T.R.A.I.N. to be Christlike

I saw Casino Royale this past week with a few friends. If you like James Bond movies or these types of movies, you will like this. Overall, the movie was good, but I left the movie pondering something completely different.

Now, don't take this the wrong way, but I saw the new James Bond and I was impressed with how built his upper body looked. I looked at his body size and thought I was very similar in structure. However, where I lack is that I have tons of flab and he is well defined. Mind you, he isn’t this huge man, but his body is built.

So, after watching the movie, I decided that I was going to train myself to have a better body. I didn’t want to be 50 years old with a fat belly and wonder why my body looks so bad. After all, if James Bond can have a great body, why can’t I?

So, I came up with a plan as to how I was going to get a better body. I decided I was going to do 2 specific things:
* Watch what I eat
* Exercise and work out

I’ve been doing this for about a week and you know what. I haven’t lost any weight and my body doesn’t look any different. However, in the midst of my training, I know that I am headed down the right direction and if I don’t quit, I will be better off down the road because of steps I am taking right now.

In light of this, today we are going to talk about training ourselves to be Christlike in our lives. We are going to examine 5 easy, sure fire ways you can train to become more Christlike. Will you become Christlike overnight because of this training, probably not. However, just like me and my body situation, you will be headed down a path to true life.

So, let’s get into right now by looking at why we should become Christlike.

Scripture

1 Timothy 4:7-8: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

* What are we to do here? Stay away from godlessness and train ourselves to be godly
* What are the benefits of being godly? We will realize the promises God has for both this present life and life to come
* How do we train ourselves to be godly?

To train ourselves to be Christlike, we have to do 5 things. To help you remember them better, I came up with an acronym – T.R.A.I.N. Now, this isn’t a formual nor is it in any particular order. This is just a way for you to remember what you can do.

To effectively train ourselves to be Christlike we have to Transform our Minds

Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer 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.”

What are we to do? Don’t conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind

When we commit to following Christ, changes happen. If instance, once you start following Christ, some of the old things you had done, should now be gone – like getting wasted, sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Why is that? (Let students answer) It is because……we are transformed. The old Tom is gone, a new one is here. The old things we did are now gone because God can and should fill that void in our lives.

Now given, it doesn’t always happen like that and sometimes people stumble – in fact, we all do and fall back into that trap. But overall, we are transformed.

It is a transformation that begins in our minds. Our train of thought has to focus on godly things, not selfish things or things “the world” thinks about.

What then, is the benefit of this transformation? We’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So, it begins with a transformation of your mind. We need to go from our desires, will and wants to God’s path. When we do that, we will be able to know God’s path for our life – a path that is good, pleasing and perfect.

The 2nd training exercise we can do to become more Christlike is to Read the Bible.

I mentioned this last week, so I won’t go too in-depth about this. However, as I pointed out last week, that when we read the Bible, we benefit. It gives us freedom from the old rules and regulations. It makes us prosperous and successful in life and it will help us as we head down the road of life.

As I said last week, these are just some of the benefits. But, if we want to train ourselves to be more Christlike, we need to incorporate God’s handbook to life – the Bible.

That’s right, it is our handbook and instruction manual on what to do and what not to do. The stories are often fascinating and there are plenty of great situations that you will often find ourselves in. Sure, take out the camels and the mules and substitute them with dogs and cats – whatever, you get my point.

Again, as I said last week, when we read the Bible, we benefit. So, as we train ourselves to be more Christlike, we need to Read the Bible.

The 3rd training exercise we can do to become more Christlike is to Apply what we learn.

Everyday, we learn something. Sometimes they are good like Pie = 3.14. Sometimes they are bad like, “you mean I can get in trouble for forging my parents signatures” – who would have known? You get my point.

What good is it if you learn something that can impact and change your life for the better if you don’t do anything with it? We’ve got to apply what we learn or we’ll never be better off.

One of my favorite verses is John 10:10. Christ said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

That full life comes from following Christ and training ourselves to be like Him. By reading the Bible, attending church, surrounding yourselves with people who follow Christ faithfully, you will learn a bunch. What you have to do with your learning is to apply them to your life and see how God works in you because of your application.

If you want a better life, if you want to be more Christlike, you have to apply what you learn.

The 4th training exercise we can do to become more Christlike is to Inquire of God’s wisdom.

We have to seek out God’s wisdom. When a decision needs to be made, where do you turn? Remember, a few weeks ago, I talked about how Solomon, king of Israel asked God for godly wisdom in the decisions he would have to make because he was young and had so much responsibility. Do you turn to God like that? God wants to give us wisdom to make the right decisions.

In fact, it says in James 1:5 – “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him”

The answer I most often get, when I ask a student, or an adult for that matter, what they are going to do with a certain situation, is “I don’t know”. It’s true, do a little poll by yourself and see if that is true of your friends too. They may have an idea of what they want to do or their options, but it is still a toss up.

The way we can know what to do is to ask God. James 1:5 says that if we lack wisdom – which most of us do – we should ask God and it will be given to us.

Now, once God gives us this wisdom, we have to APPLY WHAT WE LEARN – #3. What good is godly wisdom if we refuse to apply it?

So, seek Godly council, he promises to give us wisdom and apply it.

The last training exercise we can do to become more Christlike is to Never QUIT!

Notice how I didn’t say Never give up or Never stop? Giving up is like you tried for a bit but you just couldn’t do it anymore…poor you. Quitting means you refused to go on. Whether it was the pressure or the circumstances, you just couldn’t cut it. Do you understand what I am saying?

It can be awfully hard to be Christlike – especially since most other people in this world aren’t striving to TRAIN themselves. However, we can’t quit. We can’t quit on Christ!

Quitting on Christ means that He isn’t worth it.
Quitting on Christ means that He can’t help you through it.
Quitting on Christ means that He doesn’t have the power to help.

When we quit on Christ, you failed in life. Hear this again, when you quit on Christ, you failed in life. Why? Because you are quitting on the only true hope there is. You are quitting on the only true love there is. You are quitting on the only true path.

Guys and gals, life is tough and it is hard. You are faced with countless situations that almost appear like no win situations. However, there is victory to be gained and it is in following Christ. NEVER QUIT ON CHRIST!

Application

So, in wrapping up, we need to train ourselves to be more Christlike:
· Transform our Mind
· Read the Bible
· Apply what we learn
· Inquire of God’s wisdom
· Never QUIT!

It is never too late to train yourself. But, don’t wait til you have made too many poor choices that it will be harder for you to get into shape.

Look, I weigh 185 right now. I need to get into shape now while I still weight this much. I don’t want to make it harder on myself by weighing 200, 215 before I get into better shape.

What can you do this week to train yourselves? Where do you need to begin? The challenge this week is to go out and begin to train to become more Christlike.

Why do that? Because, as I mentioned earlier, we can take hold of the promises God has for us and we can know and understand His will, His path for our life.

Let’s begin today to TRAIN ourselves to be more Christlike.

Pray

The Benefits of Living out God's Word

Opening Question

What are the benefits of these products? What contributions to society do these things do?
* a plunger
* a tv
* a piece of paper
* a cup of coffee

Now, what about a Bible? Is there any benefit to this thing? Don’t give the pat answer of yes…tell me what? What are the benefits to reading the Bible and doing what it says?

Today, we are going to examine and explore some of the benefits of reading the Bible and doing what it says. Because I believe that this one thing can be one of the greatest contributions to your life and a handbook as to how to live your life effectively.

Scripture
The 1st benefit is found in the book of James.

James 1:22, 25: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says... But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”
1. What are we do when we read the Bible?
2. What will happen to us if we read and apply what the Bible says?
3. What will we be free from?

When we read the Bible, we need to do what it says. If we do, we will be blessed and it brings about freedom.

So, the 1st benefit from reading the Bible and doing what it says is that we will have freedom from the old rules and regulations that so many of the Jewish people were imprisoned by.

These are not not actual rules, but if you mowed your law on the Holy Day/Sabbath, you would be sinning. If you milked your cow at certain times, you would be sinning. I know they sound like silly rules and who would ever do these, but the Jewish people were held to those types of rules.

But, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we are no long slaves to those kinds of rules. But now, we are free because of the grace and love that Christ brought us through his death and resurrection.

What we need to do to experience that freedom is to read the Bible and do what it says. So again, the 1st benefit of reading the Bible and doing what is says is that it brings freedom.

The 2nd benefit is found in Joshua

Joshua 1:8: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
1. What are we do when we read the Bible?
2. What will happen to us if we read and apply what the Bible says?
3. Prosperous and successful in what?

The 2nd benefit from reading the Bible and doing what it says is that we will be prosperous and successful in life. By knowing what it says and doing it, you will have that guide to help you make the right decisions. It is a handbook you can turn to and examine how other people made choices and how those choices either worked for them or against them.

So, not only will we gain freedom but we will be prosperous and successful in life. Not too shabby?

The 3rd benefit is found in Psalm.

Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
1. What benefit will we get from reading the Bible?
2. What is the symbolism here?

A light, especially when it is dark and scary, will help you make the right steps along the path so that you can get to your final destination.

So, in the path of life, a light will help you stay on that path and not fall off or get sidetracked so that you can reach your end goal. Reading the Bible and doing what it says will help give you guidance that will help you stay on track.

So many people feel that they know the right way and that they can do it all alone. Why do it alone when God is there ready to help you and guide you? Why go through all the pain and suffering of the poor choices you will make when God want to help you?

Application

So, wrapping up, there are 3 clear benefits from reading the Bible and doing what it says:
1. It will bring you freedom
2. It will make you prosperous and successful – not necessarily in riches but in life
3. It will be a guide for you to make the right decisions to stay on the right path – God’s path for your life.

The Bible is your complete handbook for life.

The challenge this week is simple. Break out a Bible, read it and do what it says. What’s the worse that can happen to you? You have more clarity in what you should be doing in life situations? You might succeed? You might not stress about important decisions? If you ask me, that isn’t too shabby.

If you need a starting point – no problem. I have a 30 day, brief overview of stories in the Bible. You might say, it’s the cliff note version of the Bible. 30 Day Challenge

This week, let’s make no more excuses why we don’t read the Bible. Let’s try it out and see how God impacts our life because of it. No more excuses.