Just, this is my fault, so I don't want people to get mad at me, but the title of my message is, let's be reasonable. But that is the point, let's be realistic. This is a strange world we're living in. Some of you might have I read in a newspaper, we're about, this world is getting more depraved every day. It's not quite as depraved as it can be yet, and it will be getting worse. But one of America's greatest athletes, a decathlon winner, an Olympic hero, stretches the letter F-E on the, in front of the gender box on his driver's license this week. In case that's too obscure, Bruce Jenner called himself a woman this week. And wow, if that doesn't make you a little bit, shake you up a little bit, I have to say that at 65 years old, I think it's a little scary to be telling God he made a mistake. But that's just one of the strange things that's going on in this world that's becoming more and more depraved. The newspaper called that a courageous move. And yet, our brothers and sisters in blue around this country are being torn apart by newspapers and people alike and be called names. And they put their life on the line every day in real courageous action. And so that's just a little weird the way the world works. Then again, there was a family that went to see their son's graduation. And they just called out, hey, you made it. And they were arrested for doing that. I don't know, I'd have been in jail several times for doing that, right? This is the world, and this is the way it's going. It's getting worse and worse every day. The world has been set adrift for many years, adrift from the righteous moorings. It has disassociated itself from God and called it the right thing to do. We have taken a country whose values were built around honoring God, giving rights such as freedom of religion, and turned it into a country that seeks freedom from religion. My point in all this is that the world is going swiftly from bad to worse, from men turning their backs on God or refusing to obey him in the past, to men refusing to even recognize God other than themselves. Atheism in the U.S. is up as high as it's ever been, but on a strange note, it's down slightly globally. And you might be asking why that is, because the Pacific Rim and Asia, they have notoriously been atheistic, about 15%. But since abortion has gotten to be a normal thing there, the population's dropped down, so that has brought down the global atheism. But nothing to be excited about. It's just that there's less atheists being born. Why do I bring all of this up? Because this world has been courting and entangling believers since the time of Christ and before. How can you say that believers are being entangled by the world? Simply, I don't say it. Paul says it. Paul thinks it's possible for Christians to be ensnared by the world. But he tells us how to combat it. And he also tells us what's a reasonable way for a Christian to live. So we'll look at the letter to the Romans chapter 12 this morning and deal more directly with this question. So let's read the text. Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. We've been studying. People who've been in my Wednesday evening Bible class are going to get tired of hearing this. But it's OK, though. Romans chapter 12. verses 1 to 3. 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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. So this morning, we're going to look at the, my title is Let's Be Reasonable, and my first point is be reasonable. This is verse one. It says, I urge you, brethren, brethren, The word brethren means that he's talking to the elect. Earlier in Romans, he calls his brethren in the flesh, the Jews, okay? So he talks to his brethren in the flesh, but now he's talking to all his brethren. He's talking to... The brethren in the flesh were not necessarily saved, but he's talking to the elect now, both Jews and Gentiles alike. He says, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, So when we talk here, we're talking to the elect, and therefore we're talking to who? You. And he says it's urgent. In our vernacular, when we say urge, and in the King James Besiege, right? When we say urge, we're talking about a mild kind of invitation to do something, friendly push, persuasive rhetoric. In the King James's Besiege, which is a little more intense, but that's not the word Paul uses. Paul uses the word urge in the Greek is parakletos, which means to be called alongside, to come alongside. Which means that there's a physical move. It's not just that you urge. It's that you come and you urge somebody. You beseech them. There's intensity in it. So when he's saying this, this is urgent, okay? And urge is short for urgent, okay? He's urging you. It's an important message. So believers, this is for you and this is an important message. As far as spiritual matters, are they urgent to us? How often have we read a text in scripture that we knew applied to us and have not responded in obedience? For instance, if you read something about, you know, and you're convicted by the use of your time, do you change the way you use your time? Is scripture urgent to us? Simple question. But he urges them by the mercies of God. Now, when we look back, it begins with, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, he urges them. That therefore goes back to previous chapter. In chapter 11, Paul says in 11.32, he says, for God has shut up all in disobedience so they may show mercy to all. So when Paul talks about by the mercies of God, he's talking about his grace, okay? And God loves to show mercy. In fact, when he talks about that he shut up all in disobedience, it's not that he put everybody in a prison. Everybody sinned and everybody's in disobedience. And so what the... What Paul is saying is that God has allowed us all to be disobedient so he may show mercy to all. He doesn't destroy people when they sin. If God was being just and righteous, he would destroy everybody the first time they sin. But instead, he's long-suffering and patient so that he can show his love and his mercy towards us. His mercy is one of the ways he shows his love to us. And the first mercy we have is grace. And when Paul says, by the mercy of God, the grace that has saved me from who I was, I now tell you these things. He says, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present yourselves living, your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. Why living and holy? What's his point? We're all alive, but why is he saying that? Because he's referring back to the Old Testament sacrifice, which was dead meat, okay? He's saying, don't be dead meat. He says, I want you to be living and I want you to be holy. If we look at the Old Testament sacrifice, ceremonial sacrifices, we recognize there were several reasons why they had them. What was the point of them? There were several purposes. Most importantly, it pointed a nation, the nation of Israel, for a need for once and for all savior. Hebrews tells us that. It pointed out that their sins cost blood and pain. Every time somebody had to take one of their animals to bring it to the priest to be slaughtered, to be offered, there was pain. There was pain brought to the animal and pain for the person giving up that animal. So there was, people had to recognize that sin meant pain to God. I don't mean pain in the way we feel pain, but he didn't like sin, it hurt. Another reason was it gave the Israelites some temporary forgiveness for their sins. Imagine if you recognize that failure to do God's will, failure to keep the law is sinful and you had no way to deal with it, no way at all to deal with it. And you knew there was a hell, or you knew that you were going to lose a relationship with God, but you had no way to deal with it. There would be guilt and pain. So this was a way for them temporarily to get rid of their guilt. But God didn't want that. That was never His endgame. He doesn't take pleasure in the blood of bulls and goats. In Isaiah 111, it says, What are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams. and the fat of fed cattle, and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats. Why, when he uses the term fed cattle, what does that imply? What was happening is that the Jews would take certain animals and put them aside and feed them specially and take care of them specially as an offering. It wasn't from their daily life. Don't we do that from time to time? Don't we give a certain special kind of offering to God? Don't we come to church in our nice outfits and in our friendly personalities and the special offering that we give? But is it our daily life? Is it the regular offering that we have for God? See, God wants who we are. He doesn't want who we make ourselves out to be, because he knows, okay? Sometimes we don't know, but he knows. So this was the point when he said the fed cattle. God wants living sacrifice, living men and women who are on fire for the Lord, not the dead carcasses of sacrificial animals who were on fire on the spit waiting to be burned up. Remember that Sunday school class in Philippians 2 when Paul talked about being a drink offering that was poured out? What did we talk about? A drink offering is the only offering that is completely done away with. It's gone. When you pour out the drink offering, it's gone. Nothing left over. It's a complete giving. This is the point. Paul wants us to give ourselves completely. And then he uses the word, which is in the NAS, it says, the spiritual service of worship, which is your spiritual service. Would it be a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Now, the NAS has, I think that's a poor translation. But we're not going to go, I love the NAS, but in that case I don't think it's the right translation. The word service of worship is logikos, and that is talking about logic, right? The actual translation is reasonable or rational. So, it's your reasonable service of worship, your logical service of worship, your rational service of worship. Why is it reasonable? That's where my talent comes. Why is it reasonable? What do we owe God based on what he's done for us? What do we owe God? Everything. He's given everything. He gives us life. He gives us breath. In 2 Peter 1.3, it says, seeing as divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence, isn't it then reasonable that we should take this new life given to us and offer it to God. It reminds me of the Chinese custom of when somebody were to save somebody's life, that person whose life was saved is in debt to that person for the rest of their life. Maybe a good custom, because if you weren't saved, you wouldn't be here, therefore you wouldn't have the rest of your life. And so from God's perspective, from our perspective with God, we have been saved from death. We've been saved from eternal death. And don't we owe Him all of our life? Isn't that fair? Isn't it reasonable? Isn't it rational? Isn't it logic that every part of our life belongs to him? It's no longer ours. We've been bought with a price, right? So we're no longer ours, but we're his. And so that is a reasonable service of worship. God wants us, our living sacrifices. And for the, and the other reason why he talks about the living and holy sacrifices, because the Jews were not giving holy sacrifice anymore. In the last six or seven hundred years, B.C., sacrificial offerings were going from okay, in regard to conforming to the scriptural mandates of an unblemished offering, to terrible. The offerings were blind and lame. And that wasn't allowed. It was condemned. But because of the mercurial ways of the priests and the people, they decided that, why should I put my best, burn it up? What would be the point of that, really? And so they put their second best, or their worst, on the altar. God wouldn't mind. It would be silly to put my best on the altar, wouldn't it? After all, it is the blood. It is the sacrifice. Why would he care? Did God care? Yes, he did. It's not that we, you know, because God didn't strike them dead for doing it. It isn't that God was offended by it. It wasn't that God didn't hate that. Just because we don't immediately feel God's wrath, it doesn't mean that he does not hate our disobedience. All too often we see God's patience as weakness. And that's a mistake. In Nahum 1.3, the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God will punish sin. There is no getting around it. The fact that we don't die immediately is not a question of God's weakness, but His patience and long-suffering, which is our reasonable service of worship, okay? And that is the point. This is our reasonable service of worship. There's a story of Polycarp, Smyrna's bishop. And just so we can have an idea, talk about a reasonable sacrifice, living unholy sacrifice is a reasonable offering. Polycarp, Smyrna's bishop, who studied under the Apostle John, this story comes to mind, adamantly he committed to the saving lordship of Jesus Christ with no room for bowing to the empire. Polycarp was arrested, the Roman empire was arrested and sentenced to death. Actually, he was given a chance to step out of the fire The Roman proconsul gave Polycarp the choice of cursing the name of Jesus and worshiping Caesar to save his skin, or continue embracing Jesus to his death. Swear, said the proconsul, and I will set you at liberty. Reproach Christ. Polycarp replied, 80 and six years have I served him and you might have heard this, and he has done no wrong to me. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me? After Proconsul threatened him with the specter of burning at the stake, Polycarp added, you threaten me with a fire which awaits the wicked in judgment to come. and an everlasting punishment. Why are you waiting? Come on, do what you will. As they approached him and prepared to tie him to the stake to be burned, he shouted, leave me as I am for he who gives me the power to endure the fire will grant me to remain in the flames unmoved. even without the security given by urinals. Loosely bound with flames slashing around him, Polycarp prayed, O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy beloved child, Jesus Christ, I bless thee that thou has granted unto me this day and hour that I may share among a number of the martyrs in the cup of thy Christ for the resurrection to eternal life. On February 23rd, AD 155, Polycarp paid the price. And the price was worth it. Then there was Patrick Hamilton, who studied under Martin Luther Wittenberg. He literally ignited the Reformation in Scotland as he burned to the stake in 1527. He said, as to my confession, I will not deny it for the awe of your fire, for my confession and belief is in Jesus Christ. I would rather be content that my body burn in this fire for confessing my faith in Christ than that my soul burn in the fire of hell for denying the same. These men, among other saints, became sacrifices willing for the Lord. Today, people talk about servicemen and police giving the ultimate sacrifice. While I respect deeply the men in blue and khaki that go to war and put their lives on the line, their dying in the course of duty is not the ultimate sacrifice. these martyrs walking into the flames, that's the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of Christ. And we may not be called to sacrifice and become martyrs, but we are called to do the reasonable thing, which is to offer our life in service to God, completely, sacrificially, all to Christ. We've been bought with that price, and we owe God everything we have. Amen? Second point is to be radical, and that's in verse two. It says, and not to be conformed to this world. This is the radical aspect, we're to be nonconformists. The word for conform in our text means fashion or in life fashion. And so that's kind of apropos because I remember growing up that when I hit my teens, I was probably wore different fashions than my parents liked. And maybe we see that even today, people in different fashions, okay, because they conform to the fashions that are going around. People sometimes today are wearing pants not just below their waist but possibly below their knees. And tattoos and earrings and all of this stuff and, you know, I know it's just to irritate the parents and stuff like that and God bless, that's fine, do whatever they want. But the reality of the situation, that's one part of conforming to the world. Another part of conforming to the world is we go to work every day, we work hard every day, we come home, we put the baseball game on, or the football game, or the basketball game, or we do whatever we do at home with our families. We come to church, we do our churchly things, we have meetings if we're in the leadership, or we get involved in things, we do all things, and we're so busy. Americans today are busier than they've ever been, right? I mean, if you look at your people's calendars, you can't even read them. There's so much stuff on every day that they've got to do. You've got to get those big calendars now, right? The ones where you've got to hire somebody to carry it. It's really, people are so busy today, you know what I mean? I mean, I find it, it's, you know, I used to keep an electronic calendar and I can't do it now, so now I'm forced to remember everything, which is why I make mistakes. But is being busy bad? No. We're conforming to the world. What does that mean? Is that bad? Is that what he's talking about? In some respect it is because we get distracted from the important things in our life. We spend so much time doing the things that are good things, so much time involved in that, that we forget the important things. We don't spend time on the important things. I would advise you, if I ask you to raise your hand, I won't do it, so don't get upset. How many people here have spent a whole lot less time in Bible study, Bible reading, prayer, than you would like to? Don't raise your hands, please. We do it because we get so busy. We get so busy with our lives. We get distracted. We conform to the world. We spend time that we should be spending with the Lord. But none of these things, however, are the context of what we're talking about. Paul is talking to believers. Remember that? So believers, what is it that they need to not conform to? They need to not conform to the The world, I'm sorry, it's not the trappings of the world, although it's good to be not conformed to that, but it's the culture of sin. We need to not conform to the culture of sin. Because as we look around, there are so many things that are sinful that can distract us. I mean, computers are tough. You have to be really careful what you're looking at on the computers and TV. Forget about it, right? TV today is like X-rated movies 15 years ago. I mean, it's crazy. It's hard to even watch TV anymore. Not that we should spend that much time watching it, but even if you watch a little, the commercials, everything, we have to be careful not to conform to the culture of sin. Not to let our, you know, our standards down. Because there's so much going around that you tend to say, well, that's everywhere. Okay. How many of you have heard somebody say, well, you know, I go to an R-rated movie, but it's only, you know, there's only a little bit of language. There's only a little bit of movie. It's not bad. Thank you, Bob. The reality is, what happens? We let our standards down. We get so inundated by stuff around us that we begin to conform to the world, to change our standards to meet the world's standards. And it's this very slow process. It happens little by little, inch by inch. I mean, I bet you can't tell me when the TV actually went from okay that you can leave your kids to watch to incredibly bad that you would feel bad letting your kids watch it by themselves. You can't tell me when that happened. I could tell you what would happen over a long, slow period of time. And that's what happens to you. You begin to let things infiltrate and bring your standards down. So we begin to conform to the world. Psalm 1, 1 to 6, which is only six verses in it, says, how blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his light is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates both day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. which yields us fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does he prospers the wicked are not so but they are like chaff which the wind drives away therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish This is how we're to live. We're not to stand, not to walk in the council of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. We're to make our life godly-like. We're supposed to be with godly people, godly reading, godly things we're listening to, godly things we're watching. That's what we're to conform our life to, not the world as it is right now. And that's why I began my introduction. With the world the way it's going now, it's getting worse and worse and worse every day. And if we start conforming to it even a little bit, we're going to be lost very quickly. Not lost salvation-wise, but lost in terms of our ability to build God's kingdom. Because what happens, you don't lose your salvation. You lose your potency. You lose your ability to work for the kingdom. You lose... People look at you in the world and go, like, you're no different than anybody else. Why should I pay any attention to you? And you lose that. And then the third point is, be renewing. Again, in 2s, 2B. were to be transformed. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that what is good and acceptable and perfect. Do not conform, but transform, become different, have a metamorphosis. That's the Greek word, metamorpho. We were to transform ourselves by And interesting, I don't know if you guys are familiar with that movie franchise, The Transformers. It's just so weird. They make movies out of toys now, right? They can't think of anything. But that's capital T transformer. We're not looking for you to become a capital T transformer. We are looking for you to become a small T transformer. We are looking for you to transform your lives by the renewing of your mind. So what does it mean to renew your mind? It means to take it from the old mind. We all had an old mind. We all had the non-spiritual mind. We all had the mind of the flesh. And then we got saved. And part of that saving was giving us a mind of what? the spirit. Paul tells us about Rome. We have a spiritual mind. Our mind goes from a flesh mind to a spiritual mind. In fact, if you all go back to remember, some of you have been saved a long time, some of you are newly saved. Before you had your, when you had your mind that was of the flesh, okay, there were certain things that went on in your mind that was fine. The minute you got saved, the minute you got saved, okay, what happened to those fleshly things that were bouncing around you? You hated to think about them, didn't you? You tried to change the mind subject right away because you didn't want that going on in your mind. Because what happened to you? You now have the Holy Spirit living in you. And he's telling you all the time, hey, that's not the right thing to think about. Hey, that's wrong. Think about something else. That's not the right thing to think about. And you have that. And that's the mind of the spirit. Paul tells us in Romans 8, 5 to 7, he says, for those who are according to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh. And we all remember that, don't we? But those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it doesn't subject itself to the law of God, for it's not even able to do so. And that's an important point, it's not even able to do so. Why is it not able to do so? Because in order to really renew your mind by You need to set your mind on spiritual, but if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can't set your mind on spiritual things. It's the Holy Spirit that gives you the power to do that. But then it says, continuing in verse 2, it says, that you may prove what the will of God is, and that which is good and acceptable. We're to prove the will of God, and we prove the will of God by improving our life. How do we prove the will of God? To be good, acceptable, and perfect. When we transform our way of thinking, we become more Christ-like, and our lives improve dramatically. People see the change. Has anybody in here, say that, has any of your friends said, hey, you changed. You used to be like this, and now you're like this. That happen to anybody here? Besides me? Okay. See, we have proved what the will of God is, that it's good in itself, because they see this good. People see the good in you. They see the change in you. You see it in your own self. We prove the will of God. We prove that our mind has now become renewed. And it's good and acceptable and perfect. There was a man who was a disciple of Jesus, who loved Jesus as much as any man. And more than most, in his personal life, he was a strong man. Some even call him hard-headed. He was a fisherman. He used to be working from early a.m. to late in the p.m. He wouldn't back down from any man. In fact, when the Roman soldiers came to take Jesus, he drew his sword and cut off the soldier's ear. This was a natural way to deal with trouble, for me to head on in his mind. But after Jesus was taken, this man was nervous and confused, not knowing what was going on. He was standing around a fire pit trying to keep warm. He was trying to fit in with the townspeople to conform to them so that he would not be recognized as one of the Jesus followers. He was trying to conform to the world that was around him. He tried so hard that he denied the one whom he loved deeply three times. Then the cock crowed, Peter immediately ran away because Jesus already told him that that would happen. He hated himself for what he had did to the Lord. And after the resurrection, Peter was transformed by the renewing of his mind. He no longer desired to fit the world, but instead he was transforming it by becoming a leader in the church. And upon his ministry, the young church grew and spread the gospel all over the world. Are you trying to conform? Are you trying to fit in so that you can hide your faith at your job, at your school? Are you living as Peter did, declaring your love and loyalty to the Savior while at the same time conforming to the world? You cannot have it both ways. You cannot serve the world and the Savior at the same time. It's time to transform. Renew your mind with good reading, Bible study, good counsel, good and godly friends. and listening to the word as it's preached. Today is the day for you to become a transformer, and if you want to give yourself a capital T, you can do it. So, and then we go on to verse 3, and we're going to... Wrap it up here. I had a lot more on verse three, but I decided we're just going to keep it to the basic point of verse three, which is, for through the grace given to me, I say, every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Living realistically. How often do we believe that we have the right answer? Michelle will tell you, many times. How often do we believe that we know how a thing ought to be done? And Michelle will tell you again, many times. How often do we have to have our wrong ways thinking we are the smartest person in the room? But if anyone answered in the affirmative to any of these questions, you're on the right track. Humility begins with recognizing its absence. Do you get that? Humility begins when you recognize its absence. If you're going through life thinking you've got everything, that you've got it handled, then you're in trouble. But if you go through life thinking that you really don't have it handled, that you need God, that's humility. This is the point of what Paul's saying here. He says, to every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but so as to have sound judgment. He goes on to talk about the sound judgments given by God. And the reason why I sort of broke it off, because that's carrying down from this point forward. We begin to talk about gifts and so on, and he's heading that way. So it's really this part that's the most important. We ought not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We need to humble ourselves. and be realistic about who we are and who God has made us to be and the gifts that we have. And so I'm just going to end that one there, because I didn't want to go too long with the message this morning. But I did want to say this by way of illustration. A government official came to President Lincoln's office and was startled to find out that the chief executive was shining his own shoes. Sir, he gasped, surely you do not polish your own shoes, do you? Of course, replied the humble president. Whose do you polish? The greatness of a man is evidenced by his humility. The words of an old Filipino saying, the higher the bamboo grows, the lower it bends. Whose shoes do you polish? Whose feet do you wash? How far do you bend? Do you think more highly of yourself than your order? And by way of conclusion, are you living a life as one devoted completely to God, sold out to God? Are you reasonable? In other words, are you giving God, making, are you a sacrifice before God, which is your reasonable service of worship? And I think you've heard this once before, but I'm going to read it again. It's called The Fellowship of the Unashamed. He says, I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have a holy spirit power. The die has been cast. I've stepped over the line. I'm out of my comfort zone. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secured. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by prayer and by His power. My goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my God reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be found, I'm sorry, I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of my enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up shut up, let up, or burn up, till I've preached up, prayed up, and paid up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And when he comes to get his own, he'll have no problem recognizing me, because I have dedicated my life to be a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. So have you become a living and holy sacrifice yet? It's only reasonable. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. Romans is such a safe, a place of containment of your important doctrine for us. And Lord, we recognize through Paul's writings that we're to be sacrificial in our lives, that our lives are not ours anymore. that they belong to you, that we're to lay ourselves on the altar of sacrifice, that we're not to be in the race, in the world, trying to be like them. We're to be in a church trying to be like you and in our communities showing you to people. Lord, help us to be just like this Fellowship of the Unashamed. Let us be constantly working towards the goal of helping others to come to know you. Lord, we pray about the rest of this day that you would be glorified in the things that we do. We pray for the fellowship today, that we would get to know each other in a better way, more complete way, and that we would just use this time to your glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.