Creflo A. Dollar: Defeating Sin Consciousness Through the Renewing of the Mind – Sunday Service

From College Park, Georgia, to Johannesburg, South Africa, lives are being transformed through your generosity. Thank you, World Changers Church International, for helping feed and care for people around the world. Your love and support continue to make a lasting difference.

Now it is time for the Opportunity for Wholeness offering. If you need an offering envelope, simply raise your hand, and the ushers will gladly assist you.

Today, let us reflect on Second Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 through 10, and verse 12 from the Mirror Translation. These scriptures remind us that God’s goodness is revealed through our giving. Every Sunday we witness the impact of generosity through our churches, partners, friends, and the Grace Gang community. It has been incredible to travel to different places and meet people whose lives have been changed because of your giving.

One of the greatest blessings is knowing that we are completely debt-free. We owe no one anything except love. Every property, office, and ministry facility around the world has been fully paid for, and we give all the glory to God for that. Because of His faithfulness, we can continue being a blessing to people everywhere.

The scripture says that stingy sowing produces a limited harvest, while generous sowing produces abundance. Giving should never come from pressure, legalism, or obligation. True giving flows from the heart. Each person should prayerfully consider what God is leading them to give. Our generosity is motivated by the agape love of God, and His love inspires joyful, extravagant giving.

The grace of God is beyond measure. Through His grace, we have already been abundantly supplied, fully equipped, and empowered for every situation we may face. As God blesses us, the overflow of that blessing becomes a source of help and encouragement to others.

King David also spoke about generous giving in Psalms 112:9, describing the righteous person as one who gives freely to the poor and remains steadfast even during difficult times. God, who provides both seed for sowing and bread for food, also multiplies our resources and increases the harvest of righteousness in our lives.

This is truly a beautiful exchange. Not only are believers strengthened through generosity, but thanksgiving overflows to God as His goodness becomes visible through tangible acts of love. God’s goodness is expressed through our giving.

Generosity is not limited to church offerings. Every day, the Holy Spirit may lead us to bless someone in a special way. You may be in a grocery store when God prompts you to encourage someone with a simple message of love and forgiveness. You may be at a restaurant when the Spirit leads you to bless a server with an unexpected gift. Our willingness to obey those moments allows God’s grace to touch lives in powerful ways.

The Word of God was never meant to remain only in study notes or religious discussions. The Word must become part of our daily living. When people see the love, kindness, and generosity of Christ flowing through us, they encounter a living testimony that points them to Jesus.

As you prepare your offering today, pray about what God wants you to give. Give freely and joyfully, led by the Holy Spirit and motivated by grace. God’s goodness has been so overwhelming that many of us desire to become part of His generous flow. After all, He gave His only Son for us even when we were lost and broken. We can never forget that incredible love.

Father, thank You for the opportunity to give and sow into the lives of others. Inspire us through Your Spirit to be generous and obedient, so that we may reflect Your grace and goodness to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

As we continue today, we begin our message on defeating sin consciousness through the renewing of the mind. Our foundational scripture comes from Epistle to the Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 through 24.

Scripture teaches us to put off the old self the old sinful way of thinking and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. Then we are instructed to put on the new man, our new identity in Christ, which was created in righteousness and true holiness.

Notice that the Bible says “be renewed.” This reveals that God has already provided what is necessary for the transformation of our minds. Our role is to embrace the new identity He has given us through Jesus Christ.

When we put on the new man, we are putting on righteousness and holiness. We are not striving to become righteous one day; we are accepting by faith who Christ has already made us to be. This renewed identity begins transforming the way we think, and transformed thinking eventually produces transformed living.

Every day, we should wake up declaring:
“I am righteous.”
“I am holy.”
“I am redeemed.”

As we continue thinking in alignment with our true identity in Christ, our minds begin to change. Transformation always begins in the mind before it becomes visible in everyday life.

Renewing the mind removes sin consciousness and restores son consciousness our awareness of who we are as children of God.

Sin consciousness is a mindset constantly focused on faults, failures, guilt, shame, and shortcomings. It causes people to relate to God through fear, condemnation, and performance instead of grace, love, and acceptance. When someone is trapped in sin consciousness, they continually focus on what is wrong with them.

But righteousness consciousness focuses on what is right with us because of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.

The real question becomes: What are you focused on every day?

If your focus remains on guilt, failure, and shame, your emotions will follow that focus. Fear, condemnation, and depression eventually grow from that mindset. But when your focus shifts toward your righteousness, your identity in Christ, and God’s grace, your emotions begin aligning with joy, peace, and confidence.

Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 10 explains that under the Old Covenant, animal sacrifices could never completely remove sin consciousness. The sacrifices had to be repeated every year, continually reminding people of their sins.

But Jesus became the final and perfect sacrifice. Through His finished work, sin consciousness can finally be removed. Instead of living focused on failure, believers are now invited to focus on everything Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection.

The New Covenant officially began through the death of Jesus Christ. Just like a will only takes effect after the death of the person who created it, the promises of the New Covenant became available because Jesus died for us. Through His death and resurrection, every spiritual blessing was released to believers.