God loves us to much to leave us like we are. This is the whole message of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Key Scriptures: Romans 12 NKJV
1 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.
2 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.
God changes us by way of transformation. More than mere evolution or adaptation to surrounding elements or long term reaction to environment, transformation is that which takes place in the spirit of a person affecting the whole being, spirit, soul and body, mind, will and emotions, bringing us ever closer, step by step, stage by stage, glory by glory, as the scriptures put it, into the image of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)
In part one of our Transformation series, we read from 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 5 thru 18. In those verses we discovered that what the Law of Moses was unable to do, God did through sending His Son and by Him unveiled the hearts of man so that we can, through Jesus, understand the intent of God’s Word.
The Word of God was not given to convict and condemn, but to save and transform. What the letter of the law could not do, the Gospel of Christ can.
In part two of the transformation series we laid the foundation for understanding the stages one goes through during the transformation process.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man cannot understand God’s intent from reading the word of God without the help of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3 NKJV
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
However once we receive Jesus by grace through faith the veil is taken away from our hearts and minds and we can then understand what the Spirit of God is saying through the scriptures.
Then as we continue to search the word we see Jesus and are changed little by little, glory by glory, stage by stage, into His image.
2 Corinthians 3 NKJV
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
In other words transformation is a process – We go through Stages
Completing part two of the transformation series we concluded that just as our Key Scriptures told us we are being transformed to prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
For more information on that subject log onto churchonline.tv or cotr.com and search the archives for notes and to view the service.
Now for The Three Stages of Transformation
The First Stage – (The first step in the transformation process)
Transforms seed into a new creation …
* The Blade
Mark 4 KJV
26 And he said, So is the
27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
The Second Stage –
The seed left rooted in the ground continues to produce –
* The Ear
The Third Stage –
The final stage of transformation is full replication of the seed –
* The Full Corn
> In the Ear
The Three Stages of Transformation
The Blade The Ear The Full Corn In The Ear
30 Fold 60 Fold 100 Fold
Mark 4:20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Outer Court
Wilderness Promised Land
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
Three Old Testament Feasts
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Feast of Weeks
Feast of Tabernacles
Three New Testament Feasts
Salvation
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Full Sonship
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
Philippians 1:6 tells us that in whom God begins a good work, He will continue to perform it until the day of Christ.
Psalms reveals that the Lord is daily loading us with benefits and that He is perfecting that which concerns us. (Psalms 138:8)
And we do know that when we see Christ we shall be changed to be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)
It is the Word of God which is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among the saints in Glory. (Acts 20:32)
God is changing us little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, not in one year and perhaps not in one generation. (Isaiah 28:10 & Exodus 23:29)
It is my personal belief and not doctrine I can teach for certainty that there will come a generation which will experience the fullness of God’s Spirit and Power in the earth being fully transformed just before the coming of the Lord. I believe we will see the church in power as we have never seen it and awesome signs, wonders and miracles will be displayed through the faith and practice of God’s servants. (Isaiah 2:3; Matthew 13:33; John 14:12)
In fact the latter house will be greater than the former house and all the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Haggai 2:9 & Habakkuk 2:14)
In that final day when the harvest is fully ripe, God will say to the Lord, “thrust in Thy sickle and reap” the earth. (Revelation 14:15)
Today we have but the earnest of our inheritance, the down payment in which we see the fullness to come. (Ephesians 1:13 & 14)
Even so, come Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)
Until He comes we pray, transform us Lord.
Perhaps we must grow up before we go up!
