BUILD YOUR LIFE

Change Your Life - New Year Series #3

SW02.04.07am

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 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. - Romans 12:1-2.

 (Romans 12:1-2 is the theme for the entire series in that we want to no longer be conformed to what the world, the flesh and the devil wants with our lives - instead we want to present our “bodies”, our lives as living sacrifices to our Lord. This series is an attempt to describe in practical terms how to do that and in the process change and improve our lives for the better to the glory of the Lord.)

2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

In the last two messages to review we talked about how that many people, perhaps millions or even billions of people were not happy with their lives. Some of those people have created imaginary worlds in which to live, work and play. But whether or not you are happy with your life is not the biggest reason, the most important reason to change your life. The very most important reason for someone to want to change their life is if they know God wants them to change.

If God wants you to change He will enable you and provide all that you need to change and improve your life. King David prays in his prayer of confession and repentance, “Create in me a clean heart, O God…(Psalm 51:10).” The apostle John tells us in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession and repentance will result in a clean heart and a changed life. It is the beginning point for any lasting spiritual change.

We also talked about how some say that there is one most important food to drop from our physical diets if we want to be healthy. That physical food is trans fats. Jeffrey Aron, a medical doctor and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco says, “Emerging data strongly suggests that cancer and dementia are made worse by trans fats. Putting trans fats into your body is like dropping fine grains of sand into a Swiss watch. Eventually the system shuts down.”  I then suggested that there may be a spiritual trans fat that you have been dropping like grains of sand into your spiritual life. But just as with improving our physical bodies - just stopping the eating of some foods is not enough.

In order to improve our physical health we not only need to eliminate those foods which our bad for us but we also need to eat foods that are good for us. Some of those foods are called antioxidants. To change your physical health you need to stop the bad foods like trans fats and add in the good foods that contain antioxidants like fruits and vegetables.

Spiritually it is much the same we need to stop pouring the grains of sin into our lives but at the same time we need to add in the spiritual antioxidants that will protect us from the damaging attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil. There are three spiritual antioxidants that need to be added to the life, to be a part of the life of every Christian if they want their spiritual life to be changed and improved. The spiritual antioxidants are Prayer, the Word of God, and the Church.

To be healthy physically it is well known that you cannot just stop eating bad foods and start eating good foods. No, something else is needed. There are many in our church who are blessed to live long lives while still remaining very active. How have you been able to do that? One part of that is that you have had a lot of physical exercise over the course of your lives. No, you haven’t been going to a gym and working out. No, the exercise that you have received for the most part has been in the form of good old hard work. You’ve worked hard all of your lives and that physical exercise has paid off for you by helping keep your bodies running well and active even into your older years.

Physical exercise is vital to obtain and maintaining physical well-being. “Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General.” Gives the following benefits of exercise:

·        Reduce the risk of premature death

·        Reduce the risk of developing and/or dying from heart disease

·        Reduce high blood pressure or the risk of developing high blood pressure

·        Reduce high cholesterol or the risk of developing high cholesterol

·        Reduce the risk of developing colon cancer and breast cancer

·        Reduce the risk of developing diabetes

·        Reduce or maintain body weight or body fat

·        Build and maintain healthy muscles, bones, and joints

·        Reduce depression and anxiety

·        Improve psychological well-being

·        Enhanced work, recreation, and sport performance

Also listed in the Surgeon General’s report are the benefits of Strength Training:

·        Increased muscular strength

·        Increased strength of tendons and ligaments

·        Potentially improves flexibility (range of motion of joints)

·        Reduced body fat and increased lean body mass (muscle mass)

·        Potentially decreases resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure

·        Positive changes in blood cholesterol

·        Improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity

·        Improved strength, balance, and functional ability in older adults

The first time I used an automatic pistol at a firing range I was a little too gentle with it. I very carefully pulled the slide back to put a bullet in the chamber and it jammed. The firearms instructor simply said, “It’s a machine.” He took the gun, took out the clip, removed the bullet that was jammed. He then slammed the clip back in the gun and racked the slide back and forward putting a bullet into the chamber. He repeated, “It’s a machine. It’s designed to be used that way and if you are too gentle and careful with it then it will jam nearly every time.”

“It’s a machine.” Our bodies are machines designed and created by God. Just like that automatic we can treat our bodies too gently, too carefully. Our bodies are designed to be used. Our bodies are designed to be used in very difficult conditions. Although it is possible to misuse your body usually hard work and exercise results in your body becoming stronger. Your body is a machine designed to be used and if you do not use it then it will grow weak. Without use your body will grow weak even if you are not eating or drinking things that are harmful and it will grow weak even if you are eating and drinking those things that are good for it.

Your spiritual self is much like your physical body. You can be avoiding sin and having an intake of prayer, the Word, and church and still grow spiritually weak. Why? Because you need exercise, you need to put into practice those things that you have learned and are learning - to grow strong spiritually. So this morning I want to share with you how you can change your life by building your life, exercising your life.

One thing that you should already be doing is spending time in prayer, talking to your Lord. However, many Christians never go beyond praying about their own needs, what is going on in their own lives. To build our lives we need to go beyond ourselves and begin to pray for others. The apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1-2a, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority….” (EXP)

In Matthew 9:36-38 we are told, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” (EXP)

1 Samuel 12:20-23, “Then Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.’” (EXP)

If we want to Change our lives, build our lives then we must become prayer warriors and surely it is a sin for us not to be prayer warriors.

Servanthood - “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).” (EXP - Example of Jesus) What is servanthood?  Gayle Erwin in his book, “The Jesus Style,” described servanthood in this way, “A servant’s job is to do all he can to make life better for others - to free them to be everything they can be. A servant’s first interest is not in himself but others … Servanthood is a loving choice we make to minister to others.”

In May of 1846 an evangelist visited a church in Nottingham England and he preached a sermon on the words recorded in Mark 10:24, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 10:24).” The evangelist, James Caughey (pronounced Coffey), preached that the key to this verse was to learn to desire what God desires, and that the foremost desire of God is that we develop the character of a servant, to help the poor, and to spread the gospel that souls might be saved.

A young man was present at this service who had been saved for two years but had been drifting. But that day in May, God spoke to this young man and the Holy Spirit gave him a passion, a desire for servanthood. That sermon on “Desiring Servanthood” gave William Booth the inspiration to found the Salvation Army an organization that would be committed to the salvation of souls and service to the needy.

If we want to Change our lives, Build our lives then we must become servants. As we become servants we will find that we are not only changing and building our lives but we are changing and building the lives of those around us as well.

Witnessing - Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We are witnesses. If you are a Christian, a child of God, you are a witness - there is not an opt out provision in this verse. But you do have the option of being a bad witness or of being a good witness.

Here are some reasons for being a good witness. Being a good witness will build your life giving you fulfillment and joy.  There is nothing like joy of sharing Christ with someone that is lost.

Being a good witness will also give you empowerment to live the Christian life, to enable you to witness as you should. “But you shall receive power….”

Dr. Scott Kurtzman, chief of surgery at Waterbury Hospital, was on his way to deliver an 8 a.m. lecture when he witnessed one of the worst crashes in Connecticut history. A dump truck, whose driver had lost control, flipped on its side and skidded into oncoming traffic. The resulting accident involved 20 vehicles; four people died.

Thanks to years of emergency-room experience, Doctor Kurtzman immediately shifted into trauma mode. He worked his way through the mangled mess of people and metal, calling out, “Who needs help?”. After about 90 minutes, when all 16 victims had been triaged and taken to area hospitals, Dr. Kurtzman climbed back into his car, drove to the medical school, and gave his lecture—two hours late.

This was not the first time Dr. Kurtzman has assisted those in need. Over the years, he's stopped at a half-dozen crashes and assisted at three. “A person with my skills simply can't drive by someone who's injured,” says Kurtzman. “I refuse to live my life that way.” (Hal Carp, Readers Digest, August 2006)

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you know how to be saved because you have experienced it yourself. You have the skills to be a witness for the Lord. Not only do you have the skills you have the empowerment and the supernatural wisdom to be a witness for the Lord. For you to refuse to witness to a lost person is even worse than a trauma doctor driving by and injury accident without stopping. If you have been living you life like that you are not growing, you are not building your life - No, instead you are shrinking your life. Be a witness and you will find joy and fulfillment and build your life to be more and more like that of Jesus.

Discipleship - Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

The Great Commission tells us that we are to go beyond witnessing. We are not to just lead people to Jesus but to make disciples. Then we are to teach those disciples, train those disciples. In the teaching and the training we will find that we ourselves are growing and our lives are being built up as well.

CONCLUSION - It may be that you are more than willing to avoid sin and that you are more than willing to pray, to read God’s Word and come to church. However, you are not willing to exercise your faith. There is something that holds you back from being a prayer warrior. There is something that is holding you back from being a witness for the Lord. There is something that is holding you back from helping others to grow in the Lord by discipling them. What is it?

In response to those who make excuses why they cannot serve the Lord, Rick Warren wrote this: “Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you too if you stop making excuses.” (Rick Warren, "The Purpose Driven Life," Zondervan (October 2002), p. 233)

The year is 2007 and isn’t it time to change your life for the better? You can do that if you stop pouring the spiritual trans-fat of sin into your life. You can do that by instead having an intake of the spiritual foods of prayer, the Word of God, and faithful attendance in church. And you can do that, change your life for the better by exercising your spiritual life through becoming a prayer warrior, a servant, a witness, and a discipler.