Connecting the Dots

There is a depressing side to being called to preach... it's called memory. Unfortunately, it is easy to remember how bad a message was. Or, things that were left out and areas that were unclear.

I guess that is a benefit of always being wired in... through social networking, emails, and blogs the message never has to have an exact ending... I can pick up right here and connect some of the dots I left untouched last night.

The message from youth group yesterday had to do with holiness. We want to be a group that strives for holiness so that way our friends and family will see our lives and want to know the Power that changed us. But how do we actually change?

Here is the three-fold Strategy from 2 Corinthians 3:18 and surrounding verses.
Change happens as we engage the Word, see the majesty of Christ, in the power of the Spirit.
1) Engage the Word
Paul's strategy for change involves the word (2 Corinthians 4:2b), setting forth the truth plainly (2 Corinthians 4:2c) and preaching (2 Corinthians 4:5). For us to be changed we have to engage the Word of God. The power is in the Word.
2)See Christ as the Majesty of the Word
It is not enough to simply read the Bible. We have to see how Christ is the focus of all of Scripture and the fulfillment of every promise. He is fire. He's the bomb.
2 Corinthians 3:18 "beholding the glory of the Lord." When we look to Scriptures we are looking for the magnificence and majesty of Christ. We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord (4:5). This is what we are on the lookout for in the Word; "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (4:6).
3) In the Power of the Spirit
The Spirit takes the truths of Christ and massage them into our souls. Real change is brought about by the Holy Spirit. Anything less than that is superficial.

Now let's look at 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

So it is in this way that God changes us from one degree of glory to the next.
In the Word, Seeing Christ, by His Spirit.