. We can continue heading in the right direction of the process of transformation. Here's what Paul tells us about that. Philippians 2 and verse 12.

He says, There's the intention again. So again, Paul isn't saying that we can earn our salvation ourselves.

That's not what this verse is saying. He's not saying we can work to achieve salvation. What he's saying is salvation is a gift given to us by the grace of God, but it's a process. And every day, we contribute and strengthen that journey. We continue to strengthen that process of salvation. I'm going to read verses 12 through 14 through another translation called the New Century Version.

This is the New Century Version. It says, It is even more important that you obey now while I'm away from you. Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling, because God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases Him. Do everything without complaining or arguing. I like the way this phrases it. It says, And, rather, this is where the Spirit of God can help us and be our guide if we're listening, if we are yielding to the Spirit of God and realize that it is a powerful tool that God gives us to motivate us. Sometimes He even prodd us to make the changes that we need to make. But we have to be tuned into the Spirit. And the way that we are tuned into the Spirit is by having just a close and intimate relationship with God, a relationship that is meaningful and a relationship that's genuine. That's so very important.

So, in concluding this sermon, how can we create an environment for growth and prepare for Pentecost? I'd just like to make a few comments about a few things that I think, as we begin to think about Pentecost, a week from tomorrow, some things that can help us to create an environment for growth and to prepare God's Spirit to be used in a greater way in our lives.

It's because if we ignore the power of God's Spirit, we can stifle it. We can indeed grieve God's Spirit by neglecting it, by not using it. I've had many situations in my life that are analogous to that.

I'm out working in the yard, and I'm doing something very hard to dig the earth or do something for a half hour. No kidding. And when I'm done, I say, you know what? Why didn't you just use the tiller that you have in the shed? You could have had it done in five minutes. Duh! It was a tool. I didn't use the tool. It's there. I own it. I possess it. But I didn't use the tool.

I did it the hard way. I did it Greg's way, instead of the right way, or the best way. And the same can be said about God's Holy Spirit. We need to use it as a very powerful tool. Here are a few things I want you to think about. And this is especially true as we see world events occurring as they are. As much as possible, surround yourself and your mind with positive things.

Mario Seglie has an article in a recent United News, a very simple title, Be Positive. He says, and that is just so important. I want to encourage you to minimize listening to or reading the daily news. Minimize it. Please, if you say to yourself, I can't understand why I'm discouraged today. I can't understand why I'm so negative. I read The Plain Dealer from cover to cover.

I watched Channel 5 News and got 30 minutes, Phil, of rapes, murders, car thefts, and political corruption in the city. And now I just don't know why I'm down. Why I'm down on everybody. Why I'm down on life. Well, brethren, we're putting garbage in our heads. And we should understand the major news story. I'm not saying totally ignore the news. But much of the news out there, frankly, is shallow, mindless dribble. And it's not worth your time. You're better than that.

Understand what the top of the news is. Listen to the news for five minutes and get a gist of the major events going on in the world. And get on to doing something that's positive in your life. Because just digesting the news all the time will make you very negative. It will make you cynical. It'll change your life and not for the better. Another thing I encourage you to do is listen to music that lifts you up and gives you joy when you're working.

When you're working in the yard, you're doing dishes or whatever you're doing. Fill your head with things that motivate you and inspire you and lift you up. Most music today has negative themes. And most of the themes tell a story about lust, manipulation, or loss. Virtually every song that exists today. You may have heard the story of the person who played a country western song backward. And in the song, by playing it backward, the man got his pickup truck back, his job back, his bar stool back, his gun back, and his third wife back.

All by playing the song backward. My point is that, again, we live in a world of negativity. If we're listening to that kind of music all day, if we're listening to the music that reinforces negative stereotypes about women, negative stereotypes about relationships, having a relationship with another human being, then we should not be surprised why we struggle in our relationships.

We should not be surprised if we're filling our minds with negativity, why we're grumpy, why we're negative, why we're sarcastic. So, I encourage you to begin being very sensitive about what you allow to go through here and enter your head. Please be selective. Please realize that it indeed has an effect on how we think and our perception in life. Another thing is I encourage you to fellowship with people who have a purpose to their lives. I've known a lot of people in my lifetime. I had a lot of friends before I was called, and I've known a lot of associates who are in the business world, and many of them don't have a clue to what their lives are.

But they're like corks bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean. Wherever the waves or wherever the tides take their lives, that's basically where they're heading, because they don't have a purpose. They know nothing about what life is about. How many here, if you're my age, remember an entertainer named Frank Gorshin? He was an impersonator.

Remember a man named Frank? He was an impersonator. He played, I think, the Riddler in one of the Batman movies. But he was really good at impersonating James. He made a whole career. He had it all. At one time, I think in his career, he might have starred in, I think, a couple of dozen movies.

He had wealth. He had prestige. He was in the Hollywood set. His headstone, which is in Pittsburgh, has a little thing in the bottom of it. It's a black granite headstone. And what it has written on the bottom, it says, What was the purpose of all this? You see, people are just lost. They're clueless. And I want to encourage you to fellowship with people who have a purpose. And you know who they are?

They're sitting around you today. These are people who respect God's Sabbath. The fourth commandment is important to them. And they want to be new creatures in Christ. They have lives with purpose. They are on their own personal missions. Now, due to our talents and our backgrounds, my mission is going to be a little bit different than your mission.

And Mr. Graham's mission is going to be a little bit different than your mission. But we all have a different mission. And we all have the same purpose. And that purpose is to be part of the family of God. So fellowship. Spend time with people whose lives are filled with purpose. That's one reason why we come here every Sabbath to fellowship. That's one reason why keeping the Sabbath is so important.

Spend time. Invest time with your friends and your family. Another thing I'd like to encourage everyone to do is forgive easily and be a peacemaker. I want to tell you something about one side of my family, the maternal side. This is the side we blamed. One side of my family are very petty people. The maternal side of my family. Far too many kids grew up during the Great Depression. There were too few resources. And they're all gone now. They all died. But I noticed in my lifetime how petty my aunts and uncles were.

They would get in an argument and not talk to each other for five years. They wouldn't let it go. Some little flight or some little hurt. And they just wouldn't let it go. We always blamed the Sicilian side of my family because we thought maybe that was a Sicilian type of thing. You know, family. I don't know if that's true or not. But my point is, don't be like that, brethren. I think my wife can confirm the fact that when I was called, I drew a line in the sand. And even though I had relatives who were alcoholics, I never became an alcoholic. I had relatives who were petty.

I decided early on in life, I was going to draw a line in the sand. And I was not going to be a petty human being and be embittered with people like that. And I haven't. And my point to all of us is, don't hold grudges. Let go of offenses.

Because people who hold grudges, people who won't let go of offenses, are controlled by their own bitterness. You're the victim. If you continue to allow your anger and your spitefulness and your pettiness to make you angry and make you bitter, you lose. Long after they don't care anymore, they're probably sitting on a tropical beach sucking down a pina colada with a smile on their face, and we're still back at home angry about something they said five years ago. What's wrong with that picture?

What is wrong with that picture is being petty and holding grudges and holding offenses is a negative thing. Life is too short to be petty. Another thing I encourage you to do, and we've had sermons on this, is develop your spiritual gifts. That's why, one major reason, why God gave you His Holy Spirit to begin with. You have unique spiritual gifts. You have gifts spiritually that I don't have, that I probably will never have, because God gave them to you. For each of us, it's going to be something different. Through meditation and through connection with God's Spirit, discover what those spiritual gifts are.

I can tell you that spiritual gifts were given to you and given to me, not so that we could glorify ourselves, but so that we could serve the church in a greater way. So, through a sacrificial type of love, we could serve and give back in a way in which we've been given a special gift. Let's not hide that gift. Let's not ignore that gift. Let's not keep that gift wrapped up in a box somewhere, because it's useless. A gift that's unopened is useless. Let's think about our spiritual gifts and begin using them to serve God and to serve the church of God in a greater way. I encourage you every day to take out some time to fellowship with God.

I know we all have busy schedules. I know we have a lot going on in the world. We have a lot of things to distract us, but I can't emphasize enough the importance of a combination of prayer and study and just singing praises to God, meditating on the blessings and the good things that He gives us, meditating on how we're doing in our journey, on our transformation process, and investing time with our Heavenly Father and our friend. He wants to be more than our Father.

He also wants to be our friend. And like any friendship, you have to invest time for that to happen. Remember how much the caterpillar eats to prepare for its transformation. And every time we spend time with God, we are eating from the bread of life. And we are preparing for our transformation. The final point that I have here before our last scripture, it's just an observation I have as a pastor and knowing some of the brethren and seeing some of the things that we struggle with.

And that is, I encourage you to find a hobby that you can be passionate about and enjoy. It's called recreation for a reason. Recreation breaks it down. It's re-creation. Our minds need to be refreshed. We were created by the great God to have minds that are innovative, minds that need to be filled with fun things, minds that need to experience enjoyment through the simple pleasures of life. And whether it's fishing, either fishing with a pole in the water or raising fish in your home, or gardening or writing, or crafts or music, or pets or whatever it is, be passionate about something and enjoy it and allow it to provide balance in your life. In my lifetime as in God's church, I've known far too many people who were just so serious about the faith. They were very unhappy people. Yes, they were knowledgeable. Yes, many of them were pretty obedient. But they were so rigid and so wrapped up in their own little world that they didn't take the time to enjoy the beautiful creation that God has given us. And when we don't do that, our life lacks balance. And we want to be a balanced people. Our final Scripture, John 14, verse 25. If you'll turn there with me, John 14, verse 25.

Very encouraging words once again by Jesus Christ. Going back to John where we started out with today. He said, Peace, my peace, I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. So, brethren, in Jesus Christ, in whom? The righteousness of Jesus Christ dwells. Let us think about this coming day of Pentecost and prepare for it and realize that God has given us a tremendous and a powerful gift. That is the gift of His Holy Spirit that literally can help us to transform our lives from one type of creature, carnal and mortal, and be through metamorphosis, a spiritual metamorphosis, come out on the other end as spiritual, immortal, incorruptible. And that is what God's Spirit can do for us and help us with. So, let's tap into the presence and the power of God's Spirit. Have a great Sabbath day and we hope to see you after services.