Discover the Secret to Grow in Christian Character [Truth that Transforms]

Discover the Secret to Grow in Christian Character" isn't just a catchy title. It is a truth many Christians badly need. 

Many Christians try and try to get rid of ungodly thoughts, bad habits, runaway emotions like sudden anger, and attitudes that they know aren’t right. Many struggle for years, trying to change their bad thoughts and bad behavior. Some give up.

***God has an answer.

***And God has a process to deeply, permanently change you and I to be like Jesus. 

Index:

0:00 The Secret of Growing Christian Character

0:38 Revelation: You Don’t develop Christlike Character. You Receive It.

0:57 We receive salvation from God. Holy Spirit Transplants Christ’s 

        Character in Us. But the Process is Different.

1:31 When we are born again our spirits are sanctified.

1:51 We are made up of 3 parts. Each is sanctified by a different process and at a different time. 

2:40 Holy Spirit sanctifies our souls

3:26 What is the Secret of Growing Christian Character?

3:50 Christ’s character isn’t achieved by being good or doing good works.

         Holy Spirit forms Christ’s character in us as we renew our minds with God’s Word.

4:48 ***God’s Process: You surrender.  I replace.

5:31 ***Takeaways: Concise Summary of Your Role and God’s Role in Growing Christlike Character in You

6:54***Activation: Applying God’s Process to Your Life

Revelation: You Don’t develop Christlike Character. You Receive It.

On the cross, Jesus was showing us the divine exchange – His for ours.

His righteousness exchanged for our sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

In the Same Way, Holy Spirit Transplants Christ’s Character in Us. But the Process is Different.

Ezekiel 36:26 NKJV

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart

When we were born again, God gave us a new heart and put a new spirit in us. 

*When we are born again our spirits are sanctified. 

Sanctified means “made holy.” It also means “set apart for God’s purposes.” Our spirits are made holy, made perfect. Nothing we do makes our spirits more holy. Our spirits’ sanctification is complete upon being born again. 

But we, like God, are made up of 3 parts. Each of these 3 parts is sanctified by a different process and at a different time. 

We are spirits, who live in a body. And we have a soul (our mind, will, and emotions.) 

After you were born again, you quickly discovered that you could still have ungodly thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and you could still sin. Your spirit was sanctified, but your soul was not.

God wants us to love Him the way he loves us. So, he left us a process to “work out” the sanctification of our souls (See Philippians 2:12). We love God by pursuing holiness and becoming like Christ.

Holy Spirit sanctifies our souls day by day. But the process is not automatic. We must be actively engaged in loving God, renewing our minds with God’s Word, and doing what God shows us to do. (This is the transformation process in Romans 12:1-2.) 

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What is the Secret of Growing Christian Character?

Christ’s character isn’t achieved by being good or doing good works. Like salvation, it is God's gift to us.  Self effort (doing good works) will never create Jesus’ supernatural character in you. 

Holy Spirit creates Christlikeness in us as we renew our minds with God’s Word. The process requires us to want to be like Jesus, to renew our minds by reading God’s word, and to do what God shows us to do.