ROMANS 12:1-2; GALATIANS 1:3-4 Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Galatians 1:3-4
3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
OPENING REMARK
Praise the Lord! Impact! Changed to change the world! The changers are here today! The hand of the Lord will touch you and He will change you for the better. Then He will send you forth into your world to be an agent of change. I will be an agent of change. The Lord will change us, and we will change our world! The people to change Cameroon are here with me today. Everywhere in every nation, the Lord is putting His word in your heart, and you will change the world for the better, higher. The Lord will use you. Don’t look back, look forward.
INTRODUCTION
We are talking about change. Everything in the world need to have a change. The cells in our bodies change. As you are growing from a baby to a toddler, infant, to a boy/girl/teenager, adolescents, and young adults, changes are taking place. Internally, our cells are changing. The cells in the brain, some redundant cells are being washed off while new cells are taking their place. You may not see the remarkable change except you take and keep pictures of your face as an infant till you are a young adult, and when you are are in mid adulthood and older adulthood. Compare all the photographs and you will see the changes. This helps you to also change your world.
In our language, when a baby needs something, he screams, kicks and cries and the mother will know he needs something. At 7/8, your means of communication changes. If you kick as you did when you were an infant, you won’t get anything. Your language must change. In your 20s, till you are a full grown adult, your communication modes change. These are the changes in life.
Look at the cars we use, when there is a need to change anything in them, it must be done, not to just paint or wash it. The change that is necessary is to change the engine, this is what drives the car. The steering, seats and the colours are good, but the engine needs to be changed. Today, the Lord will change you. Wash yourself, anoint your body with ointment, that will not change anything. Redo your hair, try to copy how someone talks and walks, there will not be enough change. When the engine, inner man, heart is changed, you will run fast and go far.
I’m talking to you on the subject DELIVERED AND DESTINED TO CHANGE THE WORLD.
Romans 12:1-2. I am pleading with you just as Apostle Paul pled with the Romans. I know what it means to be a failure and success. To be a change agent, I have to use my hands, open my ears, speak out, and have the ability to move. So, for God to change my heart, I must present my body to Him a living sacrifice which is my reasonable service.
vs 2. Our hearts need to be renewed, this is what will bring about the change. As you present yourself to God today, He will change you and you will have such wisdom, insight and power to change things anywhere God leads you to.
Galatians 1:3-4. Peace in your heart, grace in your life comes from your Creator. To have the change, there is the need to touch Him first, while He transforms because of grace. He is no Respecter of persons, neither is He partial. He gives us peace from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say why are we talking about sin when you want a change. Sin builds a barrier between sinful man and a holy God. It builds a great, thick and deep wall between man and God. Every sin man commits is a block which builds the wall of demarcation. This is why Jesus came to pull the wall down. He died for you to break down the wall. He gave Himself for our sin to deliver us from the present evil world. Then you can reach God and He can reach you. He is ready to change you and after today, you are ready to go and change your world.
We are looking at three things before we pray:
- THE GRACE THAT CHANGES OUR INNER WORLD
(Galatians 1:3; 4:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Corinthians 3:18)
If your inner world is not changed, you can’t change the outside world. The inner world of your thoughts, discouragement, self-talks, regrets must change for you to change things. Change begins with you and me, and for us to be agents of change in the world, our inner worlds must change. Everything that pulls us down must be taken away first for us to make a change.
If any man is in Christ, he is a new and transformed creature. The old creature says “I don’t know, I can’t learn because my brain is dead. An adage says you cannot teach an old dog a new trick. You are down, you are down, you have no power and ability, old creature”. You come to Christ and He comes to you. He has no negative but is all positive. Negative brings failure, discouragement, it makes you feel you can’t do anything like other people.
Then Christ comes and makes you positive. You used to say you cannot, now, you can. You used to be down, now you are up. Now, you are positive: can you do this? Yes I can. Can you go there? Yes I can. Can you learn or fabricate that, Yes, I can. Can you study science? Yes I can. The old personality is gone. You say you are an introvert and you are always looking down because you are shy and cannot go beyond this boundary. The Lord who came to change my life will do same for you in Jesus name. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. How does this happen?
Titus 2:11-14. The same grace that changed me will change you. The same grace that changed any man or woman you ever know will change you. Then you are sober. Some people jest and laugh at nothing, their character is unserious. They cannot sit and set goals for their lives, when they are in class, they are busy playing with their devices, they are never serious. As soon as the grace of God comes, there is a change, and instead of aligning with Mr or Mrs never-do-well, they are sober and live their lives differently.
Someone said, “show me 5 of your best friends, if they are all drunkards, you will be the No 6 drunkard. Show me 5 of your friends who you relate closely with, if they are redundant, you will be the No 6. Friends with no goal, plan, sobriety and future, you will be No. 6 because you will be the Number 6 of your most treasured friends. Jesus coming to you gives direction to your life. Internally there is a change. God wants you to live righteously and soberly.
Some people’s shortcoming is gluttony, others’ is drinking and drinking or playing games on phones. Now that you have Christ, you live soberly and godly in the world. Godliness talks about the nature of God. Like father like son or daughter. The family of God as your own family and the nature of God as yours. Because grace has come, it will produce a change in your life.
G R A C E
#G GO BEYOND THE AVERAGE BY GRACE
Some people are average. If everybody is like you, nobody will even ride a bicycle, motorcycle, cars, or other higher brands. When grace comes to your life, you will think of manufacturing the aircraft, change the world of motion and commerce, education, and different scientific subjects.
#R RELY ON THE ALMIGHTY FOR GRACE
He is all-sufficient and all-powerful. Whatever you want to do research on, He is going there before you. Don’t look back, God is in front, don’t look down, God is on high, don’t look into the dark world, God is light. By faith, rely on Him for grace and the change goes beyond the average you knew in the past.
#A ADVANCE DESPITE ADVERSITY IN GRACE
When grace comes into us, despite adversity, hindrances and things that pin you down, you will advance. Enoch was born very close to the time of the flood, Noah was born at the time of the flood, yet, they advanced in the midst of adversity. The grace of God will come and change your inner world in Jesus name.
#C CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE AND BECOME GRACEFUL
- Change your attitude to people, you don’t know who will bring success into your life, you don’t know who will lower the rope to you down in the well to pull you up. You don’t know who will be your friend and recommend you to his dad, principal, or school master for help. Change your attitude, always wear a smile.
- Change your attitude to problem, without problems, there won’t be a solution. If everything was easy and there is no movement at all, there will be no improvement. To every action, there is a reaction. Every object will remain on the same spot except a force moves it. Every object is a problem but change your attitude to it. The problem will not beat you back, but give you inner strength to be a change agent.
- Change your attitude towards poverty. “I am poor, my father, mother, family is poor, I therefore will remain like that”. God has a purpose in bringing you to the family, you are the one who will change the poverty level in the family. It will not keep you down but you are rising up.
#E EXPECT HIGH ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH GRACE
Many years ago, I didn’t know that I could do anything that mattered in the world. I could not go beyond all the people around me. I was like them, they were like me until something changed. I just carried my name around and I didn’t know what it meant. That was why I said you should change your attitude to people, because someone will come around and tell you something you have never heard before about yourself. Someone will come around and give you a gift that will move you forward. Someone will say something common to you that will make you uncommon.
They might say, who are you? What are you? What have you done? The fellow might say is that all you can do and you get offended that he didn’t praise or appreciate you. You missed the point! Is that all you are created for, is that all you can do and achieve? whereas, you were expecting praise. When someone comes into your life like that, and he asks that 100 million Naira question, “Is that all?”, you must begin to think deeply.
Someone came and asked me about my name and I told him. He asked if I knew the meaning of the name, I said No, and he told me the meaning, and that refocused my life. A simple question – is that all? And your life is refocused today. And you expect from today high achievement by the grace of God.
- THE GOAL OF CHANGING OUR IMMEDIATE WORLD
(Matthew 5:13-16; 2 Chronicles 26:3-5; Zechariah 8:21-23;
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)
No one can play football purposefully except there is a goalpost. It is goals that make us wake up in the morning to pursue a purpose. It is goals that make you decide to do and finish a number of things before the end of the week. Goals make us to see ourselves different from others and determine to go beyond them. Without goals, there is no game of life. Goals make you go farther and higher even when you are tired. It keeps the propeller of your life rolling all the time. What goals do you have in life? What are you driving at? What do you have in mind to do despite all that have happened to you? God wants us to have goals.
Matthew 5:13. “Ye are the salt of the earth” Have you ever thought about this? The salt looks like granulated sugar but they both have different functions. I look like Mr so and so, but I have a different destiny. I look like Miss so and so, but our goals are different. “Ye are the salt of the earth”. Some people say the world is bad and corrupt and there is nothing they can do. All efforts have proved abortive, hence they have to join them since they can’t beat them. There is a goal, a challenge, there is something salt can do that pepper, onion and vegetable cannot do. Vegetables, onions and other ingredients are good, but let them do their own duty, that is their purpose for creation. But me, I’m different. You will not abandon your goals and desires because someone is doing well and making history in his own life.
vs 14. “Ye are the light of the world” Light functions well when there is darkness, but it does not fight darkness. Some people say our country is corrupt, everywhere is dark and everyone is walking in darkness. It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. If they are dark, corrupt, and bad, how about you? This is why you were created by God and you came to Christ.
You shine brighter where there is darkness, light has a purpose.
There is natural light, there is manufactured light. Have you heard about Thomas Edison? He wanted to provide light and he set up a laboratory to start working on filaments that will bring light to his community. Many times he failed, more than 600, 700 times, he said “I will, I can, I must”, and he kept on and on. Sometimes our problems is we know what to do, we know God has raised us to do something. Some people go to preach in some places and fail several times, and they say there is no way. He comes to another thing and without learning or any form of apprenticeship, he fails a few times and drops that. He himself becomes an unfinished product and he calls himself a failure.
The tortoise does not make progress until his neck is stretched out. Thomas Edison said he would do it again and again, and he succeeded, as you are going to succeed. Failure might come – someone asked him if he has failed and he said, No, but he has discovered many, many ways of how not to do it, but would try another way. You are not a failure. You have done things that didn’t work, but this new way shall bring success to your life. Without a goal, you can’t play the game of life well.
G O A L
#G GET TO THE ALPHA AND OMEGA
Get to Him, you have turned your back on Him, you have been walking without the heavenly light, you have tried your best but human best is not up to God’s best. Have a goal in life, do something, know why you were created, know what you will follow and succeed.
#O OBSERVE ACHIEVERS AND OVERCOMERS
Ask questions from those who have succeeded how they overcame the challenges of life. Observe them. There are many books in the library which give us insights into the lives of those who achieved in the past: the manufacturers, achievers, heroes, and those who succeeded in every area of life. Social media and internet has made getting information easier. You want to be a scientist, look at successful scientists online, you want to be a motivational speaker, check up the successful ones on YouTube. You want to be a successful medical doctor, check libraries, encyclopedias and you will find them there.
Find someone who was down, but got up, someone whose life was scattered but now has his life put back together. There were people who were paralyzed from waist down, yet they succeeded in life, go and get their stories and learn from them.
There was a man who wanted to commit suicide but decided to go and hear the word of God in a church before killing himself. As he entered, the preacher did not know his story but preached that if any sinner in the congregation receives Jesus, He will clear all the troubles of his life away. He said you have tried everything but not Jesus. The man decided to not kill himself, dropped all instruments of suicide and gave his life to Jesus, his life turned around and he ended up being one of the greatest men in his nation.
My son, my daughter there, you will become the greatest person in your nation but get to the Alpha and Omega.
#A ACCEPT HIS ABUNDANCE AND OPERATIONS
Open your heart and mind and accept His abundance and operations. You will get there.
#L LABOUR FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF OTHERS
There were two people at the seashore. One could swim but the other could not. The one who could swim was not ready to dive into the sea because the water was cold. The one who could not swim begged the other to help him out, and because of him, the one who could swim put him on his back and swam to the other side. In his mind, he was helping the other man, but while at it, he himself got to the other side.
Help enough people to achieve their goals, lo and behold, God will help you to achieve yours.
- THE GLORY IN CHANGING AN INDIFFERENT WORLD
(John 17:14-18; Acts 17:6; Galatians 6:14-16; Philippians 2:5,15-16)
There is a world that is indifferent, and no matter the encouragement, they will not change. The glory we have is when we change the indifferent world to God.
The next time I see you, I will see glory on your face, in your life and in your achievements. You will achieve great things in Jesus name.
Philippians 2:5. There are different kinds of minds, satan, the never-do-wells, and Christ our Lord has a mind. You have a choice to make: the mind of Satan or Christ. Open the door and let the mind and nature of Christ enter into you. Your life will produce glory. Say it all the time and your life will be glorious.
GLORY
#G GIVE WITH FAITH IN GOD (to challenge the world)
This was what Christ did. Give your heart to God, give your life to Christ, and give your personality to the Holy Spirit. Give your service to your neighbour, let your life be a life of giving. Selfish people never go to glory. Me, me, me all the time does not have a glorious outcome. Give your life to God and His creatures by faith in Christ.
#L LIGHTEN WITH FIRE FOR GOD (to charge the world)
John was a bright and burning light. Don’t be tired, weary, with no spine/backbone. To the person who always look down, lighten your environment with the grace of God in your life.
#O OCCUPY, WITHOUT FALSEHOOD, LIKE GOD (to champion the world)
Do something to contribute to the progress of the world. Get occupied and be happy, hopeful, and holy, be involved in every good thing happening around you.
#R REFLECT THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD (to chart a new world)
Reflect God in your action and attitude to people who don’t know Him. By your joy and excitement in life, reflect God to all.
#Y YIELD FRUITS IN FULNESS TO GOD (to change the world)
God will change the world inside of you and help you to change the immediate world around you and glory will come upon your life in Jesus name. His glory will settle on the work of your hand, everywhere you go, glory will follow you, everywhere you turn, glory will turn around with you. You will never be in a strange land where there is no helper.
Keep all that the Lord has revealed to us here, and you will have a testimony of glory. Power, goodness of God, and joy in your life, you will not die prematurely.
- Go through life with a different attitude, glory has come on you.
- From now on, I carry glory, the same glory I have you will have.
- The good goals I have you will have and the glory which Christ gave me the Lord will also give you.
Rise and receive. Everyone will have the grace to change the inner world, talk to the Lord in prayer.
