We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:18-21

     I want to thank everyone for their participation in the Metamorphosis series. In speaking with people after the service the past few weeks, I know that the series has had a positive impact in a lot of lives. The baptism was particularly moving for people this past Sunday, and people afterward told me about some of the commitments they were making themselves. Others are continuing to wrestle with the truth, and I think it’s only a matter of time before many experience great spiritual breakthroughs. My hope is that over the past 40 days you have come to see a few things clearly:
1. That we as believers need to continue to change. We need to continually yield to God and allow him to transform us.
2. That we need to get into real relationships with people and allow them to help us in the process
3. That focusing our lives on God’s kingdom will make personal transformation a lot more natural.
4. That we need to be about helping people discover the best transformation - being born again.
     I trust that the progress you have made over these past 6 weeks will not be lost now that we are concluding the series. Let this be the beginning of new and positive patterns in your life. We (together) are the church, and God’s ability to use us is connected directly to how much each one of us is submitted to his work in our lives.
     We found out Tuesday morning that we are the only offer being considered right now on the Campobello building we’ve been pursuing! We should receive a counter-proposal any time, so please continue to pray!!! This may be part of the metamorphosis of our church, taking us to a new level of service in this community. God bless!
     -Pastor Bartley

To go deeper on the scripture above read…http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/powerpoint/11575926/

A final thought on metamorphosis…From the Velveteen Rabbit

“What is Real?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things buzz inside of you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:7-10

This is a challenging passage. To break it down, read http://cookministries.faithsite.com/content.asp?CID=15009

Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Those who play with the devil’s toys will be brought by degrees to wield his sword.
R. Buckminster Fuller

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8

There’s a really good message from Max Lucado that talks about how we can’t really love like this on our own. But, through knowing God first, we can then love others – not just in a “grit your teeth and just do it” way – but out of a heart God has filled to overflowing. http://www.maxlucado.com/pdf/upwords.receive.first.pdf

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.

To become Christ-like is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.

Henry Drummond

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new lifeIf we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Check out http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/powerpoint/11569876/

Irene Brasil sent in this encouragement…
Recently, during the Awana program I had a young girl come up to me at the Listening table, where the children recite their memorized verses in hopes to earn our signatures and earn badges. This young girl was able to recite a small part of the verse but not most of it. This verse in particular had two parts to it; Making it that much more difficult. Throughout the handbook time she repeatedly kept coming back to the table and giving it a shot, but since I was only able to give her two helps, she still hadn’t mastered it. In all honesty, at that time I thought to myself that there’s no way that she’s going to be able to master this tonight. Numerous times I had to keep turning her away and was even getting frustrated by her persistence. With only a few minutes left of handbook time to go, she came back to the table once again to give it a last try. To my amazement, she did it! I was so excited for her but also embarrassed by my lack of faith. That particular Sunday I wasn’t having a good day and later that evening it came to me how God had used this young girl to encourage me. After witnessing her constant persistence and the excitement in her eyes when she received the reward of my signature, I couldn’t help think about how easily I get discouraged and give up and take my eyes off the prize. What a blessing it was once again to experience God’s love and care in my time of need and to witness him working through this young life. Often we’re reminded in God’s word that he knows all and sees all and how much he cares for us. He promises us too, great blessings in this life and great rewards and prizes in Heaven some day. If only like this young girl we could all be that determined and hungry for His rewards. It reminds me that as we go through this Metamorphosis series, and face days of ups and downs, not to give up; To keep trusting in Him. We’re responsible for the work; He’s responsible for the results. 
– Irene

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7

Check out “changed from the inside out” by Max Lucado
http://maxlucado.com/email/2008/01.25.html

Be encouraged, you are in the home stretch!

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8*

I’ve always believed that God designed the physical world to represent the realities of the spiritual world (which is more real).  Anyone who has ever attended a live birth can attest to the mystery and majesty that surrounds new life.  It is really the greatest miracle of the human existence.  Likewise, in the spiritual realm, it is God’s greatest miracle.  The moment a person yields his life to God for the first time and takes him as his Father, a new life is born.  In our metamorphosis experience, this is greatest example of what God wants to do: to transform sinful human beings into his very own children of light.  He wants caterpillars to emerge as butterflies.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:12-13

For a great lesson on the importance of encouraging one another, check out: http://www.covenantfellowshipgreensboro.org/pages/writings/spiritial-reflections/the-spiritual-discipline-of-accountability.php

If it’s very painful for you to criticize your friends - you’re safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that’s the time to hold your tongue.
Alice Duer Miller

True friends stab you in the front.
Oscar Wilde

I know why I am here and my only real focused goal is to live each day to the fullest and to try and honor God and be an encouragement to others. What the future holds is firmly in God’s hands, and I am very happy about that!
Ken Hensley

But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:8-11

Have you read the 54 “one anothers” of the New Testament?  Apparently God expects us to do things for one another!  Check it out: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1810761/posts?page=101

One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.
Euripides

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.
Robert Brault

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.
Henri Nouwen

Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father,
and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you—
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
Proverbs 27:10

Check out the first section of this URL by Roger Hahn on Loyal Friendships…
http://www.cresourcei.org/biblestudy/bbproverbs10.html

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity
Proverbs 17:17*

Brothers and close friends are not just convenient to have around when we go through tough times; they are the very reason why God made them.  Everything about the way God designed the universe shows that he values interdependence.  We easily forget that God exists in three Persons who have enjoyed eternal fellowship.  This is the reason why fellowship is built into everything God makes – the marriage relationship, the family, the church.
-Pastor Bartley 

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
William Blake

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
Arnold H. Glasow

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.
Ann Landers

More on friendship and being one…
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/505748/