Who Are You Becoming? / Becoming

Weekend Service for January 4Scripture Readings: Romans 12:1-2Becoming is not optional; it is happening all the time. Like a canoe drifting with or striving against a river’s current, every life is being carried somewhere by habits, pressures, and choices. Information alone does not hold a soul together. Without the deep “why” of formation in Christ, even a well-versed faith can collapse under pressure. There is no neutral—no safe idle. Loss, joy, milestones, and daily routines shape a person, and no one ever arrives at a final “I have become.” The call is to a lifelong journey of intentional becoming.Romans 12 sets the path: present your whole self as a living, holy sacrifice; refuse to copy the world’s patterns; be transformed by the renewing of the mind; discern God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. This way of becoming centers on surrender rather than self-assertion. The world molds by pressure and appetite; Jesus forms by yielded trust. Surrender is hard, especially when ambition, opportunity, and security pull in other directions. Yet discernment grows as one keeps moving forward while listening—submitting plans to God, inviting counsel from trusted friends, and choosing faithfulness over being owned by the urgent.God is not against joy; he delights to give good gifts in the right time. The issue is not enjoyment but orbit—whether desires orbit the self or the Savior. Intentionality matters. A gym membership that fades, a project that stalls, a Bible that sits unopened—these expose where the current is taking a life. Small, concrete acts of surrender can re-angle the heart: remove a distraction from the phone, carve out time for Scripture, prioritize marriage and parenting, make space for the Spirit. Formation often comes one ordinary decision at a time.The question that reveals trajectory is simple: Who will you be in five years? The future is uncertain, but the path to peace is not. The Spirit forms people who carry quiet steadiness even near the end, a peace that speaks without many words. Live in the world but be different from it. Let Jesus shape the core. Take the next surrendered step today.[00:00] Welcome[00:07] Series Launch: Becoming[01:29] With the Current vs. Against It[02:33] When Knowledge Lacks Formation[03:56] Formation Is Inevitable[06:40] Romans 12: Living Sacrifice[07:44] Be Different from the World[09:05] God Shapes Through Surrender[10:43] Vocational Crossroads and Listening[14:26] Desire, Joy, and God’s Timing[20:37] Making Space for Scripture[22:28] Small Habit Change, Big Impact[24:03] A Life Marked by Peace[25:22] Prayer of Surrender