“God has a plan for your life and so does Satan,” the Rev. Randy Thornton said, as he delivered a recent message at Grace Church of Southern Pines, N.C., where he serves as senior pastor.
Satan has a plan to snag you in your vulnerable places, he said.
“Millions are spent on how to improve,” he noted, mentioning teeth-whiteners, diets, exercise regimens and self-help programs.
Thornton talked about “the power to change” and listed the first principle of dedication as: “Commit my body to God.”
“Eat right, feel right,” he said. “The body affects the psychology (the mind). The body affects behavior.”
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1 NIV).
“Your body is important and what you do with your body is important,” Thornton said.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Thornton said Christ paid for our sins and “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” He inferred that if God is with us, where are taking him?
“Sometimes we take our bodies where they shouldn’t go,” he said.
“Change is my choice” is the first law of change, Thornton noted, adding, “Nothing changes until you say, ‘I’ve got a problem.’”
He proposed three ways to “offer your body as a living sacrifice”:
1. Cleanse (detoxify) your body. (God dwells in your body.) For what a man sows, he reaps.
2. Take care of your body.
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
“When is the last time you had a physical?” Thornton asked. “Let’s take a little bit better care.”
“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church,” (Ephesians 5:29).
3. Control your body.
“God wants us to take control of our bodies,” Thornton said. “Learn to control; learn to say ‘No.’” (Avoid saying, “The Devil made me do it.”)
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
Thornton talked about a principle of concentration: “Refocus your mind.”
He spoke about a second law of change: “To change, I must change my model.”
“If you want to see change in your life, hang around people you want to be like,” he said. “We all need Barnabases.”
Paul and Barnabas were in a peer-to-peer relationship. We need to be “poured into” (receive) and give out to others. We are selfish people. Men should mentor men, and women should mentor women.
“A pond that only has water coming into it becomes stagnant,” Thornton said. “Healthy things live; unhealthy things die.”
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
The third principle for lasting change is evaluation – humbly assess my current state.
“I can only change what I can measure,” Thornton said.
He suggested listing on a paper, in left and right columns, things in your life that are pleasing and not pleasing to God.
“Do an honest evaluation,” he said.
Write what needs to change. Know your starting number. Record and review your progress. Know that sin is cyclical. Be aware of HALT, an acronym for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and/or Tired.
“HALT is when you’re most susceptible to sin,” Thornton said.
He listed the fourth principle of change: “Get group support; be part of a small group.”
“God never created you to be lone rangers,” he said. “Lone rangers get shot down. They [early believers in Christ] met in the temple and house to house.”
He said that in a church you can only know about 75 people.
“Jesus wants you connected,” Thornton said. “We need each other.”
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:4-5).
The fourth law of change requires that you be in community, Thornton said.
He noted that the fifth principle of affirmative change is this: Fill my life with love.
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:9-10).
“You need God to fill you with his love,” Thornton said.
Job had most everything taken from him by God. He had friends who hurt him. Job prayed for his friends, forgiving their comments and advice.
“You want to see things change?” Thornton asked. “Pray that God bless them [those who injured you].”
The sixth principle of lasting change is motivation, he said.
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:11-12).
“Don’t let your circumstances dictate who you are,” Thornton said. “God is waiting for you to respond the right way. I believe God has called us to be a people of change. Now is the day of change … Let’s let the prayer of expectancy change the way we live.”
