Pastor Mike Palompo
July 19, 2009 - W0929

Pastor Mike Palompa is the pastor of New Hope Central Oahu. He also teaches at Pacific Rim Christian College. Recently, he finished his doctorate degree at King’s College in Van Nuys, California.  We are pleased to have Pastor Mike here with us today as our guest speaker.  We are also pleased to have Pastor Jack Hayford visiting today.  Pastor Jack is the chancellor of King’s College and also the President of our Four Square denomination.

Have you ever asked yourself, “If I become a totally mature Christian, what would my life be like?”  What is the “end-game” for us according to the Bible? The gold medal on the Christian Olympic platform? The LA Lakers of Christianity?  The final level on God’s X-Box 360 as far as God is concerned?  Ultimately, what we are transforming into means what you would look like.

Here are five categories that give us a snapshot of what you might be like:

1. God,  IS THAT YOU?

What this means is that as you continually transform and grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ and you come to a place where you begin to hear His voice as He leads you.

“I have a plan for the whole earth, for my mighty power reaches throughout the world. The LORD Almighty has spoken--who can change his plans? When his hand moves, who can stop him?” Isaiah 14:26-27 (NLT)

This is the prophet Isaiah. The Lord is speaking to Isaiah. And Isaiah hears God’s voice. You notice when you read the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, so many people hear the voice of God. It was pretty normative at that time to hear God speak.  God spoke through clouds, donkeys, prophets, priests and kings. When He speaks, God has a plan.  And if God has a plan, that means He plans ahead. It is our job as followers of Christ to know what that plan is and cooperate with it. In order for us to do that, we need to be able to HEAR GOD’S VOICE.  A fully mature Christian will be able to discern the voice of the Lord.

How many of us know that God is relating and speaking to us all the time?  He speaks to us in church.  He speaks to us as we journal in His word. He speaks through people in our lives.  So what prevents us from hearing His voice?

Let me put it this way: Last summer my wife, Mona, and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary in Oregon.  We went to the beautiful Oregon coast and we saw Haystack Rock for the 1^st time. This thing is right off the shore and stands at least 10 stories high.

So, I said, “Mona, let’s take a picture of us with Haystack Rock in the background.” So I held up my camera and we posed in front of Haystack Rock.

(In the picture shown at the service, Pastor Mike and his wife Mona took up almost the whole frame of the picture!)

How do you miss something that is over 10 stories high? How do you do that? When you are too big in the frame!

God is HUGE.  He is beyond over 10 stories high.  He sometimes speaks in whispers, but that’s so we don’t bust our eardrums when He speaks.  A fully transformed Christian life is real when you understand God’s will. If we can’t hear Him, it’s probably because our desires, ambitions, prejudices, and opinions are too big in the frame.

A fully transformed Christian will try to put himself in a neutral order to hear the will of God.  He will not allow his biases to interfere, so that God can speak and we will hear His plan.

Another reason we may not hear God’s voice accurately is that we have a distorted view of God.  There is nothing wrong with God; the problem is we live in a fog and we misinterpret what He is saying.  We have our own agendas. A huge part of our transformation is to get a right view of who God is.  Here is a quick overview of these:

Four Levels of Transformation

Level 1:    God is a Cop

      Do the minimal requirement

      Bible consequences

When people first get to know God, our view of God is as a cop and we do the minimum at church so as not to get in trouble.  This is a distorted view of God.  We do the minimum things like read the Bible, attend church and do journaling but that is it…just the minimal requirement.  I do this so I won’t get in trouble. You see the Bible as consequences.  This is not a fully accurate view of God.

Level 2:    God is a Judge

      Conform to the church

      Bible as Laws

When you get to this point here, Level 2, God is a judge. Not a cop but a judge. We tend to see Him as wanting us to do the right thing so we do what the church says. If the church says no smoking we don’t smoke,  No swearing…so we say I won’t do that. If we need to not wear a certain kind of clothes, we don’t wear them. We often end up just conforming to the church’s laws. Then we just see the Bible as a bunch of laws.

Level 3:    God is Love

      Christian maturity

      Bible as Values.

Next, level 3 is “God is Love.” Now you are thinking, okay He is for me. He is not against me. He is gracious. Now you understand that. Most people come to know Christ at this stage because they understand the grace of the Lord. Christian maturity is the focus at this level. Not so much conformity. This is a pretty good level but the next level is even better.

Level 4:    God is our Father

      Live in Intimacy

      Bible as God’s Voice

Finally, Level 4 is God as our Heavenly Father. In fact, let me be so bold as to say God as your friend. He is your best friend. He is your Heavenly Father. He wants the very very best for you. And you live like you know that. That is the ultimate transformation in the sense that you are way down the road if you get there. You see life as walking intimately with God. You want to live a holy life for the purpose of having an intimate relationship with God. That is your objective. And you see the Bible as good values and principles but also you see it as God’s voice. You hear His voice in how to deal with life, for example, on how you deal with your spouse, job and other things.

But all of these things could become useless if we don’t hear God’s voice about the “Dark Side.”  We call this the Dark Side and it has the potential to destroy even the very best of us.

2. The  DARK- SIDE of all of us.

“I have discovered this principle of life- that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart.  But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 7:21-25a (NLT)

Paul is NOT trying to say that we are no longer responsible for our sinful nature since we are new creatures in Christ.  He is saying that through Jesus we no longer have to remain dominated by sin.  We can be set free.  For some, this is an instantaneous freedom like being set free from alcoholism or addictions. For the rest of us we become freer and freer the longer we walk with the Lord.

In the movie “Twilight,” Edward is a really nice guy, handsome, caring, everything a girl could want.  The only problem is he has a weakness for human hemoglobin! To some extent we are like Edward.  In one sense, all of us are “vampires.”  No, I don’t mean we all walk around with capes like Bela Lugosi and turn into bats.  I mean we all have a dark side to us.  A fully transformed, mature Christian has learned to mitigate the dark side—take the edge off to keep it from destroying him.

De-fang the dark side!

3. The BIBLE Didn’t just Say that!

“But Jesus said, “You feed them’” (Mark 6:37 NLT)

“Jesus said to them , ‘You faithless people…How long must I put up with you?’”

 (Mark 9:19 NLT)

Peter: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

Jesus: “Come!”

This much you know: A fully mature Christian “likes Christ and is Christ-like.”  We’re totally devoted and love the Lord, but we’re also Christ-like.”  But here’s the thing: we’re not only Christ-like in character, fully transformed Christians are Christ-like in the way they minister!  And that is where the real challenges lie.  Here are a few bible verses that I find really disturbing:

Jesus to the Apostles before ten thousand plus people: “You give them something to eat.”

Jesus to the Apostles because they couldn’t cast out a demon: “You faithless and unbelieving generation!  How long do I have to put up with you?”

Jesus standing on the Sea of Galilee said to Peter: "Come.”

There are just a few examples of Scriptures where we might say, “The Bible Didn’t Just Say That!”  We need to deal with quotes from Jesus that are really troubling.  Is Jesus serious when He says, “Greater works than these will you do?” Ultimate transformation involves becoming like Christ both in character and in works!

Operate in the miraculous!

This is the vision where God wants us to be. How many of us know that Christian conversion is miraculous? Yes, we lead them to the Lord, we invite them to church but the actual conversion is miraculous. Indeed it is.

Here is a great way to start: pray for any sick people in your family. Both Mona and Caleb got sick this past week and I prayed for their healing. Caleb had a high fever and the next morning his fever broke!  We are saying, “Alright!  Way to go God!”  But when he took his temperature it was 97 degrees---in other words, too low!  So we prayed, “Lord, raise his temperature back up to normal!”

4. GOD things vs. GOOD Things

“When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom.  Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths…for we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:13, 16c NLT)

“Do not be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life.  Instead, be filled with the Hoy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 NLT).

This is a very deliberate comparison between being drunk with wine and filled with the Spirit.  Both are “under the influence!”  Watch the video of a short clip about a guy denying that he’s drunk. The person is trying so hard to deny he is drunk and he is under the influence.

When we are under the influence there is no way to hide it!  When we’re filled with the Spirit, we don’t just do good things, we do God things.  Before I bring someone on staff, I always ask, “Do you know that this is God’s will that you be on staff with us?”  IF so, then he can’t quit just because he gets sideways with someone. He needs to fulfill God’s will.

Fully transformed believers…

Do God things, no just good things!

5. What is Coming to the World?”

“The Kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15; cf 21:1-3 NAS)

Sometimes we look around the world and we see the crime, the violence, and the wars.  We have Islamic Jihadist terrorists who want to destroy Israel and America. I long for the good ol’ days of the Cold War.  Remember that? When the United States and the Soviet Union had millions of intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles pointed at each other? We had gone M.A.D.--- Mutually Assured Destruction!  It’s always easier for us to look at everything and ask, “What is this world coming to?” But if you read the last part of Revelation, the more important question is, “What is coming to the world?”

The entire world will be transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

In a way, beyond our imagination, we have a part to play in the building of God’s Kingdom on earth right now.  So what does all this mean? Politics matters! Defining marriage correctly matters!  Electing a righteous, godly man as governor of Hawaii matters!

Everything we do in Jesus’ name to transform the earth matters!  We don’t just come to Christ and wait for the second coming.  We still need to obey God’s command to take dominion over the earth, over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky.

Fully transformed believers transform the earth into God’s kingdom.  Why is it critical for us to transform? The reason is…Transformed lives transform lives. Our lives are a reflection of God’s miracleus when this happens.

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1. Do you believe God speaks to Christians today? How would you know God is speaking to you?
2. What is “ultimate transformation?” Discuss what an “Ultimately Transformed” Christians looks like?
3. How important is “de-fang” the dark side to our everyday lives? How is God dealing with you in that area of your life?
4. What’s the difference between a “God thing” and a “good thing?” How do we discern or identify a “God thing” when we see it?
5. What do you think God has planned for the future of earth?