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Where we're going to land today is really where worship takes us ultimately. And so what it means to have this total affection for God ultimately leads to this place of discernment that we really all want.
And I was thinking about this because around the corner, y'all, is the Daniel fast. How many of y'all have done the Daniel fast with us? Yeah, if you're online, let us know. Okay, I see a handful of y'all. So, it look like it's not a lot of witnesses in the room. How many again have done the Daniel Fest? Okay, 17. All right. Well, this should be an interesting January. Uh, you might need to lead some Daniel Fast small groups because apparently most of the people haven't done it.
Daniel Fast, which we'll be doing in January. Uh, and we're only doing it for 21 days, not 40. Hallelujah for that. You know, we're trying to bring you in. But what it is, is it is a way we change what we eat based on how Daniel ate in the Old Testament. So Daniel was trying to consecrate himself and be different because he was serving a pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was like, "Be in my court. Serve me." And Daniel was like, "I'm gonna be here because I'm on assignment, but I'm not going to act like y'all act." And so y'all eat all the luxurious foods. I'm going to eat these nuts and berries. And so that's why we do the Daniel fast really just to set aside some time to prioritize the spiritual over the physical.
But the Daniel fast, y'all, it will reveal a lot about you. >> Uh-huh. That's them 12 witnesses. Daniel Fast can disrupt your relationships. Daniel Fast will will remind you that you're not as godly as you think you are because it is a game changer. And you may not think you have addiction to food, especially if you're fit or you're pleased with your size and pleased with how your body looks. But Daniel will teach you something else because it's not just about eating from the ground. If you really go look on the website or follow the social media accounts for Daniel Fast, you will realize that this fast really means everything that really would bring you comfort, you're giving up. So, it's no sugar. >> It's no caffeine. >> It's no fried foods. I know. I just lost the whole room. They like, "Yeah, we'll meet you in February." So, so you'll be thinking, "Oh, let me just eat something from the ground." And you over there at Chick-fil-A eating your fries, talking about this potatoes and peanut oil. No, no. It's not just the ingredients, it's what what how it was made. So Daniel's like, "No fried food." Daniel's like, "Your your main beverage ought to be water." So you like, "I'm going get full on this orange juice." You get the orange juice with the hot pulp. You don't never get pulp. But Daniel F, you like let me I need to choose something. And then it's like, "No, don't do it."
But what happens is when I have struggled with this and I used to be dang fast but now we all walk in grace. Hallelujah. What happens is when you struggle with those things of okay, it's hard for me to give this up and it's hard for me to change my diet. Typically we will either give up and say I'm done with this or we'll just try harder. So we get our recipes. You call your friends. You want to get that list because eventually the diet can become bland if you don't keep exposing yourself to different things. If you're not a big vegetable person, you gonna be struggling because it's like carrots and hummus for 20 days and you're like, I can't do it. And you're like, I'm tired of this popcorn or I'm tired of this salad with no no real salad dressing because all the salad dressing got sugar in it. Like it just feels very restrictive.
But but what I realized as I was thinking about what's coming is that very often when I find myself struggling in areas of discipline like that, I tend to try to try to work harder and be more disciplined rather than stopping and asking myself where's my devotion. >> Because because the truth is what you're devoted to will naturally bring discipline. >> It don't matter your personality. If you're devoted to dropping them 35 pounds regardless of if you're a morning person, you'll be at that gym. You got your your containers you got from Amazon cuz you meal prepping all of a sudden. You on all the websites. You know what's in everything. You checking ingredients. You know what you need to do to make that change. If you're devoted to your career, no one has to tell you to go to work early or work late. You in a hustle. You're in a grind. You're always looking for the next thing. You're making connections. cuz you going to parties with people you don't like cuz you trying to find people and make connections and move up the ladder. If you're devoted to your degree, no one has to tell you to study. No one has to tell you to figure out what the next move in your field is going to be. If you're devoted to your kids, your whole life arranges around them. You want to put them in every program, give them every advantage, suddenly the right amount of devotion creates discipline without me even trying.
So when I'm struggling in my discipline, instead of trying to be more disciplined, I need to ask myself, where does my devotion lie? >> Because it's not about giving up sugar and caffeine. It's about asking myself why I cannot control my body over a comfort for a short period of time so I can be closer to the Lord. And >> and you might not make the connection, but let me tell you what the Lord has done for me over the years. He says, "Jada, if you can't give up this, >> how do you think you going to be able to give up that? >> I'm asking you to make serious spiritual decisions, you can't say no to coffee." >> So, it seems minor until you realize how much you're being governed by your body instead of the other way around. >> It's not a matter of discipline, y'all. It's a matter of devotion. Now, if you are devoted to this thing and you're like, "This is what I know the Lord is calling me to do." Not only will it produce discipline, it will give you discernment. All of a sudden, it's no longer just a list of rules. You want to know the reason. Like, what is this revealing about me? Because, can I tell you something? Saying no to the flesh, to sugar is the same thing as saying no to the flesh when it comes to sex. Saying no to the flesh when it comes to caffeine is the same thing as saying no to the flesh when it comes to overspending your money. It doesn't matter what it is. You don't become more spiritual because the issue is bigger. The same ability to control myself over what I eat shows up when God is asking me to live in a way that's sacrificial to him. >> So don't disconnect the two and say, "Ah, that's just that. That's just for you." Because you know we love grace. Like 3 days in when you starting to get the shakes from that sugar withdrawal, you don't even think you eat a lot of sugar until you cut out sugar. Don't read the labels. It's sugar in everything. It's sugar in most of the water. You just like, why? Why? We can't have ketchup without sugar is in everything. Okay? It's the low-key legal drug in this country. Sugar. And so when you give it up and all of a sudden you got headaches, withdrawal, you can't sleep. >> You're like, "Dang." Yes. Your body going through all kinds of things, then you have to ask yourself, who's in control here? >> Am I in control of my body or is it in control of me? >> Because that question is not going to just come up at the Daniel fast. That question is going to come up over and over and over again. >> And by the way, let me just say, if you already eat a plant-based diet, I know some of y'all fancy. Eat quarter zips and matcha tea and everybody plant-based because we like, "Oh, you know, I've been plant-based." You know, it's just it's healthy for the body and you got scriptures on being a vegan and all that stuff. The Lord set me free for this steak. Okay? So, if you eat plant-based, great. But here's what'll happen. You will congratulate yourself because the Daniel fast is not hard for you. >> Just because you're able to complete it doesn't mean you had devotion. You you still were first devoted to yourself before you were devoted to the Lord's plan for it. >> Devotion shows up when I have to do the thing that I don't want to do. When I have to do the thing that's unnatural for me. When I have to do the thing that's sacrificial. That's when I know what I'm devoted to.
And so today, for a few moments, Paul is going to show us in Romans chapter 12 how powerful devotion or worship is. It leads to a discipline that you cannot manufacture and it leads to a discernment that we all need. Are y'all ready? >> Let's stand up for just a few moments. We're going to read Romans chapter 12, 1 and 2. I promise you I'm not going to teach this whole passage while y'all standing. Um, you can tell your lead pastor if you like that this was gave you you can be in your heels. So I'm not going to go through all my points, but I'm just going to give you the the quick highlights for these two verses. Let's read that together. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Okay? So, in this first verse, it's a lot of good stuff, but we're going to talk for a minute about mercies, what that means, and what is he saying to present. >> Your bodies. Okay? And how do we present them? Living and holy. And is it convenient or is it >> sacrifice? >> It's sacrifice. And all of this leads to what? >> Worship. He said it's not them three songs. This the way you present yourself completely to God is what lands you in a place of worship. Okay. So that's good news for some of y'all that miss worship all the time. There's no shade. You can still be in worship if you come in after. That's all right. We love y'all. But we would love to have y'all at worship. Um, you can still have worship because it's not the songs. It's not the music. It's a presentation, a complete presentation of who you are to God. All right. Verse two. Here's what he says. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So when I have devotion, when I live a life of worship, look what happens. He says, "Then I want you to not be conformed, but be what? >> And how do we do that? By the renewing of your >> mind?" >> Your mind. And when you do that, you can prove or test what the This is the prize. This is the prize. This is the prize. How many times are we saying, "God, what should I do? Should I take this job? Should I make this move? Should I be in this relationship? How should I respond to this text? What should I say in this conversation? How many times are we desperately searching for the will of God and not connecting it to our worship of God? >> God, I just want you to give me information. What scripture do I need to go to? What's what do I need to scroll and find? Who has a word for me? >> He said, you don't need another word. You need to worship >> because devotion creates discernment. So renew your mind so that you will prove what the will of God is, which is good and acceptable and perfect. Amen. Amen. Come on, you can take your seats.
So let's jump in to verse one here. Paul is saying, I beseech you, if you're in the King James, old school, some of y'all in your mind like it should be beseech. Just sound more spiritual. You know, we some words sound spiritual. You know, it's like you decree or declare. You could just say the word say, but we, you know, decree, beseech. Anyway, he's saying, I appeal to you, right? He's, this is like an urging. So, it's not so much a command, even though it is a commandment here that we present our bodies, but he's appealed to them to these brethren, these other believers. He's he's urging them to consider the mercies of God. Now, this is important because this is the it's the foundation. It's the motivation for what he's about to ask them to do. What are these mercies? Now, if you read all of the book of Romans, if you study the book of Romans, it's it's it's a life-changing book. So, out of all the New Testament books, it is the most comprehensive book from start to finish about our salvation history, the role of the gospel, father, son, and spirit. All that God has done despite what we deserve. The book of Romans, it's heavy. It's meaty, but it is literally everything God has planned for us in that one book. And so what Paul is saying here in Romans chapter 12, this is this is the turning point of the book. The first 11 chapters, he has just laid out doctrine. He's like, "Listen, you were a mess. God knew you were a mess. God's wrath was real. We don't like to talk about God's wrath. But you cannot appreciate grace if you don't understand God's wrath." He was like, "God had wrath toward you. You were headed to hell. You fall short of the glory. You were turning away from him. And while the world was trespassing, Jesus was reconciling you to himself. And even when you got saved, you still struggle. Romans chapter 7, the thing I want to do is not the thing I do, but the very thing I hate is what I'm doing. But then in Romans chapter 8, there is therefore not no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That the God of all hope will fill you with hope. That nothing can separate you from the love of God. That you're co-heirs at the table with Jesus. You are adopted as sons and daughters. And then you get to Romans chapter 9 and 10 and he's saying whether you're Jew or Gentile, the gospel is available to you. So these mercies are mercies of eternal grace, of eternal forgiveness, of redemption, justification, sanctification, protection, provision, wisdom, hope, strength, joy, and that's just for right now. He said in the future it gets even better. HE'S COMING BACK AND YOUR BODY WILL be glorified. Everything will be made right if you say yes to Jesus.
>> SO PAUL IS NOT SAYING, I want you to suddenly try to figure out how to obey. He's saying in light of all that you've just heard, >> your reasonable response >> ought to be to present your bodies. He's saying, "I urge you in light of the mercies of God because I don't want this worship. I don't want what I'm about to ask of you to be disconnected to what God's already done from you. >> He's already done enough." Even in Exodus 20, before God lays out the commandments, you know what he says first? I am the Lord your God. I delivered you out of the hand of Egypt. Keep that in mind. And then you shall have no other gods before me. Even before he asks us to obey, he shows us why he's worthy. He shouldn't have to, but he shows us why he's worthy. So when you're thinking about how do I find myself in this place of obedience? Worship is hard. Giving up my body is hard. It's not a it's not a work harder situation. It's a mercy motivation. I need to go back to the mercies of God because there's no way I can fully understand what I deserve and how God responded and not feel compelled to worship. >> If I don't feel compelled to worship, I'm not clear on the mercies of God. Paul is saying by these mercies, if you take into account all that God has done, then what I'm asking you ought to seem like a minimum requirement. What is he saying? to present your bodies. Now, he's going to show us a path over these two verses, y'all. And it's on one side of your handout, how to land at this place of revelation or discernment, knowing the will of God. And it is presentation and then we're going to talk about transformation and then we're going to talk about revelation. We're going to go through it. That's our big chunks what he's telling us in these two verses. And he starts with presentation. What do we do with our bodies?
Now I found this to be fascinating because if you read through the New Testament or if you understand teaching after after Jesus has come or even even the words of Jesus you will know that spiritual growth really starts from the inside out. Everything is about your heart, your mind. That's how everything changes. We know that spiritual growth starts from the inside out. It's kind of a different take on how God brought people to himself in the Old Testament. So for Paul to start off by saying present your body, I was like, now I wonder why he starts with that. Now I did a little word study and I looked up the Greek and figured out what the word bodies mean. Guess what it mean? Bodies. Guess what it mean? I mean cuz cuz sometimes the Bible just is what it is. And I was like now what? What's the metaphor? There's something that's the embodiment of and it's like no it's your physical body. It means vessel. It means the actual human form is what this word means. And so then I was like, "Okay, Paul, tell me some more. Why would you start there when it comes to worship?" And here's why. There's a couple of reasons. I'm just going to go through maybe two of them. The first one is Paul wants to show us the difference between worship of God and worship of self. Now, here's how that shows up. Remember, you got remember I said I love backstory in context. You can't just read stuff in isolation. in Romans chapter one. So what God is doing in Romans chapter one, it says he's revealed himself to mankind. Romans chapter one, it says uh the wrath of God have been poured out because basically he had inve he had revealed himself through his invisible attributes namely eternal power, divine nature, all these things clearly perceived and men rejected it. So when people say what about the person in the remote village in the small country that doesn't have a Bible, it doesn't matter. God always finds a way to reveal himself to people. Divine attributes, nature, there there is not a person on this earth that can say they've never wondered who God was. >> Never had a God encounter, never had an ex a situation in their life that could only be explained by God. Now, whether you say yes to him or not, that's up to you. But he has been present. >> And so God has revealed himself. Then what it says is that although they knew God in verse 21, they did not honor him or give thanks to him. They became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. So these are the people who saw God, knew it, but decided to reject it. And here was the evidence. Chapter 1 verse 24, it says, "Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts. He gave them over to their own foolish thinking, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Why? Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and serve the creature rather than the creator. >> So the evidence of those who dishonor and reject God is those who dishonor their bodies. When God gave people over to their own lust, their own impurity, by the way, God don't have to put impurity in you. He don't have to put lust and foolishness in you. Sometimes the grace of God is keeping you from yourself. >> But when when you say, "I want to run my life," and God let you run your life. Oh my God, that's the scariest thing that can happen to somebody. You start to see yourself and what you would do if you were in charge. And so he gave them over to what they so desperately wanted. And the first thing they did was begin to dishonor their bodies. And then Romans 1 explains how they dishonor their bodies sexually, how men and women engaged in things that didn't honor God, pagan worship over and over again. So Paul is saying, "We're going to redeem that." If you say that you are uh you belong to Christ and you love God, you present your bodies because the way you honor God with your body shows him who you worship. Do you worship him or do you worship yourself? They dishonor their bodies because they exchanged the truth for a lie. It says they begin to worship the creature, the creation, not the creator. Now, if you love your body and you let your body tell you what to eat and what and how to act and what to what to listen to and how to function, that's a worship of self. Paul says you present your bodies because bodies, what we do with our physical bodies is one of the ways we demonstrate who we worship.
Here's the second thing. Paul tells us to present our physical bodies because God has created us. But the body is only one aspect of our humanity. All right? Let me get in with y'all for a minute. If you back up through some other chapters in Romans, Paul talks about three aspects of our humanity. Okay? He talks about the old self. Y'all say >> self. >> He talks about the flesh. >> Flesh. >> And he talks about the body. >> Those three are not interchangeable. Now if we get into our Christian kind of speak we do we like I gotta die to my flesh got to kill my flesh and put myself to the side and less of me and more all that but if you really understand what he's asking us to do it makes the body unique all right so the old self is like your old ID that is like this identity that you used to have before Christ but the old self is dead in Christ Romans 6:6 says this you have been the old self has been crucified with him so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Okay, the old self dead. It dies. Okay, then you got the flesh. Now the flesh, oh well, it's not dead. You can't kill that flesh. You can try, but that flesh is there until Jesus comes back. The flesh is present, but it was like your old power system. What what ran the show? And now Romans 8 says, "However, you were not in the flesh, but you in the spirit." Now the flesh is not dead. Old self is dead. Your ID is dead, but the flesh is still there. That's all the proclivities and things that you want to do and the way you want to think. It's there, but you can't kill it. You just have to resist it. What's really happening is that I only have one ID. I'm new in Christ, but I got two operating systems. >> Let let me let me explain it. Okay. In my former years, I was an IT programmer. Okay? So, I know a little bit about hardware. Okay? Let me tell you something. So your old self is like your old user profile. Okay. You you may log into your laptop and see an ID that has uh your face and your name and Okay, make sure my password not up. Okay. So you may see something that has your name, your face when you log into your laptop. That's how you know it's you. Now uh you may have a friend that uses your laptop and they have to log in as a guest. You know that guest don't have no picture, don't have nothing set up. That user profile says, "Here's all the preferences and permissions and the unique taste of this user. This is how Jada likes her stuff set up. She want her email over here. She want her word open up here, PowerPoint over there." When you go to shop online or order from a restaurant, you log in often because if you log in, guess what? Saves your credit card number, >> your past orders. You don't have to fill in nothing. Your address autopopulates. You can see what size you ordered or what meal you ordered because all that's associated with your ID. Jesus says when you say yes to Jesus, he not resetting your password. >> He's giving you a new user ID. So he's saying that when you come to me, I'm going to erase all your preferences, all that old stuff. You don't need your credit card number in there. I paid it all anyway. I'm gonna reset everything so that you CAN SET UP NEW PREFERENCES, new permissions, a new layout that aligns with me. The old you is dead. The new you is what exists today. >> You have a new ID. >> But when it comes to the flesh, >> the flesh is like your operating system. Now, I have a PC. So, my operating system is Windows 11. Now, you don't see this. It's invisible, but it's running the show. >> Let me tell you something without getting too nerd technical on y'all. The operating system manages permissions, access, data, files. It decides how many things you can have open at a time. You want to have 99 tabs open. You might hit a limit. Your operating system be like, that's too much. You wonder why your PowerPoint is hanging or your email just blanked out. Your operating system like, hey, you can't have that. I got to put that over here. It's moving things all the time. This thing is working. It's deciding who has access, what you can see. It's managing time and memory and space. An unhealthy operating system. >> You are susceptible to cyber attacks, >> malware, viruses, bugs, performance is slow, you can't access all the data that you need, and ultimately system failure. So what happens for the believer is that we are deciding we will no longer operate under the flesh even though it's there. We're going to operate under the spirit. Let me tell you the kicker. If you want to really be techy with me, a device can actually have two operating systems. Most of us only have one, but you can put two on here. And then you have to decide every time you boot up that device which system you're going to operate under. Let me tell you something. When you come to the Lord, he gives you a new ID, but you have to decide every day, every moment which system you're going to operate under. Paul says you HAVE TO RESIST THE FLESH. THE OPERATING system didn't go anywhere, but you have to stop choosing it. >> Because let me tell you WHAT THAT FLESH WANTS. It wants you to log out and log back in under that OLD PROFILE. IT WANTS YOU TO GO BACK TO YOUR OLD TASTES, YOUR OLD PREFERENCES, YOUR OLD PERMISSIONS, your old setup. And the new system is saying, "No, no, no. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. I need you to walk in the newness. >> The Holy Spirit is the new operating system. But you have to give him control. >> He has all power, but he doesn't force you to do anything. That's right. >> You have to keep choosing him over and over and over again."
Now let me tell you the final part of our humanity. Paul says here's what you do with the body. Now the body is the casing. Okay? See this is this is the laptop itself. Everything that comes with the body it's the screen and the keyboard. Even on the inside there's a motherboard. There's other pieces of hardware. Paul is saying present this to the Lord. Now here's what he's not saying. Bring your old ID so we can fix it up. Nope. That's dead. He's not saying, "Bring your flesh so we can clean that up." Nope. Resist it. You got a new system. But your body, if you give me this, I can fix everything on the inside. >> Here, here's what he's saying. Listen. >> I have heard I've heard this this rumor. If you are a non-Android user, if you don't have an Android, I know I'm praying for you. If you don't have an Android, if you don't have a PC, I have heard that there's a place called the Apple Store. and they go, you go there because things need to be fixed. >> This is this is something I've learned of secondhand because if you have an Android, we don't get things fixed. We just >> it just keeps working. So I don't I mean it's it's NO SHADE. IT'S NO SHADE, BUT YOU KNOW, ANDROID USERS don't even realize how old their phone is because it's it works the same. But it's okay. It's okay. BUT I I have heard I've heard that there's a place and you go and get your device fixed. Now, sometimes, come back with me, y'all. Don't don't don't go. It's all right. Sometimes when things are not working right, we think time for a new device. >> So, we go into the store and we get a new device. But guess what they do? You going to put your same ID and that same operating system on a new device. That defeats the purpose. >> Here is what God is saying. I don't need a new operating system because with technology, even if you have an Android, I'm joking. Even if you have a PC, eventually you're going to come to a point where that person says, "We no longer support this device." >> In technology, the hardware expires, but in theology, it never does. God is saying, "I don't care HOW MANY TIMES THIS BODY has been broken or dropped. IF THE SCREEN IS CRACKED, WHATEVER TRAUMA YOU LIVE THROUGH, WHATEVER PAIN YOU'VE ENDURED, WHATEVER HARDSHIPS, THE KEYBOARD NOT WORKING, maybe it boots up a little bit slower, IT'S NOT AS SHINY AS IT USED TO BE. GIVE IT TO ME. >> Present this to me >> and what I will do will blow your mind." BECAUSE EVERYBODY EXPECTS THE NEW THING TO WORK. BUT WHAT IF I TAKE THE thing that's been through some stuff >> and I give that a new ID AND I GIVE THAT A NEW operating system? People will be blown AWAY >> THAT THE SAME body functions in a new way. >> He says, "Give it to me." There is no amount of damage beyond the repair of the Lord. >> It don't matter what story your body has endured. It don't matter what bad decisions, if it was your fault, if it was somebody else's fault. Whatever pain, however many lives you've lived, >> God says, "Present it to me. >> I can make it brand new. >> Don't throw this body away." Let me tell you something. Yourself wasn't made in the image of God. >> Your flesh wasn't made in the image of God. Your body, >> he says, "Give it to me." This is a physical presentation. And when you give that to God, he will change you from the inside out.
So Paul is saying, you got to present your body. How do you present it? It needs to be a living sacrifice. >> If you understood Old Testament ceremony and you were a Jewish person listening to this, that would kind of mess your mind up because sacrifices are supposed to be dead. So he's saying, "I want you to be alive and dead. I want you to be alive to Christ, but dead to sin. I want you to be alive to worship but dead to your own will. I need you to be both. So this is not the animal on the altar anymore. You are the altar. You are constantly sacrificing yourself. This is the new way to worship. It needs to be a living sacrifice. >> What else does he say? It needs to be holy. >> Let me tell you something about holiness. >> If you in the old church, you know holiness is still right. Now, now we have missed that because we are common and we're casual and I love it. And I love that we have created access to our faith but holiness. Y'all, we're not Listen, let me tell you something. This is why you need church kids sometimes because the old church was like a parent. >> In my grandmother's church, y'all, we had something called consecration. >> Y'all know about that. Consecration was listen diggs will be on that organ onward Christian solders and the kids be in the back like that marching AS TO WAR RIGHT WITH THE CROSS SO I mean singing this was before church it was after Sunday school but before church and consecration was serious >> chewing gum what you felt like you going to hell give me that gum you just you would be standing there and just Adult hands would be at your mouth and the kids would be like, "You just knew. Why you talking? Hush y'all that talking? This is consecration." Before we walked in, my grandmother was like, "Hey, get your bodies right. >> We going into consecration. >> You had to go to the bathroom. You better ask the Lord to pull that back. This is consecration. You better sit there and hold it tight. >> This is consecration. >> They were trying to teach us stillness and discipline. All of THIS WAS TO PREPARE OURSELVES TO WALK INTO the sanctuary. >> So before we could walk from that fellowship hall across the street into that sanctuary, we needed to be consecrated. Now, it wasn't a real consecration. It was symbolic. WE'RE already set apart in Christ Jesus. But God is saying, "I want your bodies to be holy. I want them to be set apart." You know, YOU HAVE YOUR favorite things THAT ARE SET APART for something. You may have your favorite mug or your favorite pot OR YOUR FAVORITE CHAIR SET APART. BACK in the day, you had church clothes. >> That's before kids wore pajamas in public. >> Once upon a time, people dressed up for church. >> It was a DIFFERENT PART OF YOUR CLOSET, >> DIFFERENT DRAWERS, A DIFFERENT PAIR OF SHOES. THOSE THINGS WERE SET APART. AND WHEN YOU GOT HOME, >> YEAH. And you put on your what? >> You better pull your own play clothes. Don't get in the floor playing with nothing. Please do not have a snack. Do not go outside. Do not break a sweat. Go put on your play clothes >> because those things were set apart for something. >> And God is saying, "I need your body to be set apart for me. >> You and I cannot share the throne. >> If you give it to me, that means you no longer have claim to it. If I'm going to present my body a holy s. But here's the good news. You don't have to try to do it on your own. >> You got the power of the Holy Spirit. You couldn't even do it on your own on your best day. He's saying, I'm not even asking you to do something you can't do. I'm giving you freedom in my son and the power of my spirit to live out this holiness. >> Not only must it be holy, it must be acceptable. Y'all say acceptable. >> Acceptable. >> Now, here's here's the funny part about it being acceptable. It's not based on what you think is acceptable. It's acceptable based on God's revelation. Now, this is where it gets a little specific because the acceptable sacrifice is going to be specific to you very often. Okay? If you look at Genesis 4, Cain gave God an offering. It was a good offering, but it wasn't what God asked. His offering was rejected not because it lacked effort, but because it was disobedience. So the acceptable sacrifice is going to be about God's revelation, not what you find meaningful. This means that there going to be times, y'all, where God asks you to give up something. And it's not a sin issue. It's the way he wants you to sacrifice. >> You'll be looking in the scripture. Why can't I? Why do I feel weird about this? And God is like, it's not in there. This is not a specific sin. This is you. It's how I want you to present your body to me as a sacrifice. He may tell you what you can and can't wear. It may be a fine outfit. It might not even be a modesty issue, but he like, "You know what? You be feeling yourself a little bit when you put that on. I don't want you to wear that for a while." I'm telling you, if you let the Holy Spirit, he will tell you the smallest things. I don't want you to carry that bag. You spend too much money on it. I don't like how you act when you car carry it. >> I don't want you to I don't want you to hang out with that person because wherever they go, all of a sudden your light dims and you're not an influence and it sets you back. I don't want you to watch that. I don't want you to listen to that. And it's not a sin. And you wonder why your friend can listen to it. That's not their conviction. I don't want you to listen to it because it does something to you. >> I'm going tell you, I GOT MY FEELINGS HURT A few years ago. Many years ago, there was a show that was on TV, y'all. And I'll never forget. It was about a a president and he had a mistress. >> Everybody loved a mistress. >> She was Power Broker. >> I never forget one scene. This before Netflix, you know, you had to wait once a week till it came on and you went and talked about it with your friends. I'll never forget, there was a scene and the mistress and the president were making plans. And then the wife called cuz something had come up with family. Y'all, we all in the room like, "Oh, dang, Millie." If you know, you know. And I remember in that moment the Lord saying to me, "Uh uh uh, >> you can't watch this anymore." When I say, "It hurt my feelings." I was like, "Why, Lord, everybody is watching this." And he said, "Because anytime you're watching something and your spirit begins to side with what I hate, >> we have a problem. I don't even like how you reacted to that. How you mad that the wife called? >> How you siding with the mistress? >> How you not for family? I don't care what that marriage is looking like. I'm for marriage. >> So whatever y'all talking about, there's no acting award. I don't care what color she is and he is and how far I don't care about none of that. I don't like it. >> You can't watch it. >> And I was in my feelings. >> I wasn't even that spiritual about it. We had an argument. I was like, Lord, you know, I know it's wrong. Come on. He said, "Then don't watch it." >> And my friends asked, "You're not in the group chat no more?" I said, "Girl, I can't watch it." And here's the thing about the acceptable sacrifice. Your obedience is not everybody's obedience. >> So, I was wanting all my friends to be like, "You right. We shouldn't watch." They were like, "Oh, okay. Well, we we'll see you later." >> CAN I TELL YOU, SOMETIMES THE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE IS LONELY. >> God is asking you to give up something. He's asking you to say no to something. He's asking you to make a change. He not ASKING ANYBODY ELSE. HE WANTS to see what your worship is. >> He says, "I know what's best for you and your spirit. Don't do it." >> That's right. >> The acceptable sacrifice is God's revelation, not your preference. >> That's right. >> Secondly, the acceptable sacrifice has to cost something, y'all. David said, "I refuse in 2 Samuel to offer a burnt offering to the Lord that costs me nothing. >> I won't do it." And we so love convenient and comfortable Christianity, y'all. That's why the world is looking at us saying, "I sacrifice more for my worldly values than you sacrifice for the Lord that died for you." We got people getting up at all hours of the day, living in small boxes until they save up to get the house they want, making working 18 jobs so they kids can go to the right school. They doing ALL THE THINGS FOR GOALS that are going to die with this world. >> And we HAVE A GOD WHO DIED FOR US, >> but we only want to serve when it's convenient. >> Lord, it's cold. Lord, it's raining. You know, I worked late last night. Oh, the job he gave you. Okay. LORD, YOU KNOW, I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SLEEP. LORD, I NEED THIS. LORD, IT HAS TO BE CONVENIENT. So the world cannot understand how we serve a God that we say changed our life, but we're unwilling to change our lives. >> It don't make sense. >> Because we changing our lives for lesser goals. >> So the acceptable sacrifice has to cost you something. >> Present your bodies. A sacrifice, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It cost something.
Here's second part. And it's missing in some of the translations, but there's a and there. And do not be conformed. >> Paul is saying these are equally important. Don't think you're going to skip to the mind work and let your body do whatever you want. They are equally important. And don't be conformed to the world, but be renewed by the transforming of your mind. But it's not disconnected, y'all. Because the renewed mind has an impact on the body. It shows up in your physical existence. There's a table on the back of your handout. Let's look at these real quick. Here's what the renewed mind does. Number one, it reorders what the body what? >> Reorders what the body Oh, I can read on this part, too. Reorders what the body loves. Before it sees sin as satisfying. When your mind is not renewed, sin feels good. God feels restrictive like he's just giving you rules. Obedience is loss, but in the renewed mindset, God is my deepest satisfaction. For real, sin loses its luster. Y'all might not believe me, but I know it's some witnesses in this room that know what it's like to try to enjoy sin again after you have the Lord, and it's not even good anymore. >> Can I tell you something? One of these Daniel fast mess me up. Every Daniel fast, the Lord does something permanent in me. Whether it's related to what I eat or how I think. one particular Daniel Fest, y'all. At the time, I had a low-key stronghold with Chick-fil-A sweet tea. And um, don't don't laugh with me. Laugh at don't laugh at me. Laugh with me. So, I had this issue with Chick-fil-A sweet tea sometimes lemonade. And so, we got off the fast and I was like, "Oo, when I break this fast, I know where I'm going." Took my little self to Chick-fil-A, y'all, to get that sweet tea. Y'all, I had a migraine for the whole day. My body was like, "Oh, no, ma'am. We We've let that go. We not doing that." So, what did I do? Try it again the next day. That's what I did. I said, "Oh, no. We need this tea in our lives. We We just need to get reacclimated to the tea." And I had another headache. But in my mind, I was like, "You know what? This is a slightly lesser headache. We getting there. We're getting there." So by the third day, the Lord was like, "Stop, stop, stop. Are you telling me I have removed the desire from something out of your body?" >> And instead of walking in the freedom, you're trying to reaclimate to the bondage. Is that what you're telling me, Jada? You're trying to make yourself get accustomed to something I freed you from. >> See, only with the Holy Spirit will sin lose its luster. And you will try to go back to it, but it don't satisfy the same because the Lord has reoriented you. The renewed mind now affects the body. So even WHEN THE BODY SAYS, "OH YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I want." The mind says it's not going to be good to you. And all of a sudden, the thing that you knew is the fix that you needed does not satisfy anymore. That's what the renewed mind does. It shows up in the body, y'all. The effect, the body becomes disciplined instead of reactive. It resists temptation with stronger affection.
Here's the second thing the renewed mind does. It redefineses what? Who the body? >> Who the body obeys before. Guess what? We're obeying. Fear, shame, the culture. Fear. I don't ever want to be poor. I got to make sure I work hard, hard, hard. Uh, shame. If everybody ever knew my whole story. Oh Lord, I got to make sure I create this new image. Culture. You satisfied with your house and two scrolls. You like, I do need a new living room. You know what? I do need a new car. We need a new house. We need like culture is always saying
More, more, more. Be, be, do what you want. So the renewed mind says we're not driven by that anymore. We obey the gospel that says no performance is required. You are not what you've done. You're the new ID in Christ Jesus. So why are you trying to compete with an old version of yourself?
Listen, this old version of yourself will get you in trouble, and you'll still keep following its rules and desires as opposed to falling under the new mindset. Here's how it shows up in the body. The body now obeys out of gratitude, not guilt; from security, not insecurity; and with freedom, not fear.
Here's the third thing that the renewed mind does. It reforms how the body handles.
>> We don't like suffering.
>> We don't like suffering.
Anybody that doesn't really understand what suffering is has not read their Bible, because the people we're trying to become are not in the Bible. They're not. The people in the Bible are suffering. Even the ones who had money, even the ones who were kings, were suffering. They were struggling because they were in the real wrestle of the flesh and the spirit, or they were subjected to the hard things that happen in life.
But the old mindset says suffering means God has failed me. That's what the culture says. Now, I'm not talking about the world. I'm talking about the Christian culture today says if you're suffering, God has failed. God has better for you. Like, "Better can't be right now in the suffering."
>> There must be some change in situation. Difficulty must mean I chose wrong. Lord, help me make the right choice.
Like difficulty somehow has to be fixed, and that discomfort must be avoided. So we cut off people, and cut off circumstances, and cut off situations, and say no to things that are uncomfortable, when the whole Christian life is uncomfortable. The comfortable days where life seems easy ought to be the exception, not the norm. That means you're not wrestling. If your life is comfortable and easy, I already know what operating system you're under.
'Cause Paul says in Romans 7, if you try to operate under the spirit, it's a constant battle.
>> It's a constant battle.
>> BUT THAT'S WHAT GOD has equipped us for. And here's how it shows up. I'm able to endure hardship instead of escaping it.
>> I don't have to run. I don't have to bow out. I don't have to try to cancel you. I don't have to leave. I don't have to quit. I can endure.
And lastly, I can stay faithful even when quitting feels justified.
>> Because the world will be like, "Oh, ain't no way I would deal with that. I would quit."
And the Lord says, "That's not what we do. We can do hard things because you have the power of the Holy Spirit."
Okay, here's the fourth thing that the renewed mind does. It redirects what the body does.
>> Wait, when y'all?
>> Okay, that's not weekly.
>> That's not once a week. That's not just at Bible study. That's not just at conference.
Every day, the renewed mind. The old mindset says everything is mine. It's my time and my money, my feelings. I do what I want. I remove myself from things I don't like. The new mindset says every single thing. How you spend your time, your money, what you do when you're frustrated.
Let me tell y'all, the new mindset, the renewed mind, if you let the Holy Spirit reign, he will show up in the smallest things. He'll be like, "Hey, that person that you really rather text because that's easier for you, make a phone call."
>> That's a living sacrifice. You don't want to do it. It's uncomfortable. Now you got to have a phone call.
Or he'll say, "Hey, that person, you need to meet them face to face." Like, "Oh, my schedule. I don't have time. They going to take so much out of me."
Present your body a living sacrifice.
>> Go physically be with them.
That little extra money you got, you're excited. Don't make plans for it. I got plans for it.
>> I got plans for it.
You're like, "But wait, but I've been saving up. I want to take this trip." You don't need a trip. I got something else. And I'm not going to even tell you right now, but don't spend it. And you know when you spend it out of disobedience, and the Lord is like, "No, I want to do something with that. I want to do something generous through you. I can't do it if everything you think, every little bit of money you get, you think belongs to you. It belongs to me."
And the renewed mind will tell you that. It'll tell you what to do with your time. You're frustrated, you're anxious, or you just feel like I'm not productive. Whatever it is, that new mindset will say, "This is what you need to do."
Ask God every day, "How do I present myself to you today, God?" Listen, the Lord will lay out your schedule. He'll tell you when to go to sleep. He'll tell you when to wake up. He'll tell you what to do. Everything. I present my body to him. My renewed mind then informs that body. Effects on the body. It reshapes sleep, speech, diet, sexual integrity.
By the way, I put integrity here because this is born the sexual purity. This is not celibacy and abstinence, which are important. But if you're single and you're abstaining or you're celibate, but you don't have sexual integrity, you're just trying to have sexual purity. When you get married, you're going to struggle. You need sexual integrity.
>> You need sexual maturity that says, "I'm asking God constantly how he wants to use my body."
Because otherwise, you're going to store up all this sexual energy talking about, "I was absent or I was celibate or I went two months or I went two years." Then you're going to get married and expect something out of your spouse they were never intended to give you.
>> Sexual integrity says this is an act of worship.
>> This is a reflection of communion. How do I partner with my spouse so that we can both enjoy this? It's not my outlet. It's not my release. It's not my preference.
Sexual integrity is bigger than purity.
>> It's bigger than faithfulness. This is a whole identity shaped by God.
So the renewed mindset shows up in all of these things. And lastly, the renewed mind reframes how the body is presented for worship. It's no longer self-centered. It is now offered with eternal perspective. This is not duty. "Oh, everybody, we got to get to church." This is, "Can you think about the mercies of God?"
We have no choice. We drag our tired bodies to work. We get our tired bodies up to cook for our family.
>> But man, we can't get enough sleep and then we miss church, or we don't ask how we can serve. I'm at capacity.
You had capacity doing what?
>> Things God gave you?
>> Blessings from the Lord.
So, you can't serve back and give back to the Lord because you're busy with the blessings of the Lord. That doesn't make sense. Worship says everything belongs to him. And y'all, it needs to be authentic.
Okay, let me tell you something. I was in the kitchen not too long ago, and my kids asked me a question, and kids will always show you that you're really not that smart. And so my kids asked me a question while we were cooking, and my daughter said, "Why is there no smoke detectors in the kitchen?" And so I said, "Well, you can't have smoke detectors in the kitchen because there's always smoke. They would be going off all the time."
And so then I was boiling water for something, and she asked me again with her very brilliant self, "Why doesn't steam set off a smoke detector?" And you know, when they're younger, you can make up some answer like, "Well, because, you know, the moisture would damage the device." You just be making up stuff. But now they're older. I was like, I need to look this up. I need to figure out why steam doesn't set off a smoke detector. And I did.
And so what I learned was that smoke detectors are not just attuned to steam. They're looking for combustion particles. And so steam doesn't create that. Okay. But smoke, smoke creates combustion particles. Jesus. Turn it off. Turn it off. All right, devil. Now, you know, we call everything devil. It doesn't work, right? But they're two different things. Smoke detectors are looking for what's inside the smoke. They're looking for combustion particles that are attached to fire.
>> But what's interesting is, at a glance, steam and smoke look the same.
>> What what's really happening is that God is functioning like this smoke detector. And he's saying, "I don't want your worship to just be for just for show."
Cuz some of y'all in here every day, and you're serving, and you're doing all the things, and you're running around, and you're getting saved every week, and you're always the loudest one praying, and you're always loud in worship. But guess what? Steam.
>> It's steam.
>> It's not doing nothing but making people wet and hot, and just they can't even use it.
>> BUT LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THAT SMOKE. GOD SAYS, "I AM ABLE TO DETECT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SHOW OFF OF STEAM AND THE SMOKE THAT'S ATTACHED TO FIRE." SEE, I KNOW BY THE COMPOSITION OF YOUR WORSHIP IF IT'S REAL SMOKE ATTACHED TO THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AND THAT'S WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR. I DON'T CARE WHICH ONE LOOKS THE BEST. I CARE WHICH ONE IS FUELED BY THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
AND SO WHEN WE OFFER UP OUR WORSHIP, CHURCH, I'M NOT TRYING TO JUST HAVE FLASHY STEAM THAT IMPRESSES PEOPLE. I WANT TO BRING THE SMOKE. I WANT IT ATTACHED TO THE FIRE OF THE HOLY GHOST. IT HAS TO BE AUTHENTIC. IT HAS TO BE HOLY. IT HAS TO BE ACCEPTABLE. IT HAS TO BE SACRIFICIAL.
>> Because God is not impressed with steam.
>> He is only impressed by the smoke. He needs to know there's fire attached to that worship.
>> You want to know the will of God?
>> Worship.
>> You want clarity from God?
>> Worship.
>> God feels far. How do I get close to God?
>> Worship.
>> What do I do in my daily decisions?
>> Worship.
God, help us give off smoke, not steam. I want a worship that's attached to fire, because steam don't change anybody's life, and it eventually fades. But fire,
>> oh, that changes everything.
>> It points people to the true and living God. And all we are are an aroma, an incense of an offering, bringing up a fragrant offering to the Lord because we got the fire of God in us.
>> We want a church that's worshippers. So that we can say where there's smoke there's fire in Jesus name. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Come on. We can give God glory.
>> Amen.