The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Transformation

He started out by ‘nicking car badges from expensive cars like Mercedes and Porsches.’ Darrell Tunningley later reflected, ‘It’s scary how quickly you can go from stealing mars bars to cars.’

He became a drug addict: ‘When I started to use heroin I truly believed I would stay in control and that the drug would never control me. How wrong I was!’ Soon Darrell was selling drugs himself. He was eventually sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for armed robbery. He had become an extremely violent man.

In prison he agreed to attend Alpha, mainly because of an offer of ‘free coffee and biscuits’. He encountered Jesus Christ. Darrell quotes 2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

‘Life had never been so good, I had bars on my windows but I never felt so free’, he writes. He started running Alpha in the prison. ‘More people were becoming Christians in the prison and the numbers at Sunday service kept going up and up. More and more people were choosing to live a drug-free life.’

On 4 August 2000 Darrell was released from prison. He became an accredited minister with the Assemblies of God. He met a young woman called Rebekah, and has since become a husband and a father.

In his book about his life, ‘Unreachable’, Darrell writes, ‘If you have read this book because you feel that your life is going down the toilet then just stop, dare to dream what God may have in store for you. Remember a heroin addict who was convicted for armed robbery, God came into his life, gave him a future that he could never have dreamt of.’

Psalm 79:1-13

1. Pray for the transformation of your nation

Transformation is possible. God can transform individual lives. He can also transform cities and nations.

In the sixth century BC the people of God went into exile. The psalmist writes, ‘God! Barbarians have broken into your home, violated your holy temple, left Jerusalem a pile of rubble! ... We’re nothing but a joke to our neighbours, graffiti scrawled on the city walls’ (vv.1,4, MSG). As the psalmist considers the destruction of the temple and the exile, he sees that God’s name is dishonoured.

As we look, for example, at the UK today and see churches being closed and God’s name dishonoured, God’s people are once again the object of scorn and derision. The psalmist prays, ‘How long do we have to put up with this, God? ... We’re at the end of our rope. You’re famous for helping; God, give us a break. Your reputation is on the line. Pull us out of this mess, forgive us our sins – do what you’re famous for doing!’ (vv.5,8–9, MSG).

This is a prayer of desperation. It is also a prayer of faith. God has the power to transform the situation. We can look forward to the time when God will answer our prayer, ‘Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise’ (v.13).

Lord, as we look at our city and our nation, we cry out to you for mercy. We are in desperate need. ‘Help us, O God our Saviour, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins’ (v.9).

May this nation be a place where once again, your name is honoured. May the churches be filled with people worshipping you. May crime be reduced dramatically. May gangs no longer rule the estates. May the streets become safe again. May there be good education available to all. Your kingdom come, may your name be glorified.

Acts 21:27-22:21

2. Testify to the transformation in your life

Every Christian has a testimony about the transformation Jesus has brought to their lives. It may not be as dramatic as Darrell Tunningley’s story or the apostle Paul’s. Nevertheless, every story of a relationship with Jesus is powerful. If you have an opportunity to tell your story, what should you say? This passage gives a very good model to follow.

Once again, Paul was in trouble. The crowd had been ‘stirred up’ (21:27). People had made false assumptions about him (v.29); they were trying to ‘kill him’ (v.31). They beat him (v.32) and arrested him (v.33). He was ‘secured with two chains’ (v.33, AMP). He faced mob violence (v.35). How did he respond?

Paul responded as he always did – by telling them about Jesus. As so often, he gave his testimony, sharing what Jesus had done in his life. It is a very good model of how we should give our testimonies today. It is in three parts:

1. What you were like before.
2. What happened.
3. The difference Jesus has made.

• Identify with your audience
  Paul identifies with his audience. He speaks in Aramaic (v.40). He stresses the parts of his life that the people of Jerusalem would identify with. Because he is speaking to Jews, he speaks only of his Jewish qualifications: ‘I am a good Jew ... I’ve always been passionately on God's side, just as you are right now’ (v.3, MSG).

Paul points out that he used to persecute Christians putting them in chains (v.4), flogging them and having them thrown in prison (vv.4–20), just as they were attempting to do to him at that moment.

When you give your testimony, find points of contact with your audience. For example, at Alpha invitation events, people often begin with elements of their story that others can relate to, or which are likely to resonate with the guests. They start by saying things like, ‘I was an atheist … I was an alcoholic … I was a drug addict … I was antagonistic to the church.’  

• Tell them what happened to you
  Paul then gives a very detailed account of what happened to him when he encountered Jesus. He heard Jesus’ voice when he appeared before him on the road to Damascus. Jesus asked him questions and gave him commands. Paul listened and did as Jesus instructed.

We encourage people to describe their conversion in very concrete terms, as Paul does in this passage. It is the details that make it real and powerful.

• Describe the difference Jesus has made in your life
  Paul then goes on to describe the difference Jesus has made in his life. Ananias told him to be a ‘key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptized, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God’ (vv.15–16, MSG). The one who had gone around persecuting Christians was called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (v.21).

Again, we encourage people who give their testimony to describe in a concrete way, the transformation Jesus has made in their lives.

Lord, thank you for the power of a testimony. Help us all to follow Paul’s example as we give our testimony over and over again. Help us never to grow tired of describing the transformation Jesus has made in our lives.

2 Kings 4:38-6:23

3. Understand that transformation is an act of grace

God performed several miracles through Elisha. There were feeding miracles (4:38–44), an axe-head floating (6:1–7) and blinded Arameans (6:8–23). Not only were miracles performed through him, but also he had a remarkable prophetic gift, ‘Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom’ (6:12). In the middle of these accounts we read of a remarkable transformation in a Syrian general’s life.

‘Naaman was general of the army under the king of Aram. He was ‘a truly great man’ (5:1, MSG). But he had a problem, ‘he had leprosy’ (v.1). He hears about the possibility of healing through the power of God via a young servant girl (vv.2–4).

He is used to getting things by using his power and his money: ‘So he went off, taking with him about 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothes’ (v.5, MSG).

When he eventually gets to meet Elisha’s messenger, he is told, ‘Go to the River Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you’ll be as good as new’ (v.10, MSG). Initially, he loses his temper and stomps off (vv.11–12, MSG). He expected to be healed in a grander and less humbling way. Pride can keep us from receiving everything God wants to give us.

However, encouraged by his servant, he dips himself in the Jordan seven times and ‘his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy’ (v.14). He is utterly transformed. He says, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel’ (v.15).

He offers to pay for his healing. Elisha refuses to accept anything. Healing and transformation are a gift from God by grace. They cannot be earned. Gehazi makes the terrible mistake of trying to make money out of God’s grace (vv.19–27).

Father, thank you that transformation comes by grace. It is a gift of your undeserved love. Thank you for your miraculous power to heal and to save. Help us to have the same attitude as Elisha and never to try to take any credit, whether material or otherwise, for ourselves.

Pippa Adds

2 Kings 6:16

‘ “Don't be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ’

If you feel surrounded by difficulties and under attack remember that, when everything seems against you, God has a mighty army that can come and deliver you.

Notes:

Darrell Tunningley, Unreachable, (Sovereign World, 2011).

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.