Welcome to the Boundless Bible. My name is David Shapiro. Hey, I'm Javi Marquez. And I'm Jason Holloway. Hi, and welcome to the Boundless Bible. If you notice, I'm alone today. Javi and Jason are off for two weeks, but we wanted to continue uh having a conversation with you. And today I'm really excited to bring the subject of transformation to you. And when I think of transformation, I think of a couple of different things. Obviously, we know about the caterpillar and butterfly. We've heard that. We've heard a seed that turns into a tree. There's a lot of things we think about transformation, but one of the ones that really resonates the most for me is coal when it transforms into a diamond. And when you think about coal, it's, you know, it's dirty, it's something that you don't look, but doesn't look very impressive. And then over time and pressure, this turns into a diamond. And then I start thinking about our own lives. And transformation for our own lives sometimes takes a bit of time and a lot of pressure. And although we don't necessarily love the process, what comes out of it is something absolutely beautiful and better than we can even imagine. And so when I talk about transformation and I talk about the transformation that all of us go through, one of the stories from the Bible I look at is the story of Moses and his transformation. And the transformation begins from the time he was a baby. He was transformed from, you know, a Jewish slave who should have been killed into somebody who is taught by the Egyptians in the Egyptian court, Egyptian schools, learned the Egyptian way and was transformed in that way. And then transformed quickly back when he realized something didn't feel right, and he saw an Egyptian beating a slave, a Hebrew slave, you know, he killed that Egyptian and transforms instantly into a murderer and then ran away, feared the repercussions from Pharaoh and ran away and transformed again. And then he's in the desert for 40 years and not wandering around, but he's actually, when he goes into the desert, he becomes a shepherd and he's shepherding sheep in Midiah for 40 years. And when you start to look at the word 40 in Hebrew, it means transformation. It represents transformation. If you look at the 40 days that Jesus had to face Satan, or if you look at the 40 years of reign from Noah, and now it's 40 years of uh Moses' time in Midiah, but this transformation time is him training. He's training to be a shepherd for sheep. He's training how to take care of his sheep and lead them. And that's exactly what he's going to do with the Israelites. Uh, but first he goes up to the mountain, and when he's on the top of Mount Sinai, he he goes face to face with God. And God again sends him back to transform him, and he refuses. He says, I'm not ready. I don't speak well, it's not what I can do. And God says, I'll go with you. I'm even going to give you Aaron to speak for you. And through this transformation, God is with him, guiding him through it. It wasn't easy, but he was there with him. And it's really interesting because what happens is God had been transforming Moses for so long that when he sent him back to Egypt, he was going to transform an entire nation. So God not only uses our transformations for us, sometimes it can transform a huge nation. And I think that's kind of where that saying comes from, where if you said, hey, an idea can change the world, or one person matters and they can change the world. This is Moses, that one person who the transformation through God literally was able to transform the nation of Israel. And when he's there, you start to see the transformation of the Pharaoh who is his heart being hardened, and he's hardening his own heart. And this is a transformation that he's going through. And Moses becomes more and more sure of God and his direction for him, and he's going through that transformation. Even the Israelites are starting to believe more, and they're going through a transformation. And then finally, when you start to look at uh the next part of the story, this is where it gets really, really interesting. Is after they leave Egypt, when Moses is then going up on the mountain to get the laws, one of the greatest transformations I see is this is a murderer. This is somebody who murdered somebody who ran away out of fear of being punished, and now he's the lawgiver. Talk about a transformation. I mean, this is such a massive story of how somebody can transform from somebody who committed a crime to somebody who is giving the law. I absolutely love that in Exodus. And through that, there's some other things I look at for transformation, one of them being forgiveness. And forgiveness causes an enormous amount of transformation, but definitely not an easy thing to do. And if I look at that, you know, God had to forgive Moses for the murder that he committed and still bring him through what he had to go through training in order to release the Israelites. But the forgiveness part was very hard. And when you look at people in general, forgiveness leads to the transformation, but they don't understand about forgiveness. And I hear people all the time saying, you know, I don't understand how forgiveness, if it's if it's for me, it doesn't feel good. You know, I don't want to forgive that other person. And they hear, well, if you do forgive, that it's ultimately for you, but I'm going, if it's for me and I don't want to forgive, I'm not sure what the purpose is. And so they curse whoever might have actually caused them some pain. When you're not forgiving of somebody, usually it's because they're in close proximity with who you are. They could be a family member, they could be a loved one, and they really hurt you. And it becomes very hard to forgive. And I also think that, you know, for that transformation, there needs to be a purpose. You know, that that coal needs to go through enormous pressure to become a diamond. You need to go through that pressure, that that pain of forgiveness for purpose. And when I look at it, I look at it a different way. So if you look at forgiveness, you're saying, I don't want to forgive this person because they hurt me, which turned me into X. And that's why I'm this way because of them. And because of that, I don't want to forgive them. So now I have something in my past and it's hurting my future. But what you don't realize is that pain that you went through also changed you for the better. So all the things you're going through that are good, the things that you've turned into are for that positive reason. So you had to go through that not only for the bad and to feel that, but to also feel the good. So when you are cursing somebody or forgiving them, they're equally as important because they equally turned into, you know, had to do with who you are today. So it's very important that if I end up forgiving somebody, that I realize that, hey, listen, it hurt. I don't have to put myself in the situation again, but this transformation is that way so I can understand that what they put me through, yes, gave me some bad, but also made me who I was, which is really good and positive. And I love that. I love that God sometimes puts you through some pain because he knows on the other side is going to be this enormous, wonderful moment where you're going to be a diamond, you're going to be able to shine. So I just wanted to really touch on that with transformation. And then we also hear things about transforming, such as, you know, you transform through the word of God. And, you know, this can't be understated enough. Us being called the Boundless Bible is a reason. You know, the Bible is such a beautiful book, but it's not just a book that you read. You know, you just want to, hey, I'm reading the Bible until it's finished. Really, the Bible finishes you. It takes you and it and it smooths you out and it finishes who you are and who you'll become. And when you read that, you start to learn that the transformation you'll start to get through the Bible and the stories of the Bible, you you've heard us. Whether you take it literally, well, whether you take it symbolically, uh, really has a lesson for all of us in there. And what's amazing is this book is not for us as far as, hey, what's the Bible about? It's about me. No, it's about God. It's his book, it's his testimony, but it also works because it can it can work on me by polishing me and making me into a better person that God created me to be. I can be better to my fellow person, I can honor God better. This is what the Bible is there for as well. And I think it's really important that when we read the Bible, we realize that the transformation is gonna continue to happen. And if you read it more, there's gonna be more transformation. So sometimes people read it one time, they go, okay, I understand. I read the Bible and that's it. No, keep going. Because when you read it again, you'll find that it transforms you even more and a little bit more and a little bit more. And you just keep polishing away different things that the Bible is gonna teach you and show you. And uh, that's part of what I really love about the Bible is it it keeps presenting different things to me every time. If you look at the transformation stories throughout the Bible, you can look at Jacob, you can look at Saul who became Paul. Man, there's some amazing transformation stories in the Bible. And the great thing is we're not that far removed from it. We are the still the same people that are written about in the Bible. Yes, we are still sinful. Yes, we are still capable of murder, but we're also capable of helping an entire nation. We're capable of transforming into somebody who will follow, follow God's lead even when we're scared. Uh recently we just did an episode on David and Goliath, and we talked about facing your giants. And man, you know, there are times where that giant seems so massive that you don't want to face them. But how's the transformation gonna happen unless you trust God, have faith in his word, and move forward? You know, it reminds me of uh when I was in the military, one of the things they talked about was to keep moving forward. It's something that is near and dear to their heart. Is yes, there's gonna be times where you're gonna be sad, you're gonna be in tough battles, you might even lose somebody really close to you, but you have to keep moving forward, even if you're stay sad, even if you're scared, just keep going forward. And there's something about the transformation that, yes, you want to stop. While you're feeling all that pressure, while you're that piece of coal turning into diamond, there's that moment where you go, I just want to give up. I want to stop this process. It's painful, it hurts, it's too much pressure. And if you just keep going, man, what a beautiful diamond you'll be. And it's not a prideful thing. This is not, I'm a diamond because I'm the best. It's a I'm a diamond because God transformed me into what He created me to be. And that's the most beautiful thing. The last thing I want to talk about with transformation is there are times when we're already transformed. I've already accepted Jesus, I've already read the Bible, I understand the stories, and then I start to feel a little bit distant. And I'm going, okay, you know, I'm transforming the other way. I'm I'm starting to lose my hope and faith in Jesus. And I'm gonna tell you something that, you know, helps me sometimes. And I heard all of the different answers that you get. Sometimes you get them in church and you go, all right, you have to pray more, which I agree. You have to read the scriptures more, which I agree. But sometimes that's not helping. And you listen to the worship music and you're you're just struggling to move forward and you're struggling to maybe even believe, and you're going, I don't know what's happening, but I'm I'm actually transforming the opposite way away from Jesus. And that makes me very nervous. I will tell you that this is a moment where what really helps me is serving. If you serve, it is incredible. And and I always think about this is when you're a waiter and you're supposed to be waiting on people, you're actually serving them. So while you're in a waiting period, serve. As a waiter, serve. You're gonna always feel better. But even more than that, if I'm not serving and I'm not feeling God around, what I can start to do is look at the eyes of other people around me, look at the life that goes into them when they first discover Jesus, when they first get baptized, when they accept Jesus for the first time. Just look in their eyes. Look in the eyes of a child who is full of wonder of Jesus and gets baptized and comes back out of the water, or somebody who has been struggling with something for years and gets baptized and comes out of the water and filled with the Holy Spirit. Look in their eyes and just see just how amazing it really is. And that'll help you go, you know what? This is real. This is true. I have all the logical facts that say it. I have all the things that I've read in the Bible that I believe. I know there's a God, but now I see him and I feel him and I know him. And it's just the most incredible thing. And it's hard sometimes. You lose that feeling that you have yourself, but try to hold on to that. Try to remember what that felt like for the first time when you came out. Try to think about your testimony. It's something that will never get taken away from you. Your testimony will be there with you forever. So when you don't have the answers and you don't have the facts, and you're saying, you know, I know I heard this somewhere, but this seems like maybe I was wrong and maybe there is no God there. Remember your testimony and what he's already brought you out of. That transformation will happen as well. And just sit back and go, you know what? God, you were good. You were good to me. You're good to my loved ones. Yeah, I went through some pressure. I went through some times that had to turn that coal into diamond, but you've always come through for me. And at that moment, when you look in somebody else's eyes and you see that same testimony that was inside of you, everything will change. You'll start to transform back to just that wonderful, God-loving person that you were created to be, full of reverence and love for the Lord, just like he's full of love for you. Well, I thank you guys for listening to me. If you like this series, you like the other podcasts that we do, please like and share. You can always visit us on theboundless bible.com. Look forward to talking to you again. Thanks so much. Bye.