 Okay Good morning. Welcome to the class today. Let's pray and we'll get started Good one of us, please Leave the class and prayer anybody could pray and We'll start. Can I go ahead and pray? Yes, please Father we thank you for your wonderful grace and your mercy over our lives Lord Jesus We submit this time into your hands even as we continue to learn from the book of Romans Father Holy Spirit come and help us understand your word father Open our eyes Jesus to the hidden things of your word Lord Submit the rest of the time into your hands. You lead us and guide us father. I pray in Jesus name. Amen All right, thank you All right, so we covered Romans 9 10 11 These were or I should say these are these three chapters 9 10 11 Are somewhat difficult chapters in Paul's episode to the Romans and We went through that the understood, you know the conclusion Paul comes to Essentially at the end of chapter towards the end of chapter 11 is God has not stopped working with the Jewish people the people of Israel At this moment He has or he is working among the Gentiles like it says there and Romans 11 25 Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in Romans 11 25 So, you know God is just working among the non Jewish world getting people in until the fullness of the Gentiles come in and Then he's going to again once again pay attention to those people the Jewish people people Israel Get them grafted in or back in to They are the main olive tree Be our branches from the wild all the way people pictures this in Romans 11 and so he's gonna, you know, bring us all back together and And ultimately Paul, you know, he sums up by saying in verse Romans 11 29 The gifts and the calling of God are unchangeable that means God doesn't change his mind about whom he chooses and whom he calls so He hasn't changed his mind about Israel or the Jewish people so his plans for them still holds good and It's just that at this point God is doing something Bitch He actually did speak to them the very beginning, you know, and he called Abraham He said through you all the families of the earth will be blessed so It's not that he didn't plan to do it. He already had it in the very beginning when he spoke saying yeah through you I'll bless all the nations. So that's what he's doing just that they didn't understand it at that time and Probably still don't understand, you know, that God has actually Worked through that nation the nation of Israel and is blessing the nations of the world and bringing the nations the world back to himself that he is going to Refocus or pay attention again to Israel and so Paul sums up Romans 11 by just saying, you know, how great is God's ways of working? His wisdom and knowledge. It's unsearchable His ways are beyond even our understanding. So he closes out Romans 11 that way now having gone on this journey to describe what God is doing with the people of Israel and the Jewish people now Paul turns his attention back to The church at Rome or the believers or of course, you could say to the church itself because whatever he's writing there is also for us So he gets back to talking to believers So it's now connecting back to Romans chapter 8 Because still Romans 8, he was dealing with the believer Talking about how you live your Christian life Walking in the spirit Crucifying the flesh Rejoicing even through tribulations that we may face now Knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That's Romans 8 The 9 10 11 he's gone on this little excursion 12 picks up from where Romans 8 ended which is okay, let's talk to the believer and Continue talking about how to live As believers the Christian life, right? So that's Romans chapter 12. We get back to that, right? So This is, you know, a very very familiar chapter Romans 12 Many of us may have already preached sermons and messages and You know things from Romans 12 used it in our own personal lives Shared it with other people because it's it's it's really talking about things We need as believers and how to live the Christian life. So it's a very well-known passage Well-known chapter. So let's just read the whole chapter and then we will start bringing we'll focus in on on on You know individual verses So Romans 12 we're going to read the whole chapter which is pretty short just 21 verses. So maybe each each one of us could Read about four verses Romans 12 each can read four verses. Please anyone can start Great Romans 12 one to four Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices Holy and pleasing to God This is your spiritual act of worship Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good pleasing imperfect will For by the grace given me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to But rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith. God has given you Just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function Thanks, uh, thomas I too find what's right pastor Go ahead. Go ahead thomas. It is with christ body Christ's body we are many parts of one body and we will all belong to each other In his grace God has given us a different gifts for doing certain things well So if God has given you the ability to cross prophesy Speak out with as much faith as God has given you If your gift is serving others serve them well If you are a teacher teach well If your gift is to encourage others be encouraging If it is giving give generously if God has given you leadership ability Take the responsibility seriously and if you have a gift for showing kindness to others do it gladly Dave 9 to 12 please But keep your spiritual favor serving the lord be joyful in hope patient in affixant Patient in affixant faithful in prayer Karen 13 to 16 All right. So that 13 to 16 please Yes Share with God's people who are in need practice hospitality bless those who persecute you Bless and do not curse rejoice with those who rejoice moon with those Who moon live in harmony with with one another to not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position to not be conceited Thank you last one 17. Oh, sorry 17 to 21 Prince or cannon whoever has So ready Repay no repay no one ever for able have triggered for good things in the sight of all men It is if it is possible as much as depends on you live peacefully With all men beloved do not embed yourself, but rather you give Place to work for it is written In my mind, I will repay say the lord therefore If your enemy is hungry feed him If he is thirsty, give him a drink. Uh, give him a drink Or in so doing you will have Colors Of higher on his head Do not be overcome by able but overcome able with good Yeah, thank you. All right, so let's start Looking at these verses we go back to verse one And we will you know try to draw some Insights from these scriptures. Although these are like we said are very familiar to many of us So Paul begins now verse 12 I beseech you Therefore brethren So now he's turning his attention to the brethren to lots people the Jews and Basically the believers there at Rome. He said, okay, I'm beseeching you that means I'm imploring you. I'm making you the solemn request or this earnest request. I beseech you Brethren and notice he says I beseech you therefore brethren, you know, so therefore means look Whatever I've told you now chapters 9 10 11 You know in view of all of that What is it? That means you've understood what God is doing. You understood God's plan You understood, you know, God the severity and the goodness of God So he mentions that you know in in Romans 11 22 He says, you know, think about the goodness and the severity of God meaning God is good, but he's also severe He's good and compassionate, but it's also, you know, God of truth and justice And so in his dealings with his people, there is this coming together of the goodness and the severity of God So, uh, he says, you know, I want you to keep all of this in mind the way God has worked to the people of israel the way, you know He's he's okay. He for a moment. He's given them up to their own blindness to their own ways But now he's extended goodness to the Gentiles. So in view of all of this, I beseech you brethren Keeping God's goodness and severity in mind Here's what I want you to do Right. So now he's it returning his attention to us to the believers And he's saying I'm doing this very compassionately by the mercies of God. So what I'm requesting you I'm doing it with the heart of compassion With the with God given mercies by the mercies of God What must we do? He says present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God Which is your reasonable service So present your bodies roman saptrate was talking a lot about the body right He's talking about look you've got to keep the body in subjection by the holy spirit You put to end the sinful deeds of your body you will live roman's 8 13 So he's talking you know, he's talking about the body now. He's continuing that same thought. He says What must we do? right, so Basically disconnects back there to roman's eight We've seen that you know, jesus finished the work on the cross. He broke the power of sin Romans 8 the holy spirit is at work in us to Help us overcome the flesh so when we walk in the spirit We will not yield to the flesh So in view of all of that, what must we do now? We must present our bodies as a living sacrifice So we present Now we make this deliberate choice in god. I am deliberately intentionally and willingly making my body as a living sacrifice and that's very interesting because um in the old testament And uh, they they brought sacrifices right to worship as part of their worship. They brought sacrifices animal sacrifices birds Uh offering grain They brought sacrifices But now he's telling you offer yourself And uh, so it's not about putting another animal there or putting another bird there or Putting some grain there offer your body As a sacrifice so in that same so they understand, you know sacrifice being part of our worship So he's saying you know you offer your body But your body It's not a one-time sacrifice It's a living sacrifice that means It's my body our our bodies Are alive And yet they are sacrificed. They are killed So it's a living sacrifice our bodies are alive Of course, we need our bodies to be alive to be on this earth and do whatever god's called us to do So our bodies are alive. It's a living thing But yet it's it's a sacrificed thing. It's a thing that has been offered on the altar So our bodies are a living sacrifice. They are already they're permanently on the altar permanent sacrifice Uh, but yet we're alive. Yeah, we've we've we've we've we've been doing all these things so He says you offer your body as a living sacrifice and this sacrifice Holy Holy acceptable to god holy pleasing to god So our bodies are presented to god how? By keeping them holy and pleasing. How do we offer our bodies? as a living sacrifice By keeping our bodies holy and pleasing to god So when we do that Constantly, it's it's an ongoing thing. Like we said every day You're keeping your body as holy as something that's been set apart for god And something that's pleasing to god That is our living sacrifice And he says this is your reasonable service or this is your Lord, you know, um, it actually means rational logical. It's your thoughtful worship so It's an act of worship presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice By keeping our bodies holy and pleasing to god It is an act of worship And it is an act of thoughtful reasonable meaning There's thought that has gone into this or you know, you can also translate as rational It's reasonable. Let me look at it here. Yeah Yeah, the passion translation says It becomes your genuine genuine expression or Some versions say it becomes your intelligent It is your intelligent the same word reasonable. It's translated as Intelligent form of worship, right? So That means It's not you know, let's contrast it to something irrational and irrational thing is You're doing it Even if it's not logical Okay, so let's think about this and I don't mean to sound demeaning But I want us to think about this suppose I just go and uh, you know, I just beat myself You know with the whips And I say that's my act of worship If you look at it logically and say well, what does beating yourself with and you know Tearing up your own skin and bleeding and What is that? You know, how is that going to help in your worship of god? Or you know that like this you can pick up many other Quote unquote acts of worship which Does not seem intelligent. It doesn't seem rational So in contrast to those Irrational forms of worship Things that you know don't don't make sense at all Paul is saying look You keep your body Holy pleasing to god and this is thoughtful intelligent worship to god And you present your body as a living sacrifice like we said earlier meaning It's alive, but yet it's on the altar It's sacrificed it's offered to god how By you and me keeping our body holy and pleasing That means The things that are done in this body The things that take place in this body have to be holy and pleasing to god And when we do that It is our act of worship to god so We know we worship god through song. We worship god through Our giving we worship god through You know other ways There we show our devotion And this is also One of the ways we worship god By just keeping our body holy and pleasing So you can imagine this Even if we are you know walking down the street And you make a choice what other choice may be to keep your body holy and pleasing That moment You have offered up worship to god You may be walking down a busy street You know and there's some billboard or something that's that's uh Has you know images and graphics on it. There are just not something that you and I should set our minds on And so you take your eyes off of it What are you doing? You're saying this body and my eyes are a part of my body this body Is going to be holy pleasing to god At that moment in that busy street I've offered up thought felt intelligent worship to god. Why because I've may I've that moment I have offered my body as a living sacrifice I have worshiped god right there so paul is saying In view of the mercy so in view of you know all that we've heard about god brethren Offer your body as a living sacrifice Keep it holy keep it well pleasing And every time you do that you're offering to god intelligent thought felt worship first two and So meaning plus and is a plus continuing and also and Do not be conformed to this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind That you may prove What is that good and acceptable and perfect? Will of god So do not be conformed to this world. Don't pattern yourself Don't pattern your behavior Don't pattern your thinking and your behavior or don't pattern your lifestyle. So do not be conformed That means do not get into the same mold. Do not come into the same pattern of thinking behaving living pattern Do not be conformed to the world the ways of the world but Be transformed So we know that word transformed Is the word metamorph? which is We understand in english metamorphosis that and and and and the best example of metamorphosis is how A little wiggly caterpillar Becomes this beautiful butterfly So you look at the caterpillar Nothing impressive about its tiny little thing Wiggly like a worm And Then it undergoes metamorphosis. That means it it has such a change such a transformation That little wiggly worm becomes this beautiful flying butterfly So that's that's the word here be transformed undergo such a metamorphosis in what? In the way you think the way you behave your where you live that means Instead of getting into the pattern of this world thinking and living and behaving according to the world Have a transformation a supernatural change in the way you think The way you behave the way you live So be transformed be metamorphosized So he's saying believers I want all of you to be transformed Be metamorphosized That means don't be like the caterpillar But just how the caterpillar Has this dramatic and drastic change You have that dramatic and drastic change in the way you think and live And then he tells us how this is possible He says by the renewing of your mind By the renewing of your mind now While this is not paul's intent here necessarily maybe we don't know He just used the word metamorpho in the greek Whether he was actually thinking intently Whether the holy spirit was giving him this thought about You know this buddha caterpillar beginning butterfly I don't know that that was there Maybe it was maybe it was and we don't know but Just for our understanding You see when the caterpillar Reaches the stage where it knows Or it reaches it but it's going to start this process of metamorphosis The first thing this caterpillar does is begins to eat Eat I don't know what to use the word it just keeps eating Consuming leaves So he gets on this on this You know on whichever plant it is And it keeps eating eating eating all the green leaves It just consumes and you can you're surprised that this little little worm Starts eating so much eating the green leaves around it, you know, whichever bush or tree or plant it's on It's in eats and eats and eats and eats and eats and eats and eats and then of course it expands becomes a little bigger But it eats so much because it's preparing for A change that's going to take place and Then it disappears into this cocoon like thing And then inside that all changes are taking place And then the next thing, you know outcomes a metamorphosized creature the butterfly But I would like to compare this eating stage consuming is To you and me consuming the word of God Because it says here Be transformed by The renewing of your minds Now what is this renewing of the mind or renovating of the mind the renovation of the mind The mind we know is our Has to do with our mental faculties. It has to do with the way we think The way we reason So what Paul is saying is Of course, it's by the Holy Spirit. What God is telling us is Don't conform yourself to the world have our transformation in your way of life And this is possible if you will Renew your mind your thinking And the best way for you know for that I find to Explain what renewing of the mind is is in Isaiah 55 If you can go there to Isaiah 55 and let's please read versus seven to nine Could somebody read that for us as Isaiah 55 seven to nine, please Somebody could read that Okay Let the wickets for sexy their ways And the earth unrises Their thoughts let them turn to the Lord And he will have mercy on them And to our god for he will pray to pardon me There must be tonight eight or nine For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my way Declares the Lord as the heavens are higher than the earth So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts Than your thoughts Okay, thank you so This I feel this is like this is the best example of what renewing the mind is In verse seven god is speaking to the wicked All right, so Isaiah 55 seven through nine speaking to the wicked That means a man who was let's say the world right So we're talking about not being conformed to the world but being transformed having complete transformation To the renewing of our mind Speaking to the wicked man of the world And he says I want you to forsake your way and your thoughts For sick means let go Let go and turn away from it What Your ways your thoughts And he says verse seven let him come to the Lord So you let go of your ways and thoughts and come to God and God says I will pardon you that means I will receive you And then verse eight and nine God says I want you to know something my thoughts Are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways and my thoughts and my ways are hot much higher and then verse 10 I mean verse nine They are so high that's like as you know as heavens are above the earth. That's how high that's there's a big difference between the ways and thoughts of the wicked And the ways and thoughts of God that's it's like huge difference And God is telling the wicked you forsake your ways and thoughts You come to me. I'll receive you the implication here is I'm going to help you take on my ways and my thoughts And this is going to happen verse 10 and 11 By the word of God and we didn't read verse 11 But God says so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth The word of God is going to help us Take on the ways and thoughts of God So What is the renewing of the mind? The renewing of the mind is this process here that we've read in Isaiah 55 7 through 11 It is me letting go of my ways and my thoughts And taking on the ways and thoughts of God And as I take on the ways and thoughts of God I'm going to undergo a metamorphosis A transformation I will no longer be conformed to the ways of the world which is wickedness But I'm going to be You know beginning to walk on the higher levels on the higher ways At the higher level which God is in the ways and thoughts of God I will be transformed By the renewing of my mind So We renew our mind with the word of God That means we train ourselves to To leave the ways and thoughts Of the world the way we were used to And to take on the ways and thoughts of God Through the word of God And right here in chapter 12 Are some of the ways and thoughts of God given to us Right, so we Talk about forgiving we talk about showing love so on so forth But we learn To take on the ways and thoughts of God And as we do that Our minds are renewed Our minds are renewed So We go through like the caterpillar eating eating eating eating eating those leaves We have to consume consume consume consume the word of God And as we consume that word That word begins to Renew Our ways and thoughts Make them new make them different Right, we begin to Think We begin to Consider ways that are aligned to the ways of God And thoughts that are aligned to the thoughts of God Okay, so That process we call as the renewing of the mind So the renewing of the mind results in this It results in transformation of our lives So when we renew our minds Transformation takes place We're able to think differently. We're able to Uh, I'm sorry as in your mind. We're able to live differently. Maybe see we have experience of transformation in the way we live So let me pause here. Was that clear? Did you did we understand that? It's everything. Okay. Okay Yeah, I see a response on the chat right, so How can somebody experience renewing of the mind? We have to like the catapult of it. Keep consuming the word the word keep consuming it You know keep eating the word keep eating the word keep eating the word keep eating the word So people will think like what is this guy just chewing on the word eating eating eating the word Well, it's like what the caterpillar is doing, right? uh It seems like crazy. Why is the catapult eating all these leaves? Feeding on feeding on feeding why is the caterpillar doing this? Well, it's getting ready for a transformation In the same way we keep eating the word keep eating the word keep You know feeding on the word. Why because you're learning the ways and thoughts of God We are learning we have forsaken our own ways. We have forsaken our own thoughts So now we need something. What is that the ways and thoughts of God by his word We're taking on the ways and thoughts of God and our mind is being renewed and as our mind is being renewed our life Our behavior our thinking is transformed So we are no longer conformed to the world But we are transformed to live according to the ways and thoughts of God So for example like in the same chapter in roman roman's 12 He says towards the end. He says Don't be overcome by evil But overcome evil with good Now that's that's the way and thought of God The world's way the world's ways and thoughts are I will repay evil for evil Somebody does bad to me. I will do maybe twice as much bad to them That's the way of the world So If we consider why is there so much escalation and evil because Everybody is trying to outdo or repay Twice as much evil as they received So somebody does so much evil to me. Hey, I will do twice as much back to them Oh, if they do twice and I will do more So there's an escalation of evil because that's the way And the thought of the world evil for evil But the way and thought of God is this Don't repay evil for evil Instead and don't be overcome by evil That means somebody does evil to you Don't let that dominate you Instead overcome evil with good If your enemy is hungry feed him If he's thirsty give him something to drink Overcome evil with good. He's done bad to you. You do good to him That is the way and thought of God now That is not our natural response meaning As conformed to the world That's not how we would respond But when we renew our mind with the word of God It's a hey What are the ways and thoughts of God the ways and thoughts of God are Don't be overcome by evil. Somebody does evil to you. Don't let that control you Instead overcome evil with good do something good in return now Initially that'll be really difficult. Oh, how am I gonna do good when that person has you know been mean to me? Well As we feed upon the word our mind is renewed Now we're able to behave differently. We have been transformed in our way of living and our way of thinking so Even when somebody does evil to us we return good, right? So that's what he's saying do not be conformed to this world We'd be transformed by the renewing of our mind now That phrase the renewing of our mind is right in the middle of this verse And he says look this renewing of our mind brings about transformation in our life But also helps us some with something else that was continues That you may prove What is good acceptable and perfect will of God It says Then you and I renew our mind We can prove The word prove is interesting because it's like we can test And determine through our testing. It's almost like You know a lab A laboratory procedure now. I'm not saying that's exactly what they they did in those days, but I'm just using An analogy today It's like in the lab they test some, you know, they get some samples they test it that is they are proving it And then they come to a conclusion. Yeah, this is genuine. This is the wrong false through whatever So he says when our mind is renewed When our mind is renewed You can prove You can test And you will know The will of God You will know the good acceptable and perfect will of God So the renewing of our mind not only helps us see transformation in our living The renewing of our mind Also helps us in the determination Of the will of God So when there are things happening around me and you know, I have this thing that all those things are happening around me I will be able to you know Test I will be able to prove I will be able to if I want to use a different word. I will be able to analyze And that's okay. This is the way this is what God wants us to do. So Here's another key Many Christians many believers They say I don't know the will of God Why you don't know the will of God? because When you and I renew our minds We'll be able to prove The will of God we'll be able to analyze And say this is the will of God Now he uses three adjectives good acceptable and perfect now Additionally, you know people have used this three adjectives to say that There are three levels in the will of God. There is what is good. There is what is acceptable and that's what's perfect But I feel that interpretation and that teaching is wrong Because he's just using three adjectives to talk about the same thing. That means God's will Is always good acceptable and perfect So he's not saying there are three categories. So the will of God He's just using three adjectives for the will of God. Just like how we used Holy and acceptable to God He's you know, so if you're holy, you're acceptable. The word acceptable simply means pleasing Like he in verse one we just read Holy Acceptable pleasing that same what acceptable is used once again in verse two same word No, we don't say Holy is one category Pleasing to God acceptable to God is a different level of holiness. We don't say that we just say he just means reverse one If you're holy, you're also pleasing or acceptable to God. So that's how he's using it, right? So in verse two, he says That you may prove that you can analyze and know Through your analysis through your thinking process Through your thought process you can know The will of God And what is good acceptable and perfect that means What is the best thing? There's no The will of God is good acceptable and perfect. It's not talking about three categories of the will See, this is the will of God. God's will is good God's will is pleasing God's will is perfect So what is you know, the thing that is really fitting in to the will of God Okay, the same word acceptable is used somewhere else, you know, for example, in Colossians and it's translated pleasing to the Lord to be pleasing to the Lord. So When your mind is renewed Through your own thinking You can recognize This is the will of God. This is what is good and acceptable and pleasing to God Through your own way of thinking Because your mind has been trained To know the ways and thoughts of God So Through your own thought the way you think you will you will be able to say This is good. This is acceptable. This is pleasing to God. This is the way to do it. This is the will of God So that's another benefit Of renewing the mind When we take on the ways and thoughts of God Through our own thinking You will know the will of God. This is what God wants you to do right, I don't have to wait for some those Clouds in the sky to part or I don't have to wait for an angel to appear I don't necessarily need a dream or a vision or a prophecy Why? Because when your mind is renewed you can prove The good acceptable and perfect will of God I'm not I'm not saying we shouldn't have dreams or we shouldn't have visions or We shouldn't have angels appearing I'm just saying that this is the normal way By which all of us can know the will of God just renew our minds to the To the word of God to the ways and thoughts of God And then in every situation you're able to prove that when you're putting all the information together You'll understand, you know the ways and thoughts of God So you're able to say this is good acceptable pleasing to God. This is the will of God Okay Any questions we'll pause for a break and Any questions? Okay, okay. All right. So let's just take a quick 10 minute break And we will come back together. Thank you