Being Transformed

3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.
I Samuel 7

Psalm 84: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (ESV)

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
GENESIS 45:4-8

If I were to ask you what Abraham is known for in the Bible, I think I could guess the top three answers. He is the Father of Faith - honored for his obedience and righteousness, he is the man who led his son to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice to prove his faith in God, and he is “Father Abraham who had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham…“. And, I would agree with you. Abraham is all those things, but recently as I read through Genesis again, I noticed something that never caught my attention. Abraham was an intercessor! His conversation with God concerning the judgment of Sodom is the first recorded example of intercessory prayer.

In our Being Transformed Journal, we get to look at a piece of Paul’s letter to the early church that beautifully describes what the Transforming work of Jesus looks like.

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:22 (ESV)

Often when I read the Bible, I find myself breaking it up into a collection of stories, the testimonies of people long before my time. That comes from my kid’s ministry background. It’s easier to break down complex ideas through the lens of a story, like disobedience - that’s less intimidating to talk about when you share the story of Jonah, Saul, or Adam and Eve. Their stories paint a picture for us to understand.

2 Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”
John 7:2-8 (ESV)

Growing up in a pastor’s family, I had what some people may label an “inherited faith.” It was in college that I sorted out my belief system for myself. Even at a Christian university, it could have been easy to succumb to the pressures of my culture and walk away from my childhood faith. But instead, I found a new close relationship with Jesus and I have continued growing spiritually ever since. I remember dissecting a short essay in my English class titled “Dogma is the Drama” by Dorothy Sayers, and was forever marked by her radical words.

The story of the Israelites from the point where Moses is introduced to when they enter into the promise land is a wild ride. It’s a roller coaster of emotions and spectacle of events that at times can feel very overwhelming and hard to grasp. There’s swarms of locust, columns of fire and smoke, a water fountain rock, a mountain, among other events that probably don’t really fit into our personal experience of life to say the least. Among these chapters in Israel’s story is that of the golden calf.

John 2:1-2 (NKJV)
“On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”

I hope this time in the New Testament shred has been refreshing for you and has caused you to dig deeper into the things of our God. I have found myself in amazement as I read of all the miracles of Jesus listed out one by one - what a way to fill up my cup of faith! I have also found myself asking questions about things I have breezed past before.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.
ACTS 9:10-19 (ESV)

Love it or hate it, Christmas is a time for family. There are workplace Christmas parties where we will hear “this place is a family.” We are expected to attend, lets be honest, sub-par elementary Christmas performances for our nieces and nephews at their school. We will gather at grandma’s house and open presents on Christmas Eve and then show up at our in-laws house Christmas morning in matching PJ’s. Tis the season of gathering with all our different “families.”

In this week’s reading, we got a pretty good spread of the Bible. We start in the old testament with Isaiah, jump around the Bible and end up in the New Testament. The first scripture, Isaiah 5:20, and the last, 1 Timothy 1:15-17, stood out to me the most for how I felt at that moment.

Romans has always been a fascinating book for me to read. It presents an opportunity to view the necessity of Christ as it pertains to righteousness and belonging. It contrasts the Gentiles and their experience with Christ versus that of the Israelites. Ah yes, and the famous process to being saved. So how does one unpack it all and get the clearest understanding of what Paul was seeking to communicate?

Romans 8:18-39 NLT
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

I cannot remember exactly when I realized as a kid that every movie I watched followed the same general script, but I distinctly remember thinking, what if they made a movie where the ending was the bad guy winning, the hero dying, chaos abounding, and then cut to the end-credits? Something in me knew I would not like it! I would feel unsettled, cheated, and frustrated. Turns out I was right, thank you Avengers: Infinity War. It’s no wonder we love a happy ending. We want to see good triumph over evil - right?

ROMANS 1:16-17 (ESV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Ephesians 2:11-13 (NKJV)
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Galatians 1:10 ESV
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

In our Being Transformed Journals, we are wrapping up Pauls’s second letter to the Corinthian church. We have followed him as he talked about suffering. We even, toward the end, get a glimpse into some personal struggles he had, aka the thorn. So how do you wrap it up? What do you say as you finish your letter that hopefully brings change, conviction, and God back at the center of it all?

2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭ESV
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Pastor Tonderai Bassoppo-Moyo
Executive Teaching & Discipleship Pastor