Transformations

Romans 12:2  Do not conform 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.

 

 

If you want the Lord to change the outside, you have to let Him change the inside. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In today’s world we hear the word change a lot. We start to think nothing of it. Business’ must change or they will fail, customer relationships must always be changing or they will suffer. Even in our personal life we much change constantly making slight adjustments here and there to keep up with the times. For example my wife used to never text, as a matter of fact not only did she not text, but she could not understand what the big deal was…….until she got a phone with a full keypad….then she made a little change in her life. In this scripture we are not being called to change. We are not being asked to make a little adjustment in our life. We are encouraged to be transformed. Transformation is a far cry from a little change, it is turning into something different. Everyone knows the Transformers, and it makes for a good illustration. You see a car on the screen, and the all of a sudden boom, it is a huge robot that you cannot imagine would have ever been hiding in that small car. That is transformation, becoming something totally different. Making a change so huge that one would have to look close to see what was there before.

 

That is the type of transformation that Paul was talking of. A huge transformation. A break from the pattern of this world. A change into something no one saw before. Do you notice where the change starts? Is it from a friend? Is it from a trip to church? Maybe you can get that transformation by going on a mission trip? No, while these things and many others might provide the spark, your transformation is not something you can go pick up, there is no UPC code to scan, there is no place to go get your ticket stamped saying that you are transformed. It starts with you…..it starts in you, it starts in your mind. You transform your life, by renewing your mind. You decide to take your mind from one focused on, me, mine, tomorrow, I want; and you change that to you, yours, today, and what do you need. If we are to walk in the footsteps of Christ….(OK we might not land right in the footsteps, but if we are to get close) We have to start thinking less like us, and more like Him. That takes a renewal of the mind. Here again, it is not a slight shift, or a little adjustment. I know many people who make a little change in life, a little change in the way they think, and then suddenly they think that they have transformed. I beg to differ. You have to renew, you have to re build, the Greek word used is anakainosis. Derived from the word meaning renovation. When we renovate our house we do not just change the carpet. We knock down walls, change the way the house flows, change paint, put in new appliances, door handles, and outlet covers. When we are done it is the same house on the outside but the inside is totally different. Could you imagine? You walk in to your friend’s house and they say “so what do you think? I renovated the house”. You look around, you do not really notice much, if anything different. Then your friend exclaims “ I changed out the carpet!”. ……uhhhhh “yeah that is great. “ Maybe they needed new carpet, but has a change really been made? Has there been true renovation? I think not.

 

It starts in our mind with a renovation. We have to tear down walls, open the place up a bit. We have to re paint, and change out that old junky clutter that we have with new stuff. When we are done (one might say we are never truly done) we might look the same on the outside, but the inside is totally different. The transformation is under way, and our lives will never be the same. In short your Jesus Freak flag is flying (contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with flying the Jesus Freak Flag). Paul tells us that once we make that change, that renovation, then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. I hear many of my friends ask “well what is God’s plan for me” , “what is His will” “What am I supposed to do” We make the change. We transform our lives in to lives that live to serve Jesus Christ, and the will of God. We make that change, and God will take care showing you His will…..and you will know it!

 

It is an ongoing process, a house that is never finished really. With any renovation we must understand that sometimes we might not know where we are going until we get there. My wife will paint half a room, and then decide, nope wrong color. I have hung pictures, changed furniture, moved it all around the house, only to be told nope, it has to go over there. Oh, but when it is finally in place, when the color is finally right, when the right style of door handle is place on the right door…..it is fantastic! You know it is right. So it goes with our spiritual transformation. We will move things, change things, choose various paths, only to find we have to back track, change things again….oh but when we get that one piece right! I am sure that the Angels sing. We find that during all of our struggles to transform, we have found God’s pleasing, and perfect will. It take work, it takes time, and it takes perseverance. Do not let that hinder you. Start the transformation today. Maybe you have started it, but have become tired. Ask the Lord for the strength to carry on. The next wall you take out, might just be the one. It is never over, it is never done as long as we draw a breath on this Earth, we should constantly be moving out the old junk of the world, and bringing in the new Christ driven alternatives. We can’t finish, if we don’t start, we can’t transform, if we are only willing to transfer. It starts with your mind. It starts with you.  

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

knowledge or truth

I know some very intelligent people who are dumb as a box of rocks, I am sure you do too. I also know many people who do not have a receipt from a college, yet somehow seem to be far and away smarter than those around them that have one. The former are the people that Paul is talking about here. They work and study but their only purpose is to gain knowledge. They have no interest in the truth, only the fact. What is the difference you might ask. The difference is found in the application. Often Truth is a verb. A fact is just a fact. It is stored away until it needs to be brought out to prove a point. Think of it this way. If you go out and buy a model airplane, you have everything you need to build a model plane. However that fact does not build the plane. The truth is all of the knowledge in the world will not build that plane. You might be able to say, “yes, I can build a plane, I have the directions, and all of the parts….I have spent countless hours studying how to build one, so of course, with that knowledge, I can build one.” The truth is much more down, dirty, and ugly. The truth says “Yes, I can build one, see the trash can? It is full of all of my failures, but through perseverance, I have learned how to build one.” Knowledge is more philosophical, Truth is more elbow grease.

 

We know that there was a Christ, we know He lived on and walked the face of this Earth. We know He was crucified, we know He died, we know He was buried. That is a lot of knowledge, yet the truth tells us He defeated death……and this is where knowledge and truth diverge. You see knowledge cannot comprehend the truth. Knowledge says nothing in my books tell me how that could be possible. Truth says that I need no book, I have faith. Truth says I have tried and tried and tried on my own, and I have failed Yet with faith in Christ I have become successful. So while there is no book to explain this phenomenon, truth takes the leap, while knowledge is left on the edge, searching physics, biology, mathematics, and meta physics, for some shred of knowledge to link  with what they have been taught. They learn, they have the knowledge, but they cannot fully come to understand the truth.

 

There is another use for this knowledge, and Paul brings it up to Timothy in this chapter, but that is for another day. For today we are left with the question, which one are we, and what do we do to help others see the truth? First ask yourself, which category do you fall in to? Do you have a lot of knowledge, yet can’t seem to make that jump? Do you get to the point of the burial of Christ, and just say “OK, I don’t get it, but I am just going to go along to get along.”? Maybe you even think, no way no how. I know too much about physics to believe that Christ was resurrected. Or are you one that leaps with reckless abandon? You see the edge, and you don’t just walk to it, you take a running leap of faith so you might get the most height, and distance out of your jump. If I were a betting man, I would say we mostly fall somewhere in the middle. Caught between the people we are and the people we want to be. So how do we get ourselves, and most importantly, how do we get others to make the leap every day?  

 

We have to get H.O.T. good old hands on training. You see, a mason does not learn how to build a house by reading a book. HE has to pick up a trowel and get to work. A doctor cannot cure just by reading a book, he must cut, or diagnose to cure. A person cannot take a leap of faith just because they have read the Bible. Do you know what all three of these people have in common? They are all going to make a mess before they get it right. The mason will build a few junky walls, the doctor will misdiagnose, and the person on the road to Christianity will stumble, fall, and miss the mark many times. Knowledge does not take the place of experience, and it is experience that will bring the truth.  I have yet to see anyone worth their salt that does not have a list of failures behind them. Typically the ones that have failed the worst tend to shine the brightest. So am I saying we set out to get busy failing? Of course not! But we do set out to find experience. For the Christian it is a two-fold pay off. Fist only by struggling for the experience will we ever fully understand the truth, second, by letting the world see our struggle, we help to dispel this ugly rumor that somehow all Christians are perfect. If you want to help someone make the jump from knowledge to the application of truth you will have to show them. When they see that failure is not the end, but really just the beginning, when they can understand that just as Christ fell on His way to that wretched hill, it is not the falling that counts, it is the rising,. Then they too will understand that until you get your hands dirty you will never understand the truth. Everyone wants to be a doctor, until they lose a patient, we all want to be lawyers, until your client get the chair, we all want to build walls, until those walls fall down around us. Truth is found, in the rubble, it is found in the hard times, and it is found after we have set down the dependence on knowledge and picked up the reliance of Christ. For in Christ there is no failure, there is no rubble…..and that is the truth.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Take the Porsche out

2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.  

 

I was reading this passage this morning and it struck a chord. The spirit God gave us does not make us timid……but all too often we are aren’t we? We meet the day with a timid heart. Think I am off base on this? Let me ask you a question. What is special about today? Come on, think hard about it. Nothing right? Nothing special about this day. Just another common day. Another x on the calendar, another day closer to whatever it is we are looking forward to. What are we doing today? Anything special?  No, not really right? It is Friday, so we will try and survive the day, keep our heads down, and try to stay off the radar. Just another common day, in a common person’s life. If that is not being timid, then I do not know what is!

 

Today is no common day. It is a day totally removed from yesterday, and a lifetime until tomorrow. It is the right now, the present, the here and now. There is nothing common about that. It is the chance and the time to do something spectacular. Oh wait, I am sorry, I forgot, we are just common people. Our days are not like that. That is the lie, that is the trap, that is the black hole of “just getting by”. There is nothing common about this day, and there is nothing common about you. Why? Because God has made both. The God of the universe does not make anything that is just common. HE does not make “OK” or “so-so” He creates what to us is impossible, and unimaginable. Think about that. Could you imagine a universe if it were not already made? Something as simple as single cell reproduction, could we come up with that on our own? We do a great job tearing things down and explaining them, or taking an idea and expanding on it, but to dream up from scratch the ability for plants to take sunlight and carbon dioxide, and produce life sustaining oxygen, we are good, but we are not that good! So why is it that we are all so ready to believe that Our God that has put so much effort in making even the smallest thing amazing, would for some reason make us less than unbelievable?  AS if somehow He came up short when He created humans. Did I mention that we are created in His image? Yet we would believe that somehow, someway, we are less, not more. We believe that we can’t…. only others can. We believe that today is just another day for us, yet many will accept Christ for the first time today! Folks, there is no ordinary, common day, and there are no ordinary, common people.

 

Let’s say that you own two cars. One is a practical, common sedan, the other is a Porsche 911 turbo. Why would you drive the sedan, and keep the Porsche parked? Could you imagine? Everyone knows you have the Porsche, they always ask, “why are you not driving the Porsche today?” Your answer would be well it is too flashy, it is too nice to drive, or my favorite, I do not want anything to happen to it! It is a Porsche! It was built to be driven! Actually, it was built to be driven faster, harder, and longer than that junky sedan that you plug around in every day. Why not take it out? Why not drive it every day? Why? Well like so many of us, it seems that driving that common car on a common day makes way more sense. The Porsche is just for “special” days. Why do we do that? How does driving that Porsche make you feel? Powerful right? Special? Without a doubt! I bet every one of us  would feel unstoppable every day that we drove it.

 

God has given each of us a Porsche. That Porsche was meant to be taken out, enjoyed, and shared. That Porsche is the Spirit that was given to us. Just like a Porsche, that spirit is not timid, and it is not common. Yet all too often we leave it parked. We listen to the lies of the devil who would have us believe that that junky old beat up sedan that we have had our whole lives is a safer spirit to drive, than that turbo charged spirit God has given us when we turned to His Son! Do not fall for it, do not step into that trap. Take the Porsche out every day. Will it get dinged up? Yep! Shopping carts of life will bang into it. It will get keyed by people you do not know, and someone will hit it when you are not expecting it…..but guess what? You have the best insurance in the world! That Porsche is insured by God. There is no deductible, and the premium has already been paid. Your rates do not go up when you file a claim, and you will find that the more you depend on that insurance, the better is gets.

 

Take the Porsche out today, and every day. God has given it to you so that you might use that power. There is nothing to be timid about, you have more horsepower at your fingertips than you will ever need. No common people drive Porsches, and no day is common when you leave the sedan in the garage.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

July the 6th

Psalm 73: 2-4 ² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. ³ For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is: “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels he’s finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him”. The Psalmist saw the same thing happening, he even goes as far as to recognize that he almost lost his foothold. The world has a nasty way of slipping in, it intertwines around our heart and works to make us feel inadequate. We struggle to find our place, we search for our niche, our spot, our mark. We look to the wicked, and see the life they live. We want it. We search for prosperity so that we might take our place in this world. In short, we come very close to losing our foothold.

Verse twelve even goes further, the Psalmist points out “This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.”  Today we hear, “They have it easy, I have it hard”.” Everything comes to them, I have to struggle for what I get”. “Life is just not fair.” All of that sounds pretty familiar I am sure, I know that audio track runs through my mind every now and again. Someone has it better, someone has what I want, someone got what I “needed” (funny how when we see people blessed we don’t long for more God….just the blessing) when we let this track run in a loop in our minds, we are allowing the world to knit itself right into our lives. We have to realize that the chains of this world are forged one link at a time. Link by link, inch by inch, foot by foot, we fashion the chain that will hold us to this world. When you spend your time looking at what others have, you are spending your time forging your chain.

Here is a challenge for each of us. Quit looking at what others have, and start looking at what they are missing. Imagine that, Donald Trump might have a lot, but I bet he could use some of what you have. I know that each of us, if we will take the time and really look at those who we think have so much, will find that it is not that they have what we want, but that they need what we have.  You see, the Psalmist comes to his senses, he realizes what is important in verse 22 he starts to come to a close with this  “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. ²³ Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. ²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”  These words are the words of a man who saw through the trap of the world. He found his place, not in the world, but with God. We do not need to look to prosperity so that we might find our place. Our place is already carved out for us. We do not need a worldly guide, for just like David, God has us by our right hand. He will guide us, if we will listen. He will bless, if we will look to bless as well. That is what this trip is all about. It is not about getting what everyone else has, it is about giving what everyone else needs. I have seen the richest man, and the poorest, in need of love. I have seen the successful, and the failures, both in need of forgiveness. I have seen the meek, and the powerful both in need of Grace….and I have yet to meet a person on this earth who could not use a little more of the Good News in their heart. It is not about getting, it is about giving.  God freely gives, will we choose to pass it along?  You might think you have little, but I promise you, no matter how little you have, we can go, and with very little effort find a person with less. You might think that some have to much, but if you look you will see just how empty they are. Spend your time looking to give what you have. Money, time, love, compassion, forgiveness, the Love of the Lord. We all have one, if not multiples of these in abundance, not to mention the many others I have not mentioned. If you are always looking to see what you can give, you will never find anyone that has enough. Give or take, forge a chain, or break free. Live for the world, or live for the one true, and living God. Every day we choose. Which road will you take today?

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

July 1st

Isaiah 61: 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

 

Liberty, deliverance, release…..all of these words are used in various translations of the Bible. The one that rings truest is freedom. How we Americans love that word freedom! This weekend we will celebrate our freedom from the crown. We celebrate our freedom to speak, to live without fear of Government, to own property, we celebrate our freedom to worship. The list is quite endless as to what all our freedom encompasses. Freedom is sweet, it was sought after, fought for, and violently maintained since the vote on July 4^th, 1776. As a result we now live in a free Country, and a free society. Our every want is at our fingertips. Life has really become so simplified for us, that we are at the point where we take our freedom for granted. It is just expected. We do not go to the store worried about a bomb going off, we speak out against our Government when we do not agree, and we are not drug off to prison. Life is good.

 

This weekend let’s make it a point to celebrate that freedom, but most importantly let us celebrate our freedom given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That freedom can never be taken, it is sweeter than any other freedom we enjoy today. It is a freedom that has been sought after, fought for, and it came at a very violent price. Yet just like the freedoms enjoyed in this great Country, I fear that many today take the freedom bought with blood for granted. Today more than ever the majority of people believe that we are all just going to go to heaven, there is no hell, and if we will all just be nice, Christ is going to be a very happy person upon his return. While I wish that was the case, I fear, and I am willing to bet it is not. This weekend, while we eat hot dogs, go to a concert, the beach, or a dip in the pool, and enjoy whatever fireworks/ laser light show (burn ban fireworks) is offered in your area, take some time to reflect on the price paid to give us the freedom we enjoy today. The price paid by our fine men and women in uniform for our Countries freedom, and the price paid by our Savior for our eternal freedom.

 

Though society might like us to think that we all have our ticket punched, and we all have a ticket to ride, I call on each person who reads this to take up the calling of Isaiah. Proclaim the good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners. You see we might live in this free Country, yet many are not free spiritually. Today more than ever we have to take that message for freedom to those around us. Could you imagine if our founding fathers declared our freedom, but never told anyone else? I would think that around ten would be tea time today. That is the thing about freedom, it is at its strongest when it is passed along. When kept for ourselves it is as worthless as a thousand dollar bill that can never be spent. To borrow a term, we must set the brushfires of freedom. We must carry the good news to all who will listen, and encourage that news to carry across this great Country to each and every free individual, so that the Good News might spill over across oceans, into Continents that have never heard of the sweet freedom of Christ.

 

So celebrate this weekend! Enjoy the freedom that comes with living in the U.S.A. and celebrate the freedom of your soul. Shout it from the rooftops, share it with your friends, light your world up with The Light Of The World! Search out the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners, and share with them the freedom of the good news.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22