A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1 NKJV

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.

Romans 12:1 The Message

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Why does Paul use the word “Therefore” at the beginning of vs.1?

People accept me as I am

I feel loved and wanted

Which doctrine has been carefully explained in ?

I can share with those close to me

When I make mistakes, others don’t condemn or reject me

As a teen, how did peer pressure affect the way you dressed? How you acted?

Romans 12:2 NKJV

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.

Paul warns us not to conform to this world. In what areas do you think many Christians are conforming where perhaps they shouldn’t?

What does it mean to offer your bodies as living sacrifices?

How does the “renewing of your mind” happen - and with what result?

In what current situation do you need to know God’s will? What can you do to find it?

Are you

I don’t have to be just like everyone else to be welcome

I am valued and make a real contribution to others

I don’t have to compete but can cooperate with others