My Body And My Spirit

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I John 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world

I Corinthians 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that  a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For  even Christ our passover  is sacrificed for us: heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

To begin with Brothers and sisters Christian Friends Well Wishers and Saints of God This particular text is the formation of the formula that is formidable for the forward thinking individual to the focus on concerning our body and our spirit man. I want to talk about My Body and My Spirit man. I really want to teach about my Soma....My Body and My Punema my Spirit man. They are different as night and day but housed in the same place.

True story I went to the store and there was the prettiest young lady that I had seen in that store.… And as a customer asked her a question about an item in the store,,, I saw pretty turn to ugly. And the older white woman just walked away. And as I walked by the young lady I said you have the ugliest ways I’ve seen toward customers. And I walked out of the store.. And I concluded that just because you look good on the outside doesn’t mean that the inside has the same picture. ATCSA.

And so for a little while I’d like to explore expound, expand an exposition that exegetes this Romans 12 text. You got a minute? Well let’s read Romans 12:1-2 together.

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

#1. I want us to take care of our bodies because God gave us

Hair for Stylization

A Mind for Meditation

Eyes for Observation

Ears for Interpretation

A Nose for Ventilation

A Mouth for Communication

A Heart for Circulation

Skin for Insulation

Hands for Preparation and

Feet for Transportation . The Lord wants us to take care of our bodies..

We only get one. You can watch all of the Sci-fi movies all you want but in reality we only get one body..… And we’d better take care of it.

Because the bible says in 2 Corinthians 5: 1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. I’m not preaching a funeral sermon but that scripture right there proves that our bodies are going to give out on us sooner or later. ATCSA.

And so #2. We’ve got to take care of our bodies… Actually you don’t really own your own body… The bible says Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.

All Right No mo crackling, no mo pork No mo fried chicken, and no mo red meat, no mo cakes and pies, no mo starchy foods… Just salads and greens and baked chicken and broiled fish and no bread… I can have broccoli and carrots and corn and stuff like that.. I’m talking about my own self here. Each person here knows the foods that we should and should not be eating…

No mo drinking spirits because the bible says be not drunk with wine where in is excess but be ye filled with the spirit of the true and living God. No mo smoking cause you causing yourself to be a candidate for lung cancer. And also the people that’s around you too.

No more loud music in the club or in your car .. A young man passed by me on the road and his car music was so loud until my care shook when he passed by me .… And I said he gon be deaf before he turns 35… Sometimes we just don’t take care of our bodies as we should.

#3. My doctor’s office called me and asked me to do a thorough check up and blood work and everything and I asked my wife and she said Baby it’s a preventative measure to intervene with your health so you don’t develop no serious problems without finding solutions and treatment options. I said you so smart that’s why I got you…

Then the Lord said read Romans 12:1 KJV and the word of power says “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”.

Then I concluded that the word was saying to us in the AMP version

I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

Then in the NLT the word says “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him..

After that I kept reading other translations like the NIV Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. And so Paul In Romans 12:1, teaches us about dedication, and this particular dedication is the basis for the other relationships that we must establish with the Lord. Because if you can’t get your body under control then how are you going to get your spirit under control. ATCSA

There are Three dedications that Paul give us

#1. We have to give God our bodies. Because Philippians 1: 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Then #2. We must yield the members of the body as “instruments of righteousness” (Rom. 6:13) for the Holy Spirit to use in the doing of God’s work. Because brothers and sisters Romans 6:13-14 says 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The Old Testament sacrifices were dead sacrifices, but we are to be living sacrifices. #3. Last thing in Romans 12:1 We ought to be “living sacrifices”

Do you’ll remember in the Bible in Genesis 22 How Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son Isaac and the Lord said Abraham stay you hand there’s a ram caught up in the thick branches in the weeds don’t kill Isaac… And then How God gave us Jesus. The bible says in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who soever believes in Him should not perish but have Everlasting Life. Then Paul say its your reasonable service In other words it’s the least you can do to be righteous. ATCSA.

One last time Let’s read Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Then there is verse 2

And The bible says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Brothers and sisters

#1. Give God your mind.. Yeah 3x. Submit and Give God your Mind Let’s read Romans 12:2 together “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Give your mind to God . The writer Paul says and be not conformed to this world.… Paul knows something about that, because the early Christian church was called lunatics and crazy people and Paul was an orthodoxed Jews who had studied under Gamelilad Paul was a pharisee of the Pharisees Paul was a Rev Dr of the law and before his conversion on the road to Damascus this same Paul persecuted the Christian Church with heated ferver… In other words Paul hated Christians. And one day Paul met Jesus and it changed his whole life.. Paul gave his mind to God… I’m going somewhere with this… Because after Paul Repented and had a change of mind .. Then the light of the Gospel reached into his black heart. And Paul was converted.

So tell your neighbor: Give your mind to God. And conformity to the world is like enmity against God. When we conform to the world system we are directly against God..… Because the bible says that in my flesh dwells no good thing.

Listen brothers and sisters The world wants to change your mind, so it exerts pressure from without. But then the Holy Spirit changes your mind by releasing power from within. The Hagios Punema is the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit… And there’s a war going on it’s a battle for your mind because if the devil can get your mind he got your soul...…

#2. Give God Your Will

Give God Your Will because there are three enemies of mankind.

The flesh the world and the devil

Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

If the world controls your thinking, you are a conformer But if God controls your thinking, you are a transformer. And that’s the next thing we need to discuss Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..

# 3. Christians Ought To Be Transformed

Do you’ll remember when Jesus, Peter, James, and John were up on the mountain of transfiguration. Yeah 3x The bible says that all of a sudden while they were up on the mountain The spiritual figures of Moses and Elijah appeared. Yes indeed. Then as they were illuminating and shining like angels Jesus started to shine like and angel too… And Peter jumped up and said Lord it’s good for us to be here..… Let us make three altars one for Moses one for Elijah and one for you Jesus… And the Lord started thundering and lightiings and the earth went to rumbling and a tumbling and Peter them got scared.. A a huge voice, the voice of many waters the voice of thunderous grandeur Brothers and sisters that Voice was the Voice of the Almighty God. And the Lord God Jehovah said Jesus is my beloved Son hear ye Him and nobody else.… And the bible said that Peter james and John were down on their faces scared to death… And when the smoke and the midst and the fog cleared… Elijah wasn’t standing there and Moses wasn’t standing there.. But Jesus was standing there alone Glowing and Illuminating and still tranfigured and transformed and now transportable and Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone what they just saw heard and experienced.

Long story short Jesus was transformed and He expects us to be transformed into the image of God and His likeness. brothers and sisters if you turn your life around and just follow Jesus’ example you’ll be transformed into an instrument of righteousness. ATCSA

Then lastly #4. We’ve Got to Prove that we’re on the side of the Lord. Joshua said as for me and my house we shall serve the Lord… The word of Power in our theme passage in Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. You can’t just talk a good game but you’ve got to show the world that for Christ I live and for Christ I’m willing to die. There was a time in my life when I was too mean to live and wasn’t fit to die oh but the Lord changed my life so that I could free I could whole and that I could tell everybody I know That I love Him Forever and ever and ever and ever.

Oh Yeah that’s how I feel about this situation and As I close here today I want

The Apostle Paul to finish this sermon out for us

in (Romans 8:36 The bible says “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Um Um Um

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Great God

Because Paul said in verse 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My Body and My Spirit belong to God because in Him we live we love and we have our being