Second-Hand Faith: Transformed to Transform

Second-Hand Faith!Sermon Notes                                        Pastor Brad Myers

Transformed to Transform                                 February 23, 2025

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Series: Second-Hand Faith

Wk 1: Knowledge or Experience

What is Faith?

• • Confidence or trust with no physical proof
  • Everyone lives by faith daily
  • Many struggle with faith in God

Asked a Question

Q) Is our perception of God from second-hand knowledge of what people say, or a personal, first-hand experience?…  Is our faithwhat we hear or what we know?”

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Wk 2: Inherited, Borrowed, or Imitated Faith!

• Inherited Faith: 
• Borrowed Faith:Live on someone else’s faith; their power.
• Imitated Faith: Mimic/impersonate people who’ve had a personal experience.
• This faith is dangerous!

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Last Week: Echoes to Transformation

• Transformed! Changed!
• Echo: Reverberation of what we hear
• Eli & Samuel: 1 Samuel 3:9 Explain
• Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice.

An Active Response Is Required: 

1 Samuel 3:9 (NLT) (exact)

…‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’”

• Speak: A posture of readiness…
• “Servant” A commitment to change…. 

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Today: Transformed to Transform

Transformer Story

• Debut: Early 1980s massive global franchise. 
• Japanese toy company sold concept to American Hasbro
• Transformation: Each toy transforms from a robot into something else.
• Appeal:Dual functionality: What is was and what it becomes. 
• Impact:Children and adults.
• Legacy: Collectability:
• Cultural Affect: They’ve impacted popular culture as a must have! 
• Today: Bigger than ever! A part of a larger ecosystem.  Continues to expand, captivating & attracting new people and sustaining interest for the long-term. 
• TOYS??

Describes a church more than toys! 

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Salvation is a transformation

Romans 10:13 (ESV)

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

• Salvation sometimes is holding on by a thread.

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Story: Jacob & Esau (Genesis 25-33) 

Birth and Early Years:

• Born twins to Isaac and Rebekah:
• Esau born first, Jacob holding his heel. 
• Esau:  Skillful hunter; favored by Isaac.
• Jacob:  Stayed home with Rebekah’s, her favorite.

Birthright Sale

• Esau from the field, famished, Jacob cooking a stew. 
• Esau, impulsive and exhausted, sells his birthright to Jacob for food. 
  • (Genesis 25:29-34). 
• Birthright was significant as it conferred a double portion of the inheritance and the leadership of the family. 
• Esau had a disregard for his inheritance.

The Blessing Deception

• Isaac grew old, his eyesight failed, decided to bless Esau. 
• Rebekah had Jacob disguised himself as Esau.
• Isaac was fooled blessed Jacob. 
• Blessing was wealth, status, and God’s promise of land & descendants. 
• Esau vowed to kill Jacob, prompting Jacob to flee to his uncle Laban’s house.
• Jacob stops for the night and experiences a divine encounter in a dream.

Genesis 28:15 (NLT)

What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything, I have promised you.”

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Years Apart and Reconciliation

• 23 yrs in Haran, married & amassed wealth. 
• God commanded Jacob to return home and face the music.
• Jacob obeyed, though fearful of Esau’s continued wrath. 
• Jacob returned, he sent messengers ahead to Esau, who came to meet him with four hundred men, further alarming Jacob.
• He also sent significant gifts of livestock ahead to Esau in waves to pacify him.

Divine Encounter

• The night before their meeting, Jacob wrestled with a divine figure.
• Angel or God himself. 

Genesis 32:24 (ESV)

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

• God wants to see what Jacob is made of

Genesis 32:25 (NLT)

When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

• Human strength gone, defeat was certain,what did Jacob do? 
• He hung on

Genesis 32:26 (NLT)

Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

• Spiritual and foundational for his future and the future of his descendants

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You cannot meet the terrible things that show up in our lives unless you secure the blessing of God.

God transforms (changes) Jacob

Genesis 32:28 (NLT)

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

Esau embraces Jacob!

• Transformation in both brothers.

True transformation begins with an inward change through Christ and results in an outward impact.

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Q) How does personal transformation empower us to transform others?

Paul Talks of a living sacrifice

Romans 12:1 (NLT)A Living Sacrifice to God

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 

• Fully surrendered to God??? Not hardly.
• Paul: offer yourself—continuously and actively—as living sacrifices. 
• Dedicate yourself to God as an act of worship.

Transformation begins when we give God complete control of our lives.

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CR Testimony Night: 

Quote: “I never truly surrendered to God until a couple months ago”

Paul continues

Romans 12:2 (ESV) (exact)

…be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you (wrestling) may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect

• “Transformed” (from the Greek ‘metamorphoō’, ‘metamorphosis’) 
• Profound & Complete change: 
• Caterpillar: Transformation is internal and radical.

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Radical transformation starts in your mind!

“renewal of your mind”

• Adopting a new way of thinking influenced by Holy Spirit!
• Aligning our existing beliefs, values, and assumptions with God’s truth.

“discerning God’s will” 

• Transformation & renewal of the mind enable us to discern God’s will. 

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What’s this all mean? New Living Translation..

Romans 12:2b (NLT) (exact)

….let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

• You’re not transformed until you think different

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Transformation Transforms: Leads to Impact

Matthew 5:14a (NLT) (exact)

“You are the light of the world…

A transformed life bears spiritual fruit

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) (exact)

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control…

• We bless others.

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Biblical Examples of True Transformations

Moses: A fugitive shepherd (Exodus 3-14)

• How He transformed others? Lead Israel to Freedom

Joseph:God’ s Providence Provides (Genesis 37-50)

• Sold into slavery, became Egypt’s second-in-command.
• How He Transformed Others? Provided food and salvation during famine, forgave his brothers, and reunited his family.

Samaritan Woman: Many husbands (John 4:1-42)

• Transformation:Sinful past to a witness for Christ.
• Transformed Others:Shared her testimony, leading many in her village to believe in Jesus.

Paul:Persecutor to Preacher (Acts 9, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

• Transformation:Christian persecutor to one of the greatest apostles.
• Transformed Others: Preached the gospel, planted churches, mentored Timothy, and wrote much of the New Testament.

Peter: Fearful Fisherman Turned Bold Preacher (Luke 22:54-62, Acts 2)

• Transformation:Denied Jesus to bold preacher.
• Transformed Others: Led 3,000 people to Christ in one day

Barnabas: Encourager of Others (Acts 9:26-27, Acts 11:22-26)

• Transformation:Generous, faith-filled leader in the early church.
• Transformed Others: Supported and mentored Paul.

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Q) How do we transform others for Christ?? Live as Transformers!!

Thought:We can’t transform unless we’re living transformed. People are drawn to authentic transformation.

• I remember when….
• There’s no way he changed!…

Transforming others for Christ is not about forcing change but allowing God to work through us to influence and inspire others. 

What’s in t for me? Transforming others?

1 Corinthians 3:12-14 (NLT)

Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. ¹³ But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. ¹⁴ If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.

• Nature of Christian service and its eternal implications.
• Transformation: Is it genuine, durable, and lasting.
• You’re reward for being transformed and transforming others!