Date: 11/28/2022

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to Him be the Glory and to the Holy Ghost. This month’s key word is Thankfulness. To end this month, I want to expound on “The results and the benefits of being Thankful.”

Thankfulness helps us to see God more clearly, who He is and what He is like. Thankfulness is like a telescope or a microscope, for it makes small things bigger. God is very honored when we thank Him. Thanking God for what we have helps us not to covet things and want things which we don’t have. Being a thankful believer, we are filled up with God and with the things of God instead of wanting things in the world. Therefore, we don’t want to sin, we want to love God. “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness… but rather giving of thanks.” But fornication, and all uncleanness and covetousness, let it be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous. Ma n, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Ephesians 5:3-5

Being thankful we are spiritually happy, for we realize how rich and blessed we are by God, and we are not wanting things from the world and the flesh. Thankfulness gives us more faith, for thankfulness reminds us of what God has done for us in the past and enables us to trust God for the future. Thankfulness promotes prayer, for when we are thankful and see what God has done in the past, that motivates us to pray for things regarding the future. “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2) Thankfulness promotes praise, for when we thank God for what He’s done, then we see God’s character. Thanksgiving and praise often go together. “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart… I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1-2) Thankfulness helps us to be humble, for being thankful helps us to clearly see how good God is and how great God is, and that we are what we are because of Him, and that is very humbling.

Saints and friends’ thankfulness promotes good relationships, for when we’re thankful, we see that God is sovereignly working in our life; that God is patient and faithful, and we can see things from God’s perspective, and we can love others for who they are. Thankfulness also has a stabilizing, anchoring influence in our life. Focusing on self and others can have a destabilizing effect, for we are seeing others’ imperfections, inabilities and sins. However, when we are thankful, we are not looking at what we and others are doing, but at what God is doing. I cannot say it strongly enough, we need to be thankful every day, until the Lord takes us home or until the rapture, and then we will keep thanking Him forever and ever. The Lord desires our thanks and deserves our thanks. And those who are thankful will be able to, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love is everlasting… Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His love is everlasting.” Psalm 136:1, 26.

I encourage you today to be thankful. Don’t wait. Bless and honor your Lord by being thankful right now! “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name.” (Psalm 100:4)  Because “…with God all things are possible”. Matthew 19:26

In His Service,

Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

General Chief Overseer/Senior Bishop

Date: 10/31/2022

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to Him be the Glory and to the Holy Ghost that abides within me. God has laid on my spirit to write a weekly message to the saints and friends of The Church of the Living God, The Pillar, and Ground of the Truth, Which He Purchased with His Own Blood, Inc.– Jewell Dominion. This week’s key word is Mindset Change (Part Four).

Saints and friends, you make wonder is it possible to change your mindset as a Christian? The answer is yes, there is a solution, but it requires you to change your mindset. It’s important for us to have our minds renewed as Christians. If our mind is not renewed, then it’s hard for us to receive something from God. He has a plan for our lives, but it’s hard to understand it or to follow it if we don’t have the wisdom to do so. God calls us to radically change our mindset, to be like-minded, humble-minded, and Christ-minded. As we follow Jesus, we learn to value others above ourselves and to truly live the way we were meant to live, so a watching world will take note (Philippians 2:1-11). Saints and friends, “Change your Mind”!

It’s important for us to have our minds renewed. We need to get our minds renewed so that we can be ready to receive what God has in store for us, as well as handle whatever challenges comes our way. Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. But as hard as it is to change on the outside, it seems infinitely harder to change on the inside. If there is anything we know about human nature, it is that people change slowly, if they change at all. Think about the struggles of your own life. What would you change about yourself on the inside if you could? Would it be an impatient spirit? Would it be a critical tongue? Would it be envy of those around you? Would it be a spirit of discontentment? Would it be lingering anger and resentment? Would it be uncontrollable sexual temptation? Would it be financial mismanagement? Would it be a guilty conscience? Would it be a tendency to look down on others? Would it be pride and arrogance? Would it be prejudice toward others? Would it be a quick temper? Would it be profound discouragement? Would it be an inability to appreciate life? Would it be an ungrateful spirit? Would it be a disorganized life? Would it be an inability to say no? Would it be a mean streak you can’t seem to get rid of?

Change is hard; nevertheless, we must be transfigured on the inside. Note the word “transfigured”.  The Greek word for “transformed” in Romans 12:2 is related to the English word metamorphosis. “Metamorphosis is the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and a tadpole becomes a frog. It’s a gradual change on the inside that produces a total transformation on the outside. I used the word “transfigure” because this is the same Greek word used for the

transfiguration of Christ when the true glory of Christ began to shine through his humanity and “he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:2-3). The word means to be changed or transformed from one thing to another. When Jesus was transfigured, he did not cease to be Jesus. He was still who he had been moments before, but for a brief time, the curtain was pulled back, and James, Peter and John saw as much of the true divinity of Christ as any man can see and still live. In that moment they saw the “real Jesus,” the true Son of God from heaven. He did not cease to be a man, but his identity was revealed to them as “the true living God”. Metamorphosis reveals what was always there in the genes of the caterpillar. Metamorphosis reveals the essential character of whatever was put there by the Creator in the beginning. Now let’s apply this to every believer in Jesus. When we come to Christ, we have the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). That’s an awesome thought that we who know Jesus as Lord and Savior have the “mind of Christ” within us.

In closing, saints, and friend, we have the “Mind of Christ”. According to Philippians 2:5 we, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” It will not happen by accident. It does not happen overnight. It cannot happen without the Holy Spirit. It happens when we make a personal commitment. It happens with the godly encouragement of other Christians. It happens as we become what God made us to be. It happens as we behold the glory of Jesus Christ. This is how the mind is renewed, by steadfastly gazing at the glories of Christ for what they really are. Therefore, we must pursue the Lord, to know him better and better. Then and only thing will be you be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  I think that’s what Paul has in mind in Romans 12:2 and in 2 Corinthians 3:18. As we reject the ways of the world (don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold), we must see things as God sees them. Therefore, just like the leaves falling off the trees, the trees are not dead. The trees are just letting dead leaves fall off its branches. We must do the same and let things die and fall off to follow Jesus. This is God’s desire. Having a transformed mind is within the reach of every believer because Matthew 19:26 tells us “…with God all things are possible”.

In His Service,

Bishop Dr. Calvin Worthem

General Chief Overseer/Senior Bishop