Transformative Change: Becoming God's Masterpiece

1. "Can I just tell you today that we're the same way? Come on, that if you've said yes to Jesus, you've raised your hand, and you've accepted him into your life, God picks up the paintbrush, and he's like, okay. Here we go, and he starts to paint a beautiful picture that, by the way, he already sees, the Bible tells us, that he wants to see in you. But he's a gentleman. He's not going to force himself on you." [01:11] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "He's not done with you yet. So listen, don't discount what God might do. That word masterpiece, if you look in the Greek translation, it basically means a work of art. There's this implications of artwork. And I love that because he created you and he sees who you can become. When we see that word anew, a lot of people think God is just saying, oh, you know what? I hope that I can just cover up some of these cracks over here. Oh, my goodness, this blemish, we've got to get rid of that. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's not who God is. God gives us a brand-new canvas, a brand-new start, a do-over, a clean slate, so to speak. He's not here to improve you." [03:08] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "God doesn't improve someone. He changes them. He changes them. He's not here to improve you. He's here to change your life. Okay. And sometimes people get confused by this. Okay. I think people watch this. I think people have a good intention. They're like, you know what? I'm going to go on a spiritual journey. And then somewhere along the way, unfortunately, guess what they get into religion. Well, wait a minute, Pastor Shane, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? Oh no, no, no, no, no. We are not here so that you can have a religion. We're here so that you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's why we're here." [05:05] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Religion is all about conforming, but relationship is all about transforming. Totally different concept, everybody. So where are you today? Are you more of a, in this for religion? Are you in this because you really want to change? Because I've just noticed over the years, following Jesus now over 31 years and being in ministry 25 of those 31 years, I've just noticed that religion never works. Religion never works everybody, but, but people try it all the time. It's just so unfortunate, unfortunate because religion is all based on external and relationship is all about. It's internal." [06:07] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "God loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way. Come on. Anybody thankful for that? You're like, Jesus, I need you to love me right now, but man, I am not where I need to be. Well, he sees that. He sees you. He knows that you're going through it. He knows that's where your heart is. Okay. Now let me just pause for a moment and be very clear about something that is a little bit concerning in our world, especially in the world of church, big C church. And that is for some reason along the way, we've separated two words that were never meant to be separated. Here's the two words, grace and truth." [18:57] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Grace invites us to be free. Truth sets us free. That's the way that we need to see it. It's we, you can't have one with the out, you know, well, I'm free so I can do whatever I want. We, we, there's all kinds of scripture that talks about, do not use your freedom. Your, your, your, the, the fact that you're set free to, to sin thinking grace is just going to keep covering me. No, it's no, no, no, that's not true. We shouldn't live that way. Okay. I'm just trying to help you. Help us think about this brushstroke of transformation. What it really means. It means not improvement, everybody, but it means change." [20:27] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "God changes those who truly know him, who truly know him. In other words, you're not just here to go through the motions. Well, I did my church thing. Let's check my list. I I'm all about, you know, rules and religion. Okay. No, no, no, no, no. It's all about knowing him. Jesus even makes a point of this talks about the very end of days and how one day we're going to, he kind of gives this illustration of what's going to happen when we have to stand before him. Notice this in Matthew seven 22, many will say to me on that day, the word that scares me in that is many, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?" [22:00] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "The gospel, the gospel isn't about behavior modification. It is about a heart transformation. Please get that today. That's the big idea of our first week here in this series. Okay. So let me give you these three things and then we'll pray. All right, here it is. Here it is. How do I experience transformation? Because hopefully that's where you're at. You're like, okay, pastor, I get it. I got the three transformational truths. How do I do this? Number one, I must let go of who I was and focus on who I'm becoming. I must let go of who I was and focus, man, my eyes got to be on who I'm becoming." [24:29] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "A church service can't change you, but it can make you want to change. A church service can't change you, but it can, it can put you in an environment to make you want to change. And that's why we work hard every single week. It's why your pastor prays and studies and thinks about exactly what's happening in his people and brings you the word of God that he places on his heart and a series, not, not because there's nothing else better to do. It's because we're living in perilous times. Everybody. And we need direction. We need to know that that change can begin today." [30:14] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "We can walk into this room unashamed. We can remove the veil and we say, God, you know what I did this week, but man, I'm so glad you still love me. My heart breaks because I send, I dropped the ball. You know that God, I'm not, I'm not hiding anything from you. I'm, I'm walking in here because I need you. I need you to make me new. Would you pick up the brush and just, just change me. And then what's beautiful about this idea of a mirror is, is when you look in a mirror, basically you're looking at grace and truth. And that's what God's word does for us. It shows us, wait a minute. You know what? That's right. You know what? That's God's plan for me. Not what my friends think, not what my parents think. Not what this world thinks. No, no, I'm gonna follow this." [32:11] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)