October 9, 2026 • 13 mins
This podcast features sermons by Rob McFarlane. For more resources or to support this ministry visit www.mcfarlaneministries.com
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Rob McFarlane (00:29):
This morning I'd like to talk about being
transformed.
Now the word transform is usedthree times in the New
Testament, and it comes from theGreek word metamorphoo.
It's the root of our Englishword metamorphosis.
And a metamorphosis is a totalchange in nature, character, and
(00:52):
form.
It's when something completelychanges or is transformed.
Examples from nature is when atadpole becomes a frog, or
perhaps a prettier picture iswhen a caterpillar becomes a
butterfly.
And there's a process of changethat takes place.
It emerges as somethingcompletely different.
(01:16):
So it's used three times in theNew Testament in Matthew chapter
17, in Romans chapter 12, and in2 Corinthians chapter 3.
And we're going to look at eachof these occurrences today and
see three things that God usesto transform us to become like
Jesus.
And the first is in Matthewchapter 17.
Why don't we turn there and havea look at Matthew 17, verse 1
(01:40):
through to verse 9?
And this is the record of thetransfiguration of Jesus on the
mountaintop.
And I would say the first thingthat God uses to transform us
are mountaintop experiences.
Let's read from Matthew 17,verse 1 through to verse 9.
And I'm reading from the EnglishStandard Version.
(02:01):
It says, And after six days,Jesus took with him Peter and
James and John his brother, andled them up a high mountain by
themselves.
Interesting how often you seeJesus just with those three, his
closest friends, in his highpoints and also in his low
points, like in the Garden ofGethsemane.
(02:22):
And he was transfigured beforethem.
He was transformed before them,and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became white aslight.
And behold, there appeared tothem Moses and Elijah, talking
with him.
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord,it's good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make threetents here, one for you, one for
(02:43):
Moses, and one for Elijah.
And while he was still speaking,behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and a voicefrom the cloud said, This is my
beloved son, with whom I am wellpleased, listen to him.
When the disciples heard this,they fell on their faces and
were terrified.
But Jesus came and touched them,saying, Rise and have no fear.
(03:03):
And when they lifted up theireyes, they saw no one but Jesus
only.
And as they were coming down themountain, Jesus commanded them
to tell no one the vision untilthe Son of Man was raised from
the dead.
Now in verse 2 it says, He wastransfigured before them.
He is transformed before them.
And it's interesting how inverse 1 and verse 9 they went up
(03:25):
the mountain and they came backdown the mountain.
You know, in life we havemountaintop experiences.
Often a Sunday might be adefining moment in your life.
When you come together andthere's corporate worship and we
sense God's presence and we meethim on those mountaintops.
But the problem is we can't livethere.
And there was a desire thatPeter had.
(03:46):
He said, Let's make three littlehouses, let's stay here.
Now it would be wonderful if wecould meet here every day.
We could have times of worship,we could spend time in God's
presence together.
But the reality is we can't.
We have to go down the mountain,back into our everyday lives,
and serve the Lord wherever Hehas placed us.
We have to live our normallives.
(04:08):
And I think it's important torecognize that those mountaintop
experiences are things that weshould seek, we should
celebrate, we should go after.
So it might be when a guestspeaker comes through, a Sunday
meeting, a time of worship, atime where you draw aside and
you experience God.
Very interesting in verse 5through to verse 7.
They saw Jesus in a new lightfor who he really was.
(04:31):
He was transfigured before them.
His face shone and his clothesshone, and they and they they
fell down on their knees.
They were amazed at what theysaw.
Jesus spoke to them.
They heard the voice fromheaven.
This is my beloved son, in whomI am well pleased.
Listen to him.
They heard God speak clearly.
And Jesus touched them and said,Don't fear.
(04:53):
And we have those experienceswhere God touches us and
wonderful, wonderful thingshappen.
They wanted to stay on themountain, but they couldn't.
They had to move on with life.
I'd like to now look at thesecond scripture we're going to
look at, which is Romans chapter12 and verse 2.
And here we see the secondoccurrence of the word
transformed.
(05:14):
It's being transformed by therenewing of our minds.
Romans 12 and verse 2 says, Donot conform to the pattern of
this world.
Reading from the NewInternational Version, do not
conform to the pattern of thisworld, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to testand approve what God's will is
(05:35):
his good, pleasing, and perfectwill.
We're transformed as our mindsare renewed according to God's
word.
Now that word renew could betranslated to renovate, to
completely gut and reestablish.
To re-establish the foundationsin our thinking, or perhaps a
(05:58):
modern use of the word could beto rewire.
And so there's times that weneed to recognize that some of
our thinking needs to change.
Sometimes we've got stinkingthinking.
Sometimes there's things goingon between our ears that need to
change.
And where the man, where thethought, where your thoughts go,
you follow.
You follow those thoughts.
(06:18):
And there needs to be atransformation that takes place.
It's very interesting.
If we're not being transformedby the renewing of our minds,
then I believe we are beingconformed to the pattern of this
world.
And when he's talking about theworld, he's talking about this
world's thoughts, attitudes, andopinions.
This cosmos.
He's talking about this world'sthoughts and attitudes and
(06:41):
opinions of how we should live.
And when those thoughts are incontrast to the scriptures, then
the Bible calls those thoughtsevil thoughts.
He calls those thoughts thingsthat we shouldn't allow to
squeeze us into a mold.
J.B.
Phillips, in his translation,renders this verse this way.
He says, Do not let the worldaround you squeeze you into its
(07:05):
own mold.
And there is pressure.
There's peer pressure around us,there's pressure from the media,
there's pressure from all sortsof things trying to squeeze us
into a particular mold.
And God has not called us to besqueezed into that mold.
He wants us to take the truth ofhis word, he wants us to begin
to renew our minds, to renovateour thinking according to the
(07:26):
word of God.
And it's a process, it's not aonce-off event, it's something
that you have to keep workingon.
It's interesting how he says, asyou renew your mind, you'll
prove what is God's good,pleasing, and perfect will.
And I believe that talks aboutsomething that's progressive.
There's a progressive changethat starts taking place in our
(07:47):
lives, where we go from being inGod's good will for our lives
towards his pleasing will, andthen eventually into his perfect
will for our lives.
And if we take the promises ofGod's word, the principles, the
precepts, the patterns ofscripture, and we begin to say
that's the way I should live.
A transformation takes placewhen we start taking God's word
(08:08):
and we start feeding on God'sword and renewing our minds and
our own personal relationshipwith God.
We have a personalresponsibility for this
transformation to take place inour lives.
Don't be conformed to thepattern of this world.
Are we becoming more like Jesusor are we becoming more like the
world around us?
(08:28):
And you know, we live in ageneration where things that
have been accepted as normal arenow being considered abnormal.
And things that were consideredabnormal are being seen as
normal.
I think every generation's hadits challenges.
And in every generation we needto say what does God's word say
(08:50):
about this and how should welive?
And I think it's important thatwe recognize I cannot renew your
mind, I can simply renew mymind.
Don't conform to this thepattern of this world, be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
We all have a personalresponsibility to do this.
And then there's atransformation that begins to
(09:12):
take place, a change that beginsto take place as we spend time
in God's Word.
Faith arises, we reach out, wereceive God's grace, there's a
flow of God's power into ourlives, and there's a change that
takes place.
But it's simply by taking theword of God and renewing our
minds according to what theBible says.
(09:34):
It's very simple, really.
What do you do when you'refacing a challenge?
Find out what the Bible saysabout it, get those promises,
begin to meditate on them, whichwhich means to not empty your
mind, but to fill your mind, tomuse over, to chew over those
things.
And as you begin to chew on thatand you begin to muse over that,
you begin to see how you canlive.
(09:55):
Don't let this book of the Lorddepart from your mouth, but
meditate on it day and night.
Then you will make your wayprosperous and successful.
And the Bible says you'll dealwisely in the affairs of life.
The third use of this wordtransformed is in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3.
And we're going to read verse 17and verse 18, is our personal
(10:19):
time with God, how the HolySpirit transforms us by spending
time with Jesus.
Verse 17 and 18 in the EnglishStandard Version, it says, The
Lord is the Spirit, and wherethe Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom.
You know, the more time we spendwith God, the freer we become.
And then verse 18, he says, Andwe all with unveiled face,
(10:43):
beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the
same image from one degree ofglory to another.
For this comes from the Lord whois the Spirit.
As we spend time in His presenceand we're exposed to His love
and His grace and His mercy andHis faithfulness, we're changed
because we spend time with theLord.
(11:03):
You know, you you become likethe people you spend time with.
You really do.
You begin to pick up theirhabits, you begin to pick up
their idiosyncrasies, you beginto pick up traits from them.
And if we spend time with Jesus,a transformation begins to take
place in our lives.
We begin to reach our fullpotential.
It's a process of change fromtime spent in the presence of
(11:27):
God.
We behold his face and we becomelike him from one degree of
glory to another.
And as we spend time with him,we start to experience freedom.
Now I think there's threedistinct ways that he transforms
us.
First of all, there's thosemountaintop experiences.
Secondly, there's the renewingof our minds, which is the word
of God, and there's the timespent with God, which is the
(11:51):
Spirit of God.
And he uses the word and theSpirit to transform us, to
change us, to make us likeJesus.
We need the Word of God and weneed the Spirit of God.
You can't just live onmountaintop experiences.
God never intended ourrelationship with Him to be
Sunday to Sunday, and somehow wehave this long underwater swim
(12:13):
in between.
But he wants us to have a livingrelationship with him every day.
Now, if you only have the word,someone once said, you will dry
up.
You'll dry up.
If you only have the spirit,you'll blow up.
But if you have the word and thespirit, you'll grow up.
And I think that's a that's awonderful thing.
This week, I would encourage youto begin to develop a daily
(12:34):
habit of spending time in theword and with the spirit and
allowing him to transform us sowe become more like Jesus.
Should we pray?
Lord, we thank you for this day.
We thank you, Lord, that yourdesire is to meet with us.
We want you to transform us, tochange us.
And we thank you, Lord, a touchfrom you can change everything.
(12:54):
And I pray that you wouldcontinue to transform us.
You would use these things totransform us to be more like you
every day.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
This morning I'd like to talk about being
transformed.
Now the word transform is usedthree times in the New
Testament, and it comes from theGreek word metamorphoo.
It's the root of our Englishword metamorphosis.
And a metamorphosis is a totalchange in nature, character, and
(00:52):
form.
It's when something completelychanges or is transformed.
Examples from nature is when atadpole becomes a frog, or
perhaps a prettier picture iswhen a caterpillar becomes a
butterfly.
And there's a process of changethat takes place.
It emerges as somethingcompletely different.
(01:16):
So it's used three times in theNew Testament in Matthew chapter
17, in Romans chapter 12, and in2 Corinthians chapter 3.
And we're going to look at eachof these occurrences today and
see three things that God usesto transform us to become like
Jesus.
And the first is in Matthewchapter 17.
Why don't we turn there and havea look at Matthew 17, verse 1
(01:40):
through to verse 9?
And this is the record of thetransfiguration of Jesus on the
mountaintop.
And I would say the first thingthat God uses to transform us
are mountaintop experiences.
Let's read from Matthew 17,verse 1 through to verse 9.
And I'm reading from the EnglishStandard Version.
(02:01):
It says, And after six days,Jesus took with him Peter and
James and John his brother, andled them up a high mountain by
themselves.
Interesting how often you seeJesus just with those three, his
closest friends, in his highpoints and also in his low
points, like in the Garden ofGethsemane.
(02:22):
And he was transfigured beforethem.
He was transformed before them,and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became white aslight.
And behold, there appeared tothem Moses and Elijah, talking
with him.
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord,it's good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make threetents here, one for you, one for
(02:43):
Moses, and one for Elijah.
And while he was still speaking,behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and a voicefrom the cloud said, This is my
beloved son, with whom I am wellpleased, listen to him.
When the disciples heard this,they fell on their faces and
were terrified.
But Jesus came and touched them,saying, Rise and have no fear.
(03:03):
And when they lifted up theireyes, they saw no one but Jesus
only.
And as they were coming down themountain, Jesus commanded them
to tell no one the vision untilthe Son of Man was raised from
the dead.
Now in verse 2 it says, He wastransfigured before them.
He is transformed before them.
And it's interesting how inverse 1 and verse 9 they went up
(03:25):
the mountain and they came backdown the mountain.
You know, in life we havemountaintop experiences.
Often a Sunday might be adefining moment in your life.
When you come together andthere's corporate worship and we
sense God's presence and we meethim on those mountaintops.
But the problem is we can't livethere.
And there was a desire thatPeter had.
(03:46):
He said, Let's make three littlehouses, let's stay here.
Now it would be wonderful if wecould meet here every day.
We could have times of worship,we could spend time in God's
presence together.
But the reality is we can't.
We have to go down the mountain,back into our everyday lives,
and serve the Lord wherever Hehas placed us.
We have to live our normallives.
(04:08):
And I think it's important torecognize that those mountaintop
experiences are things that weshould seek, we should
celebrate, we should go after.
So it might be when a guestspeaker comes through, a Sunday
meeting, a time of worship, atime where you draw aside and
you experience God.
Very interesting in verse 5through to verse 7.
They saw Jesus in a new lightfor who he really was.
(04:31):
He was transfigured before them.
His face shone and his clothesshone, and they and they they
fell down on their knees.
They were amazed at what theysaw.
Jesus spoke to them.
They heard the voice fromheaven.
This is my beloved son, in whomI am well pleased.
Listen to him.
They heard God speak clearly.
And Jesus touched them and said,Don't fear.
(04:53):
And we have those experienceswhere God touches us and
wonderful, wonderful thingshappen.
They wanted to stay on themountain, but they couldn't.
They had to move on with life.
I'd like to now look at thesecond scripture we're going to
look at, which is Romans chapter12 and verse 2.
And here we see the secondoccurrence of the word
transformed.
(05:14):
It's being transformed by therenewing of our minds.
Romans 12 and verse 2 says, Donot conform to the pattern of
this world.
Reading from the NewInternational Version, do not
conform to the pattern of thisworld, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to testand approve what God's will is
(05:35):
his good, pleasing, and perfectwill.
We're transformed as our mindsare renewed according to God's
word.
Now that word renew could betranslated to renovate, to
completely gut and reestablish.
To re-establish the foundationsin our thinking, or perhaps a
(05:58):
modern use of the word could beto rewire.
And so there's times that weneed to recognize that some of
our thinking needs to change.
Sometimes we've got stinkingthinking.
Sometimes there's things goingon between our ears that need to
change.
And where the man, where thethought, where your thoughts go,
you follow.
You follow those thoughts.
(06:18):
And there needs to be atransformation that takes place.
It's very interesting.
If we're not being transformedby the renewing of our minds,
then I believe we are beingconformed to the pattern of this
world.
And when he's talking about theworld, he's talking about this
world's thoughts, attitudes, andopinions.
This cosmos.
He's talking about this world'sthoughts and attitudes and
(06:41):
opinions of how we should live.
And when those thoughts are incontrast to the scriptures, then
the Bible calls those thoughtsevil thoughts.
He calls those thoughts thingsthat we shouldn't allow to
squeeze us into a mold.
J.B.
Phillips, in his translation,renders this verse this way.
He says, Do not let the worldaround you squeeze you into its
(07:05):
own mold.
And there is pressure.
There's peer pressure around us,there's pressure from the media,
there's pressure from all sortsof things trying to squeeze us
into a particular mold.
And God has not called us to besqueezed into that mold.
He wants us to take the truth ofhis word, he wants us to begin
to renew our minds, to renovateour thinking according to the
(07:26):
word of God.
And it's a process, it's not aonce-off event, it's something
that you have to keep workingon.
It's interesting how he says, asyou renew your mind, you'll
prove what is God's good,pleasing, and perfect will.
And I believe that talks aboutsomething that's progressive.
There's a progressive changethat starts taking place in our
(07:47):
lives, where we go from being inGod's good will for our lives
towards his pleasing will, andthen eventually into his perfect
will for our lives.
And if we take the promises ofGod's word, the principles, the
precepts, the patterns ofscripture, and we begin to say
that's the way I should live.
A transformation takes placewhen we start taking God's word
(08:08):
and we start feeding on God'sword and renewing our minds and
our own personal relationshipwith God.
We have a personalresponsibility for this
transformation to take place inour lives.
Don't be conformed to thepattern of this world.
Are we becoming more like Jesusor are we becoming more like the
world around us?
(08:28):
And you know, we live in ageneration where things that
have been accepted as normal arenow being considered abnormal.
And things that were consideredabnormal are being seen as
normal.
I think every generation's hadits challenges.
And in every generation we needto say what does God's word say
(08:50):
about this and how should welive?
And I think it's important thatwe recognize I cannot renew your
mind, I can simply renew mymind.
Don't conform to this thepattern of this world, be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
We all have a personalresponsibility to do this.
And then there's atransformation that begins to
(09:12):
take place, a change that beginsto take place as we spend time
in God's Word.
Faith arises, we reach out, wereceive God's grace, there's a
flow of God's power into ourlives, and there's a change that
takes place.
But it's simply by taking theword of God and renewing our
minds according to what theBible says.
(09:34):
It's very simple, really.
What do you do when you'refacing a challenge?
Find out what the Bible saysabout it, get those promises,
begin to meditate on them, whichwhich means to not empty your
mind, but to fill your mind, tomuse over, to chew over those
things.
And as you begin to chew on thatand you begin to muse over that,
you begin to see how you canlive.
(09:55):
Don't let this book of the Lorddepart from your mouth, but
meditate on it day and night.
Then you will make your wayprosperous and successful.
And the Bible says you'll dealwisely in the affairs of life.
The third use of this wordtransformed is in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3.
And we're going to read verse 17and verse 18, is our personal
(10:19):
time with God, how the HolySpirit transforms us by spending
time with Jesus.
Verse 17 and 18 in the EnglishStandard Version, it says, The
Lord is the Spirit, and wherethe Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom.
You know, the more time we spendwith God, the freer we become.
And then verse 18, he says, Andwe all with unveiled face,
(10:43):
beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the
same image from one degree ofglory to another.
For this comes from the Lord whois the Spirit.
As we spend time in His presenceand we're exposed to His love
and His grace and His mercy andHis faithfulness, we're changed
because we spend time with theLord.
(11:03):
You know, you you become likethe people you spend time with.
You really do.
You begin to pick up theirhabits, you begin to pick up
their idiosyncrasies, you beginto pick up traits from them.
And if we spend time with Jesus,a transformation begins to take
place in our lives.
We begin to reach our fullpotential.
It's a process of change fromtime spent in the presence of
(11:27):
God.
We behold his face and we becomelike him from one degree of
glory to another.
And as we spend time with him,we start to experience freedom.
Now I think there's threedistinct ways that he transforms
us.
First of all, there's thosemountaintop experiences.
Secondly, there's the renewingof our minds, which is the word
of God, and there's the timespent with God, which is the
(11:51):
Spirit of God.
And he uses the word and theSpirit to transform us, to
change us, to make us likeJesus.
We need the Word of God and weneed the Spirit of God.
You can't just live onmountaintop experiences.
God never intended ourrelationship with Him to be
Sunday to Sunday, and somehow wehave this long underwater swim
(12:13):
in between.
But he wants us to have a livingrelationship with him every day.
Now, if you only have the word,someone once said, you will dry
up.
You'll dry up.
If you only have the spirit,you'll blow up.
But if you have the word and thespirit, you'll grow up.
And I think that's a that's awonderful thing.
This week, I would encourage youto begin to develop a daily
(12:34):
habit of spending time in theword and with the spirit and
allowing him to transform us sowe become more like Jesus.
Should we pray?
Lord, we thank you for this day.
We thank you, Lord, that yourdesire is to meet with us.
We want you to transform us, tochange us.
And we thank you, Lord, a touchfrom you can change everything.
(12:54):
And I pray that you wouldcontinue to transform us.
You would use these things totransform us to be more like you
every day.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
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