It's good to be back with you. My days in recent times have been a little bit hectic. But I want to take you to a passage of scripture that has meant a lot to us and the church. It's a famous one. It's Romans chapter 12. And if you know something about the book of Romans, chapters 1 to 11 deal with the doctrinal pursuit that Paul presents to the Romans. And just for quick analysis, chapters one to eight deal with salvation. First three chapters deal with the condemnation of men. Four and five is justification. Six through eight is sanctification. And it just gives us a complete understanding of what the scripture teaches us about what salvation is all about. Nine to 11 deals with the sovereignty of God. And then 12 to 16 deals with our service or our relationship with God. And so chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, you probably know, but it's what I call the hinge verse between the doctrinal aspect. Paul, oftentimes when he writes a letter, he deals with the first section of the verse. The first section of the letter is doctrine, and the last section is how do we apply that. And so in this category, 1 to 11, because there are 16 chapters in Romans, 1 to 11 deals with the doctrine aspect. And then he has these two unique verses that hinge between this doctrinal dissertation of what does it mean to be a Christian? And then in chapters 12 to 16, this is how it looks for us. And those two verses center around two two ideas. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a sacrifice, literally what it's saying, that you present your bodies a sacrifice, which is living alive and totally given over to the Lord. And he says, for this is your reasonable, and the last word oftentimes that I grew up with was, this is your reasonable service. But better translated, I would say, for this is your reasonable worship. So our practical application of what chapters 1 to 11 deal with are begun by this aspect where we say we're going to be a person or a church or a community that worships the Lord by offering our, and this was very, very, very well known by the Israelites, but Paul is writing to Romans, who were also very understanding of this, the sacrifice that was supposed to be given to gods and sacrifices is supposed to be the total involvement of the person who's worshiping. So Paul uses that and he says in those verses that this is our practical application of this, is that it's our spiritual worship. In fact, the ESV that I just pulled out Please understand I'm trying to find out where everything is after this storm. So everything gets pushed and I came home going Okay, I got my Bible at home and I don't have my Bible. So I pulled out an ESV because I usually use it in New King James but this one does ESV uses which is your reason for your your spiritual worship and Then he says in verse 2 do not be conformed to this world to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, perfect will of God. So there's two concepts here. First one is worship. Second one is our witness. As we worship God, we become a witness to God in our lives. All of this is prep, and I'm trying to get through this as quick as I can, because I wanted to go to verse nine, and verses three to eight deal with spiritual gifts. And then in verse nine, He says, let love be genuine, according to ESV. Let love be genuine. New King James, I think, is let love be without hypocrisy. And then he says two phrases, abhor what is evil. And hold fast to what is good. And what Paul is saying here is that as you sacrifice yourself and worship the Lord and you witness to Who he is you live this out by your the spiritual gifts that he's given to you and in verses 3 to 8 and then he says but let love be without hypocrisy or let love be sincere and then he gives literally in this passage of scripture verses 9 all the way to verse 21 there are 15 or more participles, no verb, participles. So literally this verse is love, genuine love. It's kind of like the title, genuine or sincere love. And then he says, this idea of participles is that he says, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. We live in a world And it's never more presentable as it is during an election year. We live in a world where people are buying and selling according to what they want. And we have to, as Christians, be very, very sincere in in abhorring what is evil wherever we find it. And I don't mean to be unkind here, but we tend to only find it in in places that we feel comfortable putting the light on but God says abhor evil wherever you find it abhor evil and hold on to or grip literally the word means glue okay glue yourself to what is good and in so doing that abhorring what is evil pushing it away and gripping to that which is good. That's the definition of what we mean or what Paul means by sincere love. And then he goes through there and there's 10 other applications. I could read through them, but they're amazing aspects. Love one another with a brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful. So all of these nine attended characteristics. He is defining what it means to abhor what is evil and love what is good. As we pray, as we bring to God the requests that we have in our hearts, we come to God who is the God of love, to be honest with you. The world seeks after power, we seek after love. And he calls us to have sincere love. by honestly, openly saying that is wrong and this is good, and understanding that we as a congregation and a community plead with God that he will lift up the fallen, that he will bless the good, that he will withstand by his mighty power the evil that is promoting itself all over the world, so that we can see God's kingdom come. I'm reminded of what Jesus said, let your kingdom come. And he said, let your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. That's our desire as we pray, as we seek the Lord with all of these things, what we want is for God's kingdom to come and that comes, that kingdom that comes is not one necessary. It will be of power, but it will be one of love. And we show the We show our Christianity and who we are the children of by how we love one another. Well, God says two commandments, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself. Those two things God requires out of his children. You are to be characterized by my love that I've given to you, you give to others. So my encouragement to you today No matter where you find yourself, remember this, that there is a God, He has spoken, and we are His witnesses. And that is a truth that we hold to. So God bless you. Thank you so much for inviting me.