RADICAL TRANSFORMATION
Proverbs 18:4
The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook
Introduction
· Nature of the Gospel: Radical transformation – We are transformed through the Word
· This is how we are healed – it’s how we break Jezebelian and demonic influences
· Conditions of the heart change
· Condition of a Fallen World
· Condition of Woundedness
· Condition of Release
Condition of a Fallen World
· Two Scriptures: Proverbs 14:10; 15:13 The heart knows its own bitterness, And a stranger does not share its joy… A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken
· The condition described: Pain, sorrow
· Hurt, wounded, rejected: evil triad
· Satanic establishment enslaves and enrages humanity
· Produces closed minds
· Pushes for violence
· Seeks to oppress and damage
· Sometimes this is spiritual, sometimes natural, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people (Acts 17:1-5)
· Living in this world creates a climate for persistent hurts to occur
· These are results from living in a fallen world
· Incidents of historical natural occasion
· Accidents of natural occurrences
· Disease and sickness
· Poverty
· Christ offers an alternative
· There is a Christian revolution
· Seeks to free humanity
· We are armed with weapons: Truth and love
Condition of Release
· Release is based upon our responses
· We have a place of choice
· Choice of retribution or release
· Retribution is holding others in bondage, The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses (Matthew 18:21-35)
· Judgment operates under the same principle, Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:1-2)
· Consequence: reaping what is sown
· Remedy: The laws of soul healing (sodzo)
· Giving and receiving mercy, Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:36-38)
· Repentance and confession, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9)
· Ministering forgiveness to others, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained… Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (John 20:23; James 5:16)
· When we don’t follow these prescriptions: We are like Proverbs 25:28, Whoever has no rule over his own spirit; Is like a city broken down, without walls
Condition of Woundedness
1) Woundedness implies infliction by others
· This isn’t natural disaster, disease
· This is sin committed against us
· Broken relationships
- Demonic access through parental sin – parental sin can open doors for familiar spirits to have access through triggers or shadows – You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:3-6)
- We get free from these curses as we confess and renounce our learned behaviors that are ungodly that we picked up through our families and friends – Leviticus 26:40-42 says that But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, 41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land
- Our freedom from the bondage of sin happens through confession of sin (it’s for us, not God), and to appropriate the finished work of the cross as it breaks strongholds and curses, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13)
- When we reprogram, writing a new word over our sin memories, and repent as we learn new life patterns, we recover the legal ground the enemy gained through our unsettled hearts, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14)
· Criminal activity
· Childhood rejection by those in protective positions
2) Wounds through performance expectations
· Societal expectations
· Parental expectations
· Personal expectations
3) Own wrong choices and responses
· Personal responsibility
· Bitter root judgments
· Unrealistic expectations
- We could call this triad of personal responsibility, bitter root judgments and unrealistic expectations
- Foundational fallacies – They are inherited traits that come from our ancestors or are formed by hurtful situations or experiences in our lives
· Truth for action: we are products of our own decisions – These hurts are nullified as we take on a new thought process as we repent, renounce, and receive God’s truth to renew our mind’s, 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 12:2)
· What happens to us isn’t as important as is our responses to it