Anthony Whitehorn - Class 3: Transformation: How Can I?

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   This is the 2006 Palm Springs. Bible school brother, Anthony white horns. Topic is be transformed. The title for his third class is transformation. How can I well good morning brothers and sisters that’s great I can just keep on saying that and yeah it’s lovely. Thank you it’s really good. I’m gonna take you home with me.

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   You’re great. Since morning, we’re looking at transformation. How can I? And that just have a little bit of a resume a, as to what we considered so far this week on the first day is you remember, we looked at transformation? What is it? And we recognize that transformation is a change in internal change, but a fundamental change from the caterpillar to the butterfly. It’s not a conformation, it’s not the change in outwardly things.

3. 0:53

   What good is interest is how we’re changing inside. And the question is, Have we changed from the time of our baptism to. Now are we different people? And that’s the challenge and day, two, we looked at why we should change. And why should we? Because I’ve got it today. We’re full. Hey, we’re full for this tape. This is a glass of holding up.

4. 1:16

   We’re full of are naturally and our responsibility is to displace. That are How with the fruit of the spirit? So naturally, we are full of the nature of man and our responsibility is to displace it with the fruit of the spirit. And now today is you can see how can we do that. That is a real challenge, isn’t it runs? So what it is relative, why we need to do it, but how how can we go through this process of transformation? God has given us a each with a period of time on this Earth with the responsibility to transform and so in the next and I promise it will be 40 minutes.

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   I went on a long time yesterday, I never do that, I really got carried away, I’m sorry. Free until today. We’re going to the next 40 minutes to look at how can I transform? I want to start off by telling you a little story about something that happened to me. It was around about or 15 years ago now and I was out with my boss in the car in London and I was driving along.

6. 2:29

   He was sitting next to me and we came up to some traffic lights, you calm traffic lights. You’re good good. It’s like terms of. I need a translator at you, don’t I? So we came up. Traffic lights and I came and I stopped in front of me was a motorbike and motorbikes stopped.

7. 2:44

   And I stopped talking to my boss in the car and I looked up and a guy in the motorbike I lost it. I looked at my boss, I looked again at the guy on the bike. I’m thinking, oh my dear, and it was like struggling on this fight. We better go help him to get out the car ran over, pulled up the bike and pull him up and he was all a bit shaken.

8. 3:06

   And I said, are you all right? He said yeah, yeah. So what’s going on? And he said you’re not going to believe this. It is absolutely true. So you’re not going to believe this he said, but today is the first day that I’ve ridden my motorbike without the side. I’d car that is certainly true that and I think itself and its times going on, think toss-up I bet I bet that guy has now learned that when he stopped he’s got to put his foot down

9. 3:46

   but there’s a lesson there isn’t there? And the lesson is This is that we’ve got to learn different activities. Because we’ve been riding along with a sidecar and now we’ve got to actually stretch out and put our foot down and that’s what we’re going to be doing this morning. We’re going to be thinking about learning to do different activities.

10. 4:09

    And there are two certain tools to assist us in this process of transformation. I have like over Tuesday afternoon syndrome and the reason I call it the Tuesday afternoon syndrome is because choose the afternoon isn’t halfway through the week and it’s still a little bit too early on in the week and the weekend is a little bit far away both sides. So Tuesday afternoon up a little bit. And the challenge for me on Tuesday afternoon is to try and think spiritually because I don’t have those injections, quite some Wrigley on the Tuesday afternoon as I’ve had perhaps at the weekend.

11. 4:51

    And I need some of those tools to assist me to try and be much more like, Jesus on a Tuesday afternoon, and that’s what we’re gonna try and think about therefore, in this transformation. And how can I, I want you to think about the situation, the US Olympic Committee. What they have done is they’ve looked at everybody in the whole of the US. And what they have done is they’ve taken all that all Canada and they what they have done is the Olympic Committee of your country have actually bed in all the body mass details, all the muscular structure, all the bone composition of absolutely everybody in your country. And the phone rings in your house and you go over and you pick up the phone and it is the US Olympic Committee or your country’s Olympic Committee and they open up. And they tell you that they’ve analyzed all the data that there is on everybody in your country.

12. 5:53

    And you, you have actually been chosen from all this data to bring home the gold medal in the marathon in the next Olympic Games. Yes. You think have you got the right number to know? We’ve got the right number but it’s absurd with analyze. Absolutely everything. You put the phone down, you thinking, well, that’s actually quite incredible.

13. 6:17

    And you sort of have this Vision, don’t you have of running through the Finish Line? Everybody cheering going back to your hometown and being taken around them on it and an open Deck bar, some people waving at you and cheering, and that is all fantastic stuff for you. Amazingly, the whole purpose of your life in the next two years is to focus on on that marathon in the next two years. And then you think again, you think hold on one moment. I can’t run a marathon even if I really, really tried. I can’t run a marathon.

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    And that’s the challenge. The challenges is that to run a marathon. You’ve got a train. Not merely try. And that’s what we have got to do in. Our marathon is trained, not just try, it says this in in Timothy, let me read it to you. It says have nothing to do with Godless myths, and old wives, tales, rather, train yourself to be Godly.

15. 7:31

    And that’s what we are here to do in terms of our transformation. It is a process of training and that’s why I chose today’s readings of 1 Corinthians 9 which just turn it to it with me, please. Because we are athletes. We may not feel like athletes sometimes, but we are athletes in a race and 1 Corinthians 9.

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    Says this. And I’m going to become The New International Version, if I may because it picks out a word there, which I want to use verse. 24 says, do not know that in a race, all the runners run but only one gets the prize run in such a way as to get the prize, everyone who competes in the game’s goes into strict training, they do it to get a crown crown that will not last but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. That’s what we do.

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    We go into strict training. Ting, this life of transformation is about training. They were referring to hear about the isthmian games. The isthmian games was similar to the Olympic Games and around this region at that time in Asia Minor and what would happen is that the competitors had to go into 10 months worth of training. And if they didn’t go into those, 10 months worth of training, they were actually disqualified. You had to train in order to even qualify for the isthmian games and that’s the you and me as well. We are in a period of training.

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    But what are we training? Because I tell you what, that’s what we need to have this vision of as well for the training, I would suggest that you do for a marathon is slightly different from the training that you do for a, a pie-eating contest. For instance, they are completely different. And what are we training for? We are training to be more like Jesus. We are fulfilling the purpose for which we were made. So transformation is not merely about trying, it’s about training.

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    And the Latin word for training is disciplina. And from that word we get the word disciplines so training requires a set of disciplines. Now I think that the word disciplines has some very unfortunate connotations because disciplines we think of being very rigid and very mechanical but that’s because we focus on the disciplines themselves as opposed to focusing on the purpose itself.

20. 10:31

    So we need to think about the purpose for which we are training and have some disciplines trained ourselves into doing certain things that will help us transform because it’s not just by really gritting our teeth that we’re going to transform. We’re going to have to train as well. But spiritual transformation. Just remember is not about what we do.

21. 10:57

    It’s about why we do it. That’s the inner change. Okay, but I want to ask you this question, who’s in control of that training, who is in control of your training, and your transformation in that training? As I look at Philippians, And book of Philippians and we’ll be looking at chapter 2.

22. 11:37

    And let’s look at verse 12. Wherefore my beloved. As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling are, is down to us, isn’t it? So it says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling No. It’s not visit State work.

23. 12:09

    For your salvation doesn’t say work at your salvation. It says, work out your salvation and then actually literally means finish complete your salvation how humbly with fear and trembling you see it’s not you who necessarily does it because so often we quote verse 12 and we ignore verse 13 for it. Is God.

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    Which worketh in you both to Will and to do of his good pleasure. He is the Potter. We are the clay. We just make ourselves available for him to work in us. It is not us who worked at our Salvation, we just complete it. It is, God working in us to transform us. What does it say in Romans, let me just read this to you in Romans verse 10 8:10.

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    I read it to you. It says this. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is life, because of righteousness for, as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God, the spirit of God works in us to enable the fruit of the spirit to be shown. And it is our responsibility to allow the It to work in US. You see?

26. 13:41

    Transformation is the work of God. And we allow God, invite God ask God to come and work in us to work out our Salvation humbly with fear and trembling. So how does that work? I liken it to the contrast between a motor boat and a Sailing Boat. With a motorboat, what you do is when you turn the rudder, the turn, the wheels and it when you turn the wheel, the boat goes in that direction. When you put your foot on the accelerator or whatever you do the boat, I don’t hear do about you move. The accelerator, the boat goes faster. It’s all very rich, completely responsive. You’re completely in control.

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    That’s not how it is. I would suggest with our transformation, I would like an hour transformation to be like a Sailing Boat. It is our responsibility to Hoist. The sails is our responsibility to steer. The rudder is our responsibility to trim the sails, but we are totally dependent on the Wind.

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    We can discipline ourselves to spiritual practices but we cannot engineer them. Now, that’s quite a challenge. Isn’t it? For when you think about it, the experienced sailor. What does he do? The experienced sailor? He can look at the water and he knows, and he can look at the sky and he’s been out there a lot, and he’s done it a lot, and he can read for signs very well.

29. 15:32

    And he knows exactly which direction the wind is going to come from. So he can actually get the sails trimmed properly and the rudder and the boat in the right direction. That’s our responsibility.

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    And then it is God who works in you to Will and to act according to his good pleasure. And what we should be doing is, we should be looking for those signs in our lives, for God, acting and working in our lives. I would suggest Moses when he was walking along. It says, beautiful words is as he’s walking along in the wilderness in the desert place looking after his father-in-law’s sheep.

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    He turned a side, it says beautiful phrase, he turned aside. How often do you think that he saw a bush smoldering? How is the definitely quite a quite a few times? But on this occasion, he turned aside. Because he saw something remarkable now that happens. I would suggest in our lives regularly and we have a responsibility to turn aside.

32. 16:54

    For God is at work in our lives. And to enable us to be transformed. We must be responsive to see God working in our lives. The disciples. That we are and we are actors out of disciplines should create opportunities in our attitudes, and our motives, for God to work, and here are just two tools that I would like to consider. We look at just two tools that this morning that we can use in our training routine and that sort of helps us trim the sails, and steer the rudder to enable the wind. To blow.

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    The first is this one, when I get home every evening, I get home. Say hi to Sally. Here’s kids, and think, and I go. The first thing I do, is I go to my post. I click through the post and the bill bill, we have mail open up and there’s and the ones that are hand written to me.

34. 18:09

    They don’t want to stop at and I open it up and I read and faces. Are you going to talk to me? I’m reading this. Can’t see me all day, isn’t it? It is so fascinating, reading letters, particularly the handwritten ones. Why? Because their personal to you,

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    And so is this one. It’s a handwritten letter personally to you to me. God is communicating directly to me. It’s a personal letter to me about him. And it’s a wonderful wonderful book. And the more that I discover aspects of God in this book from more that I love him, we talked about that yesterday that agape, love is head and heart, it’s not just head and it’s not just hard for the more.

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    I understand him, the more I love him, the more I realize that I want to have a relationship with him, and that’s what Christianity is. Of course, it’s a relationship.

37. 19:19

    I I was running a workshop at a Christian Conference that we have in the UK called holder system. Some of you may have heard of it. It’s advertising Crystal Kim, and I was running a workshop there and I was, it was on the letters of the seven letters to seven churches. And I wanted at, once you’ve gone through the letters, I just wanted people to think about what letter would use us, right to the christadelphians, the letter to the christadelphians. In 2006.

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    And I wanted us to personalize a group of K. First thing you do is write down the two things that we will be condoned for. We will be well done, you are really good. I ran this Workshop 9 times in total. and on every single occasion, The people in the the 9 workshops said that the thing that Jesus would write to the christadelphians about saying, well, done is that we are a people of the book and we are it’s a wonderful gift that we have. And this Fellowship that we have is marvelous in that we focus on the book.

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    And we would be congratulated, anybody come as for that. Recognizing the beauty of the scriptures. The question here is, why do we do Bible study? Why do we use this tool? This discipline of looking at the scriptures? Is it because we want to get 100% in the Heavenly entrance exam.

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    You see, I don’t think it is. Because looking at this scriptures is about the renewing of Minds. Not the acquisition information. It’s about changing the mind. Not changing the brain. And I am the same. I do the same thing. I have a lot of treatments for those people who know their bible really well, and that’s really good, but the key for you and me, is, are we putting it into practice? And that’s what, that’s what Jesus looked at. I tell you what the Pharisees actually knew their law really well.

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    But the amazing thing is, is that Jesus never really criticize, the Pharisees for having wrong Doctrine. And they had many of them. But he certainly criticize them for their wrong way of life. Would you tell me to Timothy chapter 3? It’s a really well-known Passage. And it’s a challenge actually this one 2, Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, you know it well.

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    For all scripture is god-breathed. So, let me do all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness. It goes on that. The man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This is a that he can be really well-informed. He says we read our scriptures.

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    Why? So that we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It is no good. Just to accumulate the knowledge if we’re not going to put it into practice because that way we haven’t been transformed. We’ve just accumulated knowledge.

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    So when we read our scriptures we should do so such that goodness, naturally comes out that way. We are displacing the natural man. GK Chesterton was a famous Christian writer, and he was interviewed once and they asked and they said, right? You, you are on a desert island. And you are on this desert island and you mr. Jefferson who is a Christian?

45. 24:03

    You can have any book. You like any book at all? Yeah, No Holds Barred here. Any book you like you’re on this desert island. It’s a bit our now he’s going to choose and the obvious isn’t it? And GK testing thought for a while he turned around and said, you know, the book that I would like if I was on this desert island is Thomas his guide to practical Shipbuilding. You see, he was chaplain desert island. He didn’t want to be informed.

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    He didn’t want to be entertained. He wanted to be saved. As I say, you hear me. We are on an island. And this book here is equipping us for every good work. Not accumulating knowledge. It is a practical. A dynamic book.

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    And that’s the challenge for you and me is to use it. So when we take on all this information, how is it changing my life? How is it changing my motives? Not, how much am I learning? So God is training and talking to me through the Bible. In order to change me.

48. 25:40

    That’s the first tool. And the second tool is this one. God is training and talking to me through prayer. I, we may may be known as a people of the book. I suggest that I’m not necessarily known as a person of Prayer. I pray a lot when things aren’t going very well. My prayer times, go like that in times of crisis. But the rest of the time I do really rely on my own strength and my own cleverness.

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    And that’s a shame. I don’t think personally that I really discovered the real power of prayer. What does James say? The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much And I’ll be righteous. This we are. And what is righteous righteous? If you remember, I said in my first talk is being put right with God. We’ve come from wrath down there to Grace up here. So we have been put right with God. We have been Justified with God, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much.

50. 27:13

    And I don’t do that. How powerful is prayer. Don’t look it now, but in Revelation, chapter 8 is a master of the situation. Do you know what happens? And I miss it. I missed it until quite recently. I was reading it and I was quite surprised. There was silence in heaven. It says for half an hour in Revelation, 8, and the angel comes forward and offers in the golden censer incense of the prayers of the Saints. And then immediately after that, in Revelation, 8 there follows tremendous judgment on the Earth. as if it were a response to all the Press, what’s the lesson there? The lesson there is that firstly? Heaven comes to a standstill when we pray. That’s quite nice thing to think about, isn’t it? And secondly, things happen when we pray. my children, I love my children, desperately And when they ask me things and four things, I want to give it, give it to them without spoiling them.

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    I want to give them things and there are many parents in here in this room here today and I know you’re the same That you want to give things to your children when they ask you for things because you love them. I think I know God has given us a families in order to understand more, the relationship that we have with him.

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    I understand much more about God being a father. And that’s the beauty of Parenthood that you do, understand. God better, I have personally found by virtue of that. And therefore God wants to give us things when we ask for asking for him. So, what are some points on prayer? The first point is, this parrot, prayer is powerful brother.

53. 29:27

    Bob, he came to Bible school, didn’t you? Bob must be about three years ago in in the UK. As I said, we don’t have many Bible schools in this. I think was, was one of the bout, the three that we have and Bob came to speak there and Bob, you must have talked about prayer that Bible. I know you did I wasn’t there.

54. 29:45

    But Sally my wife went. The reason I know this is because both handed out a little slip. It could be done this with you, I’m sure. Sure. Yeah, he has as me. Yeah. He just he just begun to take the same stuff but until you and I just need carpet and he handed out a prayer list with 12 numbers on it.

55. 30:06

    And what you had to do at that brother School is right down 1250. Going to pray about. I didn’t know this was going on because I wasn’t at the Bible School a year later, I couldn’t find my Barbara’s. I picked up Sally’s. I opened it up and this piece of paper fell out. Year later and I picked it up.

56. 30:24

    And there were 12 names on there. And I read them. And I was staggered, I was staggered because something had happened to every single one of those people, which is quite dramatic.

57. 30:41

    That is the power of Prayer. and I don’t think that I have properly understood that all realize that So that’s my first point on prayer. My second point is, is this one?

58. 30:59

    The very first prayer that is opened in the Bible. I think was probably offered by Abraham, Abraham was there, and he was talking to God. And he said, oh God, you can’t do that. How about God, how about if there were 50 people? Okay. So God 50. Yeah, it I’ll accept 50.

59. 31:31

    So God, how about if 40 people in Sodom and Gomorrah? If 40 people work? We’re okay? Would you say 40 people? Yes, it got up. I’d say 40. Okay. Well, how about, how about 30 got? How about if there were 30 people got would you say 30? Yes, it’s gonna take 30. What about 20?

60. 31:54

    Good would you say 20 people in Sodom and Gomorrah so it’s 20 good people. Yes ago I’ll say 20. Got it would just 10 people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Would you say 10 people? Yes, ago, I’d say 10 people. If there were 10 people could people have I’d say the whole city. He negotiated with God.

61. 32:25

    But he believed that his power is prayer, was powerful and made a difference. And he knew God. He wasn’t irreverent. He was humbly. Talking to God and he knew his position. But I put it to you, in his personal prayer in his personal prayer. He was in a way in persent, but he was persistent and he was very natural.

62. 32:56

    And I don’t want you to misunderstand some of those things, but that’s what God wants. I think that God wants us to be persistent. He absolutely wants us to be natural. And this is our personal prayers personally. I find it very hard actually to give a public prayer. Think that’s a really difficult thing to do in my personal prayers. He wants me to talk to him.

63. 33:20

    In a very close relationship. Just like Abraham did. So that’s my second point on prayer that I’ve learned from the scriptures. And my third Point, what do we pray for? What should we pray for my prayers? Are a whole long list of asking.

64. 33:42

    As a little bit of a thank you in there. And sometimes I must admit, I don’t wanna get into the discipline of saying. I’m just going to give a thank-you prayer. I give the thank you prayer. A little bit later either. Then I’ll have to be asking prayer after that. So it is something that we get into. It’s a discipline in the way that we pray, but there’s always a gap as well.

65. 34:05

    Whatever prayer that I pray. Personally. On my own, there’s always a gap between what I’m supposed to pray for and what I’m actually thinking. You might have the same sometimes my mind does wander off. I’m not very good.

66. 34:22

    And I thought about this and I prayed about it and I sort of come to this conclusion, that actually, perhaps I should be praying for what is on my mind. Nehemiah did when he stood before the king. He just offered that quick prayer. Because that was what was on his mind. Moses, did he wants a proper job description? Even in lie, jadid, evening lie, didn’t like people calling him names.

67. 34:50

    I came. He was going bald. I have some some understanding of that. So pray, what is on your mind? And that’s my third point lay before him. What is in us? Not what ought to be in us. It’s a personal thing. It’s a relationship. A personal relationship with God. And my fourth, and final point on prayer, is this one prayer is all about speaking, isn’t it?

68. 35:23

    No, prayer is all about listening. It absolutely throughout the Scriptures. It seems true to me. But God will always always answer prayer. He will always say either. Yes. No, or wait. Those are always what God will say. He will never ever ignore us. But how does God answer those prayers? Well, he asked the prayers like this. He answers our prayers for us to be listening. My son James when he was studying for his exams, he was struggling with his chemistry.

69. 36:21

    Now, my brother-in-law is a chemistry teacher and I said to him, I said to James James, why don’t you go and phone Uncle? Malcolm your uncle, who’s this chemistry teacher and and he’ll help you and James said, I don’t want to go and find him. So, why not? The reason is he doesn’t give me the answer, he is keeping ask me more questions.

70. 36:49

    As a good teacher, isn’t it? For those of you who are teachers, you know, he’s keeping asking that questions. Actually what he is, a great teacher. When we ask him questions, he asked questions back of us. And that way we learn So prayer is about listening. And seeing God, active in our lives.

71. 37:19

    So what have we learned this morning in how, what tools can wheeler, can we use transformation? How can we transform practically in our everyday life? We depreciated what it was. What is transformation we appreciated. As to why we should do it, the displacement Theory. So how can we do it?

72. 37:43

    God, does the changing we do the training? we set our sails, we trim the sails, we move the rudder, he blows the wind And we get into training, that’s our responsibility to do the training, to read the scriptures, and to offer the prayers.

73. 38:08

    The Bible is a practical training manual. It is a life-changing not a brain changing manual. For it, is there to enable us to do. Good works, not to accumulate knowledge.

74. 38:33

    Prayer is a powerful method of listening to God. I always thought the prayer was about speaking prayer is about listening. Finally. God will change and transform us. By continually asking us very pertinent questions in our lives. And that’s the wonderful life that we have in the Lord that he cares about us, because he wants to have an everlasting relationship with us, and he is transforming us. As long as we allow him.