The Renewing Mind

Introduction: At the center of the Christian life lie two fundamental truths required for living the life God has called the Christian to live. These two truths are that of being a living sacrifice and having a transformed life.

A TV show from the late 80’s to the late 90’s was centered around a family that had an annoying neighbor kid who, though annoying and accident prone, found a way into this families heart though reluctant at times. This kid’s name was Steve. He was exceptionally intelligent and a nerd. In high school, Steve creates a “transformation chamber” where he takes his own DNA and alters it to be a debonair, stylish, and handsome guy. He places the altered DNA in the machine, steps in, and as he closes the door it activates and he comes out a completely different person, and calls himself Stefan. He is smart but not as intelligent but is coordinated, smooth, cool, and handsome. In a separate episode he uses a hair strand of Bruce Lee comes out like Bruce Lee knowing martial arts. That transformation chamber had completely changed the type of person Steve was.

Similarly, Paul explains in this passage that the Christian is to be a living sacrifice who is transformed to be totally committed and dedicated to God. We are to change, to have a spiritual makeover!

Context: In the previous 11 chapters of Romans Paul has taught and explained the doctrine and basis of the Christian life. Romans 1-3 Paul explains to us how man has ruined their lives in sin. We discussed last week the depraved mind. The depraved mind is a mind that is worthless and stands as the punishment of people committed to living in their sin. Romans 1:32 confirms the heinousness of sin and the depraved mind. They not only live in sin and it does not phase them but they actively encourage others to deny the truth of God and live in sin as well. A depraved mind is one that is of debase and empty thought. They live without God and cannot nor will they desire to ascertain the truth of Scripture and God Himself. God has given them over to this depraved and worthless mind because of their intent and willful disobedience over and over again. He actively gives them over to live immorally, impurely, and worthlessly.

He in chapter 2-3:20 elaborates on the wickedness and malignity of sin. He leads to only death physically and spiritually. The ultimate end of a depraved mind is total and eternal separation from God forever. This is why then Paul jumps back to explaining from 3:21-11:36 the righteousness of God and the glorious truth that it brings to a person’s life. He reveals in these chapters what the remedy, the fix, is for man’s sinful and depraved state. [A1] The fix being the good news of the gospel! Paul then arrives here at chapter 12 and begins with a plea, an urging for the believers in Rome to live changed lives because of everything God has done for them.

Christ did much more than giving of his time and energy. He gave his life! He sacrificed his life on the cross for you and me, for the world so that we may not have a better life but a great and eternal life in heaven. He sacrificed for each of us so we would not have to have a terrible life of eternity in hell because of our sin. We need to do more than placing flowers on a grave. Paul urges us to be a living sacrifice transformed by the renewing of our mind! This evening I want each of us to walk away committed, more strongly committed, or recommitted.

CPT: Paul urges the Roman believers to live sacrificed lives transformed by the renewing of their mind.

Main Truth: We must respond to this urging by dying to our flesh and by transforming daily by renewing our minds through God’s Word.

Transition: The Christian’s response must be manifested in two ways: 1) our response requires complete and living sacrifice and 2) our response requires daily transformation through a renewing of our mind.

I. The Christian’s response requires being a complete and living sacrifice, v1.

a. Explanation

i. The word “therefore” carries significant weight to what Paul goes on to say here in verses 1 and 2. The exhortation of these two verses combined with 12:3-15:13 is firmly built on the theology that is taught in the first eleven verses. The word adds emphasis giving meaning and reason for why the Christian is to present themselves as a living sacrifice.

ii. “I urge” – Paul is urging the brethren to live a certain way based on the “mercies of God.” This word has a range of applicable meaning here. In the idea of urging also is the idea of exhortation done with authority. The importance for us to see here is that the authority is not coming from a simple leader but from God himself. Paul spoke with the authority of God behind him but did so in a humble manner. The word “beseech” comes from a Greek word, parakaleo, which comes from two different Greek words. One of the words means “to call” and the other means “along side of”. The imagery here is that Paul is coming alongside the believers and encouraging and exhorting them to do what he was already doing. This was a passionate plea from Paul appealing to them to spend the rest of their lives thanking God for his awesome mercy, his payment for our salvation. He had made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him.

iii. “brethren” – Paul is specifically speaking to the believers, the Christians in Rome.

iv. “by the mercies of God” – this prepositional phrase lays out the basis for the exhortation for the Christian to be a living sacrifice. It refers back to what Paul has just finished talking about in chapters 1-11. Paul is simply stating the basis for the reason of living a sacrificial life—the mercy of God in the Christian’s life. We were saved from a sin corrupted mind. We were saved from a mind that did not know nor wanted to know God. We were saved from the eventuality of a depraved mind. God’s mercy in my life and the life of others alters life for eternity! This is the basis for what Paul’s urging is built on. He begins his plea by stating right away that he does not make this plea out of self interest but out of remembering God’s mercy in your life!

v. “present” – this word is interesting. How do we present our bodies? Do we wrap ourselves up in pretty wrapping paper and a giant bow? Is it like in a classroom or bus trip when role is taken and when your name is called you say “present?” Is it a formal presentation?

1. “Present” or “Paristemi”[A2] – comes from two words, para, meaning “near,” and histemi meaning “to stand near or before.” (Complete Word Study Dictionary)

2. “Present” – “to bring into one’s presence,” “to stand by,” “to be present” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)

- This presentation is a daily action. It is not a decision we make as a “once-for-all” act. It is carries the meaning that the Christian must be daily putting himself in the presence of God and sacrificing himself. The opposite of this is “aphistemi” which means “to desert.” The Christian is not to desert God or forsake him. At any point that this happens it is rooted in selfishness and pride.

One author put it this way, “In a way, we should wrap up ourselves as a present to God when he calls our name, we can immediately say, “Here! Right by your side! Present!”

- This presenting is a willingness to get as close to God as you possibly can. We are not just to present our spiritual lives but our physical lives also.

vi. “Living Sacrifice” –

1. Sacrifice is the willingness to give up something that is very valuable to you, something that you love and cherish very deeply.

Before we trusted Christ, we used our body for sinful pleasures and purposes, but now that we belong to Him, we want to use our body for His glory. The Christian’s body is God’s temple (1 Cor. 6:19–20) because the Spirit of God dwells within him (Rom. 8:9). It is our privilege to glorify Christ in our body and magnify Christ in our body (Phil. 1:20–21).[i]

2. Leviticus 1 [A3] – Have people turn here and quickly go through the first 9 verses giving the application from Rand Hummel’s book Gratefully Yours.

a.

3. Christ sacrificed for us and when we genuinely meditate on what he did for us we should be overwhelmed spiritually with how unworthy we are of salvation.

4. God does not just demand our possessions, our desires, or our needs. He demands US!!! He wants YOU and 100% of you! The world we are in is hard and cynical. It postmodern and denying of absolute truth. It is hypersensitive to emotion. If I totally commit to God then someone will get offended. We cannot curtail to the culture! It is in this world that God wants our complete dedication and sacrifice on a daily basis.

5. The sacrificial system during the OT was a way for the OT saints to express their religious convictions in serving the Lord. Paul uses this imagery to show that in order for those sacrifices to be legitimate the individual had to bring the best they had. Today in the NT age, the age of grace, God wants your entire best all of the time.

6. Living Sacrifice described – so what does a living sacrifice look like?

- Paul gives three descriptors:

i. Living – day by day you die to your selfishness and pride

ii. Holy – set apart from the profane and wicked

iii. Acceptable – a sacrifice that is attempted by not placing what god desires on the sacrifice. i.e. Cain

vii. “reasonable service” – it comes from the word (logikeen). It means rational. It is the only rational idea based on the mercies of God to present yourself a living sacrifice. The simple meaning here is that it is our logical and true worship when we are presenting ourselves a living sacrifice to God. Within this it is that our worship is both spiritual and reasonable because it is the only action that makes sense for the Christian’s response to what God has done for them.

It describes worship that is reasonable to expect, the most sensible or appropriate way to respond to God [AB, BECNT, Gdt, HNTC, ICC2, NAC, NTC, SSA; CEV, GW, KJV, NET]. It is eminently reasonable to offer oneself entirely to God, and not to do so would be foolish and irrational [BECNT]. It is what is to be expected of those who have a proper understanding of truth as revealed in Christ [NAC]. It relates to the mind, reason, and intellect, and stands in contrast to worship that is mechanical or automatic [Mu].[ii]

b. Illustration – a lighter example but the example of my Grandma living with my parents

c. Refutation/Application – How do we be a living sacrifice? We have seen the why? Now how does one be a living sacrifice?

i. As we look at society today the philosophy of self- indulgement permeates almost everything. Here are some examples from company slogans. Read from Illustration sheet.

ii. The idea of serving someone else today only seems viable if it is for the better cause. People are always arguing and debating for more money. People spend excessive amount of time looking for angles in life to make life work their way.

iii. Christ died for each of us here this morning and yes even the Christian has fallen prey to this mentality of materialism. It use to be that serving and attending church was the common thing in the life of Christians. Church was what life revolved around. This has now reversed and church revolves around life. Multiple passages in Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians discuss the truth of the body of Christ and how the church has many members. When one member slacks the whole church suffers. The Christian life is not about you and your comforts!

See, now churches are having less services, Christians are finding ways of consuming their time and taking away from serving through the local church. We come up with excuse after excuse why we cannot serve here or serve there. With God there is no retirement! We live in a retirement society. Unfortunately, the same mentality gets brought into serving God in the church. Serving God does not have an expiration date! See, our service is the only reasonable and rational response to God’s merciful work and blessings in our lives.

iv. We give excuses why we cannot give that up or do something that is not a part of our 5 year plan. We have so monopolized our time and talents that there is very little to none left over for God to use. Many Christians have fallen prey to the thought of consumerism and what can the church or what can God do for me rather than what does God want me to do for him.

v. Parents are afraid for their children to commit 100% of their life because that might mean they could never see them again. We can come up with excuse after excuse but in the end each of us here this morning knows that they hold no merit with God! He gave his life! He came to earth as a man veiling his glory from man so that we might live.

vi. What excuses are you giving God this morning? Are you a living sacrifice? What area of your life needs to be sacrificed? How much of your life needs to be sacrificed?

vii. Are you willing to be a Christian who is side by side with Christ and daily asking Him what to sacrifice and what he wants you to do? Do you ask this question of everything you do? When we ask this and commit 100% to Christ, God’s blessings will come and your relationship with God will grow.

So that’s what leads me to say the Christian life is premised not on what you can get from God. You’ve already received everything you need in your salvation. It’s premised on what you give to God – what you give to God. -MacArthur

viii. It is our logical worship!!

Transition: Paul urges the Roman believers to live sacrificed lives transformed by the renewing of their mind. Therefore, we must respond to this urging by dying to our flesh and by transforming daily by renewing our minds through God’s Word. We do this by first daily responding in living sacrifice; by serving God unreservedly!

The second response:

II. The Christian’s response requires daily transformation through a renewing of our mind., v2.

a. Explanation – process of accomplishing a sacrificed life

i. Paul continues right into verse 2 and explaining what needs to take place for a sacrificial life. He begins with a negative and positive comparison/command/exhortation.

ii. Negative: He tells the readers to “not be conformed to the world” “but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.”

1. Paul and Peter both use the word syschmatizo.

2. Paul in Romans 12:2 and Peter in 1 Peter 1:14[A4]

3. “Whether it is the width of a belt, the style of hair, or the length of an outfit, the world’s fashions change. The only thing constant about today’s fashions is change.” – Rand Hummel, GY pg 79

iii. Let’s first look at the negative…” Be not [A5] conformed to this world” – this phrase Paul is talking about the seat of our affections, our heart and mind, and how it is not to conform the worlds system of beliefs. The term “world” here is talking of the belief system that the world holds. Our world beliefs are attacking more and more the person of God. What was once considered taboo is now just a way of life. The idea of conform is a term that denotes outward change.

1. Conforming is a superficial way of living.

2. Conforming is like Jell-O, you just simply ooze into the desired mold. We typically never have to think when copying someone’s behavior. Like art class in second grade, just trace the picture.[A6]

3. We just mimic the patterns of the world without even thinking through the destination and consequences of what we are doing. It is the idea of just wanting to fit in and not be noticed. The world we live in now is dominated by sin. Every day we hear in the news about a murder or theft or slandering of a political opponent. In the sports world right now players are being punished for cheating. This is the type of conformity that if present will deter from being a living sacrifice.

4. Philosophy simply means “why we do what we do.” A philosophy of life anchored in God’s character and is unchanging is a wonderful mind-set to have.

5. Believers must be non-conformists as we look at the world around us. The world that is external, and has a fleeting philosophy to life. We cannot be afraid to be different! To conform is to look at God’s mercies and spit on them. It is to throw them aside for selfish living that will result in regret and pain.

iv. The positive of this command is the “be transformed.” The word transformed comes from the Greek word that we get metamorphosis. It is the idea of becoming something completely and entirely different. Transformation goes deep into the deepest of levels and changes the object. A butterfly and a caterpillar do not look anything alike. One you want to squish and the other zoo’s dedicate an entire exhibit for them. Caterpillars are ugly while butterflies are beautiful. A conforming Christian is ugly while a transforming Christian is beautiful. One day we will be totally transformed into the glorified state that God ultimately desires. He works and pleads with us now to grow us into the man or woman that God deisres! A living sacrifice!

v. Paul uses the present tense in the passive voice here helping to stress the importance for us to be transforming daily and that it is not us that transforms us! You could translate this phrase “Let yourselves be transformed.” According to 2 Corinthians 3:18 the Holy Spirit does the transforming. Galatians 4:19 shows God works on and in the believers life to form him or her in Christ!

vi. The verb “transform” is however in the imperative mood. As believers there is a responsibility (Philippians 2:12-13) to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives.

vii. Transformation is an inward change with an outward manifestation. Someone who has yielded their life completely to Christ will have had a transformation. What visible change can people see in you?

viii. Renewing of the mind: This transformation takes place through the process of renewing our mind.

1. The renewing your mind will never happen if all you do is spend 5 minutes of prayer and devotions.

a. Rand Hummel at the Youth Worker’s conference did a session on Fast Food Philosophy when it comes to our devotions. The point he was making was that way too often the Christian takes a fast food mentality to their devotional life. Nothing about fast food is nutritionally long lasting.

b. Taking this approach will not give a lasting transformation of your mind.

2. The renewing or reprogramming of our mind does not happen overnight. The process is minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year discipline to saturate your heart and mind with the Word of God.

3. To renew is to make new again. One author likened it to the remodeling of a house. You replace the old with the new.

4. God transforms our minds and makes us spiritually minded by using His Word. As you spend time meditating on God’s Word, memorizing it, and making it a part of your inner man, God will gradually make your mind more spiritual (see 2 Cor. 3:18).[iii] - Wiersbe

5. In our mind:

a. Replace hate with what?

b. Replace lust with what?

c. Replace anger with what?

d. Replace fear with what?

e. Replace selfishness with what?

f. Replace pride with what?

g. Replace laziness with what?

6. Two Important Principles:

a. Process of renewal time line -

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

b. knowledge we need – Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

ix. “that ye may prove” [A7] – as we become less conformed to this world and more transformed into Christ-likeness we will “prove” or “show” or “display” what the will of God looks like.

Discerning the will of God takes work and effort. Without God’s Word and the renewal of your mind you will have trouble discerning God’s will for your life. Before you can know the concealed part of God’s will, you must make sure that you are honoring and obeying His revealed will[A8] . You need to be renewing your mind daily in order to know what God wants for you!

x. Three aspects to God’s will:

1. Good - profitable

2. Acceptable – pleasing to God

3. Perfect – produce God’s intended purpose

a. “teleios” – full, complete, finished

b. Used in Colossians 1:28 in reference to a mature believer

b. Illustration –

i. Play Dough into a mold(conformation)

ii. Family Matters/Coal-Diamond Example(transformation)

c. Refutation/Application

i. Our world preaches to us every day to conform. I have mentioned slogans that companies put out. Advertisements produced by marketing departments to “enhance” their product. The tabloids in the papers, our entertainment world and political world are all about conforming to each other, to a system of beliefs that is anti-God.

ii. Biblical living has been replaced with pragmatism. The society we live in is all about what works for them. The problem with this philosophy is that it is not about them or their friends or family or anybody else. It is all about the one and only Holy God!

iii. Has our pragmatic and materialistic society reached your mind and heart? Our lives are so loud and busy we do not even have time to think. We wake up in the morning in time to get ready for work and get the kids off to school. Children and teenagers you wake up leaving yourself just enough time to get ready in the morning and if you have a day off you sleep as late as you can and waste valuable time during a day that God could be using you. Sure getting extra sleep is not wrong, and the morning is not the only time we can spend time with God in devotions. Most of us know though what happens once a day has started.

iv. Our thinking needs to be revamped, it needs to be renewed! God’s Word is what does that renewing! The problem with the scenarios I just mentioned is that it really shows what we love first. How can you be ready to battle in your mind if you have never picked up the tool to help you fight? None of here would consistently go to work without the right equipment, but we go through our Christian life too often without God’s Word.

v. “So to remake, remodel, and make new the thoughts and attitudes of our selfish and immature minds, we need a consistent, step-by-step commitment to know more and more about our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Rand Hummel

vi. Are you living a life that is honoring to God by thanking God for what he has done for you and through living a pure life? That is God’s will that is what a transformed life will be like.

vii. Are your life’s actions, thoughts, words, and aspirations profitable to God, pleasing to God, or help in completing His purposes? A transformed life has their mind renewed and their life doing exactly those things.

Conclusion:

- Restate CPS/ Restate Main Points

o We must respond to this urging by dying to our flesh and by transforming daily by renewing our minds through God’s Word.

o The Christian’s response must be manifested in two ways: 1) our response requires complete and living sacrifice and 2) our response requires daily transformation through a renewing of our mind.

o A renewing mind is a transforming Christian growing in Christ toward godliness and toward our ultimate glorification!

- Let’s now combine both verses as we look at the whole picture. Paul here is telling us that we need to be daily living sacrifices by not conforming to the world’s belief system but rather through the renewing of our mind being transformed so that we can accurately see and display the will of God in our life. Therefore, God getting the glory!

- Ask yourself this morning, what am I not willing to sacrifice? What is so important to me that it is keeping me from complete surrender to God?

- What am I doing day in and day out that is keeping me from being conformed to the world?

- What am I doing day in and day out to daily be renewing my mind?

- How has God transformed my life in the last few days and weeks? Has he initialized a transformation in you (salvation)?

- What we believe determines how we behave – Weirsbe. What aspects and lies has become a part of your life? What about the world have you let in to deceive you and stop you from living a sacrificial life before God? What matters most to you?

- How grateful you are for the mercies of God is shown in your commitment level to serving Him, fellowshipping with Him and His people?

- Ask yourself these questions:

o Do I sacrifice anything that actually costs anything or do I just give out of what I have extra or reserves?

o Do I sacrifice because I want to or because I feel like I have to?

o Do I sacrifice in a way that honors God by giving him the glory in the process?

o What renewal needs to be going on in your life?

o Are you in God’s Word and letting God renew you!?

- Being a living sacrifice that is set apart and pleasing to God, is that how people can describe you? Can they tell that you have a renewing mind? A renewing and transforming life is a life that is daily dying to self and lives sacrificially!

- What fills and dominates your mind most of the day? Too often it may not be anything of wrong in content but the problem may be that God is not enough.

- God is full of mercy, he sent his son to die for each and every person. The world needed a perfect sacrifice to pay for the penalty of sin. Christ did that for you and for me. We can rejoice because He rose again just as he said and death and sin were conquered. Salvation gift was paid for.

- Maybe you are here this morning and you realized that you have never accepted Christ into your heart. You have not put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and repented of your sin. There is no other way to heaven, Jn 14:6. Christ is the only road to heaven. So if you are here this morning and you realized that the sacrifice Christ made for you and you want to make that decision to accept Christ’s gift of salvation, I pray that you do that today. It is not until then that you can become a living sacrifice because Romans tells us that we are dead in the trespasses and sins. It is only Christ that can wash that sin away.

- Maybe you are here and are saved, what are you doing with your life? What are you holding back from God? Are you all in on serving God? God does not say here that if bad things have happened to us or good things have happened to us that we do not have to serve him 100% of us, heart and mind. He does not base it on family relationships and responsibilities, or work responsibilities. He bases it on His person, his command for us to be renewed in our minds, to be 100% sacrificed and ready and willing to do whatever he wants and whenever he wants us to do it!

Are you looking at life through the lens of Scripture, the lens God has given to us to live the sacrificed life he wants from us?

IS YOUR LIFE A LIFETIME RESPONSE OF GODLY TRANSFORMING THROUGH RENEWING YOUR MIND DAILY!?

[i] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:554.

AB Fitzmyer, Joseph A. Romans. The Anchor Bible, edited by W. F. Albright and D. N. Freedman. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1993.

BECNT Schreiner, Thomas. Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Moisés Silva. Grand Rapids, Baker, 1998.

Gdt Godet, F. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Tr. by A. Cusin, revised and edited by Talbot W. Chambers, 1883. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1969.

HNTC Barrett, C. K. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Harper’s New Testament Commentaries, edited by Henry Chadwick. New York: Harper & Row, 1957.

ICC2 Cranfield, C. E. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Vol. 1. The International Critical Commentary, edited by J. A. Emerton and C. E. B. Cranfield. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975.

NAC Mounce, Robert H. Romans. New American Commentary, edited by E. Ray Clendenen. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2001.

NTC Hendricksen, William. Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, vol. 1, chapters 1–8. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980.

SSA Deibler, Ellis W. Jr. A Semantic and Structural Analysis of Romans. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1998.

CEV The Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995.

GW God’s Word. World Publishing: Grand Rapids, 1995.

KJV The Holy Bible. Authorized (or King James) Version. 1611.

NET The NET Bible, New English Translation. Version 6r,715. Biblical Studies Press, 2006.

BECNT Schreiner, Thomas. Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Moisés Silva. Grand Rapids, Baker, 1998.

NAC Mounce, Robert H. Romans. New American Commentary, edited by E. Ray Clendenen. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2001.

Mu Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans. The English Text with Introduction, Exposition and Notes. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968.

[ii] David Abernathy, An Exegetical Summary of Romans 9–16, (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2009), 196.

[iii] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:554.

[A1]Quickly go over Moo’s breakdown of Romans as it further explains these statements of description.

Chaps 1-4:25 the heart of the gospel

Universal Reign of Sin

Justification By Faith

Chaps 5-8 – Assurance provided by Salvation: The Hope of Salvation

Hope of Glory; Salvation from sin

Freedom from Bondage to Sin

Freedom from the Bondage to the Law

Assurance of Eternal Life in the Spirit

The Believer’s Security Celebrated

Chaps 9-11 Defense of the Gospel: The Problem of Israel

We can praise God in light of His eternal plan

[A2]Transitive Verb connecting “present” with “body”

[A3]Page 76 from Gratefully Yours

[A4]1 Peter 1:13-16 (KJV) 13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

[A5]Lets us know to stop doing something!

[A6]Taken from Rand Hummel’s book Gratefully Yours

[A7]Rand Hummel gives the illustration of where you will not find the will of God:

Fortune cookie

Flip of a coin

Written on your Facebook wall

Posted on your twitter page

[A8]20 NT References about God’s will:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4

Ephesians 6:6-7

1 Thessalonians 5:18