Taffi Dollar - The Grace to Change - Part 1
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So let’s begin in Romans chapter 12 verse 2. Romans chapter 12 verse 2. And we’re looking at last time I called this «Grace to Change» and I’ll continue on that. We can just say it’s part two «Grace to Change» because I believe that you can change. Somebody say, «I can change». Just like Jesus saved you and brought you out of darkness, took you out of hell being your destination, took you into a different path where you now have a heavenly destination when you receive him as your Lord and as your personal Savior so it is that other areas of your life can change. Other things in your life can be different.
When Creflo and I got married, we decided, you know, we weren’t gonna continue to do the things that we saw in our family and different things that have been passed on from generation to generation. We wanted things to be different. We decided we were gonna change. We weren’t gonna live based on hurt and get over different things in our life. And so, the Word of God gives us the grace to change. Somebody say, «I can change». And so it says, «I beseech you therefore, brethren, and by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service». Reasonable service.
So when I got saved, I didn’t know anything about a body being a living sacrifice. I was talking with my daughter about that earlier today about what that means for your body to be used as an instrument or as a vessel to please God and how we can honor our temple and honor our body in living a life that glorifies God and the choices that we make and how we are stewards over this temple. What we fill it with, who we allow it to engage with. So he says that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. The Amplified says, «I beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication». And that’s what we’re talking about tonight. A decisive dedication because change does require a decision. It requires a decision of quality.
Everything begins with a decision. Every change begins with a decision. How many of you know things will never be different unless you decide? Once you decide I receive Jesus as my Lord and as my personal Savior, how many know hell is on notice and heaven is on notice to begin to open up the things that are available for us by God. And so it says, «Make a decisive,» we have to do that. We have to make that decisive dedication. «Of your bodies presenting all of your members, all of your faculties as a living sacrifice».
God’s not just concerned about our mind or our spirit just being saved, but he’s also concerned about our body this temple being presented to him where maybe there were things that you did before you became saved, but now that you’re in Christ, you make a decisive decision to present your faculties and your members as a living sacrifice. So he says, holy, that means set apart, one with God. We align ourselves with the Word, what God’s Word has said concerning our bodies, how to exist and live in this body, to live the Zoe kind of life in this body, the abundant life. He says, «To present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, devoted,» that means to be set apart as well, «Consecrated and well pleasing to God». The Amplified says. So he says, «To be a living sacrifice, holy, (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable, (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship».
So when we understand how God wants us to see our bodies and how he wants us to present our bodies to him, we have to change our mind. And so maybe in the world or the world’s way of doing things, you know, you just did whatever felt right, you just did whatever the desires were. But he says now that you’re in Christ by the mercies of God, he says, make a decision to do these things that will be holy, that will be yielding that which will be honorable to God. The intelligent service that we can give unto God as our reasonable service as our honor as our response to him that we serve God with our bodies. That is not just our minds, it’s not just our spirit that is saved, but now we serve him with our worship.
We serve him by going and doing what it is that he tells us to do. We recognize that we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us and where the Holy Spirit leads us, we go and we do and we obey, because why? We are carriers, we’re holy because of God living on the inside of us. And he says, that’s your intelligent, that’s your rational, reasonable service and that is your spiritual worship. And then he says in verse 2, «Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed». Someone say, «Transform». You know, there’s this movie out this whole cartoon thing called «Transformers». And from what I understand, they change into all kinds of things and as a result, you know, what it was previously, it becomes something all together different. You might say, «How do you know that»? Creflo, he watches all this stuff. So I just in passing can understand the «Transformers».
And so the scripture says here «Be ye transformed». The Amplified says, «To be (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind». That word transform is in the Greek, it means «metamorphoó,» talking about a metamorphosis, a process, a series of events that takes place from how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. There are series of events, phases, stages that a caterpillar goes through and it goes back into the cocoon and it does all these different things and then ultimately it becomes a butterfly. But how many know, it started off small, it started off slow, it started off something totally different, but through the transformation and through the change that took place, the metamorphosis, it became something different.
So it says be changed, the Amplified says. Somebody say, «I can change». You can change your life. Jesus can change your life. You cooperating with Jesus can make a wonderful combination of something totally different, unrecognizable from what it was before. And I look back at old tapes and old ways and old things, it’s just amazing how the glory of God can change your life and how you can change and you’re not the same, you’re not stuck, you’re not stranded, limited. I’m telling you in God, there are no limits. And so he says, «Be transformed, be changed by your new attitudes, your new ideals so that you can prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]».
Somebody say, «I can change». So I want you to just let that resound in your mind tonight. Maybe there are things that you want to change. Maybe you want other folks to change. You know, they would just change, they would stop getting on my last nerve. But how many of you know, sometimes it’s us needing to change. Sometimes before our circumstances will change, we have to change. Sometimes it’s how we look at circumstances in our life. So quickly we can point the finger, we can look at the other person, we can think that they’re the problem. That’s the reason why things are as they are. But you know what? God’s looking at us and he says, have a new ideal, have a new attitude.
And he says, through the entire renewal of your mind so that you can prove the good, the acceptable, the perfect will of God. And so maybe there are things that you’re dealing with. Maybe there are people that you’re dealing with. Maybe there are things at work at home, whatever the case may be, but know through the Word of God, if you stay with God, God will give you the grace and give you the opportunity to experience change. And so that’s what he talks about here even in verse 3. He goes from the renewal of the mind, the transformation of the mind to the grace here in verse 3, «Through the grace that’s given unto me, every man that is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God had dealt to every man, the measure of faith».
The measure of faith. Now look with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18. We wanna look at some things, line upon line, some scriptures so that you can understand. Number one, the change begins on the inside. Change begins, doesn’t begin, you know, out there somewhere, but change begins within. And so when change begins within, how many of you know it can’t help but be manifested on the outside? Change begins with a decision of quality. Life is a series of decisions. Bible says, choose this day whom you will serve. He says, choose life not death. So once we make choices, when we allow our will to be expressed, God honors our will and he gives us the free will right. He made us free moral agents and he honors our desire, whether we choose life or whether we choose death.
And so we have this opportunity, this intelligent, rational, reasonable service that we can extend unto God and experience the change as we honor his Word and we allow his Word to become first place in our life. So change is a life long daily challenge that will end with the eternal harvest of holiness. So it’s an ongoing, it’s a life long, every day there are new things. The Word of God is pregnant. The Holy Spirit is pregnant full of revelation. There are so many things that we can learn from the Word of God because we allow the Word of God to speak into our lives every day. There are more things that we can learn this time, this season that maybe it clicks this time than what it did before.
And so expect the supernatural, expect the manifestation, expect revelation as a result of desiring to experience more of God in your life. So some of the keys for anyone wanting to help others to change are ensuring the what, the why, the how of change. We have to understand that change is not self effort or self oriented, but it is God oriented. Otherwise, we’ll get ourselves in a place of legalism where we’ll try to change ourselves. We’ll try to do things of our own natural ability. And we put so much pressure on ourselves and we can even put a lot of pressure on people to try to change, to measure up to our acceptance of them. But how many of you know God never did that to us?
And so we have to understand that there’s a grace to change. There’s a grace, there’s a goodness, there’s favor, there’s a Holy Spirit that God sends to us to enable us to experience this ability, this grace, this supernatural that comes from God. And as a result, we don’t have to rely upon our flesh or rely upon legalism and our own ability, our human ability. So we aren’t looking merely at human behavior, but we’re looking at the heart because everything begins on the inside, it begins in the heart. Because, you know, we can go through the behaviors and try to modify behavior and try to resist certain habits, but if we allow the Holy Spirit to begin to come in, how many of you know all of a sudden he can get the work and get down to the depths and the crevices?
The Bible says that the Word is a discerner and it sifts out the thoughts and the intents of the heart and it gets down to below the level of what therapy is. I’m not against therapy. I’m not against any of those natural things, but it’s something about the spirit, the Word that can get to the root. And then all of a sudden when it gets to the root, behavior begins to change. And so it’s not this effort that you’re placing on yourself to try to modify your behavior, but then God begins to give you the desires and then those desires begin to lead you in a totally different direction. When I got saved and understood that this relationship that I was in was heading straight to hell, just full of ungodly habits and ungodly desires, all of a sudden the desires on the inside of me just left.
I said, Lord, I don’t wanna stay in this relationship anymore. We were engaged to be married. I said, no, this is not God, this is not where I’m supposed to be. And then all of a sudden, I had a desire for the things of God. I had the right type of desire that I wanna have right relationships in my life. But that’s because the Word of God went down to the root in my life. And I knew that I was different. I knew that there was something changing in my life where things that I would be accustomed to doing that all of a sudden I didn’t have those same desires to wanna do anymore.
And so let’s look at this. I quoted it, but I want you to see this in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. I’m telling you, you stick with the Word of God and the Word of God is alive. When Jesus raised, was raised from the dead, raised out of sin that means that bless God, we can be raised out of sin. Sin is no longer to be an issue in our life. He dealt with the grave. He dealt with death. He dealt with separation. He dealt with death and sickness and in poverty and mourning and all the things that would enslave and keep us in a place of bondage, but it is the Word of God. It is God’s Word that equips us to be able to experience the life that is supernatural, that comes from God.
So it says in verse 12, «For the Word of God is quick,» that means it is alive. You know, I used to think when it said quick that it just, you know, it was moving real fast and, you know, there are spiritual things in the material realm and things that are in the supernatural realm. So he’s not talking about in the sense of, you know, just I guess earthly motion, but he’s talking about the fact that the Word of God is alive. The Word of God is alive and the scripture said it is full of power. It has the power to change your life just like it changed you. It made you alive in Christ by making you the righteousness of God through the power of God. It has the power to cause you to understand that you have equality in Christ and you have been made accepted in the beloved.
So it says, «The Word of God that God speaks is alive, is full of power, [making it active, operative, energizing and effective]». I’m all about effectiveness and thank God for the Word that it’s not a hit or miss thing. But how many of you know God knows, he knows how to find you just where you are. You can go to the ends of the earth, you can go to Timbuktu, run from God, but how many of you know as far as we run, the Holy Spirit will pursue us and say I’m here. I love you. I want a relationship with you.
And so he says the Word of God is effective. And so that’s why we don’t have to worry about trying to change people. I’m telling you just stay in your rest, stay in your peace and release the Holy Spirit, release God, release his Word. The Bible says that his Word won’t return to us void, but it will accomplish that which you sent it forth to accomplish. So it says the Word is alive, child of God, it is active, it is operative even as you’re sitting here right now and you’re hearing the Word of God, those seeds are being deposited in your spirit. The Holy Spirit is being stirred up on the inside of you.
So there’s an operation, there’s activity in the realm of the spirit, «Energizing and effective. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life». So it gets down to the soul area, the soulish realm «And [the immortal] spirit, and of the joints and the marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and the very purposes of our heart».
So this is powerful that the Word of God can go into our very marrow, our DNA. It can go into our joints, the deepest part of who we are. That’s because of the Holy Spirit that abides on the inside of us. That’s why human will can only go so far. Human effort can only do so much. You can say I’m not gonna eat that cake. I’m not gonna eat that donut. Then you wake up and all of a sudden you didn’t eat the cake, you didn’t ate the donut, but it’s something about the Holy Spirit.
Man, you get before God and you just continue to stay with God and you trust God to change your desires, you trust God to put the right desires on the inside of you and help him to give you the right want to. Then all of a sudden you recognize, hey, I got authority. I got dominion. I got power. I got the ability to tread over serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy, amen.