It's been about two years since I've been up here, so can you tell I'm nervous? Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter five says this, guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools. for they do not know that they are doing evil. When I was 16 years old, I got my driver's license. What a day it was. And I remember my dad telling me, he goes, when you turn 16, I'm going to buy you a car. And I was excited. I couldn't even hardly go to school. And I thought of it all day long. and my dad said he had an elderly person that had a car that had a lot of miles on, but he says, I think it'd fit you just right. So I was supposed to meet him over by Mickelson Rambler. That's not there anymore, so that kind of tells you how old I am. But anyway, I met him there, and here I look out in the parking lot, and here is a 57 Chevy. And I was thinking to myself, I wonder if my dad knew what he bought. Paid 250 bucks for it. It was actually in pretty good shape. And when I looked at the car, the first thing I saw, the car was pink. Can you believe it? I'm in high school, and I'm going to drive to school in a pink car. But in those days, pink was a highly sought after color, especially for older vehicles. I never knew that. Well, I wasn't old then. But it was called canyon coral. Sounds really good. To me, it was pink. The first thing I thought to myself, I have to get rid of that color. I am not driving that thing to school. And I started sitting out and there was a few rough spots I had to fix up and this and that. I thought I was doing a pretty good job and put some chrome reverse wheels on it, you know, and tachometer and all these things. And it had a miss in it, but you know what, set of plugs and stuff like that, a set of points and condenser, I can do all that. But as I'm working on this car, I met a good friend of mine. His name was Butch. And Butch says, you know, I can paint that car for you. And he did. We painted it a Marlboro maroon with metal flake panels in the doors. You should have seen it. It was just really something. We took a lace tablecloth, put it over the hood, and he sprayed it. and that tablecloth imprinted into the hood, and he goes, now take that tablecloth and throw it away, and you'll have the only one in the world with that tablecloth. That was a big thing in those days. Well, I got it all done, okay? And I took it to school, and I was the talk of North High, and I really was. It was just an awesome-looking car. But I never dealt with the mist that was in the engine. And I just thought a set of plugs and I put that in, everything else, and it just didn't go away. And it came to a point where I found out that I had to get a valve job for the engine. And that means taking the top of the engine off. I didn't have money for that, not in those days. And then when I had it at school, I came out of shop class and I went to start the car and I put it in drive and the car wouldn't move. And I found out that the transmission went out. I don't have money for that. Well, I learned a good lesson. I had a great looking car from the outside, but the inside was terrible. You ever wondered what God's will is for your life? You ever wonder that? You hear that all the time. Yeah, I wonder what God wants me to do with this and that. Well, God has a will for everybody's life, but he also has a will for how we're supposed to live. And that's what I'd like to talk to you about this morning. If you haven't done so already, I'm gonna ask you to take out your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, verses that you have heard before. you have memorized, but we're going to go over them very quickly and let's see what the Lord has for us. You see, we're going to discover that it means, what it means to live a supernatural life. John MacArthur, who has just passed away and is in glory right now, he said this, Paul demonstrates that when believers give themselves fully to God and then in the power of the Holy Spirit, let the Holy Spirit live out and experience what is true of them theoretically in Christ, the results will be staggering, will be staggering. If you haven't done, I have a outline in your bulletin. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see a short outline in there. And I labeled this, God wants us to be in the center of his will. Here's a question for you. What is God's will for your life? On the bottom, the answer is to give your total devotion, your energy, and your thoughts to God. We're gonna look at, first of all, body dedication to God. Then let's look at not to be conformed to the world. And lastly, be transformed through the mind. Through the mind. Pray with me, would you? Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for your inerrant word, something that was written in a different culture, in a different time, 2,000 years ago. And yet, Lord, it still applies to us today. Truly, you are the God of all glory and honor. Lord, would you use me just to be the preacher of your word? Would your Holy Spirit illuminate your word to our hearts and to our minds? And Lord, would you help us to be a little bit more conformed to the image of Jesus? I thank you for what you're gonna do. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Paul starts off, you know what, I'm gonna have to get my glasses on here. I didn't think I was gonna have to do that, but I think I... Okay. Paul starts off by saying, I urge you, I urge you. In other versions, he says, I beseech you, or he's actually saying, I plead with you. Now, he could very easily say, I command you, but this is not a command. This, my friends, is a choice. This is a choice that each one of us have to make. I urge you, I beseech you, God is not saying to be persuaded because of his mercies. Because Paul says, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. Notice it says brethren. This is not talking to the world. This is talking about believers. Brethren are believers. Believers are born again Christians covered by the blood of Jesus. That's what a born again Christian is. And Paul says, I urge you, people, born-again believers by the mercy of God. What does he mean by the mercy of God? You see, he just finished going through 11 chapters before he came to this chapter, and in 11 chapters Paul is describing to them what the mercies of God are. Now there's a lot of them, and actually Pastor Aaron has been going through quite a few of them in the book of Ephesians. But if you look in the first chapter, one through three, we're gonna find that all of us are sinners facing God's wrath, every single one of us. And in chapters four through eight, God provided a way for us to be righteous in his sight, and he did that through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's called redemption. And in chapters nine through 11, God is gonna be faithful both to Jews and to Gentiles. It's not just the church today, it's gonna be Jews as well. But God's mercies, his divine mercies, have persuasive powers for those who believe. I want you to remember that. They have persuasive powers because when you think about the mercies of God, they should bring you to a point where you want to act upon those mercies. We have a lot of believers in churches that don't act upon the mercies of God. They just come to church, they warm a pew, get a good sermon, and out the door they go. But the person who takes God serious and to remember what he has done for us, to those people, great things happen in their life. They actually get to a point where they start understanding God's will for their life. God's will for their life. Now, a lot of the verses, I'm just gonna mention just a couple. You know quite a few of them. Justification, identification, under grace, not law, the spirit and dwelling in us, help in infirmities, divine election, coming glory, no separation possible, confidence in God's faithfulness. Paul went through all of those in all those chapters. And what we need to do is be persuaded by what God has done for us. That's why he says, I urge you, I urge you, I implore you, listen to what I'm saying. Because of God's mercies, don't do it for me, do it because of the love that God had for us. The way for the world to be right with God is clearly through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's called redemption. And Pastor Aaron touched on that in the book of Ephesians, talked about redemption and how Jesus set us free from the bondage of sin. But I'd like to go maybe not deeper, but deeper There was an article that was written that helped me to really understand redemption. I'm not a smart guy, and I gotta study a lot. Sometimes I gotta read things over and over and over before I get it. I don't think any of you are like that, but I am, okay? But look at, let's just take some pivotal verses from Romans chapter three. Turn back to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three, look at verse, starting in verse 21 with me. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Listen. being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, that he might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Now, the person who wrote this article was Marvin Rosenthal. He's in glory already as well, too. But he said that there are three Greek words that describe the transaction that took place at the cross. Three Greek words. Now, I don't know Greek, but I know that Greek helps us to understand God's word. So we use everything that we can. Each word has an emphasis or a meaning to it. Let's look at the first word. The first word is gonna be agarazo. agorazo, and the emphasis is on the ransom price to be paid. Agorazo means that there was a ransom that needed to be paid and Jesus Christ paid it by his blood. Jesus Christ paid it by his blood. Revelation, John says, Revelation chapter five. John says in verse nine, And they sang a new song saying, worthy art thou to take the book, to break its seals, for thou was slain and dispurchased, agarazo, purchased for God with thy blood men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That's our word. It's a purchase. The only way a person can get saved is because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing else will do it. Let's look at another one. Go over to 2 Peter. I think you're going to have these on the screen. Chapter two, verse one, look what it says. But false prophets also rose among the people, just as there will also be false prophets among you. Who will, what are they gonna say? They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought Agarazzo. purchased with his blood, them bringing swift destruction upon themselves." Folks, we see this in churches today. Everybody is trying to circumvent the blood of Jesus Christ. Everyone is. And it's usually a work salvation. And unfortunately, we have a lot of young people that are in Christian churches that don't understand the price that was paid at the cross. They just feel joining a church, getting busy, getting into youth groups, everything else is good enough. But it just doesn't happen that way. We have to understand it's the blood and nothing else that's gonna save us. Paul in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter six. Chapter 6. 20th verse says this, for you have been bought with a price, ransomed, agorazo. Therefore, what should you do? Glorify God in your body. Glorify God in your body. God's will is that we glorify him by our actions in our body. That's not a work salvation. That's what is due us. That's what we need to do. Jesus is the only way to heaven, we know that. He said, I am the way, the truth, and a life. No one comes to the Father but by me. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12 tells us that. You see, it's all grace, nothing else. This is one thing that Mr. Rosenthal said. He said, where there is grace, there is no debt. Where there is grace, there is no obligation. And where there is grace, there is no merit. You can't earn your way to heaven. Grace through faith apart from any human contribution. That's what it is. It's a free gift, and it's through the blood of Jesus Christ. He paid it. He had to pay a debt, and the debt was by his blood. Let's look at the second word. The second word is ex-agorazo. Ex-agorazo. The emphasis is on removal from the slave market of sin. Justification of the Mosaic Law, which condemns us to hell. You see, God gave us the law, and the law is good, but because we couldn't keep it, it became a curse to us. We couldn't do it. But through what Christ has done, he purchased us, and then he removed us from the slave market of sin. That's experiential. You should be able to experience that in your own life. You remember the sins that you used to do and they just don't have power over you anymore? Now, I wish that would happen for every sin. I don't know why it doesn't, but I have certain things in my life that have absolutely no power over me anymore. It's gone. It's not an issue. And the only logical explanation is that it's Jesus Christ who can do it. You got something in your life? Leave. Believe that his power can help you to overcome that. You have to take steps. It's not accepting Jesus and all of a sudden I just lived my life and he automatically changes us. We have steps that we need to take in order and that's not working. That is becoming a servant of Jesus. That's what it means. Look at Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse 13. Christ redeemed ex agorazo, or removed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Galatians 4, four through five. Listen, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that he might redeem, remove those who were under the law, that he might receive them as adoption as sons. Jesus had to become a man in order to remove the curse of the law. He had to become flesh. You can read that for yourself in the book of Hebrews. to be adopted in God's family. Jesus had to become a man to be under law, but lived it out perfectly for us. And because of the redemption blood of his son, Jesus was able to buy us, purchase us, and he was able to remove us from the situation that Satan had us bound all of our life. Freedom. Freedom. Let's look at the third word. All these are talking about redemption. The third word we see is lutron, and it means to pay the price and to release. This is very important. This is what I learned about redemption, that he not only, he releases us in order to serve whom we decide we're gonna serve. See, it's a choice. Listen, first, Peter. 1 Peter 1, verses 8, 18, and 19 says this. Knowing that you were not redeemed, Lutron, with purchased things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished, the spotless blood of Jesus Christ. Listen. God is so wondrously gracious, he pays the ransom for our redemption, he removes us from the enslavement of this godless world system headed by Satan, and he sets us free. He sets us free. If we serve him, it's because we choose to, never because he forces us to serve. never because he forces us to serve. See, if God would force us to serve him, you know what? There's no love there. There's no love. His mercies, that's what Paul is saying, his mercies persuade us to want to serve him. Those are the people that really love God. An elder wants to aspire to be an elder. It's not because he wants to be a better person, because he loves God and he wants to give God everything he's got. So he wants to live above reproach. A wife wants to submit to their husband, not because she wants to, because there's something inside that don't want to, but because of her love for Jesus. because of what happened at the cross, because of God's mercies, she submits to love. That's what it's all about. See, it's a choice that we make. And when we choose to love God and do what his word says, life becomes, I don't even know what it is. Jesus said, I have come to give them life and to have it abundantly. That's the abundant life that God wants us to have. See, we serve from gratitude out of love. Children obey their parents because of what Christ has done. Or they can obey their parents just because I better, otherwise I'm gonna get the stick, I don't know. But you know what? You'll raise children that are very obedient, and they know how to sit in a pew very good. But if you want children to be godly men and women, you're gonna teach them how to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's what you want in your children, a love down deep inside. You see, that's gratitude. We just sold our camper. Had a 25-foot camper, and it was an albatross around my neck. It really was, because I had to haul that thing back and forth, and generators and everything else. And finally, after three years, Patty agreed, you know what, maybe, even though Patty loves camping, We went ahead and sold the camper and praise the Lord that somebody paid what we wanted, everything went good. And you know, I kind of felt bad because, this happens to me every time, but I know how much she loves to go. So I told her, I said, let's go get another one. But let's get a smaller one, something easy to handle. So we looked at some used ones. You know, they wanted so much money for them, and they were used, and they just, it was not a good thing. So I thought, you know what, for a couple extra bucks, I could buy something new. So we did. We picked one up at a very reasonable price, and we had them working on it. And so while they were working on it, Patty and I went out to eat. And we were sitting by the table. And she says, she goes, why did you buy another camper? And I says, because I know it means so much to you. And I didn't want to take that away. And she burst in tears, you know, just, and I kind of went back a little bit and I started looking around in a restaurant and people are looking at me and they're probably, I'm thinking to myself, oh, she, He probably told her he wants a divorce or something, I don't know. All these thoughts are going through my head. But I realized how much it meant to her, just a little thing like that, that I thought about her. She probably did that out of gratitude. How often do we do that with God's mercies? Out of gratitude. Want to live for him. Not because we're told that we need to, but I want to do it because I love you with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. You see, when you realize what happened at Calvary, It starts sinking in. That's what Paul is trying to get to the Romans. He wants them not just to have a faith in their head that causes them to act. He wants them to have a faith in their heart that causes them to love. You go over to the book of Psalms, Psalm 119, and how the psalmist just goes on and on and on how he loves the law of Christ. He'll do anything in order to keep it, anything. Folks, that's the kind of love that we need for God. That's the mercies of God. And God's mercy, it says in Romans 12, that we are to present ourselves a living sacrifice to God. A living sacrifice to God. Now what does that mean? What does it mean to be a living sacrifice to God? I'm glad you asked. Because we're going to be looking at that. We got verses here that we need to go through. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Start in verse 12 with me. You see, God wants us, because of what he has done for us, he wants us to glorify him by our serving. And we do that by giving our bodies to him. Verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered at anything. Food is for the stomach, and stomach is for the food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, you hear, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us through his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take them away from Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be. Verse 16, or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For he says the two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. You see, you wanna be in the will of God, number one is be careful when it comes to immorality, or anything that affects our relationship with God, and it has to do with the body. The body is very important to God. I don't understand it all, but I know he gave us a body, and the body is perfect. And even scientists will tell you that nothing matches the body. And I do know that we're gonna have to die, but our bodies are gonna be raised again. And it's gonna be a glorified body. And we're gonna have bodies living in heaven with him. So the body is very, very important. So if it's that important, and if Jesus paid for it with his blood, we better take care of it. And I mean by not only immorality, we need to be careful about oversleeping and overeating. We need to be careful when it comes to anything that may get in the way of ourselves and our relationship with God. Glorify God in your body. Turn to Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. I love this chapter. Romans chapter 6. We need to yield our unredeemed body to God's complete control. We still have this sinful nature. Our body is still, there's parts that are unredeemed. That's why we're gonna be getting a glorified body. But until then, listen to what Paul says, starting in verse five. For you have been united with him in the likeness of his death. That's Jesus. Certainly, I'm sorry, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, listen, Even so, consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. We still goof up, we do, but the more we consider ourselves free from those things, the more We're going to be trusting the Lord to keep us away from that. The word consider in the Greek is legazami, and it means to calculate. It means to figure out. It means to meditate on, take it into account, and mull it over in your mind. To consider, I'm dead. At one time, alcohol had so much concern or control over me, when I came to Jesus, I had to consider myself dead to that stuff. And when I finally believed that God freed me from it, I was free. 40 years, folks. Swearing. You're looking at an old farmer here. or an old fisherman and they didn't know how to cuss. That was me. It's been 40 some years and probably on my hand I can think of when I slipped and it was when I got so angry with my children because they were doing something that just wasn't right. Jesus is true to his word. when his blood covers you, it's covered. Just believe him, believe him. Look what it says in verse 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. And do not go on presenting the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness. See, I wouldn't, because I've been freed from alcohol, I don't go walk into a bar anymore. That'd be stupid. That's what he's saying here. Don't present yourself as instruments of unrighteousness, but present the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. We ain't done yet. Keep going. For sin shall not be master over you. Ex agorazo. He removed us from that. For you, you are not under law, but under grace. So putting sin to death is a choice. It's a choice on our part. Look at verses 15 and 16. What then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be. Do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as a slave for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or obedience resulting in righteousness? See, putting sin to death is a commitment. Look at verse 17 and 18. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, You became what? Slaves of righteousness. Because putting sin to death, folks, is gonna result in holiness. Look. Look at 19. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, look at, so now, present the members as slaves to righteousness resulting in what? Sanctification. Sanctification. Putting sin to death. Sanctification is an ongoing thing in our life. There's three steps in sanctification. Okay? And we are in that mid part or we are continually giving ourselves over to the Lord. And that's what helps us to get better and better and better. That's sanctification. Because, you know, putting the sin to death is absolutely worth it. It's worth it. Look at verse 20. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from the things which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, You derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome, eternal life. That's somebody who loves the Lord their God. Verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. We have to take this serious. We can't allow, so often we say, oh, I did that sin again, I did that sin again, and that happens, don't get me wrong, but we have to take steps in order to trust the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Turn to 1 John. 1 John chapter three. because our actions should match our words. If we're believers, our actions need to match our words. First John chapter three, starting in verse one. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, Now we are children of God and has not appeared as yet we shall be. For we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sin, that means walking with him in an everyday basis. Abide, Jesus talks about that in John chapter 15. Cling to the vine, stay attached to the vine. No one abides in him sins. No one who sins has seen him or knows him. Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous. just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil. These hurt, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin. because his seed, capital H, his seed abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice his righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. Those are some pretty strong verses, you see? Living a holy, sacrificial life, it takes work. But it's walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit takes care of that in our life. You know, anybody who has self-discipline, it's Paul. Paul had self-discipline because he tried being holy in order to be able to go to heaven. He was a Pharisee. But once he learned what Christ has done, that grace is a free gift paid for by the blood of Jesus, now Paul wants to keep himself away from sin because he's preaching to other people about Jesus. And he can't be sinning a sinful life and then preaching the gospel to somebody. They're gonna look at him as a hypocrite. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter nine quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Verses that you probably know. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Listen to what Paul says, run in such a way that you will win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I buffet my body and I make it my slave. Less possible after I preach to others, I myself should be disqualified. There is no way that Paul could sit there and preach the gospel and then live a life, a hypocritical life in front of the people that he's saying that Jesus paid for their sins. It's the same way with us. How often? Have I already heard that I was at a grocery store and we were getting checked out and I could hear somebody getting angry and I heard curse words and I didn't know who it was and I looked up ahead and here it was somebody from our church. Not this church. When I first got saved, I was at another church for 38 years. I thought to myself, whoa, that happens, that happens. And we're just bringing down the name of Jesus, bringing down the name of Jesus. Look at verse two in Romans chapter 12, verse two. It says, and do not be conformed to the world. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let's look at the negative first. The negative is to be conformed to the world. Mostly, everybody knows what that means. Let me just give you a few things here. It says, everything in this evil Satan-controlled world, listen, is to get along without God. Is that true? Everything in this evil world that we have wants to, Satan wants us to believe that there is no God, that we can get along without God. You think about world's philosophies. Man's philosophies says, talks on evolution rather than creation. Who came up with that? They want evolution, so saying that there is no God, that's man's philosophy. Now that's only one of them. But creation, we know, is how the earth got started, and it makes perfect sense. World's science. Remember when COVID hit, and everybody said science has the answers? We are to continually look to science. I remember our president saying that during COVID. Remember when global warming came up and he said, science has the way to get us out of this. And what man is doing now, they're taking our food and they're genetically changing it so we have more food, as if God doesn't know how many people are gonna be on the earth and how much food we need. See, I personally believe that we have much more cancer today because we genetically change our food. That's just my opinion. Everything that I hear on the news, I have to right away sift it through scripture because God has the answers. Everything Satan wants us to know or to believe in this world is without God, or even our world government. Government was God's idea and we are to obey it, but government today is man exalting himself. Am I wrong? But it's true. Everybody wants to be the top leader and they'll do everything possible to get to the top. That's not God's way. That's not servanthood. What about world amusements? Look at the world amusements, especially with children. All these teddy bears that cry. and they act like a human, and superheroes, Star Wars, and people get attached to these things. It's all make-believe. But for the young people, it's not make-believe. What you're doing is destroying their mind, because now you're talking about God who came to this earth and went to the cross. That's foolishness to them. We did it to ourself. World amusements to keep us going, to keep us going. They want everything to be make-believe, but there is truth, there is reality, and the reality is that Jesus is coming back. That's the reality, whether you like it or not, he's coming back. What about world religions? World religions is just soothing man's mind so they don't have to worry about judgment. That's all it is. You do this and that, you'll be good. That's what I always believed. God's got a scale up there. Miley, you did a lot of rotten things, but you did a lot of good things too. Just focus on that. You know, it just didn't do it for me. But that's what Satan wants us to believe. He wants us to believe that this all is, there is no God involved. That man can do it on his own, and we can't. Don't fall into the traps of the world. James chapter four. James four, you don't have to turn to these, but we are not to have fellowship with the world. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship in the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Whoa. It's not my words, folks. Don't follow evil desires. We're not supposed to, when it comes to evil desires, we are to stay away from it. What does 1 Peter say, starting in verse 13? Therefore, gird your minds for actions, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts. which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. That's a mighty big pants to wear, but God gives us his spirit in order to pull this through. Don't follow the God of this world. Don't do it. First Corinthians chapter four says this. Hang in there with me, don't fall asleep. Verses three and four says this. And even if, listen, and even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing. in whose case the God, small g, of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Satan has much control, especially in young minds. Well, it's in everyone, but in young minds, folks, We need to stay strong. 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verses two and three says this, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying peace, safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pains upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. Satan wants people in the world to have false securities. You know what a false security is? I got a home, I got a car, I got a boat to do things with once in a while, got a piece of land to go hunting, I got money in the bank, gas is filled up, let the rains come. Let this happen, let this happen. That's false security, folks. That's false security. You don't know, you never know when the phone rings and said, ah, your test came back negative. And all those things that you have don't matter anymore. What kind of security do you want? You want that? Unfortunately, us as Christians, we gravitate towards that. And we can't do that. We need to gravitate against what happened at Calvary, fall in love with it, and let him lead and guide and direct us. Okay. With the little time we have, we need to be transformed. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That's how it works. It all comes by the mind. It's actually the Greek word morph. We get the word metamorphosis. I think all of you have taken a butterfly and stuck in that, putting them in a jar and makes a cocoon, and before you know it, out comes a beautiful butterfly. Well, that's basically what's gotta happen to us with our mind, okay? It doesn't magically happen. We have to do whatever it takes in our minds in order to to work with the Holy Spirit to change. Because of the time we have left, I want you to turn right to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. We'll go through this very quickly and then I'll get out of your way. Psalm 119, look at verse nine. Nine through 16, very quickly. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to thy word. This is steps in order to have a pure mind. If your mind is always wandering and this and that, write these steps down in your Bible. I got them written down in mine. Use them all the time. With all my heart, I have sought thee. Do not let me wander from thy commandments. Number one is have a desire for God. And you desire for God by getting up in the morning or in the evening, whatever it is, and spending time in God's word. I've been retired now for 10 years, and I'm still up at 4.30. Still. That's never left me. And it's not that I can't, I don't have to sleep or I wanna sleep in. I do, but I know that Jesus is waiting by that rocker for me. And that motivates me. That pushes me. It gives me a desire to want to listen to him. See, you gotta take steps to do that. Look at verse 11. Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against thee. Memorize God's Word. Write it down. Memorize God's Word. I bet most of them, most of us, we get going memorizing and then we give it up. Don't do it. Persevere. We need to persevere. Memorize God's Word. Twelve. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. How does God teach us? By us reading his word. We pray by talking to him and he talks to us through his word. Unless you want to look at a wall and waiting for a voice to come to you. I found out that God talks to me through his word. So many things in this lesson that he taught me that I'm teaching you, he's given me through his word. Just three or four days ago, he opened up everything for me. I was flipping out. Because I prayed, Lord, you gotta help me with this. I can't organize things. I got these facts and everything, but for me to bring it all together, that's where my wife comes in. But I can't lean on my wife all the time. I need to lean on the Holy Spirit. And he did it for me, he really did. Study God's word, do it. Look at verse 13. With my lips I have told all the ordinances of my mouth. Teach God's word. I don't know how many times Pastor Aaron was up here and says, we need two teachers for Sunday school. And so many times people can just say, I'm not a teacher. Yeah, you are. Maybe you're not a teacher to get up like this or to teach an adult Sunday school class, but certainly you can teach children and all the things that are totally laid out to you. It says, say this, listen for this, ask this question. Anybody can do that. And when you do that, God blesses you by teaching you rather than you're teaching them. I've learned so much teaching senior hires. I just love that teaching. I get so jealous that Sean is doing it. But I've learned so much, much more than probably they did. Teach God's word. You're not too young to do it. Look at verse 14, I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as all the riches. Celebrate victories. Think of the times when God met your need. Think of the times when you had a problem and God saw you through. When you celebrate victories like that, that wells up a rejoice in you and so many times you'll burst into song or you'll just say, thank you, thank you, thank you. I do bow hunting. When I'm up in a tree and when I meditate on the Lord Jesus, so many times nature comes alive to me. I know he's there and I just burst into song. No wonder I never get a deer. But that's just the way it is. I don't care. But we need to celebrate victories. 15, I will meditate on thy precepts. That's a no-brainer. Meditate on God's word. When you read something, take a word. I'm discipling an individual and I have him read one chapter every week. Is that right, one chapter every week? I think it was. No, yes. Like Ephesians, I'll have him read Ephesians chapter one all week. When you get up in the morning, read Ephesians one. And keep taking things out of there that the spirit is showing you. And the thing that he showed you, meditate on it, think about it, mull it around. That's what it means. Consider, consider, legatumai, calculate in your mind. It will eventually get down into your heart, into your mind. and into your soul. That's how God's word works. His word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces the heart. It pierces the heart. Sixteen is the last one. I shall delight in thy statutes. Review what you've learned. Review, review, what you've learned, because you know what? If you don't use it, you'll lose it. Happens all the time. I share the gospel with a lot of people, but I have a way of sharing the gospel, and if I don't use it, I will eventually lose it, and then I'm not gonna feel like talking to anybody about the gospel. You have to be reassured in your heart You have to be able to stand for the Lord and use his scriptures. And when you do, you have that assurance that God's going to use you and he will. He will. When you are ready and prepared, my friend, be ready to talk to somebody because it's going to happen. It's going to happen. The end of Romans chapter one. You want to know God's will when you renew your mind. so that you will prove to be what the will of God is. And what is that? Good and acceptable. Perfect. That's what God wants from us. That's what God wants for us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you that how your word speaks to us. Lord, we looked at a lot of your word this morning, but every one, Lord, you have convinced us that we need to take actions in our life. Would you help us, Lord, to love the mercies that you have shown to us? All the things, Lord, that that are our adoption as sons, justification, sanctification. Lord, help us to meditate on these things. We are totally unworthy of be called your children. But Lord, you have chosen us, and it's all through your grace. Nothing that we did. Thank you, Jesus, for your blood. Thank you, Lord, so much for removing us from that slave market of sin. And Lord, as you have set us free to choose whom we're gonna serve, Lord, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for this day. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.