Godly Children

Romans 12:1-2 NRSV - I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

NLT - 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. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Apostle Paul begins this letter identifying who he’s writing to; and he’s writing to all those in Rome, loved by God, called to be his own holy people. He’s writing to the Christians in Rome, and because it’s a part of the canon, the Bible we read, he’s writing to all of us who God loves and are called to be his own holy people.

He makes it clear, salvation is for the Jew and the Greek, in other words; salvation is for all who believe and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

• If that’s you, listen up.

• If you want it to be you, listen up.

• If you’re not sure, listen up.

Today I’m going to talk about what godly character looks like and how godly children display it. The title of today’s message is Godly Children.

In this letter, Paul talks about many things before coming to this twelfth chapter and some of those things deal with

• the fallen, sinful nature of mankind

• mankind’s inability to follow the God’s law

• God’s righteous judgment

• The power of the Gospel

• the inability of mankind to achieve righteousness on their own

• How God made our righteousness possible through faith

• Paul explains how sin and subsequent death came through Adam, but grace and life came through Jesus.

• He talks about how we’ve been set free from the law and have life in the Spirit in Christ

• Our future glory

• God’s love in Jesus

• God’s wrath and mercy and…

• Because of Israel’s unbelief, salvation was made available to all

So, these are just a few of the highlights in the book of Romans. In your personal study time this week, read Romans, it is full of personal and practical things for walking and living this Christian life.

When Paul gets to chapter 12, he pleads with the brothers and sisters, the Christians, to you who identify as Christians; by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

That’s a little different; a sacrifice is typically when something of value is given up, when something is killed. But Paul offers a twist, he says to take these failing, falling apart, breaking down bodies we live in and present them as a living sacrifice.

God wants us to live rich and meaningful lives, that’s why Christ came.

Not only are we to present our bodies as living sacrifices, we are to present them holy. So what does it mean to be holy? To be holy, is to be set apart by or for God.

When you are set apart it means you

• you live differently than the world

• you act differently than the world

• you react differently than the world

• you talk differently than the world

• you think differently than the world

It’s not that you’re better, it’s just that you’re on a different mission, walking a different road, headed to a different destination. Or at least you should be.

When you’re holy, you must keep at the forefront of your mind, you’re not holy because of anything you’ve done, you’re holy because of the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus; you’re holy because of all Jesus did for you.

Present your body, meaning to yield, when you yield, you surrender control to God, you submit yourself to Him.

Present your body not only as a living sacrifice, not only as a holy sacrifice, but one that is acceptable to God.

To be acceptable to God, means He receives you with favor, that He takes pleasure in and is well-pleased with your offering.

When you do this, it is then that you are truly worshipping God. In the KJV it’s translated that this is your reasonable service, it’s rational, and it’s the least you can do.

When we worship God, we should come in a posture of surrender, surrender all we have, all we are and all we could ever hope to be.

When we surrender

• we give up our thoughts for his thoughts,

• we relinquish control of our lives for the life and plans God has made for us

• we commit to serve God with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole soul, and our whole body

• we purpose to give to God all we have and all we are

• we sacrifice our time, our talent and our finances to build up His Kingdom.

When we surrender to God, we recognize it’s not about us anymore. We stop worrying about what’s in it for me. Instead, we come with an attitude of what can I offer?

• What shall I render unto God, for all of His goodness?

• What shall I render unto God, for all of His mercy and grace?

• What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

When we surrender, our thoughts change to

• What do I have to contribute — instead of what can they give me

• How can I make the church better — instead of how can the church help me?

• How do my gifts fit in the plan of God — instead how do I make the plan of God fit my gift?

• Instead of asking God to bless my plan — I find out what God is doing and join Him in His plan.

And now that you’ve surrendered, Paul says don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, don’t conform to the world, instead let God transform you into a new person. Allow God to transform you from a sinner who is headed to hell into the saint He desires and designed you to be.

Now how is God going to do this? So glad you ask. God will transform you by renewing your mind, by changing the way you think. It won’t just be an outward show, it will be an inward transformation.

• You’ll find you don’t desire the things you used to

• You won’t worry about the things you used to worry about

• You won’t look at people the same way

• You won’t become as angry as you used to about certain things and you won’t be angry as often

• You’ll develop compassion for all God’s people not just a select few.

When God transforms you, when He renews your mind—it’s then you’ll learn to know God’s will for you. You’ll learn the plan of God for your life, you’ll believe the Scripture when it says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

• You’ll read and understand that Scripture with a whole new mindset.

• You’ll desire to go deeper in the Word to learn about all God has for you.

• You won’t need the “prophet” or the pastor to tell you, God will awaken your spiritual discernment, He will activate your understanding, when you get into His Word and read for yourself. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” even as it pertains to your life.

• You won’t need to wonder and guess what it is God desires for and of you.

• You won’t need to wander here and there looking for where you fit in. You’ll sit and study and learn and wait for God to show you His plan, where you fit and what you’re to be doing.

• You’ll know that your gift will make room for you.

Church, we have a mission and it takes your minds, your hands, your feet, your commitment of time, talent and tithe to accomplish it.

It takes you showing up, doing what you can to ensure the assignment is completed. What can you do?

• You can give time

• You can give ideas

• You can give labor

• You can give talent

• You can give money

• You can give and follow instructions

• You can give muscle

• You can pray

The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. Those who are current members of Love Christian Center and those who are coming, we need you here in the house.

The pandemic is subsiding, many are going to the store, to concerts, to other activities outside your homes, so add church to that list and come on out.

We need you to come back into the house so we can get back to the work of Christ, so we can carry out the mission of Love Christian Center, so we can carry out the Great Commission of making disciples.

Come on to Sunday school and get a deeper understanding of the Bible, we start at 8:45. Bring your children so they can be trained early in the Word of God. “Train up a child in the he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

We wonder why we’re losing our children to gangs, to violence, to illiteracy, to the system? It’s because they’re not being offered an alternative. Bring them so we can show them there is something better for them, there are people who will love them just for who they are, that there are people they can count on.

Come to Bible Study on Wednesdays, we’ll start back on Aug 3 and we’ll have a noon-day and 7:00 pm Bible study. Church, there’s much to do and if you live in the Douglasville area, we need you in the house to get it done.

If you don’t live in the area, and would like to help financially, see our giving page at www.lovechristianctr.org. We praise God for those of you who have been faithful contributors, some of your offerings on CashApp have failed, I believe we’ve fixed that issue and we appreciate you trying again.

If you’re not in the Douglasville area, pray God will send workers into the vineyard.

Saints, God’s will for you is good and pleasing and perfect and when you know that, when you accept that, you can truly display godly character as godly children.

So what does it look to be godly children? Let me tell you so when you walk out of here you can model that behavior.

• Godly children don’t just pretend to love others - their love is genuine

• Godly children are sincere in all they do— they don’t put on a show in public and act different in private.

• Godly children hate what is wrong — they don’t make excuses or go along to get along

• Godly children hold on to what is good—and let the rest go

• Godly children take delight in honoring others—they celebrate with you

• Godly children are not envious of your blessings—they don’t covet what God has blessed you with

• Godly children are not lazy—they work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

• Godly children rejoice in their confident hope—they put their hope in Jesus

• Godly children are patient in trouble

• Godly children pray without ceasing, they recognize prayer is a powerful weapon

• Godly children stand ready to help when God’s people are in need.

• Godly children are eager to practice hospitality

• Godly children bless those who persecute them, they don’t curse them, instead they pray God will bless them

• Godly children are happy with those who are happy, and they weep with those who weep.

• Godly children live in harmony with each other, they’re not trying to outdo each other, there is no competition. They recognize there’s room for everyone and everyone is important.

• Godly children are not haughty, they enjoy the company of ordinary people

• Godly children don’t claim to know it all, they are humble

• Godly children never, that’s a strong word, they never pay back evil with more evil. They understand that vengeance belongs to God.

• Godly children do things in such a way that everyone can see they are honorable.

• Godly children do all that they can to live in peace with everyone, starting at home and spreading from there.

• Godly children feed their enemies if they’re hungry, they give them something to drink if they’re thirsty.

• Godly children are not overcome by evil, instead they overcome evil with good.

That may seem like a long list, you’ll find it in verses 9-21 of this same chapter, you see it’s not what I think, it’s what God says.

But once you allow God to transform your mind, these things will come natural to you, because your focus will be on pleasing God, not on pleasing yourself or pleasing man. You will value your credit with God more than with men. You’ll no longer seek the approval and praise of men.

Are you ready to have your mind transformed? It’s not about brainwashing, it’s merely about surrendering your will to the will of God. It’s about accepting that He knows what’s best for us. It’s about realizing God knows your future and wants to bless you.

If you’ve never surrendered your life to Jesus, this is a great day to do so. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation.”

It’s that simple confess and believe. Pray with me, Lord I confess I’m a sinner, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for my sins and that you raised Him from the dead. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, I give you my life, in Your name I pray. Amen

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family, contact us at [e-mail] and let us pray with you. If you live in the Douglasville, GA vicinity come join us at 3500 Hwy 5, Ste 101 and we’d be so very happy to have you.

Stay abreast of all we’re doing, on our website, there is much information you can get. Again, that website address is www.lovechristianctr.org, you can also follow us on our YouTube channel, Love Christian Center, Douglasville.

Are you a child of God, do your actions say so? Have you presented your body as a living sacrifice? Those are questions you need to answer for yourself. Behaviors you need to assess about yourself. Be honest, because God, already knows.

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And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.