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Gracious other thank you for this time again, that we can be over Thy word.
Thank you for the resource thy word is. We just pray for wisdom and direction this morning. Thank you for what we've had that accomplished work. Thank thee that.
The Lord Jesus could say it is finished and that thy grace and love to go out, and yet we see thee still unchanged. An accomplished work that forever stands.
Though we may change our feelings.
And love yet thou abide us faithful, Thou art the same. So we just pray for help this morning. Thy name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
But few of us were talking after the reading meeting yesterday morning and.
There was a lot of exercise to kind of switch over to first part of Romans chapter 12, which seems to fit really well with what we've had before us in Exodus 12 and.
I think it it's well too with what we've had in some of the evening talks.
It talks about consecration. Can I have that process in?
Beginning part of Romans 12 from thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us, to alive dedication and consecration to the Lord. So if that's something that I think will be profitable, we have suggest reading the 1St 8 verses of Romans 12.
All right, Romans chapter 12.
1St 8 verses.
I beseech you, therefore, resident by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has.
Hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Maybe it would be helpful before we start going into the courses to just give a little setting of what we act here in this epistle. You know, in, in the first eight chapters of of Romans, what Paul is doing is he's really teaching the gospel. He's showing God's righteousness and how God could reconcile sinful man, holy God, and yet man coming into blessing, you know, he.
Kind of puts men to the test and has to come up with the conclusion that all ascending comes short of the glory of God and up till that point.
There's really not much hope, but then the righteousness of God comes in. God has been able to provide a way in which men could be justified and reconciled to God without God having to compromise His Holiness. And that's obviously to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he explains the gospel and the blessing and the grossness that it has brought us in.
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And then?
And chapters 9 through 11.
He kind of answers a question that the Jews would have if this the Gentiles have been brought into blessing. What about all the promises that were made to Israel? So in those chapters he again shows the righteousness of God, but now in his dispensational ways. And he shows how all fits together and how, you know, the promises made to Israel. Not one of them has been set aside or lost. And in the future they they will.
Be fulfilled. So he ends in Chapter 11 as he contemplates all these things with an outburst of praise as to the wisdom of God's ways. And then we can get here to the beginning of chapter 12 where I think it fits really well with what we have in Exodus. Well, we talked about the Passover and then how the unleavened bread that that that holy walk that the Israelites were supposed to have.
Supposed to be a reaction of their affections of their heart as to what God had provided for them in the lamb and the blood. And here's the same you know, we, we contemplate these first eight chapters of Romans and the incredible work that God has done to bring us into blessing.
He says I beseech you therefore in view of what has gone before, now he talks about us and how it should affect us and how it should completely change us. You know, we we said that that pass overnight everything changed for the Israelites the next morning. Nothing would be ever the same and it should be the same with us too. And then in these first verses we kind of have that process of a person being occupied.
With the immenseness of what God has done.
The mercies or the compassions of God, what he has really gone through it and what the work of the Lord Jesus for our blessing that there should be that process in our lives from, you know, living for ourselves and sin to being fully consecrated through the Lord to have our hands full in service for the Lord and that's what these portion that we just read speaks about.
So the Feast of Unleavened bread was to be kept for seven days and I think it was noticed that that really speaks to us of the entirety or the duration of the life of the believer down here. We we ought to carry on in holy living that should characterize us and be normal Christianity and in his verse I think it ties in wells. Mark has been saying that.
It tells us that I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable or.
Could be translated intelligent service.
I was looking at that word present and I understand that the tense in which that that that word is written is in a once and for all kind of tense. It's called the heiress tents. So it's it's a once and for all thing. That's the idea behind the tents of of that word in the original. And I think that goes along with the Feast of Unleavened bread. It it again.
It's something that should be an abiding thing through the duration of the life of any believer that that that we go forward in service for the Lord in holy living in a new way. It you know, the the ups and downs and peaks and valleys, We all experience them. But I would say that, you know, normal Christianity.
Doesn't contemplate a life of sin or failure necessarily, albeit it is there. We can't deny it, but the Lord has given us a.
A power within and a life power being the Spirit of God and a life that the Spirit of God can act upon to go forward and and do those things that please the Lord. So that would be normal to what the Lord would expect from us as believers.
This chopper takes up.
Spiritual gift a little bit.
Farther down into the versions that we read three times in Scripture in the New Testament, we have the spiritual gifts given once in Corinthians and.
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In that chapter, like it's First Corinthians chapter 12, it presents the diversity of death and Ephesians 4 we have the necessity of gift, and then here in our chapter we have the motivation.
Forget and so like Mark and Josh were just saying, I beseech you therefore, so inside of all of that has been done the mercies of God being bestowed upon us.
The normal response, the normal motive for that, would be to devote ourselves and serve it to the world.
Parallel with Ephesians 4.
And of Ephesians 3, I believe is another doxology of praise.
Now on to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, and so forth. But he starts out, I beseech you, that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called not a command, it's a beseeching. And I think you had that at the beginning of the first Tabernacle meeting was a willing heart, not of a command.
And so the difference between the law and grace. He wants our hearts. He wanted the Israelites hearts in doing what they did too, but He gave them a command to test them. But He wants our hearts. Not just a commanded service, but our hearts. I beseechly.
Before we get too far, I want to take off what Mark just mentioned about the 1St 8 chapters of the book of Romans. And this is a challenge to the young people because I wish as as I've now in my early 50s that I would have taken up this exercise and the exercise is this understand and appreciate the 1St 8 chapters of Romans. Now, when you go through it, it will, it may seem a little confusing, but do this.
Do a portion every single part of the month, every day of the month for 30 days.
Keep going over each chapter repetitively work your way through. Start back over the 1St 8 chapters. I did this here some years ago. It's very, very helpful because there are winds of doctrine that float around and having a solid understanding of those first eight chapters of Romans but help solidify you as a believer. And it's important because.
Now what we have here in Chapter 12, it builds off of what's in the first eight chapters, but to have a fundamental understanding.
Take it up exclusively for 30 days. There's my challenge. As I look back, I wish I would have done it.
Jonathan, you touched on the doxology of.
In Ephesians, I think it it would be good for us to just briefly.
Look at this doxology that happens at the end of Chapter 11, as we've been saying.
The Apostle Paul has laid out the gospel, and then he is laid out a dispensational.
Understanding of the portion, the future portion for Israel.
And he concludes all of that by.
These following verses I'll read from verse 32.
Of Chapter 11. For God hath concluded the mall in unbelief.
That he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath given first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again.
Four of him.
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And through him and to him.
Are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.
I think it's beautiful.
And it sets really the stage for this beseeching that we have in chapter.
12 and it's it's vital that we get a hold of.
The principle that everything that we have and everything that we are.
As those that have come under.
Grace and mercy that have been saved by the blood. We owe it all to the Lord. There is absolutely nothing that we have.
That we have provided ourselves.
Our salvation. Every aspect of our salvation.
Has been provided by our Lord and our Savior and everything that we are.
As those that are saved by grace and those that have been brought into a relationship, a wonderful relationship with not only the God that made the world, but as His bride. Everything that we have and everything that will ever be, we owe it to our blessed Lord and our Savior and as a result.
That's what we have in the verse, first verse.
They beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
It flows from the fact that everything that we have and everything that we are and everything that will ever become, we owe it to our Savior.
We owe it to his blood.
There's nothing that I have, no resource, no ability, nothing that I have is mine. It's all His. It belongs to Him, and it therefore needs to be used for His honor and His glory in His service. And it should be our pleasure. It should be our joy.
Several have come up and thanked me for our portion, our part in the camp here and and my response is it's the least I can do.
In light of what God has done for us.
For me.
Individually, it's the least I can do and I don't have any resource that I have.
That is mine. Apart from the Lord, there's nothing that I have. Absolutely nothing. No possession.
No intelligence, No. There's absolutely nothing that we have that hasn't come from his good hand.
Just to go along with that, Uncle Steve, what you mentioned about this one calls us to be a live.
Sacrificed the one who's beseeching us to be a living sacrifice.
But notice in the new translation it says that he, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassion of God. And it reminded me of those verses that we know so well in Matthew 11, where he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light, and so the one that calls us to and beseeches us to be living sacrifice is doing it in compassion to us. And I think sometimes to the natural mind, the thought of a yoke and a burden and a sacrifice is daunting. But I think we do well to remember who it is that's calling us, and that their only place that we can truly find rest is bearing the burden that the Lord faces upon us.
Bearing the yoke that he places on us. And only when we've presented our bodies as a living sacrifice, we can truly find rest in Him in in full consecration, doing his will. That's the only place where we can find peace in our souls. And that's so contrary to what we think. We think of rest as living for ourselves naturally, but that's not where we're told to find rest. And so the one that calls us, He calls us in compassion because he knows that's where we'll find true happiness.
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For us there are two uses in this first verse 2 words that begin with us. One of them first one is sacrifice and the second one's service and.
This is a challenge that I would.
Thus, first to my own heart, is this work that we're being called to.
Should be.
A sacrifice that means it should pass us something. And I guess my challenge is in your, in my life and in your life, is there anything that we are giving up?
For the Lord sacrifice.
Or am I satisfied to just live under myself and not willing to let things that the Lord has so mercifully provided to me?
Be used for him. Sacrifice has an element of self denial associated with it and personal loss associated with it. But as Danny was saying, the Lord doesn't ask us.
My knowledge nobody in this.
Room is at their life.
Called into question as having had to potentially lay down their life for the Lord.
So what he's asked us to do is a little tiny bit it's it's a small giving of ourselves to himself. And then the second thing is service. And David brought this up in regards to consecration.
Proper service cannot be accomplished without worship first.
Because that sets the motivation for the service if we have our hearts focused on our Lord Jesus, and we are.
Reveling, if it were, as it were, in His love and His goodness and His heart towards us.
The service that we carry out for him.
Doesn't seem like a burden.
The motivation is should be love. We're constrained his love. Often we get those backwards and David mentioned that that.
We get it backwards and like Mary, we remember Mary and Martha.
Martha was covered about with with much serving and she complained about it.
Because her sister Mary was found at Jesus feet and the Lord had to gently rebuke Martha.
And then in John chapter 12, after the resurrection of Lazarus, we see those same sisters in similar positions, Martha serving.
Mary again at Jesus feet, anointing Jesus feet, but no complaint that time.
Why? Because there had been a transformation in the perspective of Martha, and the service was in its proper order then, and it could be carried out in the way that it was intended.
Might be good to refer to. Read that verse and refer to in 2nd Corinthians 5.
5 Five, and verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
But unto him which died for them, and rose again. And so it says, if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. That we were dead in trespasses and sins, and He died for us, and we owe our entire life to Him. And going back to that first verse in our chapter.
As it's been mentioned at the end, which is your reasonable service or I think it was mentioned too, that could be translated, which is your intelligence service.
This is the the only response that actually makes sense based on what's gone before in Romans. Any other response is unreasonable.
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I've been struck in scripture to see how.
The heart is is paramount in in these things. Your brothers have been bringing it out that it all begins. It starts there. And you know what we've had here back at the end of Romans 11? You have this appreciation.
That just flows out in a doxology of praise and then from there flows this dedication in verse one and onto all the way on to consecration and.
And brother Jonathan mentioned it. It's, it's, it's the heart. And you know, we live in a culture today where.
There's so much.
Unthankfulness, you know, and, and that is that is a dangerous thing for any believer. I I've been struck in Scripture to see how.
Thankfulness really should characterize us and and there's good reason for it because it it really.
Umm, sets my heart in in a certain direction, doesn't it? So I just bear with me. I just want to read a couple scriptures here, just in light of what's been said in Ephesians 5.
Verse two it says, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, and offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, has become a Saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking or jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
And further on into the chapter it says in verse 20.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then you contrast that with Second Timothy 3 you know we're talking about.
Holy living and the like, what should characterize the believers life now? And it says in Second Timothy 3 notices, it says this. Know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, where men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters proud.
Blasphemers. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
And I just wonder if there's a moral order there. So we're talking about holy living.
And, and the the heart being willing and appreciative of, of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. And, and this is not the only place I can't put my finger on on the other places, but you'll find that unthankfulness leads to unholiness in the life because we're not appreciating what God has done for us. We become complainers and we become worldly.
As a result, and we're not appreciating all that he has done. And and it's that appreciation factor that that drives me to want to lay my life down on the altar of sacrifice.
It goes back to what we've had in Exodus, right? Because the children of Israel were freed from hard ******* and they quickly forget what they had been under those extraordinarily difficult pathmasters they brought out from that, and they immediately start complaining.
A little bit into the desert, into the wilderness, and they're complaining. They want to go back to Egypt. They just think about the things that they had there. We've already talked about this. I don't think we need to go back, and we have to. But it just brings out your point that unthankfulness leads to unfolding.
And it really impacted their relationship with God, didn't it? It was a grievous sin because it demonstrated a lack of appreciation for what God had provided to.
It's interesting, I've been talking a bit about service.
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Really in this passage that we have, God doesn't give something to do till we get to verse 6.
Up to that point, it's preparation for service and so.
Seems like sometimes we jump to that. First of all, want to do something.
God wants us first before He can give us something to do that would be intelligence or that would be profitable service. So all this, all these things that we read in the first few verses have to do with us being ready for service. And you know, we have to give ourselves to Him before He can give us something to do.
My brother and I were talking earlier this morning and and I.
He said, my son, you know that he's referencing that verse in Proverbs. My son, give me thine heart and and the tendency sometimes we might have is to reserve a section of my heart for the Lord and then and and let the rest of it be filled up with whatever I I, I, I choose and the things that.
I might want and lust after or or or whatever.
But that's the key to this.
This service aspect, I think of our life that our whole heart needs to be given over to the Lord. The Lord wants the whole thing, but you know, he, he doesn't, he doesn't twist our arms. He doesn't, he does not force us into submission to, to, to do these things right.
Albeit he may bring in things in our life to discipline us to wreck our ways, but.
But the Lord is gracious, isn't he? And I just think of.
See here if we can find it first. John just thinking of that verse.
First, John.
Chapter 5.
There's two.
By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.
Now you might say, well, are we then under law? No, we're not. But I think the idea here, number one is the commandment really is the expression of the Lord's mind and heart for his people. But I've, I've often taken it this way, that if the Lord has given me a certain line of instruction.
Or or expressed his mind to me, which he has done very clearly in the word of God that his desire should have the effect upon my heart as if it were a commandment, as if it was something that I ought to do. That should be the the normal response. Why? Because it's it's a response of love. So if my aunt, my wife asked me to do something.
It's not grievous because I love her and I want to please her.
You know, and, and, and that should be the same with us as Christians. The Lord has has expressed his mind to us and he has done so much for us. What is our response?
There's the example of that Josh and Old Testament when David.
Yearn for the water from the well of Bethlehem. He didn't command anyone to go get him a lot.
Those that were standing by, whose hearts were knit to David, they went in jeopardy of their own lives and they drew water from that well after breaking through the Garrison of the Philistines, and they brought it back to David. And the thing that's so beautiful about that is what was David's response?
Touched his heart, he poured it out as a sacrifice for their blood that was in jeopardy. And so again, this motive that we have before us should be a motive of love and and when it is a motive of love, when it does, the service is.
Coming from our heart to do.
To return the love again to our Lord Jesus. It impacts it's impact, it's impactful to Him.
Means something that's extraordinarily.
It touches his heart.
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I've enjoyed the thought how the 1St 5 verses are as a doorway. We look back and we have the 1St 8 chapters as already been laid out and then looking forward to the path in front of us we have.
What our service is to be as.
Has been mentioned and then thirteen chapter 13 we have what our behavior is to be to those without and chapter 14 of the first part of 15 is what our behaviors to be with one another within and so it gives a groundwork these first five verses.
On our path ahead.
There's two little phrases here.
That we haven't spoken much about.
One is holy.
The other is acceptable unto God.
When we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
And I appreciate what you mentioned. I I would take it maybe a little bit further.
The sacrifice.
Especially in the context of the Old Testament was the laying down of a life.
And think of that verse over in Galatians chapter two. Well known verse. I'll just read it. Relations 2.
Verse 20.
I am crucified with Christ. That's the living sacrifice.
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. I believe that's the Holy.
Portion of that verse that we have before us.
Christ liveth in me, in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the acceptable.
Part.
When we're willing to.
Surrender.
Completely.
And be a living sacrifice.
The result is is it's going to be holy.
Because it's not ours.
Our lives now are his.
And because they're his.
Because the life that we now live, it's acceptable unto God.
Because it carries with it all the efficacy.
All the value of of the person of the Lord Jesus.
That's acceptable unto God.
Spoken.
Oven bread being seven days and like in that to the rest of our life, our whole life, but we could also think of it as every part of our life. 7 is a the perfect number, isn't it? And so not only from now until the end of my life, but every part of my life.
In the old system that we've been talking about, a certain class of men were priests.
And that was something they became by birth.
And then they were brought into that position by.
A rite of passage. They were anointed and washed and clothed.
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But in our day.
The believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is a priest.
And our priesthood.
What does the priest do?
A priest makes sacrifices.
And so our priesthood as a Christian, as a believer involves sacrifices. And if you turn to first Peter chapter 2.
You can see what some of those sacrifices are.
First Peter chapter 2 and verse 5.
Says Ye also as lively stones are built up.
And holy priesthood.
To OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So as a holy priesthood.
As a holy priest, I will be offering sacrifices to God.
What are those sacrifices? The fruit of our lips Praise.
Worship.
Drop down in this chapter 2 of I Peter says in verse 9, But ye are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood.
A holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth.
The praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. As a royal priest, what will my, what will my priesthood be involved in? It's to show forth that involves my neighbor. If as a holy priest I'm offering sacrifices to God, as a royal priest I am reaching out, showing forth to my neighbor.
So what are those sacrifices look like? Hebrews 13 as a maximum examples.
Just turn back a few pages to Hebrews 13.
Verse 15 By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name, a holy priest. Verse 16 But to do good and to communicate, forget not.
For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. That's the royal priest. He's doing good.
Doing good and communicating well, that involves maybe my time or my money. But here's another sacrifice in chapter 12 of Romans that we've been talking about. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. That's the number seven. That's the whole thing.
You know, some of us were talking last night out of After the Tabernacle discussion, and Brother Walt mentioned something that really struck a chord with me.
So at the very beginning of the Tabernacle talks we were discussing, there was a free will offering that was was presented. Moses presented that. Let's just read that really quick in Exodus chapter 35, Exodus chapter 35.
And verse four, And Moses spake, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, take you from among you, and offering under the Lord whatsoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it an offering of the of the Lord. Gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger skins, and chittim, wood and oil for the light, spices for.
Oil, and for the sweet incense and oak. Stones and stones to be set in the ephod, and for the breastplate.
And.
We could keep reading.
But there was a request made for a sacrifice from the children of Israel to bring that which they had for the service and construction of the Tabernacle, all those things that we've just been talking about.
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One of those things that was requested was gold.
Chapter 32.
Couple of idolatrous calves were constructed from gold.
The people.
Some of the people of Israel had given their gold, the gold that they had taken with them out of Egypt, and they gave that gold to construct those two paths.
Because of that.
They had no gold offer. Moses, the Lord really, and the construction of the Tabernacle.
Which was meaningful to the Lord?
Man.
Have I done that? I absolutely have done that in my life. I've taken that which the Lord has given me.
Devoted it to myself or to something else, and it has been a loss and an opportunity.
To use that for the Lord. That is a very pointed example.
So we need separation from the world.
This is what we have in verse 2.
Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and purposeful.
Now that word conformed really strikes me because it means to change.
To something else and so as.
Those that have been brought into this place of blessing and now our spiritual creatures.
To be conformed to the world means to change out of that that.
Condition that God has put me into now be conformed to something else.
That's pretty soon to think about it and.
Says in Colossians 3 verse one, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth now.
My margin says set your mind on things above. I think that's the proper translation.
And what happens to us is that our heart follows what our mind is taken up with. So as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, as the proverb says it.
And we need to have right thoughts. We need to have God's thoughts. And he's revealed his thoughts to us. And we need to think and breathe and move and act and serve in, in, in according to.
The mind of God and and we find it in this wonderful book, the Bible.
So we need, if we're going to serve right, we need to think right, we're going to act right. We need to think right. It all starts with the thoughts. Of course, the heart is engaged, right? But it, it flows from right thinking. And, and that's so important. So we're speaking about acceptable sacrifices.
And and that.
We can only do that which is acceptable when it is in accordance with the mind of God.
For the kids, I'd like to just expand a little bit on what.
Tim said confirmation being conformed.
Now you can take a piece of metal and you can put it in under pressure and it is going to be conformed, it's going to be changed and it's going to bear the image of what it was pressed up against.
And that's what.
This first part is be not conformed to this world. As we pass through this world, we're going to pass through some pressure.
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And that pressure is going to try to conform us to this world.
We talk about peer pressure and that's one part of it.
And that.
That in a practical way might might be that we walk and we talked and we dress like this world.
That's that's being conformed to this world.
The next part of the verse says being but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Josh was just talking about.
That process that starts with the mind and this word transformed is we. We know a little bit about it. It means to change into something completely different.
Transformation.
The what was is not recognizable.
Under the.
Effective transformation. You think of a Caterpillar.
Goes through metamorphosis and it's transformed into something completely different.
You look at a Caterpillar and there's nothing left of the Caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly.
That's transformation, and it happens through the Word of God being applied to the mind.
That's why it says by the renewing of our mind, it's a the application of the Word of God and the principles of God to our minds. And through that the Lord is going to transform us. He's going to change us. What is that change?
We have it elsewhere.
That were changed into the image of our savior.
And that is going to have an effect.
On those around us.
Think of Moses in that way. He he went up on the mount and he spent time with God and what happened to him.
Any of the kids know what happened to Moses when he came down out of the mountain?
Somebody tell me.
Yeah, I'm talking about Moses, though. What happened to Moses? There was something that happened to Moses.
Specifically, does anybody know go ahead back there.
Let's call it out all right.
What?
He was shining. His face shone.
There was a transformation in Moses.
It was so remarkable that the children of Israel were afraid of him.
They asked him to put a veil over his face because his face was shining.
I think that's a beautiful illustration of transformation.
When we're in the presence of God.
Just another couple of comments about the conform. Sometimes maybe it's easier to understand these things and we consider it with a little bit of an illustration, you know, and back in Romans chapter 8 it says.
In verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
There's a specific dignity that's associated with that position of being a son of God. Think about that.
Son that we know of as the prodigal son, the father's son, he's in the father's house. He has all the dignity of a son in his father's house, and he leaves all that behind and goes out into the world.
The waste, his father's substance on Riot that's living. And the end of that he ends up in Pigpen feeding swine, starving to death.
No dignity of the position that he had.
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As his father's son can do the same thing.
As sons of God, behold what manner of love.
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. We squander that by going on into the world.
And forfeiting that dignity of possession and blessing.
Take up with that which is going to starve us to death.
Bless the Godfather they pray, for this time we've had with thy word.
Minds being renewed.
Song of dedication to the Lord Jesus.
What's with that?
Renewed mind and power of the Spirit, the new nature life we have in thee.
Walk in it.
We think thy Son, our God and Father.
What a living sacrifice unto thee.
Perfection.
It's complete giving of himself.
In life.
Thou could say this is my loving son.
Whom I am well pleased.
We thank you for giving one our Father who we can look unto.
Who has walked this path down here and we?
Following his steps.
She was a living sacrifice.
Pray for help in being living sacrifices also.
We give you all the praise and glory for all Thy goodness, our Father.
Everything from faith to new life to the Holy Spirit we own.
Has been said all these good things, Anything that's good enough that would be to thy praise and glory is of Thee.
So we thank thee for the grace to continue on.
Pray for this the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.