Sermon for August 23,2020 23 Minutes

Good morning everyone,,, watching by video.

Before I start with my sermon,,, I want to have announcements and praise and prayer request read.

Announcements:

We will have charge conference coming up soon. We will need to begin to prepare for that.

Praise Reports and Prayer request

I sent out text messages and Facebook post again this week,,, asking for praise reports and prayer request.

These are the ones that I've written down.

If I've missed yours,,, please text me or post it in the comments and we will do our best to add it at the end.

Praise reports

I continue with our thanks to our healthcare workers during this terrible pandemic. I believe that we truly know who our heroes today are!

Prayer Request:

Remember Holland Barton,,, born prematurely and having several issues. He's improved some but still in need of prayers.

Remember Kaye Lee from Prentiss.

Remember Betty Thacker from MS. Tank Co.

Remember Brad Lees as he battles his cancer diagnosis and deals with recovery from kidney stones.

Continue to remember Glenda Faye and the Coulter family

Continue to remember the healthcare workers.

Remember all of the problems facing our nation.

And,,,

An unspoken prayer request.

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Before I begin with my sermon,,, I wanted to begin this morning with an opening prayer and lead into the Lord's prayer like we usually begin our worship service. That way if you like,,, you can join me in saying the Lord's prayer.

Invocation and Lord's prayer

Dear Lord, I thank you for your continued presence among us today and every day. I thank you for our healthcare workers who continue to work tirelessly and sometimes without a thank you! I thank you for those that are listening and watching by video. I ask for continued guidance for them and others. So we ask for healing for all of those that are sick this morning,,, we pray for all of those that we mentioned this morning,,, the unspoken request,,, those on our prayer list and even any needs that weren't mentioned,,, we ask for safety and guidance for our healthcare workers and all others that must work during this time. Lord,,, I pray for all of those that are still working on clearing storm damage and helping others. We ask for healing from all these events for our great nation,,, and

We ask these things in Jesus's name who taught us to pray, by saying:

Our Father, which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever.

Amen.

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This morning I'll be reading Romans chapter 12 verses 1 through 8.

I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Romans 12:1-8

In the verses that we will look at this morning,,, Paul is explaining that our bodies are a living sacrifice and the way that we use them to show the church as the body of Christ.

Romans 12:1–8

1 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. 3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one’s faith; 7 if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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The last several weeks we have been looking at the words from Paul as he taught us the things that we needed to know as we move forward in our walk with God.

This week Paul gives us the way that we are supposed to act once we become Christians and the way that we should work together as the church to advance the plans that God has for us.

Lets look at these verses and see how they can help us in our walk with God this week.

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Verse 1 says: 1 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.

In John Wesley's Commentary,,, it says that the "Therefore" of verse 1 refers back to everything that Paul has covered in chapters 1–11.

In view of all that God has done,,, our responsibility is clear.

We must make a total commitment of ourselves to God by surrendering our personal and worldly wants and giving our all to God.

This commitment becomes the rock that will hold us up in adversity all throughout our walk with God.

Without the commitment to God as seen in verses 1 and 2 it would be impossible to commit ourselves to each other as demanded thereafter.

Here, too, surrender is not giving up,,, but a true beginning.

It makes the full life possible.

We are required to give ourselves fully to God,,, you cannot just give God your Sunday at church and expect that to get you through the rest of the week.

God is expecting our all.

We must give our whole life to Him or we will never have the "peace" that Jesus promised us.

It's also through our giving "all",,, that makes everything that we do,,, holy and pleasing to God and possible for us to truly worship Him the way that we should!

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Verse 2 says: 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God

The sacrifice that it talks about in verses 1 and 2,,, involves four aspects.

First there is the presentation to God,,, like we just discussed.

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Secondly, this involves a rejection of the claims that the world can have on our lives and devotion.

The present world,,, that we live in today,,, tries to present itself as a model for us to imitate and to take as a pattern for our lives.

This must be rejected.

Living sacrifices no longer belong to the world.

C.S. Lewis said,,, in his book "Christian Behavior",,, If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. aim at earth and you will get neither.

When we spend our time concentrating on this world,,, we will be selfish in our thoughts and deeds,,, but if heaven is where our thoughts are,,, then we will do our best to take care of others and love others,,, instead of ourselves.

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Holiness must make its own patterns or it will perish.

And that is the third aspect,,, where it says: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The word for transformed is the root word of “metamorphosis”—the term used for the amazing change from a worm to a butterfly.

A lot of times when we want to change our lives,,, we decide to change our clothes to change the way that we look,,, but this does nothing to really change our life.

This only effects the way that we look on the outside,,, it does nothing for us internally.

The only way that you can "be transformed by the renewing of your mind," is for our bodies to be free from our fleshly nature and to be renewed and purified by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously this is not something that we can do in our own power,,, though we must make a conscious effort of submitting to God's grace,,, and then,,, listening and obeying the Holy Spirit as it guides us daily.

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The fourth aspect is the discernment and practical demonstration in daily living of the holy life,,, that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God

Discern could be thought of as,,, to,,, “scrutinize” or “put to the test.”

In my Wesleyan Commentary,,, Denney applies it to moral discernment,,, which is a quality of the renewed mind.

The will of God is identified with what is good in the moral sense.

Pleasing,,, just as in verse 1,,, means well-pleasing to God.

And "perfect" refers to the moral principals guided by the Holy Spirit so that they are changed to a holy or complete behavior.

This is an amazing goal in Christian behavior.

It is all the more amazing that grace has actually put it within the reach of those who offer themselves as living sacrifices to God.

What was totally impossible to those living only by a list of rules,,, is now possible,,, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Thus the beauty of Jesus is seen,,, or "should be seen",,, in each of us that are Christians.

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Paul uses verses 3 through 8 to help us see ourselves the way that we should,,, without looking down on others,,, or thinking more highly of ourselves than we should.

A lot of the times,,, if we are honest,,, most of our arguments or disagreements come about because we feel threatened in one way or another.

And that is either because we feel like they are putting us down or we feel like they are trying to show everyone how much better they are than us,,, instead of recognizing that God has given each of us different abilities that are needed within the body of the church.

And to make the most of that,,, we must learn to work together.

Paul concentrates on three aspects of the Christian attitude that we should have towards ourselves:

Humility,,, which is the right way to think of ourselves,,, found in verse 3.

Co-operation,,, which is the right relationship we should have in the church body,,, found in verses 4 and 5.

Stewardship,,, which is the Christian attitude we should have toward our gifts and abilities,,, found in verses 6 through 8.

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Verse 3 says: 3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

Paul is speaking of personal pride in this verse.

We have so much to be thankful for when it comes to being saved by God,,, but we must remember who was responsible for the saving!

Remember Romans 5:8 that says: 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we are all just as guilty as anyone else,,, no matter what sin has been committed.

So we are all here because of,,, and only because,,, God loves each one of us!

And if you haven't accepted God's love,,, then it's there just waiting for you to acknowledge that you need it!

So for those of us that are Christians already,,, Paul is trying to warn us not to think better of ourselves than we should,,, since that attitude can turn someone away from God and we don't want to be responsible for that.

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Verses 4 and 5 say: 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

Now,,, I'm sure that you have heard all of the comparisons before of how every part of the body belongs together and works together,,, but then you look at me and I have parts that are missing.

Well,,, I can truthfully say,,, that I can make it this way,,, but it sure was a whole lot easier living with everything together the way that it was supposed to be!

Well,,, for us as members of the church,,, we can make it without other members too,,, but it would sure be better if everyone did their part and participated as God intended for us to do!

And we do that by working together!

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Verses 6 through 8 say: 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one’s faith; 7 if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

This verse is self explanatory really.

We are given gifts by God to do the job that He has planned for us to do.

If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable whenever someone begins to talk about God's plan for your life,,, or your gifts that He gave you,,, you might find out that you need to spend some time in prayer and ask God exactly what He wants you to do.

Then once you get that answer,,, remember that He will supply everything that you need to do that job,,, whatever it may be.

This was something that I struggled with for years and years,,, always ignoring those uncomfortable feelings.

And then,,, even after I finally answered God's call,,, I continued to make excuses.

Don't make the mistakes that I did,,, I should have accepted His call years ago,,, because now I have the true peace that God tried to give me way back then!

And once you figure out your gift,,, it needs to be used in the church and your community for it to be of any use to God.

That's what Paul is saying here,,, to use God's gifts to make this world a better place than it was,,, before we have to leave.

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Hopefully we will remember these verses as we go through this next week and they will help us see that we need to work together in the church.

We do that by giving God complete control of our life,,, realizing that what we give up,,, we gain in the "peace of God" that we cannot get any other way,,, and on top of that,,, eternity spent with Christ forever.

We also do all of this through the help of the Holy Spirit which helps us in every aspect of our Christian life.

All of this helps us to work together as the church that Jesus wants us to be,,, so that we can help more people in our communities.

And we do this by recognizing the gifts that God has given each of us,,, whatever those gifts may be,,, and putting them to work in the church.

By putting all of these things together,,, Paul wanted us to be able to study and put into practice today,,, the words that he sent to the Roman church back then.

And hopefully by doing so,,, we can leave this world a better place than it was!

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