Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Rom 12 but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.
Do you ever eat wild food from the woods? Maybe you went out one time and picked blackberries or blueberries or even raspberries. We seem to have a lot of these up in our neck of the woods. Our family has eaten our fill of wild berry pies in years past, but have you ever been out mushroom hunting before? I really enjoy picking wild mushrooms and it helps to have a nice crew to help find them. Sometimes I think the young children are better at picking them because they are half our height and closer to the ground! Right around our area I’ve eaten red-capped scaber stalks, the shaggymanes, oysters, and one of the most delicious is the Chanterelle. One of my young boys has gotten so good at mushroom picking that he picked a 4 gallon bucket in about 25 minutes.
There is one other kind of mushroom that I eat that I’m going to talk about today. It’s very easy for the children to find because it looks almost like an orange sitting on the ground. It’s called a lobster mushroom. Actually, it’s not a mushroom at all but a fungus. What it does is change a mushroom into something completely different then what it originally was. This fungus transforms a completely non-edible mushroom into something delicious, edible and wonderful!
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The word transform means to make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of something. Something transformed has become different from what it was: When we become a Christian and become submersed and baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, we begin a new walk with God. We are like little children who take our very first steps. It’s a complete rebirth which the Lord Jesus speaks about as being born again.
John 3:7 – Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. Being born again is a process of being transformed from what you used to be in this world to a completely different person. Instead of following after the way of the world, you begin to follow the way of Christ. Transformation is the direct result of accepting the truth of scripture and the things that Jesus taught, and applying it daily to your life.
John 3:3 – Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
This transformation begins with genuine belief and trust in God’s Word.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For many years when I’ve cleaned Lobster mushrooms I’ve always looked at them as a mushroom that has been reborn into something new. They completely take on a different form, characteristics and color.
For an example of an incredible transformation all we have to do is take a look at the life of the Apostle Paul. At one time he was a very high leader in Judaism, a pharisee. He was persecuting Christian churches believing at the time that they were heretical. Later on he was born again and believed the truth that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He accepted that he was the chief of sinners, and called upon the name of the Lord Jesus to get forgiven for his sins. A lot of the New Testament that we have today was written at the hand of Paul. Look what God can do with a forgiven sinner! Look at the transformation that can happen when you truly have faith in Christ. Paul had truly become a new man.
Colossians 3:10 – And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
To become what God wants us to be, we have to submit to his leading and the teachings of scripture. Our minds have to be completely renewed. To renew something means to become new or as new.
Have you ever known anybody to take an old antique car and completely restore it to the point it looks like it just rolled off the assembly line? Have you ever known people to take old furniture or collectibles and repair and clean them up so they look brand-new once again?
This is what God wants to do to each of us. Through his grace and his mercy he wants to forgive us of our sins and our entire past so that he can change us into something brand new. A brand new person, who many people will not recognize from the past. A brand new person who was once serving the ways of the world but is now serving Christ. A brand new person with a new mind and a new heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 – A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
In the world today there are many actors who play parts in theater and movies that undergo such a radical change in their physical appearance that you wouldn’t even recognize that it was them anymore. What God wants to do is a radical transformation inside each of our hearts. He wants to take a person who was once filled with hate and fill them with love. He wants to change the merciless into a merciful person. He wants to turn a thief, into a giver. Each of us have come from different places and directions in our lives, but God wants us to be transformed into new creatures.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Will you allow God to do a change inside of your heart? We each need to be a Lobster mushroom, and allow ourselves to be both transformed and consumed by His mercy and love. We need to become something different than what we were in the past, and I’m reminded of this every time I go out…..
…….Mushroom Hunting
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 