Mind Shift

[0:00] Let's go to Romans 12. Romans 12. Praise God.

[0:16] What a joy we have to open the word together in this land. By the grace of God.

[0:28] Amen. Romans 12. Paul writes to the Romans verse 1 of chapter 12.

[0:45] I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy.

[0:57] And acceptable unto God. Which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

[1:14] I want to talk this morning about mind shift. Mind shift. I've tried to spell out what I'm trying to cover this morning in some fashion here.

[1:29] Whether you can see that sufficiently. But just so you know where I'm taking it this morning. And we have need of a mind shift in our land today.

[1:43] In our culture. In our world. In our community. Let's face it. Aussie culture is hostile. It's hellish. It's hell bound. It's hostile towards the things of God.

[1:54] And we have two choices. Two choices only. Two ways. To think. To live. Two. Only two. Either to be conformed to this world or to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

[2:09] Conformed to the world or transformed by truth. And what path will you take? The question is for you to answer for yourself. Are you going to lay your life down as a living sacrifice?

[2:22] Put your life at God's disposal. In his hands. Question is does the will of God matter to you? Does it really matter?

[2:33] Do we care about the will of God? We can either conform to the thinking pattern. The walking pattern. The talking pattern of this world. Or we can be transformed into the image of Christ.

[2:48] Into a new pattern of thinking. Of living. And when God transforms your life. When you go from the conformity to the transforming of your life. When you make Christ your pattern.

[3:00] Your model. Your way of living. God's promises for you are that you can find and know the will of God. The will of God. The good, acceptable, perfect will of God.

[3:15] You can find the perfect will of God for your life in this 21st century. The Bible says you can. And to be conformed is the opposite of being transformed by the renewing of your mind.

[3:31] To be conformed means to be in accord with. In agreement with. And there's a whole lot of conforming going on. Especially young minds as pliable like clay are being fashioned to think a certain way.

[3:48] To adopt a philosophy that's godless and God hating. And there's a conforming going on. A confirmation program. A confirmation program.

[4:00] A control of the masses. That's what it is. The puppet master behind the curtain. Is pulling the strings and making people jump and dance. Under their control. Under his spell.

[4:13] And acting for him. They do the devil's work. Because really this is a choice between the work of the devil and the work of God. In our soul. The puppet master wants people under his control.

[4:25] And to do his bidding and to tell others the such. And they would say to you. Bow down. Cool down. And slow down.

[4:37] Don't take your Christianity so seriously that you actually live at 24 by 7. Just be a Sunday morning Christian. Bow down. Cool down. Slow down. It's a mind control.

[4:49] It's a conforming. It's an engineering on a global scale. A culture is being fashioned. And the big question is. Are we conformed? Conformed.

[5:01] Made like clay. And twisted and fashioned after the world. Or will we be transformed by the renewing of our mind? We'll have our eyes open and see the real truth.

[5:11] What will we be? Will we be renewing our mind, our soul, our life? Coming under the authority of God. Nothing beats that.

[5:22] And then if we are such. We will not bow down. That's what we'll say. We will not bow down and worship your idol. Our worship is to God alone. We will not cool down.

[5:34] We'll fire up our faith. We'll be hot for God. We will not slow down. We will walk with God. We will go forward in faith. We will be strong in the Lord. As God's people, we are not to be in accord with this world.

[5:49] But as God's people, we can still have those influences on us, can't we? Let's be honest. They're constantly bombarding you. To follow after the ways of the world. Instead, we're called to take a different track from this world.

[6:02] To be transformed. To transform people. Transformed in our thinking and our living. In what matters to us. Transformed into an uncompromising walk with our Lord. And it's going to cost you.

[6:13] But it's going to be glory. It's going to cost you to be a Christian. As it were. To have that uncompromising walk with God. But it's worth it. To have that renewing of your mind.

[6:24] That radical stand. That transformation. That's God's plan for us. A renewing of the mind. A total mind shift. And so what's stopping us? What is stopping us from this mind shift?

[6:35] Paul commends the church at Philippi for getting it right. If you turn to Philippians 2 verse 12. Philippians 2 verse 12 through 13. He writes to them and he commands them for getting it right.

[6:47] Philippians 2 verse 12 through 13. He says this. He says, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

[7:03] For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. They got it right.

[7:14] They had the fear and trembling. They had the willing and doing of his good pleasure. The willing and the doing of his good pleasure. And I put to you that this transforming work is God's doing.

[7:25] It's God's work. It's God's work. And it takes fear and trembling on our part to recognise and to submit to that. It's God's working that we need. Not some fleshly man conjured up way.

[7:36] It's not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. It's by God's working. And right now it seems like we've got an energy crisis in the church. I've just got this Christian publication lately.

[7:51] It says, The church needs a renewal of the power of Pentecost. The church needs a renewal of the power of Pentecost. This is by an old-time gospel preacher.

[8:02] And we're not talking about the so-called Pentecostal ways. We're talking about the real Pentecost. That's what we need. That's what we believe in. We believe in the real power of Pentecost. And we need it still.

[8:12] God's renewing power. And there's a spiritual energy crisis. It's like there's something lacking. There's something gone from the church. We're lacking God's power.

[8:23] There's this energy crisis going on. And it seems like many professing Christians are careless and casual. They're professing, but they're lacking God's power. It's not there.

[8:33] It's not evident. And yet God calls us to be a transformed people. He wants us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. He wants us to be not just professing it, but realizing it.

[8:47] And friends, there's a spiritual energy crisis. And it's interesting, the word energy. Now, if our Greek friend was here, he would echo the sentiments here, that the word used oft times in our word where we see work or working, worketh, is energeo in the Greek.

[9:07] Energeo. Not that we make much of the Greek, but it's just an interesting insight into this word energy. The Bible uses the word energy. The Bible uses this sense, this truth of an energy.

[9:22] An energeo is the word. And we see this right here in this very verse that we've read. It is God which worketh energeo in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[9:35] His energeo, his working. His working is working in you. His God's energy, the divine energy. We can become energised Christians. Amen? We should be energisers, as it were.

[9:48] You have those little energy batteries. We should be such a people that we're energised, that God's energy is filling us. And it's interesting, this same word underlies other scriptures, such as, for example, in Colossians 1.

[10:01] Just flick to the next book, Colossians 1.29. Paul tells the Colossians, Colossians 1.29, he says, Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, his energeo, which worketh energeo, or a derivation of that, it worketh in me mightily.

[10:22] His working works in me mightily. Both occasions there's word energeo or a like word of that accord.

[10:33] What Paul's saying here, he's saying that I labour, I serve God by his working, his energy. And his energy works in me mightily. You know, sometimes, let's face it, believer, you might say, I just don't have the energy.

[10:49] I say that quite a bit these days, so I'm getting a bit older. I don't have the energy. You know, you might say that sounds like me too. But we need the energy, don't we? The energy of God, that's what we need.

[11:01] Not the energy of the flesh, but we need God's power, God's energising, God's empowering. And it's saying here that he's working in me, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[11:14] That's what we need. The word energy is at work here. It's working in me. And we see it's power in action. How is this seen? Now, you might say, well, okay, there's a, I acknowledge I could deal with a bit more energy, spiritually speaking.

[11:28] I mean, I can identify with that myself. I need some more energy, more power in action in my life. I'd like to be a more powerful Christian, a more effective, efficient Christian.

[11:39] And there's three ways, or you could say four ways, I see some like references to how we can get this energy. So we're going to give you some secrets here, how you can get that divine energy, that empowerment.

[11:51] And we see it here in these three, four things here. The word is used of prayer. We see it of James 5, context of Elijah, a like man, like passions, such as we, man of prayer.

[12:10] And it goes on to say, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. It says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

[12:21] This word effectual fervent is the energy again. It's the energeo, the effectual fervent prayer. Friends, prayer will help you to have God's energy.

[12:33] Amen. If you spend time in prayer, he will energise you. He will energise your praying. He will energise your faith as you pray. And I'm glad to know that someone has told me specifically they're praying and fasting that this church will have more spiritual power.

[12:51] I'll thank God for that one who's told me that. Pray and fast. Pray and fast for yourself. Pray and fast for the preacher. Pray and fast for the church. That we can be a church with divine energy.

[13:02] Amen. That God can restore and refresh that energy of God in us. And it's by prayer, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, such that we'll be an effective, fruitful, fervent, growing, thriving church for God's glory, a faithful people.

[13:18] Number one, pray. We get the divine energy. Number two is the word of God. By the word of God, we have God's energy. It tells us in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul's telling how you've received the word of God, which you heard of us.

[13:34] You received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh. This same word. Effectually worketh in you that believe.

[13:45] Paul's saying you've received this word from me as the apostle of the time delivering God's word for the revelation of the time. God's scriptures were given by Paul.

[13:58] He says this word effectually worketh in you that believe. This word has got the energy in you. And so a second truth here is the divine energy, God's energy as we pray, as we effectually, fervently pray, there's energy in prayer.

[14:14] The word that effectually worketh, the word of God that works is energising us as we take the word and receive it and heed it. Now, how can we be and energise people?

[14:27] There's a lot of energy leakage, energy loss. You know, if you ever jumped in the car and you turn the ignition, something wrong with the energy.

[14:38] The battery's gone flat. It's dead. Needs a jump start. I put to you some Christians are like that. The battery's gone dead. It's not been recharging and it's gone.

[14:50] So there's been an energy leakage, an energy loss. And friends, how can we get the energy? Through the word of God. It effectually worketh.

[15:01] It's energising you that believe. And a like scripture is where it says the word of God is quick and powerful. It's the same word again, powerful. It's quick and powerful.

[15:12] It's got God's energy. It's alive. It's energised. It's active. It's powerful. It's full of power. It's energised. The word of God. If you need energy, plug in, as it were, to the divine power of God, the power of his word.

[15:31] Our church must have the word of God individually, corporately, we must have the word. And we get that energy transfer because this is alive. It's powerful. There's an energy transfer.

[15:43] The powerful, living word of God transfers into our hearts and lives as we hear and read it. And it works in us, effectually works in us, in you that believe.

[15:58] There's an energy transfer that happens as you plug in to the word of God. And the third one we see, we pray, effectual, fervent. We see the word working effectually. We see, thirdly, the power of God.

[16:10] It's the spirit of God. We see that in Ephesians 3, verse 20. As Paul prays, he says now unto him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all.

[16:26] But you ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. There's a power working in your brothers and sisters. There's power in these seats here this morning.

[16:38] There's power in these hearts, in these saints of God here this morning. There's power here. As we gather, there's an assembly of powerful people, people who know the power of God.

[16:49] Notice that the power works in us. Sometimes we think the power of God is out there. No, it's in you. It's in you, the glory. It's in you, the glory of God, isn't it?

[17:01] It's in us. The power works in us. This working is the energy. So the enemy wants to disempower. He wants to disengage us. He wants to take you away from prayer, whatever it be.

[17:14] Find something else to do. You know, you could imagine he sends his demons to say, just occupy them so they're too busy to pray. He doesn't want you to tap into the power of prayer.

[17:27] He wants to take you away from the word so you don't have time for it. Other things will take up that time and that energy, and you'll lose the energy, the grace of God.

[17:39] He wants to take you away from God's power, God's spirit. But friends, God's plan for us is that we be transformed. We'd be renewing our mind. We have that refreshing of that energy, that heart for God, that love for him.

[17:53] And a fourth one you could say is that this faith works by love. It tells us that in Galatians 5 verse 6. Paul says, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.

[18:09] You know, that's the kind of faith we need, faith that works by love. And that's that the working is energy. So our faith is energised by our love. You know, we were out witnessing yesterday, and someone made the point of saying God loves you, to one that we were talking to.

[18:24] I thought it was a good statement to make. And this particular one says, Nobody loves me. It spoke to that man. First he said, I'm not interested.

[18:36] But when they said, God loves you, he said, nobody loves me. And we were able to have a little more conversation with him, but obviously it hit a nerve. We are motivated by love.

[18:47] We're constrained by love. The love of Christ constrains us. What we're motivated by is his love. And our faith works by love. It's translated into loving actions, into loving service, into loving worship, into loving one another.

[19:06] Faith is translated, it's empowered, it's working by love. And friends, we must realise that the enemy wants the confirmation program. He wants you to conform to the masses, to the lemmings.

[19:21] He wants to conform you to the sheeple, as it were, the masses of the world. He wants you to be under his control program. And there's a battle raging for the mind of man, for the mind that it's bombarded.

[19:38] Your mind is constantly being bombarded. And there's a battle going on about where you're going to put your energy into. We've only got so much. What you're going to expend your energy into. You know, now this is not to condemn anyone here this morning, because I know I've got a habit of saying things that might tread on people's toes, but please take it in the spirit intended as a little bit of a, how would you say, a lighthearted way of thinking about it.

[20:06] And we can expend energy in useless things. Can't we? Useless things. You know, I'm guilty of it at times where you kind of have that, you know, what's the word?

[20:19] You zone out, and you kind of just float around, and time evaporates, doesn't it? It's like, where did that time go? Where did that day go? That year? We can all expend energy in useless things.

[20:32] Now, again, take it in that, what I'm saying here, as a little bit of a lighthearted way of looking at it. You know, when I go down the shop sometimes, I walk past the gym, and I see all these people, they're sweating profusely, and they're working so hard, moving these machinery, or going up this treadmill, or, you know, lifting these weights, and doing all this exertion of energy.

[20:59] And I tend to think, what a waste of energy. Really? Now, of course, there's benefits, okay, and the Bible does say, exercise profiteth a little. But, you know, that energy could be expended in something more useful.

[21:15] For me, I think, I get my workout when I get my spade out. I get my spade out, and I get in the garden, you know, and I work out, I have my workout in the garden, doing something useful with my energy.

[21:27] You know, harness your energy, employ it, engage it. And look, some of you might love walking, and that's, it's good for your body, to go walking.

[21:38] But how better to go walking with some tracks, and put the tracks in the letter boxes as you walk. That would be a more useful expenditure of your energy, I put to you.

[21:51] You know, use your energy for God. Amen? Can't we do that? Of course, there's a necessary expenditure of energy where we have to earn a living and make a life for ourselves and support our families and do the necessary things to keep fit and healthy and strong.

[22:10] But just thinking of that concept of how can I use my energy for God? Amen? We've only got so much time spent, some lifespan, haven't we? Use your energy for God, for the work of God.

[22:22] You know, we can use our energy for the work of God or we can use it for the work of the devil or the flesh, the world. Friends, we need to use our energy for the kingdom of God.

[22:35] And so, we see the devil wants you to waste your energy such that you look back and think, where did my life go? You know, we were just talking, we've been in our current house three years and think, where did that time go?

[22:50] It just seems like we're in that place just yesterday. And time's like that, isn't it? Time just goes. And the enemy wants to sap our energy, divert our energy away from what's godly and edifying.

[23:02] The devil wants you to waste your energy and it's part of that confirmation program. Just use your energy, make you so busy, busy, busy and preoccupied that you don't have time to think about the things of God.

[23:17] And it's happening for our generation, this conforming going on. And as the reborn people of God, we're especially under direct assault. You know, if the devil wants to have a go and distract and detour people, it's you and me, the people of God.

[23:34] He wants to make us so busy with, and it could be useful things. Things that might be beneficial for our physical health, you know, some activity, physical activity.

[23:45] It could be some study, some learning, some career development, some occupation of income, earning. But we can get such that that preoccupies us and overtakes us and it becomes the be all and end all and such that we don't have time for God.

[24:04] And we end up just being like the fish going with the tide. We've got to swim against the flow, people of God. And so, I urge you this morning to think about these things, to contemplate these things, that the enemy of your soul, he's relentless.

[24:19] He's relentless and he wants to distract and detour us and sometimes his attacks are quite subtle and can happen without us realising it.

[24:34] It's really, you could call it an energy sapper, energy sapping. You know, when you come, when you do something you think, oh, I've just expended all my energy.

[24:45] And that's what the devil wants for us to be. So we don't have any energy left for God. But God wants to, has to have transforming energy, to have that transforming, that renewing of our mind.

[25:00] It's like these days you could, as I kind of think of it at times, it's like the devil can't beat us, he's joined us in some quarters. In some, you could say, it sounds like that, it seems like that.

[25:13] In some churches, it's like he's a member in good standing in some churches. And sometimes he's even the minister of the church, spouting evil, supporting abomination as if it's something good.

[25:28] Satan has his transformation agenda and he's taking over churches. We see that 2 Corinthians 11, it talks about really the devil's transformation program.

[25:39] What does it say 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13? It says, such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

[25:50] And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great things if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.

[26:04] And it's interesting, we're talking about this word energy and the good kind of energy, effectual fervent prayer. We're talking about the word working effectually in us. We're talking about the power of God in us. We're talking about faith working by love.

[26:16] These are the good uses of energy. In this verse, 2 Corinthians 11, where it says, deceitful workers, it's the same energy. Satan wants you to be on this side. He wants deceitful workers.

[26:27] He wants workers who are transforming themselves into false apostles, false prophets. It talks about ministers of righteousness. This word ministers is energeo as well, where they're serving unrighteousness, really.

[26:42] And how we need people of God today to be on the alert. Our Lord says, be not deceived.

[26:53] He says, take heed. And I put to you this morning, people of God, that there is a need to be alert in these last days that we're living in.

[27:06] Because false doctrine can come in and it's a gradual erosion of truth. Now, false doctrine kind of creeps in. False teaching, false prophets, false practice, such that people are actually undertaking what's actually unbiblical and calling it biblical.

[27:25] See that, for example, in churches where there's this carry-on of people falling on the carpet and writhing on the floor, falling backwards so they believe under the power of God.

[27:35] But it's not actually in the Bible. It's actually unbiblical. So that's false. We can know that that's false. When something unbiblical happens, we know it's false.

[27:46] And in some churches, there's a kind of madness that's prevailing, where there's some believe there's feathers falling or gold glitter or jewels falling on people. And I've seen some crazy antics.

[27:58] And you might have seen such things yourselves. There's some crazy videos out there of what some preachers get up to in all kinds of places, in Africa, in America.

[28:08] It's worldwide, the global madness that's going on. It's making Christians look foolish, like they're fools. There's crazy antics and spectacles that are the routine, these bizarre things.

[28:21] I don't even want to talk about it because it's so wrong and it's just plainly wrong and yet some people think it's the miracles of God. And in the Word, it tells us about false professors such that there can be congregations of people where some people claim to be a Christian but they're actually lying.

[28:42] It's false. We see that, for example, in 2 Kings 17, 33. 2 Kings 17, 33. Of them, it says, they feared the Lord and served their own gods.

[28:57] They wanted it both ways. They feared the Lord. They said, yeah, I'm a believer. I believe in the Lord and they served their own gods. That's happening today where, like in Israel's time, they had a show of reverence for God but really they were serving other gods and people want this kind of compromise and it's a real danger.

[29:21] For some, they want religiosity or spirituality but they won't let go of the world. They're false professors. They're still holding on to the thinking and the mindset of the world.

[29:31] They've not had that mind shift, that repenting, that turning from and turning unto. The Lord caused us to be a people out of this world. We should be out of this world.

[29:43] We should be in non-conformity to this world in our character, in our conduct, in our thought patterns and we must preach against error. Heresy is dangerous.

[29:56] Sadly, it seems like some counter-biblical things are being preached in some churches and it's like poison. They just say, just drink the Kool-Aid as it were in Jim Jones' day and people just follow along.

[30:12] I was saddened to hear, for example, of one so-called church and it's got an outlet in Adelaide and it's some crazy church outfit that promotes a Mexican man as some kind of latter-day apostle and it falsely teaches that salvation is only available under his ministry, under his teaching and millions follow him around the world and some in Adelaide today and it's mind-blowing that this is going on.

[30:41] The people will be so duped to follow this man who says there was no salvation from the early church till I think his grandfather started the church some hundred years ago or whatever it was and it's likewise with Mormons, isn't it?

[30:57] There's been this big gap where there's been no truth and people are believing this stuff. It's false. It's false. False prophets, false practice, false professors.

[31:08] They profess they know God but they deny him and friends, the point is about energy. What are we going to put our energy into? Half-heartedness prevails.

[31:22] Half-heartedness. Many are scarcely committed. Now the word scarcely, when you say this phrase scarcely committed, when you think about it, scarcely committed really means the opposite of committed, doesn't it?

[31:33] If you're scarcely committed, you're not committed. You're either committed or you're not committed, one or the other. And another energy sapper is the mixed multitude. We see that in Numbers.

[31:45] We've talked about Moses traveling, the wilderness wanderings. We see in Numbers 11, it talks about some, there was a mixed multitude. There's this kind of conglomeration, this mishmash, where some, they wanted the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic.

[32:01] They didn't want the manna, God's amazing, miraculous bread. And this mixed multitude, it brought confusion. And it sapped the energy of the people of God.

[32:12] They became murmurers. To think of it, it's crazy to think of it, isn't it? To think if we were in their day, in their time, if we happened to be transported back in time, you know, those thousands of years ago, and we happened to be in that group of professing believers, and God's routinely supplying heavenly manna, you know, this miraculous supply of God's gracious provision, a miracle from heaven, a miracle from God.

[32:39] God. And yet, these ones, who were in their number, they hankered for the carnal things of Egypt, they left behind. Mind-blowing, isn't it? To think that you had this evident demonstration of God's power and supply, His gracious provision, and yet, they still hankered after the carnal things of Egypt.

[32:58] And the people are the same today, aren't they? Aren't they? People hanker after the world. Even as God's own people, we can have that worldly leaning, that worldly, those worldly ties.

[33:11] And the energy gets diverted that way, doesn't it? Rather, let us be living sacrifices. Do we care about the perfect, acceptable will of God?

[33:28] It's good, acceptable, perfect. Friends, look at things today, and I don't want to labour the negativity but in some churches it's like a business show.

[33:38] There's this mimicking of the worldly, there's worldly marketing, slick methods of men, pandering, pandering after the will of man, the will of the flesh, and entertaining, a carnival, a circus show, and it's all just a load of empty vanity, isn't it?

[33:57] What about the fear and trembling? What about the fear and trembling? The word. People will tremble at the word. Have we lost our receptivity to the holy, holy, holy God?

[34:11] The word shows us, these examples have been given for us, as we've talked earlier, of the examples. God told Saul, destroy Amalek and all of his stuff.

[34:26] But what did Saul do? In 1 Samuel 15, he compromised. He said, I'm going to keep some sheep and oxen to sacrifice. Almost making a show, I'm going to do something holy here.

[34:39] I'm going to do something to honour God with that which God said to destroy. I'm going to sacrifice it unto him. And we know the story, 1 Samuel 15, 14, Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?

[34:54] You know, bah, what was that? There's a sheep out there and the lowing of the oxen. Now what meaneth the bleating of the sheep, the lowing of the oxen?

[35:05] What is that that I hear? Something's wrong. You haven't obeyed God. You've compromised. And it sounds like what's happening today.

[35:17] Mediocre Christianity. Half-hearted Christianity. We need to call it for what it is. God's got an altar and we need to lie on it as living sacrifices.

[35:28] The divine energy has been lost. Why? Discernment is sadly lacking. There's this interference, there's this static, we can't hear God anymore.

[35:40] We're not opening his word anymore. We go and tune into some latter-day revelations now. Something more rather than the message of God.

[35:51] The more sure word of prophecy. And people seem to care little for that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. They no longer seek his will. The will of God or the will of the world.

[36:06] What will it be? The enemy wants to interfere. He wants to break down. He wants to sap your energy for the things of God. He wants to break down that communication channel between you and God.

[36:17] And friends, now more than ever, we need to wake up and be aware to be a people who live with conviction in an age of compromise. In a world where there's little thought for God, and you know your classmates, your workmates, your neighbours, what they like, they've got little thought for God.

[36:40] They might use his name now and again. Huh. But this world has got little thought for God. It's been said it's better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.

[36:57] You can stand alone with the truth rather than stand with a crowd. It's better to ultimately succeed with truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. It's about truth and lies.

[37:08] That's what it is. It's about truth and lies. That's the choice we have. And as true followers of Christ, we're called to biblical belief. This sets the standard. This sets the direction.

[37:19] This sets our mindset. And we need that mind shift, a renewing of the mind. It's a biblical belief, to discern the enemy's deceptions. It's a confirmation program that's going on.

[37:33] Recognise it for what it is. Realise it. Wow. When you're going about your day-by-day living, recognise it for what it is.

[37:44] Hey, there's some confirmation going on here. There's some conforming going on. The devil's trying to conform me to his image. And Jesus wants to transform you into his image, into his likeness.

[37:58] And so recognise, don't fall for the devil's deceptions. The church is meant to please God. That's what it's about. It's about pleasing him to his good pleasure, to refusing to compromise, to be a living sacrifice.

[38:14] So friends, today, I'm trying to nail it here down as clearly as I can. And without making it too convoluted or confusing, I trust I'm trying to lay it out as clearly as I can.

[38:28] There's two choices, there's two ways, there's two paths. And you must choose one or the other. You know, the table of devils or the table of the Lord.

[38:39] You know, the cup of the devils or the cup of the Lord. Are you going to choose to conform to this world and the lies or are you going to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, by the receiving of truth to know I will not compromise, I will stand.

[38:56] Through the battle I will stand for what is right. You know, someone has said right is right even if everyone is against it and wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.

[39:08] There's a confirmation program. They're telling you wrong is right, that black is white, that darkness is light. Jesus says there is one standard, there is one truth and it hasn't changed.

[39:22] This hasn't changed. It has, it remains the same. God's word will stand forever. And so I urge you today, don't be like the compromising.

[39:34] You know, we see in Joshua's day that he was told to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan in Joshua 9 and he got tricked into a compromise too. He didn't obey God. It boils down to we must obey God.

[39:46] That's what it is, to find and do the will of God. And friends, think of the world we're living in, it's dirty, it's defiled. Our Lord talks about pure religion, undefiled.

[39:59] James 1, it talks about us being unspotted from the world. This ought to be our goal, an undefiled faith. And it's about energy here.

[40:11] It's about mind, it's about energy. Sounding a bit like a new age is saying that, but there's a sense that a mind needs to be renewed and our energy, that which we invest our life into, that which we expend of these limited numbers of days of time that we have at our disposal, is at God's bidding and for his glory that will be a living sacrifice.

[40:33] It tells in Acts 15 verse 9 of a people purified by faith. There's a sense where faith works by love and it says that we're purified by faith. Our hearts are purified by faith.

[40:45] Acts 15 verse 9, that's an amazing truth, isn't it? That God would cleanse our hearts, make us brand new and fresh and clean. the choice is ours.

[41:01] What will our mind follow? The conforming of the world or the transforming of God? What will our energy be expended in? The works of vanity, of vain things, of false things or the works of God, the works of him who has called us to will and to do his good pleasure?

[41:22] And friends, the energy sappers, as it were, they can creep up on us. We talked about false prophets, false practices, false professors, a falsehood that prevails, this emptiness of the world, this expending of energy and vain things.

[41:40] Sometimes that can happen in small insignificant ways. You know, a small deviation can be deadly. Just to illustrate that, in October 1983, there was a Korean Airlines flight.

[41:55] This was 1983, a Korean Airlines flight from Alaska was heading to Seoul, Korea. And unknown to the crew, there was some malfunction with the flight navigation system.

[42:08] It was only a tiny little fault. Tiny little fault, just a small deviation, one and a half degrees, routing error. And so, at the time of departure, the mistake wasn't noticed.

[42:20] And 100 miles out, you wouldn't know there was a deviation. It was so small, you wouldn't detect it. And as this giant 747, it flew across the Pacific and increasingly it strayed from course.

[42:32] And eventually it was found flying over Soviet airspace. Russian radar picked up this plane and the fighter jet scrambled to intercept flight 007 and the jet was shot out of the sky.

[42:46] Lies were lost, everyone perished on board because of a one and a half degree routing error. This little navigation system was out by just a tiny one and a half degrees.

[43:02] A small deviation can be deadly. And likewise we cannot compromise with evil. Our Lord wants us to be wholly and solely laid on the altar for his service.

[43:20] I urge you today, make a clean break with the world. Make a clean break with it. Break it off. Now of course we're still meant to be salt and light.

[43:31] We've still got work places and school places or neighbourhoods to navigate and we've still got lost souls.

[43:41] We don't cut them off. We reach out to them. We witness thoroughly and graciously to them.

[43:53] But we don't join party with the world. We don't join in that. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

[44:11] And be not conformed to this world. Be not. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

[44:26] Just to wrap up, refuse the conformation program. When you're out on your day by day and you start to get signals and messaging or when you're watching whatever, you're tuning into this or that, say, ah, that's conformity to the world.

[44:41] I'm not going to buy that. You know, there's slick marketing out there. You know, you see some people, I know, one of my dear loved ones is like this. We switch something on and there's this attractive advertising of some great gimmicky product and we just can't help ourselves but buy it.

[44:59] The world's like that, isn't it? The devil wants you to buy what he's selling. He wants you to buy this conformity. But we should be transformed. It tells us work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

[45:14] You're saved people. If you trusted Christ here this morning, you are saved. Saved gloriously. Saved. Heaven bound. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

[45:30] You've got a precious gift. Glory. Work it out. Let it work out. Let it live out. Let that energy, oh, work it out. Your own salvation.

[45:41] Because it's God who works in you. In you. Both to will and to do. Of his good pleasure. So, again, just to recap the energy stuff that I talked about. There's an energy crisis.

[45:52] There's energy seepage. I just don't have the energy. You can get the energy back. In prayer. Effectual, fervent prayer. Righteous prayer.

[46:03] Effectual, the working of the word of God in you. The word. This is energy. This is divine energy. This is active. It's sharp. It's quick. It's powerful. It's alive. It's full of power.

[46:15] This is energy in your hands. Plug in. And by the spirit of God, we can have a renewal of the power of Pentecost in our church, in our hearts.

[46:26] And we can have faith that works by love. Such that our faith is not unloving. Our faith is filled with the gracious, most loving love that ever is, has and can be.

[46:38] Faith that works by love. We love. Enough to warn. Enough to witness. It constrains us. His love. Faith that works by love. And we'll be aware of those energy sappers in the sense of false doctrine, false profession.

[46:53] We won't be like the people who say, we fear the Lord, but they serve their own gods. We're not, we're not saying no, we're not, we're not party to that. When you, when you know a brother or sister who's like that, gently and lovingly challenge them.

[47:09] If you really fear the Lord, then you're not going to serve the other gods. And, well, be alert to the false signs and wonders. And when you see stuff, you know, I saw something lately and it, it, it, it was a video clip of some woman.

[47:21] It looked like she got healed and she had this funny kind of abnormality and that somehow it just came and it was quite an evident change in her arm and it was quite convincing.

[47:33] But then I read later how there's about five or six preachers who use this same woman as a bit of a sideshow, kind of sideshow show to kind of demonstrate their power to heal.

[47:44] And it was false. It was false signs and wonders. She was just kind of a bit of a gimmick to demonstrate this preacher's power. There's false signs and wonders out there.

[47:55] We've got to be discerning of that. And let's be a people who live with conviction in a time of compromise and know that divine energy that he will give us such a power and empowering and working in us that we will, we'll make that willful conscious decision by our willpower, we will and we will do of his good pleasure.

[48:18] It will show in our shoes. We'll live it out. We'll walk it out. Our faith will work by love. Praise him. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we thank you that your gracious Holy Spirit has given us life and we know the Saviour by faith as we know you died on the cross for our sin.

[48:39] You rose again. You're coming back for a people ready. Lord, we pray we'll be such a people that will know you and do your will, that will have a will that is the will of God and that will have a heart to be, as it were, laid on the altar as a living sacrifice.

[48:56] Lord, help us to be. Lord, we know it goes against the grain, the flesh. It's not easy or comfortable to be lying on an altar to be, as it were, offered up.

[49:07] Lord, we offer up what we have left of our lives, that it be used for your glory, that we'll expend our energy in those things that matter, those things that will help us to grow as we have an energising in prayer and in the scriptures, Lord, in the spirit empowerment.

[49:25] Lord, that we'll have faith that is energised by love, that our lives will be a living testimony of your grace at work in us. All to your praise we pray in Jesus' name.

[49:37] Amen. Amen.