And verse number two. Romans chapter 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You may be seated. We, as I said, we're dealing with a series on the will of God. We know that there's two wills that we look at or think about. There's the written will of God, and then there's the unwritten will of God. Because you see, God wants you to serve him, but he don't have in the Bible exactly the name, you hope, Baptist Church, where you're to serve him at. So you've got to find where you're to serve him or in what capacity you're to serve him. But if we'll, you realize something, if we're not willing to walk the written will of God for our lives. If we totally reject it and refuse that, then we can't expect ever really to find the unwritten will of God for our lives and have the exact peace, that eternal peace on the earth. I know if you're saved, you've got peace with him forever, but you'll not have the peace and harmony you need in this life, even though things may be rough. You see, you can have peace in the midst of the storm, just knowing that all things are where you need to be and that God's in control. I remember, as I told you, one time in Nigeria, Africa, whenever I was in a car, and even then I was lost, but I was in that taxi cab, and I remember that, I felt like that's where I was supposed to be, and it was just all things, about midnight, and this, all at once, this big old truck, we were commandeered by another taxi, which had an officer, a couple of officers, Army people with a machine gun, I guess it was. It was a pretty big gun. And they stopped us, and we stopped right in the middle, right on the line of both lanes of the four-lane highway. We was on our side, and all at once you heard something. We was sitting in the back of that car, and all at once here come a big old truck. You could hear it screaming its brakes and everything, and it... right by the back bumper and went up on the median and almost hit a light pole, didn't have no lights on it. I mean, you know, electricity wasn't working there. And I thought to myself then, it's okay, Lord's in control. Even though I was lost, God was in control at that time and there was peace being in the will of God. It don't matter whether you're lost or safe, if you'll find the will of God as much as you can, you'll find there's still a certain amount of security and peace in knowing that, amen. And I had that then, of course, I didn't know I was a lost man at the time, and you understand, but the thing about it is, I'm talking about that's a good place to be. Now, Paul wanted every person in the Hebrews, it talks about how he wanted them to do the will of God. And many of those were not saved, they were professors and not heart processors, but yet he still prayed for them, in essence, to do the will of God. And to do the will of God means to pursue a course of action. that's headed down the right way, doing the right thing. And so as a result, that's what his desire was for the Hebrew professors. That's my desire for myself, my desire for you, and that's God's desire for you, is to do the will of God. And so you've got to find it to do it. in that sense, but you need to find that. And Paul then prayed for the saints at Philippi. We talked about this last Wednesday night. In Philippians chapter one, verse number six, he said this, he said, he praying for them that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. In other words, until the Lord comes back again, I'm praying for you that you approve that which is excellent. Now he didn't say, I want you to decide or try to determine what's good and better. He said, I want you to, I want you to find out what's best and excellent. That's better than best. Okay. In other words, and that's what I want you to do. Approve means, the word approve means to to establish without doubt. It means to test anything with the expectation of finding it good, to test it to see if it's worthy to be received or not. So prove that which is excellent. Test it out to see if it's what you need to take in. And that's what he was praying for the Philippian saints. Now I've told the Roman saints here in Romans chapter 12, to be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now the word prove here in verse number 2 of Romans 12 is the same word, the Greek word translated prove is the same one in Philippians 1.10 translated approve. In other words, it just simply means to establish without doubt. And then he said here that you may find what is, that you may prove or establish without doubt that good, the acceptable, and perfect will of God. Now last week we talked about how God said I'm looking for somebody to stand in the gap in Ezekiel's day, and he said I didn't find anybody, and I had to destroy the land. But he said you get in the gap, and gap is spelled G-A-P. If we put that like a cross stick, you've got G is the good will of God. In other words, you approve what is the good will of God. And then, of course, he said the perfect, the good, acceptable, and perfect, G-A-P. And if you find that, you're in the gap God wants you to be, and that deals with the unwritten will of God for your life. So you need to find the written will of God and the unwritten will of God for your lives. Now, last week, we started talking about Really, to find the unwritten will of God for your lives, you've got to meet the prerequisites that he's laid down in Romans chapter 12, verse number one and two. They go together. Finding out how to get to that gap, that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. First of all, you need to surrender your bodies. Now you look at what he said in verse one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Of course, we said that tied back with chapter eight, therefore does. And where he asked the questions, can anyone lay anything to the charge of God's elect, who shall separate us from the love of God? And he said, nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And therefore, he said, I beg you, but that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. And so we need to surrender your bodies. And what does it mean to surrender your bodies? Last week, we talked about a living sacrifice is what he said. That means not dead, but a living sacrifice. See, the Old Testament time, they had sacrifices, but they were dead sacrifices, but he wants living sacrifices. And what is a living sacrifice? What's he talking about? Presenting your bodies, it means to attend church, do what a living person does. Attend church, study the word of God, and pray. And then also he said, let it be a holy sacrifice. Presents your bodies, living sacrifice, holy, except in their essence. sacrifice, and that word holy means to set apart. And to be set apart, it means to talk right, to dress right, to walk right, and think right. That's presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy, set apart for his glory. And then he said, let's present it acceptable, a sacrifice. And how is it going to be acceptable? If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And Proverbs 29, 13 says, not only confess, but forsake them. So confessing and forsaking our sin causes our sacrifice to be acceptable before God. So he said, present your body. Surrender your bodies. That's the prerequisite for finding the unwritten will of God for your life. If you're not willing to step in that, and by the way, that parallels some of the written will we've talked about in doing these things. If we're not willing to do it, we're not ever really gonna find the perfect place that God wants us to be in. I mean, we may have part of it, but we'll not have all of it, but we need to surrender your bodies. Now, you say, but preacher, that's just too much for me to do, asking what you're talking about. But Paul said here, he said in verse number one, which is your reasonable service. In other words, it's just reasonable that you do this. This is not asking too much out of you. It's not extreme. It's not beyond reason. It's rational. It's logical to present your bodies a living sacrifice. Why? Well, your body belongs to Him. He lives in your body. It's His temple. and you need to present it to him a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, if you're gonna find your gap to stand in. And then there's another prerequisite we'll get to tonight, is to be not only surrender your bodies, but to be separated from the world. Verse number two brings that out, where he said, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, first of all, be not conformed to this world. The word conformed means to be in agreement with. He says, and it's negated by not. Don't be in agreement with this world. Don't do it, he said. In other words, it means stop masquerading in the habits of this world. In other words, don't masquerade in its mannerisms, in its speech, in its expressions, in its styles, in its habits. Don't do that, in other words. Don't do that. Do not conform to this world. You see, that's a, what we're talking about being conformed to this world, being in agreement with this world, characterizes, characteristic of sinners. It characterizes sinners. In other words, and Paul here is writing to the saints of God here. In fact, the business he wrote to the saints of God in Ephesians chapter 2, Verse two, where he said, there, he said, wherein in time past, meaning what you were, you what? You walked according to the course of this world. And of course, he says some other things, but the course of this world. In Ephesians 2.2, the word course in Ephesians 2.2 is the same Greek word translated course there as the word world here. In other words, it's in Romans 12 too, and the word actually means age. It means, refers to the spirit of this age in an unfavorable sense is what it's talking about. So he says, don't be in agreement with the spirit of this age. What is the spirit of this age? It's rebellion, anti-God. And it's rebellion against the Holy God. And he says, don't be in agreement with that. Don't be in conform to that. In other words, 1 John 2, 15, John said it this way, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Boy, that's pretty plain. That'll stop a lot of Baptists if they just look just a minute and wait a minute and say, hey, I need to, I talked to someone this last week and they said, I'm just hoping that Matthew 7 is not what I'll hear one day. I'm hoping, you know what Matthew 7, 22 says, he said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied? and thy name cast out devils, and thy name done many wonderful works in thy name. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, never knew you at any time. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. It means I never was your Lord, that's what it means. Now, as far as God knowing you as an individual, he knows every one of us, okay? But it means I never knew you with the intimacy of Lord and Savior, Lord and Savior of your life. and so therefore we're commanded not to love this world. And in other words, it means we're not to, many people just look at for he that loves this world, the love of the Father is not in him. You hear that? Isn't that pretty plain? I mean, if you look, and that lets you know a lot of people that thinking they're gonna go to heaven, they've got too much of the love of the world. Now, it doesn't mean just the intermediate. See, the intermediate, in fact, he said in 1 John chapter number three, verse number nine, he said, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, in the English language, that's a little hard to, translate in a sense, but the Greek is actually saying here, the word commit, by the way, means to pursue a course of action. And the tense of it means to practice it naturally and habitually. And now, every person that's, it don't matter whether you saved or lost, you're still going to have sin in this flesh. But there's a difference in a lifestyle of sin, that intermittent sin. You see, intermittent sin, you sin and you can do anything, a saved man can do anything, a lost man can do, but he can't get by with it, he can't go on in that. And by the way, it won't be no two or three years down the road before God speaks to your heart, amen? He'll speak to you for the cock crows in the morning, okay? He'll speak to you. and you may drag your feet, if you please, in getting it right and suffer the consequences, but He's going to bring you back in line and go on. But there's so many people today that's got a lifestyle of sin. They never darken the house of God, the doors of the house of God. And let me just say this. Some people say, well, that sin is lying, stealing, drinking, adultery, and murder. Well, that's true. That's five of 726, according to theologians, they say is listed in the Bible, and I'm not going to take time to count them. But the thing about it is, did you know another one of those 726 sins is failing to assemble together? Did you know it's robbing God of a tie? And if you can continue to stay out of the house of God, you're not saved. You're not saved. I got a call the other day from somebody that was by here, and I'll not call the name because this tape may go anywhere, but I'll tell you enough that you can figure it out, but about 1988, we had a family that come by, remember? Remember the family? If you don't, well, Brother Tommy remembers the family. You remember that family had two dogs? Well, I say too much, didn't I? But anyway, the boy was about 17 or 18 at that time, so he called me the other day. And he said, I'm so-and-so. And I said, yeah, I remember you. You do? I thought, how could I forget? Amen, how, y'all who had any contact with him in 1988, well no, amen, how could I forget? But the thing about it is, I don't even know what, but yeah, I know what else to, he was still holding on to a profession he had when he was a teenager, and thinking he's okay, and he said, I got out of church for nine and a half years, but I finally got back in church. Lost, lost, lost, according to the word of God. You can't do that. I'm just trying to show you. You see we're so blinded and deceived, we think everything's okay. And I get in trouble for trying to narrow it down, but you just miss church. You could do everything else right if you could and you can't. But if you could and just stay out of the house of God, you're not going to heaven. In other words, because you can't do that, that's one of the sins. And God said, you're practicing sin naturally, sin of omission, of doing what God said. And so as a result, he said he pursued a course of action with an habitual lifestyle, is conforming to the world, the spirit of this age, which is rebellion against God. In other words, that's what lasciviousness is, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. In other words, you're refusing to accept God's authority over me and go my own way and I'll just go the way I want to and go with the world. Well, at any rate, God says the prerequisite for finding the gap that you're to be in is to surrender your bodies, be separated from the world, and they go together. In other words, the Bible said in Thessalonians that he talked about them, how that they turned. And this is true of anybody that's saved, there's gonna be a turning. And turning is a word that gives us a note of repentance in their life. It means a turning, but you see, it's turning from something. They turn from their idols, but where did they turn? They turned to a living God. You see, surrendering your bodies and separating from the world but turning toward the living God. In other words, it's involved in that. That's repentance. And so as a result, if a person continues or pursues a course of action with an habitual lifestyle of sin, They've never been saved. The prerequisite for finding your gap, surrender your bodies. Be separated from the world. And the third thing is to be spiritually minded. Spiritually minded, because he said there, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now you notice he's talking here to really, who's he talking to? Find out in the book. He's talking to the saints at Rome. And so he's saying you need to do what you need to do. Renew your mind. In other words, be not, don't go over there, but renew your mind. Who? The saints of God is who he's talking to. And he said, be a transform. Now, he's not talking about, by the way, the word transform is where we get our word metamorphosis. And I know sometimes we use metamorphosis as a symbol of salvation, we can call it. And by the way, when we talk about salvation, we're talking about justification most of the time where you're saved from the penalty of sin. but we talk about a caterpillar being turned in or a chrysalis turned into a butterfly, I think they call it, and a caterpillar turned into a moth, and in other words, a metamorphosis, a transformation. But this here in context, he's already talking to those who've already been been saved, they've already been regenerated. That's not what he's dealing with here, but he's saying you need to renew your mind. In other words, Paul's writing to the saints and he said, you saints, you need to be transformed. This transformation comes by the renewing of your mind. In other words, you need to have the things of God on your mind. You need to get spiritually minded if you want to find the gap that you're in. The word renewing, it means a renovation which makes a person different from the past. Now, not generation, but it's talking about, it's denoting a continuous process through which a man becomes more fully Christ-like. last life, day by day. In other words, this process we usually refer to, we call it sanctification. You see, sanctification is the walk of progression toward perfection that will be gained at the first resurrection. Sanctification doesn't mean to live without sin, above sin. You'll never make it in this life, amen. As long as you've got this old flesh hanging around your neck, you're not going to make a perfected life in this, if you please, now. But you see, during this process of this renewing, that individual is a worker with God as he seeks to do the will of God. In other words, the written will and the unwritten will. Now you notice the mind. He talked about renewing your mind. Now the word mind means the faculty of knowing. It means the seat of understanding. And thus we are to be spiritually minded. Now how does this renewing come about? Well, it comes about in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse number 16, he said, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. In other words, he said the inward man of the saints of God renewed day by day. How? How is that possible? Titus chapter 3 verse 5, he said, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Now that's being saved, but then he says, then he says, by the washing of regeneration, that's being born again. But he also says, goes on and says, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, you see? Now, most people put that only for salvation, that verse of Scripture, and the first part does, but when he talks about the renewing of the Holy Ghost, he's talking about a sign of God, you need your mind renewed, the inward man. It needs to be renewed day after day after day. So you see it's the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, how our minds is renewed day by day. And when we let the Holy Spirit lead us and guide us, then we are spiritually minded. In a sense, we're single-minded. That's what we need to be, is single-minded, amen? And that mind set on doing the will of God in my life. James 1.8, he said, the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Is that not what he said? He said, there's not a way. He's stable. He's unstable in all of his ways. He's double-minded. And 1 Peter 1, verse number 13, he said, wherefore? gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So he said, gird up the loins of your mind, guard your mind. In other words, have a single mind. That means we need the helmet of salvation in the area of justification, but we also need the helmet of salvation on and working in the area of sanctification as well. so that we can meet the prerequisite to finding our gap, G-A-P, the good, the acceptable, and perfect will of God. Now the word good means profitable or useful. The word acceptable speaks of something which is well tested, well proved, which is satisfactory, and extraordinarily pleasing. The word perfect means complete in all parts. So if a person will meet the prerequisite that qualifies him to approve or to test, to see if the thing or the person or the job or whatever it is he's wanting to find in the unwritten will for his life, he wants to know that I need to receive that or not. See, I'm talking about testing it. If we meet the prerequisites, then we can run some tests. And by the way, there are some tests to run to see if you're in the will of God or see what the will of God is for your life. Now, the unwritten will I'm talking about, the gap you need to be in. So I want us to look now at the test. There's eight tests, and I'll not deal with all of them tonight. But there's eight tests, and you need, it helps you if you have a rule of thumb on these sometimes. You can just soon find out, I mean, the devil is a shyster, did you know it? He'll speak to you and make you think it's the Lord Jesus talking to you, amen? He'll tell you things that sounds good and pleasing to the flesh, and you wind up swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. And he'll give you enough rope to hang yourself. But if you can look at these, sometimes you can soon, real quick, find out whether it's of God or not. You'd be surprised how many people talk about what God's done for them and what God gave them this and God gave them that. And immediately I can say, wait, something ain't right. Something don't match. He's got to match something. Well, that's the first test. In other words, you can say whatever I want in my life. Now, God's written it down, it's plain, and this is connected to the written will of God. But we need, does anything, this thing or whatever it is I want or desire, maybe a job, maybe whatever it is, a vehicle or whatever, Does this thing, in other words, conflict with any clear-cut command of the Word of God? That's the number one test you run on everything. And that will help shift and save you a lot of problems. You feel like you need to do this? You feel like you need to be this? You feel like you need to go here sometime? Hey, what does God's Word say about it? If God's Word clearly cuts against that, goes against it, mark it down, you don't have to go any further. You don't have to run another test because, hey, it's done with. In other words, it's got to pass the written will of God, and if it does not pass the written will of God, then mark it off, amen? It's not of God. Every fork in the road of life and every decision should be checked with a road map. There's a road map, okay? Check it with the Word of God. Psalm 19 verse number 13, he said, In other words, he said, keep back thy servant from presumptuous sin. Now, what's presumptuous? The word presumption means proud, disrespectful of authority. It means taking things for granted. Just taking it for granted when we didn't look in God's Word and ask Him what we're to do about a certain thing, in other words, or what He has to say about it. I just take it for granted. I'm going to go ahead and do it, no matter what God says. You may not have ever been there, annoyingly, but I think I've been there a few times, amen, I don't care what God said about it, I'm gonna do it anyway. And listen, that's presumption, that's just proud and disrespectful of authority, you see? For instance, you can say, well, this outfit that I wanna wear, you young ladies a lot of time have this problem, you know it, you young men may have that problem. Well, this outfit I want to wear, I mean, is it right for me, does God want me to wear this outfit that I have? Maybe mom and daddy said, I don't know whether you ought to wear that or not. And you say, but it's the style. Everybody else wears this kind of outfit. In other words, I like it. My boyfriend likes it. My girlfriend likes it. The question is, what does God say about it? What does God say about it? You see, 1 Timothy 2, 9, which is likewise, meaning the man is included in this as well, where he says, likewise, he said, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broaded hair or gold or pearl or costly array. If it's modest by God's standard, then it's okay. But if it's not modest by God's standard, if it's what man's standards have set up, even calling it modest, listen, it's not right. If it's your standards, it's not right. But if God says, hey, it's not modest, Mark it down. God's not in that. That's not the gap you're in. That's not how you're to dress and how you're to go. Well, let's say I have another area. Does what? Any clear-cut command of the Word of God cut against it or cut crossways with it? Somebody said, well, I'm going to go to work. I've got a job. Well, you say, and you know what most people say? The Lord gave me a job. And that's it. Where are you going to go to work? They said down to Quickmark in Paducah. That's McCracken County, by the way, in case you don't know. And I could say, well, did they sell beer there? Oh yeah, but after all, I'm not gonna drink it. No, that's not the question. I said, do they sell beer there? Nobody thinks anything about selling beer anymore, or about drinking beer as far as that's concerned anymore out in this. By the way, this is the 21st century, not the 1900s, you know. That's what they'll say sometimes. But listen, you see the question is, what does God say about you selling beer at a store? Back at 2.15, what did he say? Back at 2.15, let me find it here. He says, woe unto them that giveth his neighbor drink, and that putteth a bottle to him, and maketh him drunk, and also that thou mayest look on their naked. You say, I'm not gonna look on their naked. Yeah, but God says, woe. Now, I don't know about you, but when you got mules, you say, woe, that means stop, okay? I know it means judgment's coming up on you in the Bible, but you could say, God said, woe, don't do that. Okay, that wouldn't be doing this injustice to the scripture because it, in a sense, because it's judgment's going to come. In other words, Proverbs chapter 23, verse 31 and 32, listen to what he said. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. In other words, right quick, the God didn't give you the job to sell beer to somebody else. Number one test already marked your job off the list as far as your gap. Now you may go on and do it, but you're not in the will of God to do that. You say, well, somebody's got to do it. Well, if enough people didn't do it, maybe they'd get rid of it. Amen. Maybe they would. Well, at least anyway, somebody will say, I've got this job. And I can say, well, what's yours? What's your going to work? They vary from week to week. You say, I won't have to miss church but every other Sunday, that's all. And after all, nobody thinks about that no more because you go out there at Walmart on Sunday and everybody's always at Walmart, even those that call themselves Christian. And by the way, Majestic would probably have to close on Sunday if the so-called Christians didn't eat there, huh? Now, you get all kind of excuses, you realize something, but the question is, what does God say about it? Hebrews 10, 25, he said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. But preacher, I've got liberty to do these things. Listen, don't use your liberty for a license to sin, amen? It's not right. First test, is there a clear-cut command? In other words, in the Bible, is there a clear-cut command that says, does it conflict with any clear-cut command of the word of God? This thing that you're trying to find, if it's my will, the will of God in my life. That could go, you could run sometimes in choosing a mate. You could pretty well mark it off right quick, God's not for that. Amen? And that would solve you a lot of problems if you'd take heed. But we don't do it, do we? I'm just talking about, you see, many times we give God the credit for what we're doing, but if it doesn't pass the first test, it's not God's gap for you. But see in our churches today, sure people say everybody else is doing it, and we have all gotten more liberal, if you don't know what the truth is. I mean, because of the fact that we're different from the world, and the world's going deeper and deeper in sin. We're not like the world. The world goes deeper and deeper in sin, but where are we at compared to 40 years ago? I want to tell you the churches today are worse off than the world was 40 years ago. Amen? 40 years ago, 40 years ago, you could leave your door unlocked and not worry about things out in the country. Well, all we had was a little old screen. All it took was a little screwdriver to pop the thing open. I mean, never did lock it in the daytime. Didn't even have, I doubt if it even had a lock on the door. If it was, there's no skeleton key and anybody can pick that, you know? If they wanted to, but we didn't worry about those things, right? Now you got about three bolts on it, and a chain, and another lock, because you don't ever know who's going to come by, right? Well, the world's different, but what's wrong? We've gone along with it. We're getting used to the dark. Things used to bother us more than it does today. Used to bother us more. Somebody said, I wouldn't be caught dead in something. Where today? Everywhere. Well, Lord help us. I'm just saying, you see, we're like the churches is like that illustration I've given you before. I remember right there that God gave it to me one day and I was talking to somebody. We was right there and I was sitting there and somebody was there on the altar and I said, our churches are like football game, and I don't know much about football, but our church is sort of like that. We're the losing team, and we're outnumbered, outscored, or at least we're behind enough points that one touchdown could probably help us, but we've been back down the field. Instead of going forward, we've got the ball, but we've been back down the field, and we've owned the third down, I guess you could say, and all we lack, if they push us a little further, they're going to end zone. Now, I don't know whether they get Points if they push you in the end zone or not. I don't know how that works Okay, they push you in your end zone, but I think I don't know all about but the thing about the back We've been back down to the like the opposite team in the end zone And and people are getting disheartened in the stands and wondering well, I don't believe we can make it I don't believe we make it they've already give up the players have already give up isn't that what happens a lot of times and I may not happen on all these football teams today, but whenever, we didn't have football when I was in school, but I know when we had Christian school, we played soccer, and we had some boys that played pretty good soccer, but if they got behind, well, you couldn't get nothing out of them. They wasn't worth killing, you know? And you couldn't make them go. And you know what? We've not got much encouragement. There's not much encouragement out there for us spiritually speaking. But let's just suppose we back down like the church and we're almost pushed in the devil's end zone. And about that time the cheerleaders begin to holler, hold that line. Hold that line! Hold that line! And the whole congregation, not the congregation, but the whole stands get to hollering, hold that line! The football team gets to hold that line! Hold that line! Hold that line! And they keep on and it gives a little bit of rush and all at once on the third snap, at least they didn't lose any ground, they might not have gained a lot. But then we just keep on, and then that man, because that there, we got to do it for them. And then reinforcement comes in from the outside. They've been fresh reinforcement. Two fresh players, they come in, and boy, they snap the ball, and they catch the ball, and they run in the end zone just as the clock goes off. Victorious. We can be that. We've been pushed down the line and pushed down the line, if you please, to where we've almost said, what's the use? There's no hope. There's no help for us. And I want to tell you what, grace and mercy is two fresh players. They'll move in on us if we let them. Amen? They'll come in. But what we need is some of the, and you say, I don't hear nobody trying to encourage and say, hold that line. Hold that line. I believe if we could hear We're circled with so many witnesses, Hebrews said. If we could hear them, they'd be saying, don't let them push you anymore. Stand up. Let's go forward. Not backwards, but go forward. Amen? Let's stand. And I believe it would encourage you if you could hear a little encouragement. And about that time, grace and mercy come in. Amen? In essence, mercy snaps the ball and grace grabs it and we run as the clock goes out. And the Lord comes back with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, triumphant. Amen. Now that may not be a good illustration, but to me it was real there. That's been almost 20 years ago, about 20 years ago, right there on that seat. I remember it came real to me. But we've got to hold the line. And if we're not going to, if we just go with the world, we're conforming to the world, we're not beating the prerequisite and as a result, we're going to lose what we could have had, amen. Already lost a whole lot. We need him to move, amen. And if we, but this is God's will and where I'm at. If it violates any clear cut command of the scripture, mark it out, God's not in it, amen. God's not any, well, second thing, you see, as I said, God gets the test many times and he gets credit for what we're doing, but if it doesn't pass the first test. It's not of God. And then the second test, it goes along with it a little bit. Will it bring honor and glory to Jesus? Will it bring honor and glory? Think about what you're considering doing as far as what you feel like God's will is in your life. In other words, then try to visualize, would you be willing for the Lord Jesus to walk by when you're selling beer to somebody else? Would you be willing to the Lord Jesus to see you as you're dressed in the attire that you've got on, in other words? Would you be willing to be there on Sunday and the Lord Jesus walk by and see you in that? Absent from the house of God? Well, you say it wouldn't bother me, that's the problem, see? It would if you had anything inside. What if you had anything inside that bothers you? Now, God's got to help you get out of those things. I know that sometimes we get ourselves dug in a hole so deep we don't know how to get out of it and God will help you. But if it's against any clear-cut command, if it doesn't bring honor and glory to the Lord, I want to tell you, it's not of God. It's not of God. Now, the question is, what does the Lord say about that? Well, Ephesians chapter 3 verse number 21, he says, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. In other words, he also said in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, he said, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Everything we do ought to bring honor and glory to our Lord. And if it violates the scripture, it don't bring honor and glory to our Lord. It's not our gap. It's not the unwritten will of God for our life. It's not the written will of God for our life for that to happen, you see? We need to get to that place to where we find our gap. Now you think about these two tests. If you'll go back and if you'd take up Moses and Moses, the second time they were without water at the end of the 40 year span, they come to a place and God said, Moses, go speak to the rock. You see, God had a type. The type was that Jesus is going to die once, strike the rock the first time in the beginning when they didn't have water there. And they struck the rock and water came out and that water followed them, but something happened. They got without water near the end of the 40 year strike. journey. And so God said, go speak to the rock. You see, Jesus dies once and all we got to do now is speak to him. He's not going back to the cross. He's not going to be struck again. We don't need to strike him again. And yet Moses went out there and what he did was in anger because he was pastoring that Baptist church in the wilderness, it caused him to get angry. And as a result, he and Moe Aaron together smoked the rock. Now God still blessed them by sending them water. but it wasn't God's will. And Aaron died shortly, and Moses never got to go into the Promised Land. Moses died because he didn't do what God said. He wasn't in the will of God. In fact, what Moses did broke both the first command, the first test I'm talking about, and the second test. In other words, it was against God's clear-cut command, because God's clear-cut command said, speak to the rock. That's all he had to do is go out there and speak to the rock and water would have come out. But he struck the rock and broke God's tithe, if you please. And God was angry about him breaking his tithe. And then also, you realize whenever he struck that rock, it also didn't bring honor and glory to the Lord because he was disobeyed. You see, if we want to find the gap that God wants us to be in, that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, we need to first meet our prerequisites by surrendering our bodies. If you're not saved, what you do is still let God speak to your heart and realize there's some things you need to lay aside and move, and that's part of your seeking and do that. And I'm not talking about legalism. I'm not talking about that. And part of it I know you can't do or have victory over, but whenever you get to the end of yourself, And they'll bring you to the end of yourself if you really want the Lord, because there's where you'll find out, I can't, I can't do it myself. I need help. And he said, I've been waiting for you to get right here. and he'll help you and he'll just lift you up and carry you on if you please in that. But the thing about it is you need to come to that place to where you find the will of God for your life, you move toward it, you meet the prerequisites, surrender to your bodies, separate from this world and have your mind renewed to find the gap, the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God. And if anything, you come up, sift it through at least these first two tests, The first test is against any clear-cut command of the scripture. If it's not, don't even waste any time figuring it out, amen? Those Hebrew boys out there, I mean, there they were and out there and had a big old statue out there and he said, bow down to it. And they was the only ones that's standing. I believe they was so stiff that their fingers wasn't even crooked, amen? They didn't want anybody to ever think they have been to anything. And they carried him before the king and he said, I'll tell you what, I'll give you a second chance. When you hear the sack butt and the harp and all those instruments play, bow down. They said, wait a minute, king. What he was going to do is give them time to think about it and do it before the music played. He said, we don't have to think about it. We don't even have to pray about it because we know it's against God's word. It's not God's will, it's not the gout we're supposed to stand in. He said, listen king, we will not bow down to that. You may throw us in the fiery furnace in so many words, but one thing about it, we're going to get out of your hand if you throw us in the fiery furnace and we're consumed, we'll be in the Lord's hand, but we will not bow down. We will not because it doesn't bring honor and glory to the Lord and it's against the clear-cut command of the Word of God and they were delivered in the will of God in the midst of the fiery furnace. Amen. Oh Lord, help us to find the written will and the unwritten will. Be separated from this world but be spiritually minded. Help our mind be renewed that we'll find out where God wants us in the midst of even all the turmoil. like a bird sitting on the nest, a hatching young in the midst of the storm, the waves roaring on the stream and the flashing up on her, the limbs are flopping on every side and she's sitting there content. because she's built her nest where God wants her to build it, and she's safe and secure right in the midst of the storm. That's the gap, G-A-P, the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God. May God help us to find it in our lives and meet the prerequisite and find it in our lives for God's glory. Father, I pray someway, somehow, that what we'll sift things through that we come upon every time in our life, will this bring honor and glory to the Lord, is there a clear-cut command that violates it. If it is, if it's against you, then it's not right. Help us to reject it. Help us to walk in the place we need to and the place where we will experience the blessings of God at being in your gap where it's at. It won't be easy. It's going to be tribulation. It's going to be persecution. It's going to be a lot of things, but Lord, that's the place where the peace and security and the tranquility is. right in the center of God's unwritten will of God for our lives. Oh, Lord, help us tonight in the good, acceptable, get there, in the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Let us run those tests, even though there's six more we're gonna deal with. These first two really knock out a lot of them in our lives, but then we'll go on and deal with that more at a later time. So, Lord, help us tonight. We'll praise you and thank you for what you do, for we ask it all in Jesus' name. For his sake we pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened, Will you mind the Lord tonight as she plays?