Romans 12:1-8 - Serving God

we are going to be in Romans chapter 12 this morning Romans chapter 12 a couple years ago there was a movie that came out that was called Machine Gun Preacher I don't know if you ever saw it but it was a it's actually a true story about an actual guy named Sam child errs and this guy Sam child errs just grow up grew up just just a rough tough crazy guy just doing drugs having affairs with with married women committing all sorts of crimes and it's just a crazy guy just gnarly guy he gets saved comes to know Jesus and then decides he wants to start serving God so he's there serving the Lord and and he goes on a missions trip to Africa and God speaks to him and tells him that he wants this guy Sam to start an orphanage out there so so this guy Sam he starts an orphanage in Sudan and he starts I don't know how much you guys know about about Sudan but there's a there's this army called the LRA that is just completely wicked out there and they they go in and they they kill parents and and they take the kids away and they enlist them in in the army it's just crazy gnarly so this guy Sam he goes out and he just starts like fighting with these guys and takes the kids away from them and he puts them in this this orphanage and and you know we can we can have conversations about his methods of ministry how coached sure they are but but at the end of the day I'm like watching this movie and I'm just like weeping I'm like wow God took this guy that was just totally gnarly totally doing bad stuff and is now using him for for this great amazing work of literally saving these kids lives and and loving on them and telling them about Jesus Christ just totally totally amazing and and what we're gonna be talking about this morning is is the Apostle Paul is going to teach us that we all have a gift that God has given every single one of us a gift and that he has a calling on our lives that that he has something for us to do that is going to be extremely impactful and that you're the only one that can fill that those shoes right now no one else can can fulfill your gift your place in in the body of Christ and you know a lot of times I think we look at a guy like that we said well I I can't do that so I'm just like not going to do anything but but but God has a specific plan and gifting that he has given each and every one of us for us to fulfill and we can see amazing things happen also as we start to walk in our gifts so the subject that we're going to be talking about this morning is serving God serving God and the object is that we would discover our gift and serve God that we would discover our gift and serve God so let's stand together and read Romans 12 together Romans 12 starting at verse 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God verse 3 for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly is God has dealt to each one a measure of faith for as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or ministry let us use it in our ministering who teaches in teaching he who exhorts in exhortation he who gives with liberality he who leads with diligence he who shows mercy with cheerfulness let's pray together God we thank you so much for your word Lord we recognize that your word is perfect and it has inspired God and Lord we can trust every single word and sentence in this scripture God and in the Bible and we thank you for that Lord and we thank you that that you have chosen to speak to us God and Lord I I thank you God that that you would use sinners like us God for anything god we thank you that that we get to serve you Lord and God we pray that that you would give us the right hearts to serve lord I pray that you reveal to us what our calling is Lord and God I prayed that you would fill us with the spirit that you would make us humble and that we would serve in such a way that doesn't bring glory to us but bring glory but brings glory to you and edifies your church God so Lord speak to us now God give a soft hearts Lord let us not be proud God like we're so prone to speak to us by the power of the Holy Spirit and we pray this in the name of Jesus amen you guys may be seated so as we start Romans 12 this morning there's a great shift in the theme theologically of what the Apostle Paul is talking about in the book of Romans in in Romans 1 through 8 Paul is talking primarily about the doctrines of salvation justification by faith and also sanctification by faith that as we trust in Jesus Christ that that God looks at us and he declares us righteous just as he declares Jesus righteous as we trust in Jesus Christ and then he transforms us and changes us through the gospel he changes us practically which is sanctification and then he talks about God's sovereignty in in Romans 9 through 11 and God's plan for Israel that he's not done with Israel and then in Romans 12 through the end of the book Paul is gonna get extremely extremely practical he's going to say okay so here's all this theology that we learned in the first eleven chapters now we're gonna put it into practice right because the the the doctrines that we believe the theologies that we believe should shape the way that we live it should shape the way that that we interact right it shouldn't just be all about learning a bunch of facts because that that is our tendency a lot of times in the flesh right I love sitting down and learning all sorts of theology but then just closing it and walking away but God intends to teach us about theology so it would transform the way that that we live our lives so Paul is making this transition in Romans 12 and in light of the gospel and in light of all this theology and doctrine is going to inform how our lives should be transformed so as we talk about serving God this morning the first thing that we're going to talk about is the preparation to serve the preparation to serve that that God needs to do in us before we can serve verse 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service ok so as Paul starts to talk about these things we need to be prepared before we serve right God needs to prepare our hearts he needs to do something in us both in a general sense and also on a regular basis we need these things that we're going to read about in verses 1 and 2 we need this on a regular basis we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind right and and that is something that will give power in meaning to our service because it puts it in perspective for us so the first thing that we're going to talk about in that is that we need to present our bodies as living sacrifice present your bodies as a living sacrifice so in this in this verse we see this word therefore and I I know that you've probably all heard it before but whenever you see therefore in the scriptures you need to ask what is it there for right this is this is a word that I didn't mean that to be a joke but I'll take it that therefore is is something that that is connecting the previous statements with what he's about to say and what Paul is saying is okay in light of Romans 1 through 11 right the the fact that that God has a grace on you and I that we do not deserve and he saved us and he's changed our hearts and he's sovereign and he's good and and in his love it never fails us right and there's no way that his love will ever escape us in light of all of this then he's gonna he's going to move on at this point that's what that therefore is all about and then he says that we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice what is this all about Paul in in the Old Testament we see just over and over again there's this concept of of the nation of Israel bringing sacrifices to God that that they would bring a portion of their livestock a portion of their crops and other things they would bring their firstfruits and they would come and they would offer it up to God right and and part of this idea was is is as they would bring this offering they would be taking it out of you know kind of their control so to speak and giving it to God and it was no longer theirs and it was completely God's and they had no control over what happened with the sacrifice they were releasing it to God which really I mean God owns everything but but still it's this offering it's this idea that that I I'm surrendering this this is no longer my property to make decisions about it's now yours God and the Apostle Paul is saying that in the same way it is our reasonable service in light of the gospel to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to present our bodies as a living sacrifice that everything about us our physical being our emotional being our spiritual being or intellectual being it should be offered to God right and and you have to be careful here because he isn't saying that you to do this in order to earn God's love he's saying I beseech you by the mercies of God so because God has had mercy because God has saved you not because of works but because of your faith your reasonable response your reasonable service should be that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice the the the reasonable service their can can also be translated spiritual worship that the way that we worship God is just continually surrendering who we are to God so I was I was really just just wrestling with this and I was and I was asking myself do I usually consider myself my time my stuff mine or do I recognize that it's God's do I surrender these things to God is he fully in control because this totally changes your perspective because if it's your life your stuff your family your ministry then it's really easy to get bummed out it's really easy to get bitter and it's really easy to get in the flush but when it's all God's he can do whatever he wants Lord this is your life this is your body this is your mind God if you want me to serve in this way it's it's yours it's not up to me to to decide for me this this gets tested a lot sometimes after I'm done serving in in youth ministry on Wednesday nights I served with the junior highers these kids I love them to death but they do not know where the trashcan is to save their lives and so I'm there and it's you know 9:30 10 o'clock and now that I'm a dad I'm an old man and I'm just like you know my bedtime was four hours ago and there's all this trash all over the place I could preach it I could preach a series on throwing away your trash and they still wouldn't throw away the trash but it's God's Way of humbling me so it's okay so I'm walking around and I'm like you know I think I'm like Moses with the Israelites in the wilderness God why have you given me these people you know picking up trash and and you know in those times gods like are you your own person or you might serve it are you a living sacrifice or or is this about you right now I know my whole Lord I'm sorry Lord right huh this is a daily thing god I'm a living sacrifice to you whatever you want to do with me Lord if we could just learn to pray that what amazing things God would do in us how different our ministries would look God I'm yours what do you want me to do today how do you want me to respond in this situation right and the second thing that Paul says is that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind verse 2 and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God a guy named JB Phillips his translation of this first is just absolutely amazing we're gonna put it up on the screen for you I'm gonna read it he says don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold but let God remould your minds from within so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity I love what he says there don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold right but instead let let God be the one who remotes your mind so Paul starts out here by stating the problem that tends to happen is that we tend to let the world mold us or we tend to conformed to the world as the New King James translates it so what it what does this mean the the world the world in the scriptures speaks about just the general system that that is against everything that that is God's truth right that that's the world ways of thinking that aren't biblical ways of acting that aren't biblical Paul says that this is our natural tendency is is not to be walking with the Lord right our natural tendency is to be sinful it's to be worldly so Paul says do not conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind now I love this because God isn't saying here okay here's your problem you tend to be like the world so you just gotta try really hard to be a super Christian no he doesn't say that he says let God transform your mind and that will take care of everything right because we don't have the the power and strength within us to obey and to have a new mind to be a new creation we've got to let God do that to us right and in the primary way that God transforms us by the renewing of our mind is by his word his word is truth so so when the world brings to us everything false about God everything false about the way that we should live about what we should believe God brings us what is true what is lovely right he brings us to us so we have to constantly keep going back to God's Word so that he can keep transforming us because as long as we are away from this we're getting conformed we're getting crushed into the mold of the world we have to keep coming back to God's Word look okay Lord undo what this world is doing to my heart undo what this world has done to my mind right but there's also other ways that that God can use to renew our minds right notice that that Paul doesn't he doesn't give the example of how our minds are renewed because I think that he leaves it open because the Holy Spirit works in each of in each of us in different ways i I know some people that you know that they'll come to a worship service and God will just use that to totally renew their mind to transform their mind for for for some people it's it's times of Prayer for some people it's times of just being in community with other believers I know for me sometimes it's just getting to talk to my wife about stuff telling her what's going on in my mind poor things got to deal with all my stuff you know I just tell her what's what's going on and and just through just getting it out and having her talk to me it's like God just uses that that interaction and her godly counsel just to just totally transform my mind so so God uses primarily the the scriptures but he uses many other ways to renew our mind so so wrestle with that in your life how does how does God renew your mind how does God transform you Jesus says in John 15:3 he says you were already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you I don't know if you've ever experienced that with God's Word you just you feel like you're just you have the stench of the world on you and you just come to God's Word and it's just like this cleansing you know because God uses that to transform us and you know what's amazing is you know every once in a while we all run into someone who's this spiritual giant and we look at them or like wow if I could only be like that person right whether it's like the Billy Graham's of the world or whoever it may be I guarantee you that that man or woman the only thing that they have going for them is that they've been transformed by the renewing of their mind they're just as much of a sinner as you and I but they've let God do an amazing work in them do we let God do that amazing work in our hearts and in our minds do we let him transform us how how would God describe us are we conformed to the world or are we transformed by the renewing of our minds if we let God do that and I love what what Paul says at the end of this first he says with doing this we will prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God I love this because so often we really say God what's your will for my life be transformed by the renewing of your mind that's God's will for your life you want to figure out the way that God's leading you we're waiting to act praying be transformed by the renewing of your mind right just focus on that and I'll take care of the rest is what what God says to us we find his will we start walking in his will the more that we let him transform our minds because we start acting and living in a biblical way as we let God transform our minds in that way so once we're prepared to serve it's important to ask the question why why would we serve why should we even serve God so the second thing we're going to talk about is the purpose of serving the purpose of serving okay verse 3 for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith okay so as we as we kind of start this out just just ask the big question why do we serve right what's this all about whether it's serving in ministry in the local church or just serving spontaneously in the community as the spirit leads you whatever it may be why would we even serve the Apostle Paul says in 1st Corinthians 14 12 he says even so you since you are zealous for spiritual gifts let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel what the Apostle Paul says there is the purpose of spiritual gifts is the edification of the church this this is a this word it's a big word for me at least I went to public school edification it means to build up that was a place you could laugh it means to build up edification so our spiritual gifts that that God gives to you and I it's to build up the church is to build up God's people in my flesh I mix this up and you might - we think that our spiritual gifts is to get us mention so that people would be like wow wow brother you really gifted Wow sis great job glory to God right and if you're anything like me you learn all these things oh praise a little you know but you really like yeah I'm good I'm so I'm so great for the edification of the church it's not for our glory it's for the building up of the church that is the purpose of spiritual gifts and we can't mix it up we can't mix it up and and that's why we need verses 1 & 2 we need to present ourselves as a living sacrifice we need be transformed by the renewing of our minds because our tendency is to think that our guests are about us and they're not it's about the edification of the church and ultimately for God's glory that that's why we serve right that's what it's all about so Paul says that that in this that there is a tendency that we would either think too highly of ourselves or that we would think too lowly of ourselves and both of those are expressions of pride and I'll explain the first thing don't think too highly of yourselves so so he says there in in verse 3 he says do not think too highly of yourselves but think soberly right so have a realistic perspective of who you are because and he gives this example of this body all these different parts working together and he kind of unpacked this even more in first Corinthians 12 to 14 by saying that that your different parts of your body like they're not boasting against each other they're not trying to stick out they're just trying to all work together for the greater purpose of keeping you alive right that that's that's what it's all about so don't think too too highly of yourself know that that what you're doing is you're edifying the body of Christ and bringing glory to God okay there's this there's this story that that I just absolutely love and I tell a lot of the people in the worship ministry a guy named Dave Grohl you may have heard of him he was the drummer for the band Nirvana and also he's the frontman for the ban Foo Fighters after Kurt Cobain passed away he was kind of just looking for gigs drummer Nirvana and ended up getting a gig with Tom Petty and so he's there and he's playing with Tom Petty and the song that they were playing was like the most basic song on the drums that you could ever play it was just dude do the whole song do the whole song so so Dave girl gets up there and he takes his drumsticks and he plays the song exactly what it called for doo doo the whole time Tom Petty comes up to Dave Grohl after the gig and says you were the best drummer I've ever played with and whenever you want a gig you've got it why because Dave understood as a musician that his job wasn't to do a big drum solo it was to play his part whatever that looked like it was to fit in to the groove of the song and and the tendency of a lot of musicians is to want to stick out write to want to want to show off sometimes right where's the spot where I could do a solo you know there might be a spot for that but that you know I don't want to get in a music theory right now but but but that's a good example of what it is supposed to be in the body crest we're supposed to know our place we're supposed to know where we're belong and just fit in to that spot and then he's eat what he says there in the end of verse 3 is is that we need to think soberly he has as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith so why does he what does he say this because in faith we look away from ourselves and we look to Christ and when we look at Christ when we behold Christ's love Christ give glory to Christ then we're not interested in thinking too highly of ourselves we're not interested in making us making it the me show we just want to serve our purpose we want to edify the body Christ and bring glory to God that's why he says that we need to have faith that faith creates humility in us as we look away from ourselves and as we look to God but the second thing that that Paul is talking about here is that we shouldn't think too lowly of ourselves either let's read verses four through five for as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another so he says that that we all have a part to play do you realize like I said in the beginning that all of you have been given a gift by God at least one gift if not two gifts all of you have a gift so we all have a place in in the body of Christ right and sometimes we think so lowly of our gift that we don't even want to use it right we just say well I'm no Billy Graham so why even way even do it I I'm not gonna be able to move to Africa like that guy so I do anything my little gift who cares about that that also is a form of pride let me let me illustrate this for you so I had a season probably three or four years ago where I felt that God was calling me to use part of my ministry to go and share some songs that I had written just just around just doing different gigs coffee shops different places just songs that I had written about the Lord so uh I got this opportunity to go to this coffee shop out in Pasadena and I was just really excited about it I was going on their website and I'm like wow this is such a cool place and so so I get my set together and I Drive out there with a couple of friends and there's like eight people and three of them I brought and I'm up there and I'm all why did I even come here this is such a waste of time it indle and the Lord had to really like deal with my heart he's like so wait so let me get this straight so you only want us serve me if I'll bring you a big crowd like Oh Lord right that that a lot of times in our pride we only want to serve if it's going to be this great thing because we forget that serving is not about bringing us glory but it's about edifying the body of Christ right and it's about bringing God glory right so when we think too lowly of ourselves we do that no gift is too small to be used in the kingdom of God and I'll use this analogy everyone always uses it with this passage but you got to think about the big toe right nobody you don't sit in bed at night looking at your big toe this is the my favorite part about myself right now do you say that you your husband's your wife looks at you what's your favorite part about me your big toe honey I just love you no don't say that ever but if you lost your big toe you'd notice because you'd fall over you would not be able to walk if you did not have a big toe right so it does serve a purpose there there is a big purpose for your big toe and some of you say well the gift that God has given me it's just a bit just a big toe and you know who needs it who cares about it's just ugly you got to use your gift because we're all members of one another and I'm gonna get closer to Christ when you start using your big toe gift we're all gonna start getting closer to Christ people are going to get saved as all the body starts come together and using their gifts for the edification of the body and for the glory of Jesus and not our glory right so don't think too lowly of your gift so that you wouldn't serve and so that you wouldn't use it so let's move on to our third and final point now that we know the why the purpose of serving we can talk about the practice of serving verse 6 having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or men stree let us use it in our ministering he who teaches in teaching he who exhorts in exhortation he who gives grace with liberality he who leads with diligence he who shows mercy with cheerfulness so so Paul here is he just starts to get extremely practical he says okay so now that you're prepared to serve now that you know why you serve and what that's all about because we're all members of one another because it's about edifying the body of Christ let's get practical here let's use our gifts as he says there in in verse 6 and then Paul goes on to give a couple of different examples of some gifts and this is not meant to be an end-all be-all list Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit a couple other times in Scripture in 1st corinthians 12 through 14 and also in ephesians 4 talks about some different gifts but but i would say that that those lists that those are not the end-all be-all every single gift that that ever exists these are just some some examples so paul's he just starts to kind of unpack these and and i'll briefly kind of tell you guys what some of these are prophecy the gift of prophecy is someone who speaks god's word right we tend to think of it as future events but technically prophecy really means just speaking god's word so anytime someone is speaking truth right they might have that that gift of prophecy i don't know if you've ever met someone that they just say the right thing to you you're like that was inspired that's the gift of prophecy the gift of teaching that's someone who can instruct god's god's people about scripture exhortation is is encouraging but it's also challenging people right i don't know if you've ever met met a person that you just talk to them and you're just all inspired after you're like wow yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna change things in my life i'm gonna start doing that that person has the gift of exhortation the gift of giving this is a person that's just really generous and a lot of you guys have have that gift the gift of leadership is someone who's able to influence others organize and administrate so someone who's just able to plan that it's a gift that that you need in the body some people are more like this some people are more like like to you know paint with all the colors of the wind that might not be your gift if that's you mercy is someone who's compassionate and enable to help other people right that person that you go to when something's going on in your life you go and you talk to that person so how can how can we start to use our gifts first we have to discover our gift because you might say this is great Justin I really love all these verses but I don't even know what my gift is right I don't even know where I would start if I did want to serve and also say that that you know God gives us all at least one gift sometimes we have multiple gifts and sometimes our gifts look different in different seasons right it God may change how he's using your gifts in a different season you might have the gift of teaching and God uses you for years and years leading a homegroup but then God calls you to start teaching the kids and it's just you're using the same gift you're just using in a different way right so so God does those changes in us so a couple of thoughts that that that I have about this how we can discover a gift is the first question is what makes you passionate and excited right what is something that you think about and and it's just it just makes you excited that the thought of it the idea of it something that tugs your heart right maybe you drive around you see a homeless person in your heart just starts throbbing maybe that's your ministry something that that makes you really passionate a lot of times God will use our desires number two what are you good at right a lot of you might be doing something maybe vocationally for a living and and God may might want to use those same gifts in the church he might want to use those same gifts to bless and to build up the body of Christ right just just to think about that and then lastly what opportunities or needs are there right some of you guys have been praying for the last six years about your gift you just got started doing something bad you just just just get up and start serving right it's hard to steer a car if it's not moving right just just start doing something right look look around at different different ministries different opportunities it just started trying them and in God oftentimes will speak to you in that he'll put a passion or or a desire in your heart it's good to pray about these things it's good to seek the Lord but sometimes you just got to go start getting your hands dirty and start doing some ministry and God will speak to your heart about it the second thing is that we need to use our gifts that we need to use them notice in verse 6 Paul gets really practical let us use our gifts write that that's that's what it's all about and you know there's there's a real balance and as you as you start to serve as you want to avoid a couple of extremes sometimes we go through seasons where we just totally want to unplug and we're just like man I just don't want to be like a Martha I'm just gonna be a Mary just resting in the Lord you know it's good for us to be serving right he says let us use our gifts right whatever that may be maybe the the married person maybe you get this prayer right maybe maybe you just need to be practicing that that gift prank for praying for other people but then also you want to avoid the extreme of doing more than God has called you to do right because sometimes when you have gifts and there's tons of opportunities your tendency is to want to start trying to fulfill every single one of those opportunities and when you stretch yourself too thin then then you're not serving anybody effectively but also if you're married or if you have children you already have two ministries you have a ministry to your spouse and you have a ministry to your kids and in a great danger that can happen as you start serving as you start using your is that we conserve so much the body of Christ that we forget about our ministries at home and we forget about our spouse and we forget about our kids because God says even to spiritual leaders in in 1st Timothy 3 that if their house is in an order they shouldn't even be doing ministry that that as the leaders of the church as the examples so that applies to all of us right that as their examples we should all follow in those footsteps and and then the the the last let me say one more thing about that sorry also there's times where you might not feel like you're using your gift right sometimes God just might want you to serve Him in a way that you wouldn't consider to be your gift set I remember years ago back in 2005 I started an internship here at this church and I was just you know young guy just really excited to serve the Lord what just excited to do worship and do teaching and youth ministry and I showed up my first day too I'm just all ready to serve and you know okay alright youth pastor what do you want me to do you want me to prepare a sermon you want me to you know put together a big worship set he goes I want you to go upstairs and throw away a couple couches know what that's not my those aren't my gift sets yeah go throw away the couches dude that's what needs to happen so go do it right that's your gift today there's times where we might not feel like we're fulfilling our gift right but it's something that needs to be done and then finally we need to grow in our gifts notice in verse 8 the the last three gifts that that Paul talks about he attaches a description of the performance of those gifts he says that that you should give with the liberality that you lead with diligence and you show mercy with cheerfulness that that he says do your ministry practice your gift in an excellent way right he also says to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 1:6 therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands he says ok Timothy I for you God gave you this great gift now start working on that gift and start developing that gift right so think of ways that the gifts that God has given you how can you grow in these things right maybe it's reading books maybe it's talking to other people and that also serve in that capacity how do you grow in your gift how how can I also grow in that gift so we're going to conclude and as we conclude the ushers are going to come forward and and present to us the the elements of communion but let me just remind us in in verse 1 that that Paul says that that I beseech you by the mercies of God and and this is a Hebraic nuance this this making mercies plural and what it means is is that oftentimes that this would happen to try to demonstrate the the riches in the endlessness he's saying because of God's endless mercy this is why we serve and we can't forget that as we serve the Lord we can't forget that the reason that we serve is because God has been gracious to us because Jesus Christ was the ultimate servant that Jesus laid aside his rights and he came and he was born in flesh that he was born in a barn and and nobody but the lower-class shepherds showed up to his birth that that he grew up in in a poor family that he Jesus was homeless during his ministry that Jesus was mocked that that he was not accepted and ultimately Jesus was crucified and he did all this to serve you and I and as Jesus died on that cross the scriptures say that he who knew no sin became sin that we might have the righteousness of God that Jesus he took on every single bad thought that we've had this week he took on every way that we've spoken that we shouldn't have he took all of that on him and he became our sin that we could be declared righteous that we could be restored to God but God also he doesn't stop there that God gives us a new heart that he transforms us that he gives us a new desires God God is so good to us in this way and it's because of the mercies of God that we say yes Lord I want to serve you yes God I present my bodies a living sacrifice transform me by the renewing of my mind I want to use my gift I don't want to think too highly of myself I don't want to think about myself turn for myself look at you Jesus and just edify your body just give you glory it has to start with the mercies of God it has to start with a response to the gospel because we we love making the gifts all about us I haven't told you about my gift that word gift in the Greek but part of that word is is the word Kerris which is the word that we translate in English grace God's gift to you it's pure grace we we get to receive this gift and we get to serve God it's not like he needs us we get to do this it's like a kid going to work with his dad God gives us the gift and we get to serve Him it's amazing and and we get to see God working through us to edify the body and to give Jesus glory so let's pray and then we'll partake together god we thank you so much for this time Lord we thank you for your goodness God we thank you for the gospel and lord I thank you that that you are so kind to us that you let us serve you lord and god i pray that you would forgive me for all the times that i make any of my ministry about me instead of about you jesus and god i prayed that that you would help us as a church to to use our gifts and lord i pray for anyone this morning that they might think that their gift is really small they don't think that they have much to offer and i god I just pray that Lord that you had move in their hearts and that you would know that the body is not as healthy as it could be because they're not using their gift in lord I just pray that you would give us transformed minds that you would renew our minds by your word Lord and help us to remember to come to you on a daily basis Lord so that you could transform us God and I just pray that that you do an amazing work in this local body of believers Lord and help us to all function and edify each other so that more people could come to Jesus and so that we can all love you more deeply Jesus so we worship you now God because because you're worthy Lord if we remember what you've done for us on the cross and Lord out of that may that inspire our service to you and we pray this in the name of Jesus let's partake together you

Channel: Calvary Nexus

Views: 10,620

Rating: 4.8558559 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, God, gospel, mission, service, truth, resurrection, Bible, faith, righteousness, Romans, Justin Bell

Id: VVH_C04i0FY

Length: 46min 12sec (2772 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 25 2014