Saturday, September 21, 2024

Transformation not Conversion

God told us to go into the world and preach the gospel to all nations. He never at any time told us to bring the world into the worship time of believers.
The gathering of believers is to worship Christ and to equip the saints for the work of evangelism. When we bring in unbelievers to evangelize them we dilute the message of holiness for those who wish to walk according to God's Word.
Ephesians 4:12-16
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."f
After we have preached the gospel to someone and they have trusted in Christ realizing their own sinful nature and repenting from it, they then become born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by their own words or their feelings of pain but by the transformation Christ does in them.
Romans 12:2
"2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
If someone says they converted to Christianity it is likely they were never born again. To convert means someone made the choice to join without the transforming work of Christ.
When we trusted in Christ He transformed us completely changing how we think through the Power of the Holy Spirit Whom He placed in us to be our teacher, our guide and our comforter.
Those who convert to become acceptable to "the club" they think they joined are attempting to please men and their own conscience through good works but are not being led by the Holy Spirit.
This is the reason we have so many deceived pretenders in the church gatherings today, they like the idea of "being a Christian" so they decided to make themselves a better person in the eyes of others.
If there was no brokenness over someone's sinful nature and no desire to be changed by Christ then there is no salvation and no transformation. It is tantamount to the Eve experience in the garden where the devil convinced Eve she could become good enough to be like God.
Those who are converted are still "the world" and do not understand the things of Christ because He does not live in them.
1 Corinthians 2:14 states, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned".
This is the reason we have so much resistance to the truths of the ?Bible within the modern church gatherings. Many people claim they are Bible believers but do not obey Christ in many things. They twist the scriptures to make the words of God mean what they want it to say denying Him as they do it, while claiming they are speaking for Him.
2 Timothy 3:5-7
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. 6 For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Notice this is the state of the modern church, they are always learning while denying the truth. They are weak minded and full of pride thinking their pride is the same as strength when it is weakness at it's worst.
Satan teaches the watered-down version of the Bible mixed with psychology to confuse and defraud those who live the pretense of Christianity.
There is a very big clue we can see among those who "converted" rather than being transformed, and that is there seems to be no Spiritual fervor and no desire to grow in holiness. The lifestyle may be somewhat better to fit into the newfound group they desire but it is mechanical and lacks enthusiasm for Christ. Often these people regress back to their old lifestyle while shouting "don't judge" to misguide through intimidation those who are weak in the faith.
May we not shrink back from challenging those who are not growing emotionally and Spiritually. If we love them we want them to be sure of their salvation, if they are not we hope they will ask Christ to change them into a new creation so that they will no longer be pretenders.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
It is only through transformation by the Holy Spirit that anyone is saved from hell. Conversion in our own minds will never save us, only this life-giving transformation when Christ completely changes the way we think and comes to live in us that we can see heaven.

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