Examining The Transformed Life - [Romans 12:1-2]

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Good morning. Like you said, I'm Gary Edwards. I am the director of financial aid at the Master's College. Graduated in 2001 from the
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Master's Seminary. And I currently reside at Placida Baptist Church in Santa Cruz, California.
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You're welcome. I brought the sunny weather with me. So we tried to do that. But this morning, what
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I want to talk about is you guys from on an every Sunday to Sunday basis, we have
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Mike and Steve up here going through the scriptures and talking about what you need to do.
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And going through. And so I want to just talk about practically living biblically and what that looks like.
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Not that they don't talk about the practicality or talk about that, but just want to talk about what it really looks like in your lives.
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So let me go ahead and pray for us. And then we'll jump into the word of God. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you just for the privilege it is to know you as our
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Lord and Savior, Lord. Thank you for this morning that we have an opportunity to hear your word. Lord, I just pray that you just allow me to step out of the way and let your word be preached.
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Prepare people's hearts now to hear what you wish and desire for them to hear,
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Lord, and to go out and apply it in their lives. We thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for the blessing and the provision you give us on a daily basis.
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In your name we pray. Amen. I'm going to be in the
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New Testament this morning, which is strange, because I'm an Old Testament guy. I love the Old Testament. So I'm going to do what we call leapfrog.
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I'm going to start in the Old Testament, jump to the New, just because I can. I always think we should start there. But a verse that's always been that I've loved is
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Ezra 7 .10. Does anybody know that one? By the way, let me tell you this now. I like interaction, so I'm going to ask questions, and you can answer them.
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That's what I want. And I don't mind quiet pauses, so if nobody answers, I'll just stand up here and look stupid.
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So help me out with that. Does anybody know what Ezra 7 .10 is, besides Pastor Steve? 7 .10,
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7 .10. Ezra set his heart to, all right, all right.
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OK, what it is, is Ezra 7 .10, it says that Ezra set his heart to study the law of the
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Lord, and to practice it, and to teach its statutes, and rules, and ordinances in Israel.
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And when it comes to living biblically, you've got to realize what you've set your heart to do.
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And looking at one of the real, I think, one of the real godly men in the
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Old Testament, looking at Ezra, and what Ezra did in order to maintain that relationship before the Lord, was that he had to set his heart.
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He had to set his heart to study it, and then to do it. And I think for you and I as believers, we need to determine that.
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Because I think sometimes we get stuck in the rut that, well, there's the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit's going to do all this.
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So I seem to go to church, hear it, and then some way, magically, during the week, it's all going to flesh out in our lives.
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And I think you and I both know that's not going to happen. We need to do something. You need to do something.
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So there's my leapfrog text. And we're going to jump into Romans 12 .1 and 2. Now this one, people should,
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I should get some response. Does anybody know, anybody out here know Romans 12 .1 and 2? Come on.
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You know Romans. OK, what's Romans 12 .1 and 2? Good job.
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Did you hear that? Good time. Yeah, it is. That's exactly right. He's talking about urging brethren. And I think that in all of scripture, this verse, these two verses in Romans 12 .1
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and 2, is God's call to you and I to respond, and to respond to the grace in which he's given us.
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And it is a response of, this is our responsibility.
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I think it's a perfect summation of all of what Paul has been teaching throughout Romans, what we need to respond to.
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Now, a lot of people say, you've heard about this in Romans. Romans 1 through 11 is all about doctrine.
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And then you're going to jump in 12 to 16, and it's all about practicality, of how you need to practically live out the
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Christian life. Well, I think doctrine is practical. So I don't think you should just skip and read chapters 12 through 16.
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But with that, though, think about this. In 1 through 11, he doesn't just talk about doctrine.
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There is things that he speaks about, to the fact of Christian living. He talks about not letting sin reign in your mortal bodies in 6 .12.
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He talks about that we are to serve others in a new way, also in 7 .6.
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And then, also, you're to live a controlled life in 8 and 9.
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So these are practical things that he's talking about, things that we can do as believers, in response to biblical truth.
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But then he does pour us here to Romans 12 .1. And I think the key that we're seeing here is what
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Paul does is he's telling us now in this chapter, he's telling us that we need to stop, how do you put it?
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Like, we need to stop being in this kind of dream world about what it means to be a
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Christian. And it's this idealistic thing that it's just really a fantasy that we're never going to do.
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And we need to actually go about being that Christian and learning how to serve. So first thing he does here is in Romans 12.
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And let me go ahead and read the passage. And then we'll jump into it. He says, Romans 12, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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Now, these two verses are loaded. I could spend several hours going through all of it and talking to you about it.
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And I think Steve said I have three hours. So we, all right. Yeah, OK. No. So I'm going to be brief.
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So I apologize if you feel we're missing something. But I think the first thing off the bat, and this is where I want to come to you as well as how
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Paul came to you, is that first phrase. He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers.
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Does somebody else have a different translation than I appeal to you? I urge,
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I beseech you. Now, think about this. Who is Paul writing to? Romans.
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Should you even raise your hand? You guys don't have to raise your hand, but I thought that was really polite. The Romans. He's writing through Romans. But Roman who?
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Believers. OK, and then what does he say here? He says, I what? Urge you, I beseech you,
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I appeal to you. Now, isn't this strange? Does Paul usually do that? What's Paul usually do as he speaks through scripture?
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He commands you. So what is different about this? Why is he making an appeal here?
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OK, think about it. Why would you think it? As one believer to another, why do you make an appeal? Now, realize, when he's saying this,
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I beseech you, I urge you, the message he's conveying is almost,
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I don't want to say he's begging, but how's the best way to put it? Parents, your children are older.
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Those of you who have your children are in high school, I'm out of college, and they're beyond. And you see them going down a path that they really shouldn't go.
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OK, can you just simply say, you can't do that.
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You've got to stop. No, I mean, what happens now? Now they're adults. They're on their own. They're making decisions on their own.
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So what do you do? You make an appeal, a suggestion, an appeal.
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You urge and beseech them. Now, think of this as Paul. Paul feels that all the believers he's speaking to, he feels like they're family.
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So to them, and now to you and I, he is almost begging you as one who loves you so much, as a father would to his son or to a mother to her daughter, going the wrong way, pleading with them, saying,
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I urge you. I appeal to you. And it's because he knows that if you don't, what's in store for you?
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He understands that if you don't hear this appeal, if you don't do this, it's bad.
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Life is not going to be good. So that's what he's doing here. He's begging. He's pleading with us as believers to say,
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I'm appealing to you by the mercies of God to present yourself. And I think the key here is that first, he's urging you and I.
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He's begging you and I. So there's an aspect of what in there? Will, right?
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So you have a choice. And this morning, Paul is laying down a choice for you.
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He's saying, will you? You have the choice. You don't have to. You don't have to present your body to God.
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You don't. You do not have to live as a living sacrifice. You don't have to accept that.
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And I think a lot of us think, well, I've heard God saved me and I'm good now and I'm fine and I'm not as bad as the other
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Christians over there and we're in a good, solid Bible believing church. And well, that's fine.
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But what are you doing practically in your own Christian walk? To live sacrificially.
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So he's pleading with us. He says, as a living sacrifice. Now, anybody know anything about Old Testament times and sacrifice?
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Why was he talking about a sacrifice right now? What went on in the
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Old Testament times? Yeah, what went on in the Old Testament times? They did, exactly right.
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They had to make sacrifices to atone for sins. Now, how vivid was that? Do you know what they did?
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Some of the imagery behind that? How vivid was that? Yeah, I see a little cringe over here. How many people have seen a sacrifice where an animal killed?
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Yeah, OK. Yeah, now multiply that 100 times over. And this is what they're saying.
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This is the imagery that's there. And it's graphic. Now, put yourself in the mindset of a
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Roman at this time. And Paul just says, I'm appealing to you to present your body as a living sacrifice.
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So with that imagery in your head, what does living sacrifice mean? What does that mean to you guys, practically, right now today? What does it mean for you?
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OK, death. What else? For you and your Christian walk, what does a living sacrifice look like? Giving out something to have what?
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Atonement. OK, explain that. Exactly, it's in a daily atonement.
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So for you and I, what does that look like? We're talking in these living sacrifice words. What does that look like?
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Today, practically, what does that look like? Yes. OK, great.
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I think what she's saying, just to sum it up, is fear of man, of being confident enough in what the
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Lord has told you, to be bold and not be afraid of being humiliated, to stand for Christ.
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How else can you be as a living sacrifice today? Yes. OK, willingly.
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Great, you know what that's called, preferring one another. It's our liberties in Christ, and Scripture speaks about that as well in Corinthians, about not abusing your privileges.
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What else? Yeah. OK, I think that is great.
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Did you hear that? Recognizing your life is not your own. And I think that is where you and I need to land.
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Whose life is it? It's Christ's. It's not yours.
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You don't have a right, as a believer, to do whatever you want.
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You don't have a catch -all. Paul does, in other parts of the Scripture, Paul talks about, well, in Romans, shall we go about sending more, that grace might abound more?
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May it never be. Heureka menethod, it's the biggest negative that you can do in Scripture. He's saying, no, you don't rest on those laurels.
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You don't go, oh, well, Christ's forgiven me. I'm great, let's go play. Because no matter what's going to happen, it's under the blood.
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And that's not how we do it. And that's what he's saying here is, you know what? You've got to be a living sacrifice. That means daily, you need to look at your own life and see how you are living for yourself, and get rid of that, and kill it, and sacrifice to the
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Lord, and give it over to him. Talks about, if you think about this, when you're talking about the living sacrifice, it's an imagery of offering, of making yourself an offering.
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And when you think about that, start thinking in context of the body of Christ as a whole. I don't know all the different talents and giftedness that are people here, but we've got an ear over here.
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We've got a mouth over here. We've got an eye over here. We've got a hand over here. We're all one members of the body, members of Christ.
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And we're also his temple. So we're part of God's temple. So he uses this imagery over and over again.
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Now, I think when you're looking at living sacrifice and thinking of, in Corinthians, it talks about that your body is the temple of the
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Holy Spirit. I think there's a, well, let me ask you this before I go into that.
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Your body as being a temple of the Holy Spirit, how many people, what do you think about that? When I say your body's a temple, like you need to treat your body as a temple of the
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Holy Spirit, what comes to mind? OK, we're amazing the image of God.
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I think some people take that passage and think, I need to be really fit.
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I need to watch what I eat. Anybody think that? I mean, seriously, you can. It's OK. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of the practicality.
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But when you're looking in the context of that verse in Corinthians, when he's talking about your body is a temple of the
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Holy Spirit, where in temple structure in the Old Testament, where did the
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Holy Spirit dwell? Holy of holies. And what was not allowed in the holy of holies?
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Sin. So in Corinthians, when God is saying your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, what is he saying should not be there in your body?
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Sin. Now, that can look like smoking and gluttony and other things like that. So yes, it can refer to the fact that you want to take care of your body.
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But what he's more talking about here is that you don't want sin living here, because this is where the Holy Spirit dwelled.
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OK? So think about that. Think about as your body is a living sacrifice. When you get in that whole
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Old Testament sacrificial system, this is a place where sin doesn't dwell.
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So how do we do that? Grace, but we're in Romans 12, 1 and 2.
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We're just finished up Romans 12, 1. 12, 2 tells us to what? It says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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So how do we do that? How do you and I live practically? Live out this
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Christian life. And first of all, it's do not be conformed. Now, what does it mean not to be conformed to this world?
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What does that look like for you and I? OK, don't do.
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Like what? For you and I today, what does that look like? Yeah. Right, you want to go by God's standards, not by the world's standards.
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Now, there's the danger with this. What's our danger with not being conformed to the world? Legalism, yeah.
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What else? Yeah, legalism. How does that flush out? What does that look like? Now, this is the thing, though. This is the balance.
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We go on this, well, we're not going to be legalistic. But then we go the other way, and we're going to be way too libertarian.
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We're going to, oh, all the liberties, we can't. We shouldn't do that, because we don't want to be legalistic. But realistically, we don't want to look like the world.
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How many of you out in the workplace, when you're working, how many people here work in a Christian environment? Yeah, we've got the pastor.
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Yeah, I was hoping you'd put your hand up. I was waiting. Yeah, the rest of us don't.
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I mean, I'm fortunate. I work at a Christian college. But you'd be surprised at the unbelievers I interact with.
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But the majority of us don't work around unbelievers all the time.
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We work around unbelievers. Now, how many of you in your workplace, do people know you're a
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Christian, besides the fact that you told them? Yeah. That's a good thing.
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Now, this is the thing that you don't want to do. Well, I just want to be better than them. So if I'm a little more moral, that doesn't mean anything.
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The thing is, in this conforming to the world, it's not let's look at the world and go, well, that's how they are.
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So I'm just going to be one step above them. How are you and I not to be conformed? We're doing it for God's glory.
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But where does our conduct become informed? Where do you and I learn how to live?
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From the word. OK, so let's talk about that. For you and I, scripture. Now, this is the thing, is
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I don't want, because I can stand up here and go, well, to not look like the world, you should do this, you should do this, you should do this.
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That's not right. We want scripture to inform our life's theology, correct?
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Do we not? Do you agree with that? We want scripture to inform it. So from scripture, think of your passages.
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Think of your favorite passages that talk about Christian life and living, or ones that you guys have held on to because you know the sentence in your own heart.
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What are some passages in the scriptures that speak about how you and I are to live? Philippians 2, which says what?
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OK, have this attitude in yourself which is also in Christ Jesus. When's a good time to have that pop into your head?
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When you're getting ready to conform to the world. You know what? Do not be conformed to the world. OK, what else?
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What's another one? Yeah? Which says? Oh, good one.
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Yeah, there you go. Did you hear that, James 1, 19? Yeah, be slow to speak.
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When's that a good time? When your brother does something that ticks you off and you want to see something mean. Yeah, that's good.
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OK, so you see this scripture's informing our living. How about, what else? Give me some other scriptures. Yeah? Oh, Colossians is a great one.
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Give me that one. Great, seeking things that are above.
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Now, when's a real good time to have that pop into your head? When you're at the movie theater and a scene comes on that you really shouldn't be watching?
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When you're hanging out with your friends at the mall, and they're probably not believers, and they want to do something you're not, and all of a sudden you've got this pressure to conform to them?
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Good time to use those scriptures. Because the thing is, if you're sitting there and you're trying to rationalize it, if someone's wanting you to do something that your conscience is kind of, but all of a sudden you're like, well, nothing really comes to mind where I really shouldn't.
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If you don't have scripture hidden in your heart, you're going to act on your own will and not on God's will.
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Another passage. Come on, there's more of them. Yeah. You took hers.
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That was Sir James 119. See? Older people, we have to know that one, too.
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It's OK. Yeah, there you go. See, there's two. We've got generation to generation here.
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We've got, yes, another one. Yes. Yeah, I love that one. OK. Yeah, the fruit of the spirit.
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I have that one actually in my notes. Thank you. See, you get a star. Steve, she gets a star.
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I don't know how, but can you do that? Gold star. Yeah, that's in my notes. What does that one look like to you practically? When do you use that verse?
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OK. And you're married. Great. Yeah, because you know what? Because the world is watching you, too.
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Do you know that? The world is watching you as a husband and wife, and you're a testimony to Christ and his love.
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What else? Give me other verses. Yeah. OK, Galatians 2 .20.
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Now, for you, when does that verse need to come into your mind? Great.
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Yeah. It's when you do when you're, yeah, what's the one? Yeah. OK, yeah, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, and think on these things.
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That one's great. I think, who doesn't know Philippians 4 .8? You don't.
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See, she's honest. She knows. OK, Philippians 4 .8, when does that come into play for you folks?
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Yeah. You start getting discouraged. OK, OK, let me ask. This is a great one. For those of you who, anybody ever get discouraged about, like,
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OK, you're in this world. You're working nine to five. You're next to these unbelievers. They are profiting.
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You are barely making it. Things are not going your way. There's financial troubles.
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Your family's, I mean, there's family troubles. There's friends. I mean, things are just not going your way.
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Where do you guys go for support? Yeah. Your dad?
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Good. And what does your dad tell you? What does your dad tell you?
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Or dad, what do you tell her? Do you put in a certain place? You know what? This is great for me.
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And this is one that, this was told me when I was first a new believer, and I cling to it nowadays. When I start looking at the world and I get discouraged, when
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I look at these people who are making so much, I mean, I'm sorry, this whole thing about the, with the elections going on right now.
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And I think they're spending $300 million to campaign.
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And I think, do you know how many students could get a Christian education for that?
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Do you know how many missionaries could be supported for the next 30 years with that?
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You know, I just think of these things and it gets, and I think, the world's just throwing it around. Like, these missionaries are suffering on a day -to -day basis.
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They are living in substandard situations to get the gospel out there.
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And these people are spending $300 million. What is God doing? Why is the world prospering? And this is the great thing.
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Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. You know why I can remember them? Because I'm dyslexic.
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I really am. And no matter which one I go to, if I switch the numbers in my head, it's the same message, OK? Because what he does is in both
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Psalm 37 and Psalm 73, he talks about the prosperity of the world and says,
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I was despairing. Then what does he remember? He remembers that in the end, who wins?
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In the end, who is the one who will reign supreme? And in the end, who will you and I be with?
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That is where our hope is. That is where our life should end. So when I get discouraged, Psalm 73,
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Psalm 37. Other practical things about that. Give me some other verses.
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Let me throw some out there for you. Galatians 5, when it says, stand firm, when do you and I need to stand firm?
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Give me a situation where you need to stand firm. When you're being attacked from believers for your faith.
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What else? Give me an actual instance. Yeah, and especially in our day -to -day, we have, she was saying, standing firm against other believers who may be in error.
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You know, we have, there's some of these weird movements out there that are anything but biblical, but they're holding to the fact.
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OK, another one. Galatians 5, 10. I like Galatians. And when it says to walk in the spirit, or even
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Galatians 6, sharing with the others the gospel.
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What does that look like for you and I? How many of you share the gospel on a weekly basis?
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Good. Yeah, in what situations? When do you do that? When somebody asks you for advice, what do you give them?
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Do you give them the world standard, or do you give them God's? You know, we can talk to unbelievers in and out, and we can make them really moral unbelievers that look really, really good and act really, really well.
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You know, it's funny, my brother is an unbeliever. And he likes to say, he pushes against me all the time.
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He's just saying, you know, we're so hypocritical. And I'm like, you're so hypocritical, you guys do the exact things that the unbelievers do.
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And he goes, so I don't know why I should have to act like that. You know what I tell him? I go, you know what? I don't want you to act like that.
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Because I don't want you to look like a really good unbeliever. I don't want you to be in a wheat and a tare.
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I don't want you to be a tare, so people think you're a believer. And I tell him, I don't expect you to act that way.
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Because you don't have the conviction of the Lord and the Holy Spirit guiding and directing your life to live that way.
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So why would I want you to look that way? So that's what you and I need to do is, on a day to day basis, is when we're talking to people who don't know the
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Lord, we don't want them just to be better and moral. We want them to know our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So what it does is not say that scripture says you should act this way, because you know what? If they don't know the
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Savior, they're not going to know the scripture. So what you want to say is, you know what? The scripture says that you need to know the
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Lord first. So if you want to change the way you live, and you want to change your heart and be the man that Christ wants you to be, first you need to know the
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Savior. Yeah. Yeah.
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And we do. We can't, I mean, when people say you're a bunch of hypocrites, I'm like, join the group then. Because we are.
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I mean, we all are. We are. And my pastor called us, he says we're sin -cursed pea -brains.
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And we are. And we do. We're trying to figure this out. And we're trying to live unto the
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Lord. And we're one sinner interacting with other sinners on a constant basis. And you know what?
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We're going to fail. Because why? Because we are sinners. And that's the blessing of it.
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And that's the part where we want to come, and we want to be reconciled with the
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Lord on a constant basis. And that reconciliation is what changes us and moves us forward. Yes.
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And the key is reconciliation, I think, on a daily basis. And realizing it's not just about forgiveness, it's about changing.
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Because the thing is, you know what? I know that God is going to forgive me over and over again when I fail and stumble.
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But mine is that resolve no longer to do that and to move forward. Yeah. Right.
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Good. Yeah. Correct.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is.
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Similar other things that are about, like, for you and I, being conformed, not being conformed. It's talking about being transformed, right?
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The other word is don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Now, how are you and I to be transformed?
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And we've been talking about this. It's in the verse. You can cheat. Huh? Sorry?
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By the renewing of what? What does it say in the text? The renewing of your mind.
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Now, OK, this is what we've been talking about with all these scripture verses. What informs your and I's thinking?
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Is it just what Pastor Mike and Pastor Steve teach on a Sunday? Is that all we're doing?
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They come, they give a few little things, we take them away and go, oh, we can use this during the week. No. What informs your and I's minds?
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OK, the Holy Spirit opening up the scriptures. So in order for the Holy Spirit to open up the scriptures to us, what are you and I need to be doing? You've got to be in the scriptures.
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What else do we need to be doing? Huh? Praying, 1 Thessalonians, pray without ceasing.
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What else? I mentioned earlier those verses talking about being members of the body.
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What does it mean to be a member of a body? Do we just all have our individual members and we're kind of out there?
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And I function as an ear over here, and you function as a hand over there? To be in one body means what?
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We're connected? So using the body analogy, as you and I as believers, what do we need to be doing in order to be transforming our minds?
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We need to be together. And doing what together? Worshiping together?
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You know what the verb for worship, you know what it also translates to? Worship and the root.
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Worship is also? Steve? Service? Oh, come on.
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It's also a service. Our spiritual service of worship is one of the phrases. But worship and service are very similar.
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To worship and to serve is the same thing. So we need to be serving one another. We need to be in the body.
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Now, coming together as a body, serving and using our gift in this, it also looks like what?
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There's a funny D word that we throw out there. Is what? Older people informing the younger people.
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Discipleship. Exactly. Discipleship is going on. And what does that look like? How many of you people have somebody discipling you or are discipling somebody out there?
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There needs to be more hands. It doesn't always happen.
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It's not always formal, like you walk up and go, you're going to disciple me. Good times? Great. Let's go. It doesn't always happen.
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It happens naturally. At my home church, there are four different men in my life who
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I know are discipling me on a regular basis. We have nothing formal going on. We don't have a book out.
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We don't meet every week. But it's just life on life relationship to the point where I've trusted them enough and they've trusted me enough to be in my life and ask those hard questions.
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Steve's one of them. I call him all the time and he gets on my case. But they need that.
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He knows enough about me to ask those questions. This is the thing. When it comes to discipleship, you don't get those people in your life who are going to tell you what you want.
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They're going to be like, oh, you're so wonderful. I love you. I know you're a sinner, but it's going to be OK. You need the person where when
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I call them up and start whining, they're like, OK, are you done? Good.
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Yeah, you're right. You're a loser and a sinner and you need to repent. And they do. How many people want to be coddled?
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How many people want to be told, you're right, living the Christian life is really, really hard. I understand that.
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So I understand you failed, but why don't you take a couple days off and just rest? No. That's not what the
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Christian life is about. You know what? You want those people in your life going, you know what? You're right. You're a sinner.
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You messed up again. Now what are you going to do? Because it's up to you.
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Are you going to cling to the Lord? Are you going to cling to his scriptures? Are you going to get accountability? Are you going to stop doing the things you're doing that make you do that sin that's your pet?
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And I ask you, are you going to do that? Because it's today that you have that choice.
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It's not tomorrow. It's not in a week. It's not in a month. It's not when, oh, when I get out of high school,
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I'll work on that, when I get out of college, maybe when I switch jobs. If I can just get through this week, I can focus on my sin.
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It's right now. And right now is your choice whether you're going to be conformed to this world or you're going to be transformed.
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And you're going to transform yourself by renewing your mind. And that's what you guys have to ask yourselves on a daily basis is, am
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I being conformed? This verse is amazing. Simply, if you want to memorize no other scripture, you should, but I'm just saying.
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Memorize this one. Why? Because it starts informing your life and your theology of your life. Think about going,
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I'm being urged. That means I have a choice. Paul is pleading with me to make the choice to be a living sacrifice, to present my body daily to Christ.
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Daily, are you going to make that choice? When you wake up in the morning, do you go, you know what, I am going to choose to sacrifice my life for Christ and be that way today in everything
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I do, from my job from 9 to 5, from helping the kids get up in the morning to when I come home at night and put them to bed, from helping my wife with dinner, from serving the man
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I work next to, every single point, am I going to conform to this world and just be a little bit better than them, or am
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I going to transform myself by the renewing of my mind? And before I speak to that co -worker, am
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I going to guard my mind with scripture saying, you know what, I've got to not consider myself more important than them.
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I need to consider them before me. I need to serve them. Or, are you going to go through the day on autopilot, going,
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I can get through this, I can do my job, it's no problem. That's what you have to do.
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And that's where the life comes out. Praying without ceasing, not being conformed to this world, being transformed by the renewing of your mind, walking in a manner worthy, being a body of Christ, being in a discipleship relationship.
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Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Sounds kind of laborious, but you know what, it's easy.
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Why? Because what do you and I have? We've got the
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Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Cling to him, hold on to him. You know what I realized a couple years ago?
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You know what I realized? I don't need God. I don't. Do you guys?
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Do we need God? Think about it on a day -to -day basis. Do I need God? I can go get a job. I can get provided for.
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I can live. I can have a great week. I can have fun friends. I can travel.
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I don't need God. But you know what? I want him. I want him in my life because you know what
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I realized? Without him, none of it means anything. My job, my house, my relationships, all of it is meaningless without him.
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I want him more than anything. Because you know what? Because what I realized is I can go through the day, and I've had those days.
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I think we've all had them. It gets to 5 o 'clock, and the day's over, and you're ready to head home, or you're a mother getting ready for dinner at night, and all of a sudden, you just realize,
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I don't think I once thought about scripture, thought about the Lord, or before I did something, sought his guidance, or just even prayed about it, and got to the end of the day.
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And what that is is that's my own flesh battling against the true desires of my heart.
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But we can. You know what? We can fall into that where we don't need God. We can get through the day without him.
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But how many people want to? How many people want to get to the end of the day and think, you know what? I did this all for myself.
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But we do it, don't we? That's why the scripture talks about this. That's why it says, don't be conformed to this world.
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Why? Because the world can do that. The world can get by the day without him. You and I can get through the day without him, but you should never want to.
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Let me kind of transition here and give more of an example about this.
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Being in Christian higher education, one of my champions is getting a
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Christian higher education. And what I want to do is take what we've been talking about here, and talking about being conformed and transformed to this world, and give you a practical life's application, one beyond this.
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Think about it. How many of you have children that are going to be going to high school, or going to college any time soon?
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You've got children coming up. How many of you are grandparents that may have children coming up? How many of you are going to have children, hoping someday?
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Yeah, OK. It's going to relate to everybody. Now think about this. And this is even for you guys who are maybe just thinking of moving. When it comes to higher education,
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I'd firmly believe every single person here, if they can, get a Christian higher education. I think it's one of the best things ever.
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I didn't. The Lord chose to save me while I was in college. If I would have known enough then,
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I would have switched over. But let me talk about when your children go off to school. I think what happens is this. And this is,
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I think, where we tend to be conformed, is when it comes to college, I think in our minds, we separate and go, oh, college is the time to get their education for their job, and Christianity kind of steps back here.
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OK, well, the Christian thing will be going on. They've come up through high school. They've been in a youth group all this time.
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So they're going to be fine. Our son and daughter's going to be fine, because now they're going to go off and be whatever they are. So during college, college is there.
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I'm going to find out my career time. And then once they're done with that, then they can go back to God. So what we see is, and I want to challenge you guys with this, when you're looking at colleges, when you're looking at Christian higher education, are you conforming to the world when you're doing that?
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How many of you, when you're visiting your college, when your son and daughter is thinking, where do I want to go, when you say, that's great.
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You want to go to Harvard? You're going to get a full ride to Harvard? Great. Good times. Where's the church?
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If you want to go there, you tell me the church that is nearby where you are going to be plugged in.
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Tell me the church where you're going to get involved, where you're going to serve, where somebody is going to be in your life, where you're going to be, every
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Sunday morning, and you're going to be hearing the word preached. Christian education.
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Are you going to a college where they're fostering that? I love,
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I feel like, really, I work at the best place on earth. I do. When I get in my car in the morning to drive to work,
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I seriously, I'm like, I can't believe I get to go. I get to work at a Christian college. And it's amazing.
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Why is that? Not because they give great benefits and I have this huge salary, what it is is because of the children and the students that are there.
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And what I see going on, we call it, our vice president calls it a covenant relationship.
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And this is what I see there. And I think, for all of us, this is what we should be looking for in our lives. Not just in college, it's going to apply to anything.
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But what I see there is it's a covenant relationship. They structure everything for life on life discipleship and training the students in fear and admonition of the
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Lord. So how do they do that? A dorm, a wing on a dorm, doesn't have all freshmen, doesn't have all sophomores, juniors, seniors.
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Has a mix. Athletes are in there. Internationals are in that wing. Music is in that wing. Every major, they try to represent every major group in that wing so it's not one or the other.
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What else happens? Chapel, three days a week. You go to a class.
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The faculty member, the professor, takes 15 minutes at the beginning to take prayer requests so they can pray.
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Everybody who goes to my college gets a minor in Bible. You take these Bible classes.
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There are Bible studies during the week. You have to be involved in a church. You will get disciplined at the college if you are not active in a church.
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How many colleges do you know who do that? We have our rules. People read our rule books and they're like, oh, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this.
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And I tell people, you know what? You will never, ever get kicked out of the master's college for smoking. You get kicked out for an unrepentant heart.
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Because what they do is they come to you, they confront you on your sin, and when you confront somebody on your sin, what do you want them to do? You repent.
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You want them to respond. So that's what happens, is we want you to respond in a God -honoring way, in a biblical way, and repent, and be genuine about that.
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So that's what the atmosphere we have at the master's college, and that's what goes on. Now, I'm not saying the master's college may not be for everybody, but some people say, well, my son wants to go into this, or engineering, or a nurse, or something like that.
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OK. And is the master's college the only solution? I think it's the only college, but I'm a little biased.
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There's other Christian colleges out there, but even when you're looking at those Christian colleges, what are they teaching?
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Being in California, we have what we call the Southern California Coalition of Christian Financial Aid Officers, and all of the
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Christian schools and everything come together. And what is shocking about it is my school is the only school who, being a
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Christian, is not a marketing scheme. The other schools that we work with, you don't technically have to be a
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Christian to go there. You just have to check, I'm a Christian on the form. We're the only school that it's not a marketing scheme, that it is, we ask for your testimony.
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We ask you to type in a testimony, and we ask that your pastor confirms it. We get a note from your pastor, as well, saying this is what
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I've seen in them. So are you sending your son or daughter to a place where they're going to be taught and grown in the word?
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Now, I'm not saying it has to be a Christian college. It doesn't have to be. But when you're moving to wherever they're going to go to, and even as you guys, say your job takes you somewhere else, you're going to get this huge promotion, make all this money now.
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When you go to wherever this is, is there a solid Bible believing church? Do you think you're going to go it alone?
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Oh, it's not a solid Bible believing church, but we'll be fine. I'll get the tapes from Pastor Steve and Pastor Mike, and we'll listen to them at home.
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That'll be good. No. I mean, think about this in practical daily life. Are you setting yourself up for success, or are you setting yourself up for failure?
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And think about it. The difference between your son or daughter from being on their own and making their own decisions of what church they go to, and having you guys drive them and tell them they're getting up every morning, is a month, two months.
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They graduate in June, school starts in August. So all of a sudden, there's a two -month period of time, and then all of a sudden, they're at a school, and the choice is theirs.
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If you guys aren't around, what are they going to do? And I know there's all these arguments out there for where they want to go.
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I think there's Liberty. Is that close by here? Liberty. People say, great, Liberty Christian College, let's send them there, because it's close and we can drive.
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OK. I mean, I don't know. Well, what does Liberty teach? Where's their theology lineup? Is there a good church for your son or daughter to go to there?
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If you can answer yes to all those questions, great. Send them to Liberty. Boyce College, Southern Seminary, great college.
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What do they teach? What's their atmosphere? What are they strong in? What are they weak in? Is there a good church?
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Masters College, I can answer yes to all those questions. We live in a spiritual Disneyland. I'm not kidding you.
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Megan, spiritual Disneyland? Emily, Amanda, Mandy, spiritual Disneyland?
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Is it not? Yeah. Seriously, out here in Massachusetts, you get one or two churches to choose from.
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And you have to drive nine times out of 10. Where I'm at, there are at least a dozen churches with solid
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Bible -believing people there, ranging from anywhere from 10 ,000 to 100 people in it.
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So your son or daughter, or even if you guys end up moving, anybody who would like to move to California, that's great.
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You stole one of ours. We're still waiting for a trade. But that's what you want to do.
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You find the area where there is. It's a unique situation. You can choose a church to serve in.
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Here, you've got to go, well, this is my talent. This is where God's gifted me. I'm just going to have to serve in this area.
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And there may not be a strong one. In California, where the Masters College is, it sounds horrible, but you can shop.
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Like, you can go, you know what? My giftedness is in music. And Church of the Canyons needs help in their music department.
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I can tell you right now, Grace Community Church does not. And go, great. Although the teaching's really good, the teaching's good here.
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I can go there, and I can grow, and minister, and I can serve there. And that's the atmosphere you're going in.
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So think about that. When you are sending your sons and daughters out, when you are grandparents who you're talking with your children about where they're going to send their kids to college, the
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Christian life doesn't detangle itself from the college years. It should be intertwined.
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Now, say your son or daughter wants to be an engineer. You know what? You can get gen eds anywhere. Why not send them to a
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Christian college for the first year or two and get their general education? And I know the other argument.
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Well, it costs so much. And what do you say?
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I mean, you're right. It does cost a lot of money. But I think the best thing I've ever heard, and this came from a parent who was sitting in one of my lectures that I was doing.
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I do financial aid lectures. They don't do what I'm doing this morning. But he was sitting in that, and he said, you know what?
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I work a farm. I'm middle. I'd say we're middle class. And he said, this last year,
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I bought a new tractor. It was $45 ,000. He said, now, did
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I need it? Eh, the tractor I had was good. It probably would have given me another five, 10 years out of it.
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But you know what? I wanted that new tractor. And he said, when you were speaking,
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I realized that if I want something enough, I will do whatever it takes to get it. And he said, and I wanted that tractor enough,
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I did what it took to get it. And he said, and if I want my son or daughter to have a Christian education, I will do whatever it takes to get it.
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And they're right. You and I will sacrifice to get what we want. We will.
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Think about it. Think about how, in the grocery store, where does everybody make the fuss when the price of milk goes up?
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Bread and eggs, right? Why? Because we use them so much. What do people never complain about the price of?
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How many people go to Starbucks? Yeah. You just paid $5 for a $0 .25
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cup of coffee. Seriously. But why aren't you complaining about it?
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Why? Because it's a luxury. And you want it. OK? People complain about the things that they have to have and they don't get.
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That's what you're going to complain about. Well, think about that. When it comes to a Christian higher education, are you going to make the sacrifices to get that?
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And I'm not saying you have to. I'm not saying it's going to be for everybody. But I'm just saying, think biblically when you approach that.
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Do not let that time in your son or daughter's life be one that you're going to allow them to be conformed.
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Be at a time when, even in that choice, you are encouraging, educating, and telling them that no matter what in all of your life, from a choice of a college to a choice of a job, is that you want to set yourself up for success in the
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Christian life by being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Because without discipleship, without a body of Christ, without solid biblical teaching, where are you going to go?
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Right down in the tubes is where you're going to go. Horrifying statistic out there. 78 % of those students who leave high school going into college will fall away from the
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Lord. 78%. Are you going to set them up to be part of that 78 %?
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Or are you going to set them up to be part of the 22 %? Or do you want to just completely demolish the 78 % altogether and just make sure that even in that, even in your choices for where you live, where you get your education, where you work, you're going to make sure that transforming your mind is going to be able to happen.
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And it's not just on you, because you can't do it alone. You need a body. You need solid bible teaching.