well we truly live and exciting times don't we and all of you being here today can attest to that fact you all have studied the Bible and come into relationship with Jehovah having you and that's why you're here today Jehovah by means of his word draws us together and we're here at the meeting to learn about him that's amazing fact isn't it but what's also amazing is even at this time millions of other people are studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses and learning about our heavenly father Jehovah the wonderful promises and plans that he has for mankind and Jesus actually in John 8 32 because of that truth he said that people could be set free from what well crippling depressing teachings that are honestly false such as mindless evolution that gives no hope for mankind the idea that there's some sort of fiery hell that people go to if they're bad to be tormented or that the Earth is going to be burned up those teachings are crippling because of the truth that Jehovah gives us and because of the Bible studies that are happening people are set free from those things but did you know that learning Bible truth involves more than just gaining knowledge why can we say that let's turn to our first scripture in Romans chapter 12 . we're going to look at verse two but notice the advice that the Apostle Paul was inspired to give I get a little context with regards to the Roman congregation in verse 1 he appeals to them he says I appeal to you by the compassions of God Brothers to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God a sacred service with your power of reason so basically what he was saying here is he wanted those Christians in the Roman congregation to live a life that was pleasing to Jehovah but they had to do something what did he say they had to verse 2 stop being molded by this system of things so evidently the Christian corrugation at that time they were living in Satan's world as we still are today but Satan was by means of unwholesome teachings and in false reasonings he was influencing just like a Potter can mold clay he was influencing their thinking in that time so what did they need to do we'll look back at the verse there they needed to be transformed by making their mind over so that they could prove to themselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God so so what's the point there the point that we're trying to make is that knowledge is not enough really Bible truth should transform us it should move us to take action shouldn't it and that's what we can see in this verse here um just talking a little bit about knowledge knowledge is familiarity with facts acquired by a personal experience observation or study and to kind of illustrate that we could use the example of somebody that smokes now they can study about the harmful of effects that smoke has on their body they may experience the harmful effects that smoke has on their lungs but does that knowledge move them to make changes so do you get the point do you see that Bible truth really should transform us so if you're studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses right now maybe you're at the point where you've learned about Jehovah you're drawing closer to them but you're trying you're starting to see that there's a connection between knowledge you're starting to see that you're going to start to need to make changes right there's changes that are involved so if you're at that point this talk is for you if you've been a dedicated servant of Jehovah for a while how can we continue to make transformations in our life and our personality this talk is for you so let's get a little bit of an overview first we're going to see how Bible truth moves us to change first our conduct and it helps us even to go deeper it helps us to change even our inner person and then we're going to talk about three ways that we can make progress in making this transformation and finally we're just going to take some time to discuss some of the benefits of making those changes so we have a lot to look forward to one thing that we need to keep in mind when it comes to making this Transformations is what can motivate us what can motivate us what draws us to make these these changes in our lives well have you ever met somebody that's new and uh you're just drawn to them right away whether it's their personality they have certain qualities and then you start to become friends with them you really enjoy spending time with him what do you do well in the back of your head you try to think of things that you can avoid doing so that you can don't cause them to become upset right and that's the same with Jehovah with our relationship we need to first of all think about things that he dislikes and try to avoid those let's see how that's true if you turn to our next scripture in Ephesians chapter 4 and we're going to look at focus on verse 22 there notice the advice given on how to make this transformation you were taught to put away the old personality that conforms to your father former course of conduct and that is being corrupted according to its deceptive desires so what are we seeing here well we're told to put away the old personality so the old personality could almost be like a garment or an article of clothing they get stained now especially in a formal setting if you're wearing a dress shirt or a nice dress and it gets stained you do whatever you can to take care of that stain maybe you're dabbing the stain off or if you have an extra shirt you go and change it don't you so that's the kind of the idea here we're working on putting away that old personality so changing our conduct it's interesting the verb put away in the original language it's in what is called the heiress tense it indicates an action that is taken just once or once and for all so basically that tells us that the old personality or literally the old man along with our former course of conduct it has to be put away with a definite and a decisive action thoroughly and completely it's not something about which we can successfully deliberate or even hesitate so we have to have in our minds that we want to change and we want to change because we love Jehovah we don't we do not want to hurt his feelings so it's reasonable to ask what are some things that Jehovah dislikes if we want to draw close to them what does he not like well turn with me to our next scripture in First Corinthians chapter six we're going to read verses 9 and 10. now as newer Bible students you may be struggling with some of these things and that's okay the reason we're reading these scriptures is we want to identify things that Jehovah doesn't like so that we can make needed changes so what are some of those things verses 9 and 10.
or do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit God's Kingdom do not be misled those who are sexually immoral idolaters adulterers men who submit to homosexual acts men who practice homosexuality thieves greedy people drunkards revilers and extortioners will not inherit God's Kingdom so here's a few things that Jehovah dislikes we have a nice list there so so thinking about it abusive alcohol would not be something that Jehovah is okay with maybe you're familiar unfamiliar with that that term there sexually immoral basically what sexually a sexual immorality means is it includes sexual relations between any person's other than a legally married husband and wife that's what sexual immorality is but we have to go a little bit deeper to understand Jehovah's thinking and how he feels oftentimes sexual immorality and and other scriptures and God's word the Bible is tied with uncleanness now uncleanness the term uncleanness includes much more than sexual immorality it can refer to things like smoking or telling dirty jokes it can also refer to bad things that people might do in private such as reading books that excite them sexually or viewing pornography in fact the the God's love book has a comment on this on pornography it says this pornography is designed to excite our sexual desires today pornography is present everywhere in magazines books music and television shows as well as on the internet notice what it says about how people in the world feel with regards to pornography many feel that pornography is harmless but it is actually very dangerous it can cause a person to become addicted to sex and to develop perverted desires once a person becomes involved with pornography he starts on a path that could lead to such things as marriage problems and even divorce so definitely things that we want to avoid can you see how Satan's thinking can mold us just like it did in the Christian congregation back then so we have to be mindful of that but again just going back to this list these are the some of the things that Jehovah dislikes but these very things are things that could be strongly entrenched and hard to overcome couldn't they so is it possible that we could make changes yes look at the next verse in First Corinthians 6. look at verse 11 chapter nine what does it say there and yet that is what some of you were that is what some of you were so in the past people made changes even with these strongly entrenched things people change their conduct and to keep going it says you have been washed clean you have been Sanctified you have been declared righteous so it's possible to make changes and after we make these changes be be declared righteous and Jehovah's eyes how amazing is that just to further give us confidence in the ability to change we have one modern day example that I really appreciated it's from the Watchtower 88. it's a man in Argentina he had an employee who was lazy and he was also deceitful so this worker really wasn't helping him in any way he also owned the employer owed the employee quite a bit of money and the article says that one day this worker just disappeared so years later in the street near his home the man met his former employee notice what happened the employee greeted him saying I was just going to your house to pay back the money I owe you here is your money thank you very much and please forgive me for not returning it to you sooner surprise the man asked him why he did this he answered I am now studying the Bible and I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses the Bible says that we are not to owe anyone anything except love that is why I returned what is yours how amazing is that well this man asked he said what power does the Bible have to produce such a change in a man and the result was this man himself started studying the Bible all because of the change the transformation that the Bible had on this man so it's very powerful and that's something that we'll learn as we review at the end of this talk that our example is a major benefit to making changes for Jehovah so maybe you knew ones that are studying the Bible you're already in transition of making changes but you want to continue and ones that have been dedicated to Jehovah for quite some time maybe you feel like you're in a little bit of a rut and you see things that you want to change but you don't know what the next step is in order to make those changes well that's where our second Point comes into play Bible truth should transform our inner person how do we know that well let's turn to our next scripture and we're going to go to Ephesians chapter 4.
and we already read verse 22 but notice the further advice that's given in verses 23 and 24. Ephesians 4 23 24 and you should continue to be made new in your dominant mental attitude and should put on the new personality that was created according to God's Will and true righteousness and loyalty so there's there's three things we want to focus on here first of all continue it's an ongoing process to make changes isn't it it's not just a one and done it takes time and that's something that we need to appreciate by this scripture that it takes time to make changes the second point though is focusing in on our dominant mental attitude we have to change our thinking see we the tendency might be to only focus on our conduct but what's behind the conduct it really is our thinking isn't it see our thinking eventually makes us do things doesn't it so we have to go behind the scenes and see see what's going on there and finally the new personality so remember we put that old personality away that old garment that stained garment and we're putting on the new personality which has beautiful qualities and can help us to make Jehovah happy so what good advice for us for that there one thing we have to be careful of is we look at our our image here um something we have to be mindful of is we see here this this man he looks good up front doesn't he maybe he's made those changes it changes in his conduct but what's going on underneath this is a good representation of of thinking see what what is what are our desires what are where are we going with things what are we uh inclined to right the warning here in this this picture is that we could instead of be working on being transformed we could be trying to be disguised we may know what's going on underneath but we may be pretending it's interesting that just comparing the two Greek words here transformed indicates change in form or composition like the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly but on the other hand the Greek word for disguising refers to change that is outward only a superficial change in appearance so we have to make sure that we penetrate that inner person and and something that's really important too focusing on conduct we may be taking away the bad by bad habits we may have but we also have to replace those bad habits with good things don't we it's important that we do that and that really will help us to change our inner person I'd like to relay another amazing illustration and story that kind of brings to this point of change the importance of changing our inner person there was a brother who had a violent background and he started studying the Bible he overcame he he faced the challenge of over drinking he overcame that he changed his violent background and uh so that was kind of a change in his conduct right he stopped fighting stopped over drinking and eventually he qualified to get baptized but it was interesting there was a he faced an unexpected test a drunk man came to his door and he challenged him to a fight while our brother was working on his conduct and he initially chewed the guy away but this drunk man started blaspheming Jehovah's name and when that happened he actually went outside and beat this man up so what happened well he suppressed violent tendencies didn't he but did he really change the person he was on the inside did he change his dominant mental attitude well he hadn't at the time and we can see that by his behavior there was something underneath wasn't there well the brother didn't give up with the help of the elders he continued to make good progress and eventually he qualified to be an elder well a few years have passed since this previous experience and he found himself in a similar situation he was at the Kingdom Hall and a drunk man came up again and he was trying to start a fight with one of his fellow elders well how did he react in that situation it says in a calm humble manner he reasoned with a drunk man eased the tension and he helped the Staggering man to get home so do you see the change there what happened well it wasn't just superficial was it see deep within he had been transformed into a Peaceable humble person and really all the Jehovah's praise because he allowed his inner person to be changed so we all have to think about who we are inside don't we how can we do that how can we identify the inner person that we are well one thing we can do is take part in self-reflection questions I think about things ask ourselves what have I done in the past who really am I right here's here's some questions you might be able to think about how do I view people of A different race or nationality acts 10 34 and 35 at this Peter began to speak and he said now I truly understand that God is Not partial but in every nation a man who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him so do you perceive Jehovah's impartiality do we see the importance of maintaining high moral standards do you yourself believe that the way Jehovah wants us to live is the best way of living have you proved that to yourself what is your choice of dress and grooming say how do you treat those of the opposite sex First Timothy 5 2 we are to treat older women as mothers younger women as sisters with all chasteness and the Watchtower has something to say about that it says that we do not want to show undue familiarity with the opposite sex some may view the use of body language gestures and glances that have romantic overtones as harmless and that these do not involve any physical contact but flirting or responding to it may arouse unclean thoughts that can lead to Serious sexual wrongdoing it has happened before and it can happen again what are your priorities show what major financial decisions have you made in the past few months how much amount what amount of work have you accepted the past few months did your priority show that Jehovah is first in your life see these are all things that we can think about to help us get a clearer picture of who that inner person is and see if there's any needed changes that we need to make well let's move on to the three basic steps that we can take part in to help us make progress in making these changes and the first one is if we turn to our picture what can help us to make progress before we look at the picture one thing we need to emphasize again is that it takes time it really takes time perhaps in your minds you're thinking about some of the things that you may need to overcome in order to be close to Jehovah and it may feel like you're you're standing at the the beginning of a trail and you have to make it all the way to the top of a mountain it could feel like that sometimes but it takes time transformation Transforming Our thinking and conduct it's not quick and it's not automatic so remember be patient with yourself when it comes to these things but looking at the picture here here's the three things that we can do so we first see the first box there what is this woman doing well she's taking time to have meaningful prayer with her Heavenly Father the person that wants her to make these changes possibly if she has any struggles and the person out of all people that is in the best position to help her Jehovah God so setting aside time to communicate with Jehovah bring it to him all right do you need help changing that inner person your attitudes do you need help with that talk to Jehovah about it ask him for his holy spirit that's our first step that we can do is have meaningful prayer with our heavenly father the second thing we can do if you notice the woman there she's she's standing there she's looking in the mirror her arms are crossed though sometimes it's a little uncomfortable looking at the mirror right we might not like what we see but there are changes that we can make maybe we have something on our face maybe our ties aren't as straight as they could be so looking at a mirror can actually help us can't it and that's the same with God's word the Bible God's word of the Bible is like a mirror and it can help us see who the inner person is remember we ask questions they could help us see who we are but more importantly looking into God's word the Bible can help us see who we are and it can help us make changes it's a It's actually kind of exciting as Bible students no doubt you've had this experience you may be doing your daily Bible reading and you're paying attention you're focusing and then and then you read a scripture and it just it hits you let's say for example you're in First Peter chapter 2 verse 1.
