In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of going through a metamorphosis and being transformed into the image of Christ. The first step in this process is to lay down all excuses and justifications, as well as any focus on oneself, and instead fix one's gaze upon Jesus. The speaker encourages the audience to move forward and not stay stagnant in their spiritual journey, comparing it to the Garden of Gethsemane and the need to go on to the cross. The sermon also emphasizes the need for discipline and self-control, saying that bringing one's body under control is necessary for transformation. Lastly, the speaker mentions the story of Moses and the Red Sea, highlighting the importance of not standing still but moving forward in faith, even when it may not seem like much is happening. The ultimate goal is to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, as it is God's perfect will for believers.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. We greet you this evening in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We greet you in our weakness, but we also greet you in the strength and power of the living God. May He have His way here tonight. We do believe it's good to come to the house of God. To the house of prayer, the Word of God calls it. Together in a collective way and to sing. We were so blessed by the singing tonight and to pray and to read the Word of God and just rejoice in the blessings of God together. You know, Hebrews 10 does admonish us to forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching. I believe we're living in the end time. I believe we can see the day approaching. And so, how much more for us that we would gather this way to strengthen each other in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight, may we gather in complete humility and brokenness before God and before each other. Those two go together so that God could speak to us tonight. By God's grace, we want to continue on. We want to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ in our everyday life. We want to lift Him up. I love the Scriptures that Jesus said, and I know it's talking about His crucifixion, but it says that if I be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Me. You know, it doesn't say that when He's lifted up, He's going to draw all men to charity. He's not going to bring all men here. He's not going to draw all men to the Mennonites. He's not going to bring all men to the Amish or the Baptists or the Lutherans. He said that if I be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Me. All the rest of that is distractions. And God wants to draw all of those distractions unto Himself and give us a single eye. May God give us the grace to lay down all the distractions this evening and fix our gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a title for the message this evening. I'll make it here so you can all read this. I want the title to be Revival by Metamorphosis. Revival by Metamorphosis. That is God's perfect will. We'd like to lift that out of the Scriptures this evening. You know, I was thinking as we come together for these meetings, there's a lot of different backgrounds here. If we could go back about 20, 30, 40 years and see where we all came from, we have a lot of different backgrounds in this place. But I've heard several brothers say, and I like it, they say, really, we only have one background and it's sin. And that's right, isn't it? We all come from the bottom of the miry pit. That's our background. That's who we are. And you know, you really, you can't blame that on the church that you were in. You can't blame that on the world that we live in. You can't even blame that on the devil himself. That's our testimony. That's who we are, brothers and sisters, without any help from the devil at all. That's why I'm so excited about God this evening. Because even though we were at the bottom of the miry pit, God in His mercy reached down and drew us up out of the miry clay and set our feet upon a rock, amen? And established our going and just poured grace into our life and gave us the complete forgiveness of sin. It's all gone. And just poured grace into our life so that we could be born again and have a new heart and a new mind. And He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we could walk with God and the exceeding great and precious promises so that we could be partakers of His divine nature. We could be like Jesus. And if that's not enough, Revelation says, that to Him that overcometh, Jesus says, I will grant Him to sit with me in my throne. I don't know if you've ever got a vision of that, but it just sounds like the Lord's going to scoot over and make room for us right there in His throne. I don't know how you are with that, brothers and sisters, but for me, that is quite a journey. All the way from the bottom of the miry pit to seated with the Lord Jesus Christ in His throne in heavenly places. And the reason that we can do that is because He went all the way the other way. I mean, there He was in His throne. His glory above the heavens. King of kings. Lord of lords. He had it all. But He stepped down in obedience to His Father's will. And He came all the way down to earth. And He became a man. And a man of sorrows. And acquainted with grief. And He became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. You know, I sing a song sometimes. I believe it's in our song book that says, All the way to Calvary He went for me. And brothers and sisters, that's a long ways. It's a long ways from the glory of God all the way down to the dregs of society. But that's what He did. He went all the way for you and me. And He experienced death. And I tell you, because He did it, now we can go all the way the other way. Hallelujah! For that. That's the gospel in a nutshell. Amen? I mean, blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, never before heard of, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. That's how much God loves us. That's a journey. That's quite a journey. That's quite a testimony, brothers and sisters, and it's for everyone here this evening. But it's a journey that I like to keep ever before my eyes, even in the midst of when I feel my weakness and I feel undone. I keep that journey before my eyes. I don't want to forget that journey, and I'm going to tell you tonight that when that journey is there, it changes everything that I do. It gets into everyday life. It changes it. It changes how I respond when I'm tempted, when temptation comes and the voices of the world come and they try to draw me away and there's a point where that begins to look a little enticing if we're honest. But all of a sudden, here comes this journey before my eyes and I'm not going to do that. I've been redeemed from that. Sometimes my wife, maybe she's a little upset and needs me to take some time to hear her heart and comfort her heart. And I don't have time for that right now. I've made commitments. All of a sudden, here comes this journey before my eyes, and hey, I have time. It's just a matter of rearranging your priorities. God had time for me. I have time for her. And when my brother sins a sin against me and that journey is not before me, I forget about that journey. I can't forgive my brother. My focus is on his sin, his inexcusable sin. My focus is on how bad he hurt me and there's no excuse for that. And there's no way that I can forgive him. And all of a sudden, here comes this journey. Here comes a cross of my Lord before me. And all of a sudden, I remember how much my Lord forgave me. And I get a vision again of how completely He forgave me. And all of a sudden, I can forgive my brother. I can release him completely. No reservation whatever. That journey changes everything that I do. It changes the very character of who I am. And that brings us to the burden that we have upon our heart this evening. I'm just going to say it this way. I want to be changed. I want to be changed into the image of His dear Son. None of this, well, that's just how I am stuff. That's just how I am. I've always been that way. My dad was that way. My grandpa was that way. And that's just the way I am. None of that stuff! I want to be changed into the image of His dear Son. We not only want to come to God for salvation, brothers and sisters, but we want to come to be changed. And yes, we must come. That's the first step. And whosoever will, let him come. I mean, we come to God through Christ for salvation. There's no other way to be saved. We don't make a few changes in our life to get saved. Brothers and sisters, we come to Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's it. I love the first chapter of Hebrews. It seems it clears up any questions anybody might have. It speaks of Jesus Christ there. And it just simply says, who by Himself purged our sins. Boy, it doesn't sound like He got any help from me. He didn't get any help from my good deeds. He didn't get any help from the Mennonites. He didn't get any help from charity. Who by Himself purged our sins. That's it. Hallelujah for that. Let's don't add to that. Let's just receive it and believe it. So come that way. But come to be changed. I want to be delivered from who I am. We read in the Word of God in a very clear way that you don't just come to God for salvation, brothers and sisters. It's all through the Scriptures. We come to be changed. You can't separate those two. There's too much power in the blood to be filled with all the fullness of God. That's not possible and not be changed. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. To be a new creature in Christ Jesus. How are you going to do that and stay the same old you? So I'm going to challenge this with a pretty strong statement this evening. And I'm just going to ask you to pray about this. I have a burden on my heart tonight that you would not hear from me, but that you would hear from God. So I'm just going to pray and ask you to pray that you would hear from God. You just pray about this as we go through the meeting. But if you have come to God for salvation and you have not yet begun the changing process that will change you into the image of His dear Son, then you may not have come. Because you can't separate those two in the Scriptures. And we know, brothers and sisters, that God leaves room for growth. I praise God for that. To be born again, that's not a maturity thing. That's a birth thing. That's what born again is. There's a birth. And after birth, we leave room for growth. We don't demand maturity. We extend that grace to everyone just like God does. But don't waller around in it like a hog wallers in a mire. It's time to grow. Amen? That's the hearts of God. Let's pray. Father, tonight, we want to be changed. We want to be like Jesus. That's our desire. God, we feel the intensity of that desire. And we feel our weakness. Oh God, the miracle of how You can use this fallible man to bring a perfect message of salvation is beyond me. God, I pray that You would do... I pray that You would do it tonight, Father. I just pray that Your name would be lifted up. Father, I feel my great need of You. I believe that I am my own worst enemy, Father. Have mercy. Have mercy on all of us, Father. Father, there is areas of our life that need to be changed. Areas that are hindering our witness as a fellowship, as an individual, as a family. Father, tonight, we have need that You would speak to us. We have not attained. Father, are we so... are we so mature that there's no area of our life left for You to lay Your finger on and bring conviction? Are we there? Oh, God, would You take the veil off of our eyes? Not in condemnation, Father, but give us a vision of what You will do for us tonight. We can be changed into the image of Jesus Christ. I pray for it, Father. Have Your way, is our prayer, O God. In Jesus' name, Amen. We sing the song sometimes, Shall I come just as I am? I don't know, maybe there's someone here struggling with that. Maybe you feel like you need to get your theology right before you come. Maybe you need to clean up your life a little bit before you come so you're a little bit more acceptable. Shall I come just as I am? I've asked two questions tonight and that's the first one and I want us to know that from the Word of God there's a resounding YES that echoes all through the Scriptures. Yes, you come just as you are. I mean, you come in your long hair. Amen? You come with your marriage in a mess. You come on drugs. You come in your adulterous situation. You come as an undisciplined father. You come as an unsubmissive wife. You come as a rebellious child. You come. You open wide your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and He will enter in. But I want to ask another question. Yes, you come just as you are, but are you going to stay that way? Come to be changed. Shall you stay just as you are? Again, there's a resounding NO that echoes all through the Scriptures and brothers and sisters it comes back to us from the woman taken in adultery. Amen? I mean, yes, dear woman, you come just as you are in your wretchedness. You come caught in the very act of adultery, but go and sin no more. Complete change. It echoes back to us from Mary Magdalene. I mean, what a woman filled with seven devils. Yes, you come, but be made clean and Mary be the first one to the tomb. Amen? Complete change. No likeness between the old Mary and the new. It echoes back from the maniac of Gadara. Yes, dear man, you come living in the cemetery, biting your chains. You come that way. But go home dressed and in your right mind and tell them what great things God has done for you. A complete new lifestyle. No likeness between the two. And it echoes back from the Philippian jailer. The list is long. Yes, dear Philippian jailer, you come. I don't care if it is midnight. You come. Come one and come all, but come to be changed. God loves you so much that you may come just as you are and He will accept you, but He loves you way too much to leave you that way. And the change I'm talking about here, my dear brothers and sisters, is not just who you are in Christ now. It's who you are in your everyday life. Those two go together. Let's not separate them. A complete change in your character and in your everyday life. I'll just tell you that's the burden that God laid on my heart tonight. I trust that you'll give me liberty to talk about our everyday life. God wants to change us right where we live. And the best way that I know to do that is to open the Word of God and let God speak to us. I would just simply like to open to Romans 12 and I want to read those first two verses. Let's let the Word of God speak to us tonight. We were just talking this afternoon that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit into the joints and marrow and it's a discerner, a revealer of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And I had to think of that vision that John had there on the Isle of Patmos when he saw Jesus Christ. And it says that he saw a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. And I read that thing one time and I thought, what's that sword doing coming out of His mouth? Why isn't it in His hand? Why can't He use it? And then I thought, boy, it's words that come out of your mouth. And the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. I tell you, when the Word of God speaks, that sword's going both ways. It's cutting to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Let's let it do that tonight. Amen? Let's read the Word of God. And let's open our hearts that we can be changed. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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, unacceptable, and perfect will of God. I want to just focus in on three little words here when God in His Word admonishes us, brothers and sisters, be ye transformed. Do you know what that means? Be ye transformed. I want to tell you tonight that that transform comes from the Greek word is metamorphou. Do you know what that means? In English it means metamorphosis. Be ye metamorphosis. Do you know what that is? I'm going to describe it this way. It's when a caterpillar goes through all the changes necessary to become a butterfly. That's what metamorphosis is. When a fat, gluttonous, caterpillar that crawls goes through all the changes necessary to become a beautiful butterfly that flies away. Brother, that is a big change. There is no likeness between the two. I mean a caterpillar, a butterfly, they don't look alike, they don't act alike, and they don't think alike. A caterpillar thinks crawl, eat. A butterfly thinks fly, rise above the earth. A caterpillar is stuck to the things of earth. It will never rise above it. A butterfly soars away, defies all gravity. A caterpillar just can't go very far. Butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico. Praise God. There's been a renewing of the mind. And brothers, that is the kind of change that God had in mind for us. When we got born again, He gave us all the provision for that very thing to happen in us. That's the Word of God that we're reading tonight. Be ye metamorphosis. That's what the Word of God says. Do we believe it tonight? Is that your testimony? Amen. That happened to me. It's the perfect will of God. We read that. It's the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For each one of us, not for just a few, it's God's perfect will that there would be no likeness between the new creation and the old. When we get born again, there's a complete change. In our life, there is another Scripture that uses the same word. I would like to turn there. 2 Corinthians 3. Another beautiful passage of Scripture. Verse 18. I'll just read the one verse here. 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, but we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I love it. We are changed. There's that word again. God put it in there to tell us something. We really are changed. There's no likeness between our old self and our new. It's good to meditate on all the changes that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. You know what one of those changes is? That caterpillar dies. I just want to challenge you tonight. Have you at least begun the process that God had in mind? You know, if I ever had a homework assignment that I would like to give a congregation, it would be this. I would encourage you to go find a creative teaching aids store. We are homeschoolers, many of us. They have creative teaching aids. And in those stores, you can buy yourself a little kit that will sell you a little container, a little cage, and they'll send you about a half a dozen caterpillars. And you just take those home and they'll give you some caterpillars that you can put in there and you can watch those things crawl around and get fat. And you can just watch it happen. You can watch that process of metamorphosis, that process of being transformed right before your very eyes. I mean, you can watch those little caterpillars begin to spin a cocoon. And you can watch them begin to die. You can watch it! You can watch the very act of metamorphosis, the very word God uses for us. In the Scriptures, you can watch it happen. And you can let it speak to you of what this Scripture is speaking of. And there's a point there, brothers and sisters, where it doesn't look like much is happening, but I tell you, through death, great changes are happening. And there comes a time when you can watch those beautiful butterflies fly away with no likeness of their former self. None! You can watch it happen! You can just watch the operation of God come forth. And I mean, you can watch them things crawl in, and you can watch them fly away! You can watch them die! And you can watch them live again! And you can say, praise God! Me too! Are you getting the burden of the message tonight? God wants to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. It's that simple. It's His perfect will. It's not a preference thing. It's not an option thing. It's God's will for us. Are you willing to do that? Or do we still hang on to our excuses and our reasons that would justify us for why we are the way we are? It happens all the time. We hear it all the time. In counseling, it always comes out, you know, if you knew my wife, if you knew the situation that I was in, if you knew my husband, if you knew my parents, you would understand. If you knew the difficulties that we face, I mean, the list is long. There's a hundred reasons that men use why they cannot change. And all of them are very real. We need to deal with each one of them. But the reason you won't forgive your brother, how totally inexcusable he was, how badly he hurt you, are you going to carry that to the throne and explain to God who forgave you all? Are you going to explain to Him in good language so He says, Oh, I see. That makes sense. Brothers, now is the day of salvation. Today is the day of grace where we have opportunity to be changed. You know, if you feel like you cannot change, I want to challenge you tonight by the Word of God that it does not matter who you are. It doesn't matter what situation you are in. I want to tell you tonight by the living Word of God that when Jesus comes, you can change. No question. It doesn't matter who you are. God is no respecter of person. It doesn't matter what situation you're in. I don't care if you don't think you can change. The Word of God says that you most absolutely, definitely, positively can change. Can't we? If we can't, what are we going to do with all these Scriptures? What are you going to do with Scriptures like Romans 12 verse 2? Be ye transformed. What are you going to do with that Scripture if you don't think you can change? 2 Corinthians 3.18 We are changed into His image from glory to glory. What are you going to do with that Scripture if it's not possible to change? 2 Corinthians 5.17 says Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. All things become new. That just sounds like metamorphosis to me. That just sounds like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. That's what that sounds like. In fact, just think about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly as I quote that Scripture. Here's this caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. All things become new. It fits. The Word of God is coming together here. Romans chapter 6 verse 4 Like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should rise to walk in newness of life. Brothers and sisters, what are you going to do with that verse if we can't change? That says that how we walk in everyday life is identically the same as Christ was raised from the dead. Like as Christ, just like Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, identical, just like that. We should walk in newness of life. Walk in newness of life is everyday life, brothers and sisters. It is. I believe that. If it's identical, that means we can identify with it. Is that our testimony? I can relate to that Scripture. I'm just going to confess my weakness this evening. I haven't attained to that. But I'm going to press on. I think that's the heart that the Apostle Paul must have had when he said he hadn't attained. But he wasn't turning back. He was going to press on because the promises of God are yea and amen. I believe God says, we'll do what He says He will do. That's children of Abraham. Amen? Abraham said that. He believed that God would do, perform. However that Scripture goes, He's going to do what He said He would do. And so I want to yield myself to that power of God. It's exciting thought to me to be like Jesus. What kind of witness? What would that do to your witness? You know, if everybody here was transformed into the image of Christ, then now you're a fellowship. You're a church body working together. We all fit together. We're all like Jesus Christ. Now what kind of a witness is going to go out from this place? I didn't think about it. It's not dreaming. It's the perfect will of God, isn't it? What I'm really saying is, you don't have to be an undisciplined father. You don't have to be an unsubmissive wife. You don't have to eat that much. Your house doesn't have to be that big of a mess. You can change! You don't have to interrupt other people. You don't have to read those romance novels. You don't have to be that busy. You don't have to exaggerate. We can change! By the power of God! You can lead a soul to Christ. You can speak an appropriate word for Him. You're not that bashful. You know, I think about old Moses. I believe he said something to God one time. Something like, I am of a slow tongue. I can't talk. But you know, as you read that, it just seems to me like that was when he was kind of taking matters into his own hands and doing things Moses' way. But when God got him out there to the backside of the desert, and I'll just say, God, he's born again, all of a sudden, and he touched his lips, and he told Moses, Who made your mouth? All of a sudden, Moses can speak! You ever notice that? God gave Moses his brother Aaron to speak, and after that, I don't read where Aaron spoke. Moses spoke! He could speak. He had a lot to say. The words of Moses still speak today. Being transformed. We can do it too. You can make family devotions come alive. You don't have to worry about whether it's your gift or not. It's not a gift to make family devotions come alive. It's a calling. And it's on every father's life. I believe that. You can pray and fast in secret. Others don't have to know. You can support the one who's ordained. Or it wouldn't be a commandment. You don't have to be the pastor. You can be easy to be entreated. What would all of these things do to a fellowship? Easy to be entreated. You can pray for each other. You can get up early to pray. What I'm talking about is the life that you now live in the flesh. That's the way Paul describes it. Your everyday life. He said, I am crucified with Christ. There's the death. That death is always there when you get the new life. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ living in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, that's everyday life. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. We can change. Complete metamorphosis. Nothing held back. New creatures in Christ Jesus. And I just want to tell you tonight that I feel like God has laid it on my heart to connect this complete change, this metamorphosis, this operation of God in each heart to connect that with revival. I've drawn a little diagram here and I know that in this diagram you could probably preach a whole sermon. That is not my motive. I just put it up here because I want to make a point. I want to teach a little lesson because this is the illustration that God gave me and I'm just going to share it with you to connect metamorphosis with revival. What we have here is a big button. I'm going to call it the revival button. Big revival. It's what we all want. Amen? But I want us to know that only the finger of God can push that button. You and I can't push that button. Like the song says, God our Father, You send revival. There's nothing that we can do. We're not going to drum it up on our own. No man comes to the Father except the Father draw him. He's going to get all the glory. Only the finger of God can press that button. But there is something that we can do. That's the burden that we had on our heart last night. That's what all these little buttons are around here underneath the revival button. This is just an illustration that God gave to me, I believe, and so I'm going to share it. But when the finger of God comes down on this revival button and down it goes and it's engaged, I want you to notice something. All of these little buttons down underneath it are engaged too. That's the only way that button's going to come down. I can't push this button down. I have no liberty to push that button down. But I can push this one. God, that's something we can do, brothers and sisters. I can push this button right here of my music. I can bring my music into subjection. I can. I can be careful. I can pray earnestly. I can lay my will down. God encourages us to do that. There are some of these buttons that He won't push. And when the finger of God comes down on this button, brothers and sisters, if there's some area that you will not yield in, this is the way I am. I can't change. I just can't make family devotions go. I've never been into private, quiet time. And so, I can't push that button down. I want you to know, when the finger of God comes down here and you won't yield, you are a hindrance to revival. Any of these areas that will not yield in your finances, in your eating habits, if you won't yield in that area, you are a hindrance to revival. I want to say a few things here. The way we are, our character, the things that we have in our homes, our vehicles, the things that are our possessions, the things we have and our way of life, our lifestyles, all greatly affect revival. We need to believe that. They are tied together. Our character, our possessions and our lifestyle can either invite revival to come or they can hinder its coming. They can. I think of Achan in the camp of Israel. You know, his character of greed, his lifestyle of deceit, his possession of a stolen Babylonian garment. What did that do to the camp of Israel? Here was the camp of Israel experiencing victory, experiencing revival. But here was Achan and the button's coming down and he won't budge. He wanted that garment. And he stopped revival. And it got the whole camp of Israel on their face, pleading with God. Why aren't the promises of God coming true? Why is revival coming down? Where did victory go? And I tell you, you may not have a stolen Babylonian garment here, but that shouldn't stop us from getting on our face and seeking God and saying, what is wrong? The promises of God are not coming true. Maybe the problem is metamorphosis. Maybe the problem's not Achan. Maybe the problem is me. Maybe I will not yield. I'm going to share a story that I heard Bill Gothard tell one time. I heard him say one time that he was dealing with a young person who was possessed with evil spirits. It was very obvious. This man was in bondage. And so, Bill, like a man of God would do, rose up in the Spirit of Christ and he just said, in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of him! And he said there was a voice that came out of this person and that voice said, I don't have to come out of him. And Bill spoke again. He said, by what authority do you not come out in the name of Jesus? And this voice came out of this young man and he said, because he has magazines. And because he has magazines, I can stay. I don't know what all to make of that story, brothers and sisters. I tell it as a true story from a man of God. And I don't know what all to make of that, but it sure came to my mind when I thought about the things that we possess either invites revival to come or it hinders its coming. We need to be honest and come to grips with that. And again, you may not have bad magazines among you, but you might have some wrong music. You might have some bad business dealings. I don't think we need to say tonight, well, they're always going to have a little of that. That's man's thinking. Get rid of it. It hinders revival. It can completely stop it. I want to say again that there's something that we can do. We can't push the revival button, but we can push any of these buttons. The Spirit of God is prompting every one of us to push these buttons. And if you push this button down and you have a burden for souls and your heart is crying out for souls and you push this button down and you're praying and you're fasting and you push this button down and your eating habits come under control and you push this button down and you take time for God, and that's what metamorphosis is, brothers and sisters, when all these buttons are down. And I want you to notice something. It's encouraging to me. When all of these buttons are down, there is nothing to stop or hinder the revival button from coming down too. And so that when all these buttons are down and here comes the figure of God, there's nothing to hinder that button from coming down. And I want you to know that when all these little buttons are down, that's when the finger of God comes. God doesn't force His way on anyone. We clear the way and invite Him to come and we can't do it without His power. I'm not preaching do it on your own. I'm just saying there's something by the Spirit of grace, by the life of Christ within us that we can do. That's what metamorphosis is. When all those areas are yielded to God. And you can put your own little buttons in there. I just put up a few to make a point. And there's probably a whole lot more. And you put in there the ones where God needs to put His finger on your life so that God has complete liberty to come. You can say, well, Brother Dale, that's a pretty high standard. I mean, all those buttons down at once, who are you trying to kid? All those buttons down at once in my life, not to mention in the whole fellowship, all those buttons down at once, the standard's too high. It'll never happen. You're talking about metamorphosis, a complete change, no likeness between my old self and my new. There's nothing left. The standard's too high. And I just want to challenge you tonight. I'm going to quote another man when he said, I really didn't lift the standard up there. I just left it where God put it. I believe that. God put it there. We read about it. It's His perfect will that it would be there. And I want us to know tonight that anything less than that is substandard. And anything substandard to the will of God, I've heard that called ox-cart thinking. Do you know what ox-cart thinking is? That's a good term, and it refers to when David was in Jerusalem and the ark of God was in Kirjath-Jerim. And David wanted revival. David wanted God to come. And so he went and he got the ark of God in Kirjath-Jerim and he put it on an ox-cart. It may have had shiny new wheels. I don't know. But he put the ark of God on an ox-cart and the revival parade started for Jerusalem. And on the way it hit a rut in the road and Uzzah reached up to steady the ark and God slew him. Do you know why God slew Uzzah? It is a sobering lesson to me why God slew Uzzah. God slew Uzzah because God did not want to be on an ox-cart. God may well have rather fell off of that thing than to have been on an ox-cart. Why do I say that? I can tell you why. Because the Word of God gave explicit directions on how to move the ark of God. It was to be carried on the shoulders of the priest only with the stains thereon. That's how you move the ark of God. Where in the world did the thought for an ox-cart ever come from? I'll tell you where it came from. It came from the Philistines. They got that idea from the world. And the Philistines didn't know any better. And God was willing to wink at that. But what about the people of God? We know better. And the people of God know how to be in each of these areas. We don't have to look at the world and get our ideas from them on how to be in these areas. The people of God should know how to be. Sometimes I've noticed that Christians get a lot of good ideas from the world around them. Like, for example, moving the ark of God with an ox-cart. You know, and they reason. And here's the reasoning of man. Here's where his mind goes. Well, I want revival. We want God. Let's get the ark of God back over here. I mean, maybe an ox-cart isn't the right way here, but we want the ark of God here. We want revival. God will understand. I will tell you something tonight. God didn't understand. We don't understand. God gave explicit directions on how to move that ark. And He slew Uzziah. We get other pretty good ideas from the world. I've heard it often. Like, boys will be boys. I mean, boys will be boys. That's just the way it is. But God understands. I want to tell you something. God doesn't understand. God has a standard for boys. You read the story of the children mocking Elisha. Go up now, bald head. Go up now, bald head. Boys will be boys. Oh no, that wasn't God's response. He sent two she-bears out of the woods and tear them, it says, I believe. We've learned from the world how to tell mother-in-law jokes and jokes about marriage. And we laugh and say amen. That's how men are. But hey, God understands. Let me tell you something. God doesn't understand. You don't read in the Word of God about Jesus Christ making jokes about His bride, the church, or excuses and reasons not to love her. You know what you read about? You read about a cross and suffering wrongfully and taking her sins upon Himself. That's God's standard for men. That's it. And loving your wife like Christ loved the church is not a funny joke. It's a serious lifestyle. And you know, men, sometimes we say women. That's how they are, you know. That's just women. You've just got to understand them. They're different than we are. You've just got to understand them. But hey, God understands. Let me tell you, God doesn't understand. God has a standard for women. There's a place for you to be. And you can change and be in it. I believe that. What would that do to the Kingdom of God and the witness of His people upon the earth? And anything less than God's standard is ox cart thinking. I'm sure those people that were casting out devils and doing many wonderful works in the Lord's name, they probably had some kind of mentality like, I realize I haven't given God everything in my life, but we're sure doing a lot of wonderful works for our Lord. And you've got to understand, let me tell you something, God didn't understand. He said, depart from Me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. There's a higher standard. You might throw the rules and regulations of a church away, but don't throw the standard of God away. Anything less than God's standard is ox cart thinking and it doesn't come out right and you'll never be changed and we'll never have revival until we yield ourselves to this Scripture being transformed. So, how do we do that? How do we go through the process of metamorphosis? That's a good question. As a child of God, I would like to just, and you could just listen here, but in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, I want you to notice the first three words says, but we all. I like that. One remedy for everybody. No special remedy for parents. No special remedy for children. No special remedy for pastors. But we all. Same formula. And then it says, with open face. What does that mean? I'll tell you what I think that means. I think that means we're honest. We're not trying to hide anything. With open face. Here I am, Lord. All of us come to God that way. Here I am. I'm willing to be honest. I'm willing to admit my need. Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. I see in that a single eye. We're not looking around at each other, finding each other's faults. We're not judging ourselves by each other. We all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. Are changed. Metamorphosis. Into the same image. From glory to glory. We just keep growing. We just keep getting more and more like Him all the time. Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be. I know there's people that think sometimes, oh brother, that's too abstract. I mean, I try to fix my gaze on the Lord, but I still got all these problems. I'd like to just wind this message down this evening by sharing three points. Is this the way God brought it to me? Of what we must do to go through metamorphosis. To be like Christ. To be transformed. Into His image. The first thing that came to me is that you are going to have to lay down all of your excuses. All of your reasons. Your situation. All the things that would give you reason to justify yourself why it won't work. And with all those reasons and excuses, I'm going to say it this way and I'm going to ask you to pray about this. Because I'm one that has a lot of respect for the gifts of God. But with all those excuses, you're going to have to lay down your gifts and you're going to have to lay down anything that focuses on you and fix your gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Lay it all down. I heard Brother Roman Kaufman say one time that the blood of Jesus Christ covers everything. There is no sin too great. The blood of Jesus Christ covers everything except excuses. The blood of Christ will not cover your excuses. And when you stand before God and you have excuses, you're not covered. You think about it. That's a good meditation. If you're going to stand there and you're going to express to God that if your pastor would have come to you a little bit more softly and gently than you would have listened, or if your parents would have been just a little more tender and understanding and given you a little bit more liberty to move, that's an excuse that's not covered by the blood. That's a good meditation for you to bring before God. I know there's different situations and the blood of Christ covers all sin. Let's just be honest with open faith and get under the blood. The second thing that I'd like to mention. Lay it all down. The second thing is have faith in God ahead of time. And what I'm saying by that is have faith in the operation of God before the operation. That's what faith is. Really. You're still not changed. But that's okay. You have faith. Like Abraham, who being fully persuaded in what God had promised, he would also perform. Here you are. Your excuses are laid down. You have faith in God. Your eye is fixed upon Him. And you believe God that He's going to do what He says. Really, that's the way David slew Goliath. When did David have faith in God? It was ahead of time. It was. It's while Goliath was breathing out threatenings and slaughter to the armies of Israel. And they were all running scared. And that's when David had faith in God. And that's when everybody thought David was crazy. Did you know that Naaman entered the river before he got healed of his leprosy? You step into the waters before they divide. The three children in the fiery furnace. You know, before they went into there, they said, we don't know what God's going to do, but we know this. We are going to trust Him and it's all going to come out right. And I encourage us tonight, when you spin your cocoon, you go into your cocoon that way. Complete faith in God. Not sure what God's going to do, but I'm giving Him liberty. You go into your cocoon that way. David said in Psalms that my expectation is from Him. An expectation is something that hasn't happened yet. Faith in God. Lay your excuses down. Lay your complaints of your brother down. Lay it all down. And have faith in God ahead of time. And just see what God's going to do. And I'm going to close with number three. And I'll just tell you right now, people don't like number three. I would like to tell you that number three, and it's not this, but I would like to tell you that number three is the same thing that Moses told the children of Israel when they came to the Red Sea. You know, Moses said, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And I don't know if you've ever read that passage, but when you read that passage, it's a pretty clear indication that God didn't like that counsel. God immediately prompted Moses and He said, what are you telling the people to stand still for? Tell the people to go forward. That's what God said. Why cryest thou to Me? Tell the people to go forward. Don't stop now. And so I'm going to prompt you tonight to go forward. You may have been in the Garden of Gethsemane. You may have repented for your sins, but I want to tell you something. Don't stay there. You must go on to the cross. We sing that song sometimes. I come to the garden alone. I'd stay in the garden with Him, though the night around me be falling, but He bids me go. Through the voice of woe, His voice to me is calling. You must go on to the cross. It's the only way you'll ever turn into a butterfly. There's an act of your will that you must do. That's what brings glory to God. You've got to learn how to say no. You've got to learn how to bring your eyes in the check. You've got to learn how to discipline your body. You've got to learn how to bring your body under and you'll never do it on your own strength. You must die. The flesh must die. And I want you to know something, that the crowd is huge at the foot of the cross who want to be changed. The rich young ruler was there. He wanted to be changed. But when it comes time to get on the cross, not to pay the price for your sin, that price has already been paid, but for the crucifixion of your will. The crucifixion of the flesh when it's your time to get on the cross. Much of the crowd, with the rich young ruler, walks away sorrowful. When they see the caterpillar has to die, they walk away. I want to encourage us tonight to press on. Don't be afraid. Sometimes I wish there was a thing that we could do to make it more real to us that the flesh was dead. That has to happen, brothers and sisters. Being transformed in that very commandment lies a cross. You can't change that way without it. The cross of our Lord. Paul said, the cross by which I am crucified unto this world and the world is crucified unto me. Didn't matter how you looked at it, but he had to have the cross. It had to be a crucifixion. Not sure what to say, except I believe that God is here. And I know that I feel His finger coming down on my own heart for a deeper commitment for the crucifixion of the flesh. I think I'll just ask us to close our eyes. Let's come before God that way. I feel like we need to make a decision this evening. That's the question. Am I willing to change? You know, we don't always need to change in some great, dramatic, everybody knows about it area. Might be a private area that no one knows about. Just a little area. But if you're willing to push that button down, it will give you grace to push down a bigger button. And that will give you courage to move on to a more obvious area. Where is the finger of God touching you tonight? Are you willing to be crucified? If the answer is no, I'm going to tell you what you have to do. You don't have to be crucified tonight. That's your decision. But if you decide no, there is something you must do. You must go back and pick up all of your excuses for why you are the way you are. And you must stand before God and present them to Him that way. A caterpillar who will not spin a cocoon will die a caterpillar. It will never fly away. How will you stand before God? As a caterpillar with a briefcase full of excuses why you are the way you are. I ask you to vision yourself that way before God. A caterpillar with a briefcase full of excuses why you did not need to change. Or are you willing to be a butterfly? And spread your wings and fly away. Let's pray. Father, tonight we stand here in our weakness and in our great need. But we also stand here in the presence of the living God who has a perfect plan and a perfect will for each life here. Have your way, Father. That's our prayer. Oh, that we could spread our wings and rise above the things of earth. Oh, that they would grow dim in the light of Your glory and grace. Oh, God, would You make them fade away. Would You give us a vision tonight of the glory of God with the things that await us. Oh, Father, I pray that You would give us the grace tonight to do business with You, to with open face come before You and say, Lord, have Your way. Father, each heart here knows where Your finger is. I know they feel it. I'm going to open the altar. I just trust that God will have His way. Let's get it all cleared. All cleared. Think of that Scripture in Psalms 27. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Is everything clear in your life day by day? Are you walking with God? That was the heart of David. It's one thing I desire, David, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, that continuously there's an open heaven over your life. And he says, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. David is saying I want nothing between me and my God that I'm able to come right on in and inquire and see the beauty of Your character. Behold Your wonderful and beautiful face at all times. That was the heart of David as he expressed here in Psalms 27. I think of Luke. It says in Luke 1, He delivered us from our enemies that we might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. That's the heart of God. That day by day we can have that open heaven over our lives. A complete open heaven where there is nothing blocking. Where everything is clear. Where His grace is able to freely flow in our lives and we're able to walk with our God day by day with an open heart and a clear heaven over our lives. Is there any more that want to come? Come every soul by sin oppressed. Brother John, could we have just one verse of song? Come while the Spirit of God is bringing His finger to bear upon that need of your heart. Come and have the need of your heart met. Have that need dealt with. Have your life changed in that area and transformed and God is able to make that thing beautiful that you for so long have been struggling with and that need in your life that has been unchanged, God will make it to be beautiful and you will be that changed butterfly in that area of your life. Go ahead, Brother John. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will. While I am waiting, yielded and still. Okay. For you who are kneeling in the front here, why don't you make your way to the basement and there will be counselors there and if you need individual counseling, just make that need known and somebody will be down there to guide you into the counseling rooms there. So, just make your way downstairs at this time. May God meet the need of each one of your hearts. All of you that have been called upon to counsel this weekend, you should probably make your way downstairs at this time. May we continue to heed the voice of God this weekend. May we continue to tune in our ear to what the Spirit has to say to our church here at Charity Christian Fellowship. May we have our hearts open and our ears tuned in and may the need of our individual hearts and the need of our church be met by God's divine Spirit and His power and His grace flowing into our lives this weekend. And like I shared before, maybe there is continued need even after this weekend. Maybe the need of your heart. Maybe your heart still needs to continue to be turned to the Lord concerning that need, but keep persevering. Give Him no rest till we establish Zion and make her a praise on the earth. Till we establish your life in that area of need and bring beauty and praise out of your life in that given area.