Sunday 9th June

Tori Pinfold shared a message titled, 
'Transformed from Glory to Glory'
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God’s glory and our glory.

It doesn't always feel natural to think of our own glory, yet it glorifies God more when we sit in what He has given us.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

We are being transformed into his image.

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 NIV
"Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
There are two Covenants between God and humanity. 

In the Old Covenant there was separation - it felt like God was up there on the mountain and the people were far away, outside of the Holiness.

There was a question in the mind of humanity of 'Can I keep this Law, so that God will be pleased with me?' The answer was no, we couldn't, but God had a plan for Christ to be the Way. 

The old way was glorious, but it was nothing compared to the New Covenant God was going to make with His people. 

The Israelites were at the base of the mountain and Moses was up there with God. When he returned his face was glowing! This reminded the people that God was so beyond what they could grasp.

We stay in a veiled way of thinking when we are in the Old Covenant. 

What does it mean to be unveiled?

2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV
"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ."

Jesus fulfils the Law and turns His face toward us! An encounter with God is what removes the veil. The Law still exists but its internal, it's written on our hearts. The Spirit is inside us doing the work. 

We tend to not like the fact that we might be glorious! Worm Theology is a name for it - an idea that if we make ourselves smaller and smaller it would make God bigger, but that doesn’t serve Him! He wants to lift us up and share His glory with us! 

It’s ok to have glory. The transformation at work in us points people back to God who makes us shine.

Just like an aurora which is caused by the sun, the beauty in us is caused by Christ - our Glory points back to His Glory!

"The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last." - C. S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)

This is what Jesus offers us in the New Covenant!

2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV
"Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere."

We are not prisoners of war, we are lead by Christ as God's children.

Just as there are models out the front of cathedrals that the blind can touch to grasp a concept of the enormity and sense of the Cathedral, we are models of God that people can tangibly touch and get a grasp of who God is!

As God transforms us from one glory to the next, He's making us into models of Himself.

People can see us as we change from one degree to another.

Romans 8:19 NIV
"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."

We have freedom in Christ, our faces are unveiled, we are being transformed from glory to glory and all of creation longs for that!

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You can watch the full message below: