and the last couple of sermons that I've been able to, been privileged to preach at the tent. It has been from this passage of scripture. I guess this little series that I have going, it started the week or the Sunday after camp. with Romans chapter 12. The Word of God is so rich when you start going through it in a systematic way and you study things within the context. It is easy to take something a particular passage or just one verse or a phrase and pull a truth out of that phrase. And that is great. You can do that. That is a form of Bible preaching. But when you study things in its entirety, in its context, it really just brings the Word of God alive and it makes things plain. And when we look at the Word of God, we need to look at it the way God laid it out, and we need to follow it. And as we think about Romans chapter 12, we all know Romans 12.1. Right? We preached it, we hear it all the time, and we encourage the young people to present their bodies a living sacrifice, amen, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. In verse two, it says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How many of those verses sound familiar? All right, all of us, I mean, like I said, we hear preaching and we encourage people to memorize passages of scripture, and we should, and that is good. And I use this passage of scripture quite often when talking to the young people. that give your life to God, give your life to God, give every part of your life to the service of the Lord. And that is an application of this verse, but as we continue to read and we continue to see the context of what the apostle Paul was trying to get the believers to see here in this chapter, it's really talking to the local church. He's talking to the local church. Many times, like I said, we use Romans 12 one as a call for laborers, and that is one application. And we should never shy back from using Romans 12 one as a call for laborers because we need laborers. And when we call and we present the need out, we need to be bold in that. And that is a correct application. We are to present our bodies to go across the world. Amen. If God wants us to go across the world, we as believers ought to be ready. I've never gone anywhere without myself. Like just, you know, I remember going through, I may have used this one time, but someone once said in college, he was omnipresent, you know, wherever I am, there I am, you know. And anyways, that'll take a moment to seek in. Bad doctrine, but. I think Brother Gary knows who I'm talking about. Amen. I got sidetracked. Where was I? But, you know, if God wants us to go across the world and preach the gospel, we ought to be ready for that. We ought to be ready, but we ought to be ready to cross the road and preach the gospel. We ought to be ready to cross the aisle and preach the gospel. We need to be ready, but we are to present our bodies not only to preach the gospel, to go to all the world, but we are to present our bodies to minister to each other. To minister to each other. When we think about this passage of scripture, Romans chapter 12, verse three, Paul goes on to say, he beseeches them to present their bodies as that living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, It makes the most sense as we think about what God has done for us, that we present our bodies as that living sacrifice, and we cannot do the work of the Lord in the power of the flesh. We cannot do a spiritual work by a fleshly, a worldly means. And so that's why he comes to the believers at the Church of Rome and he says, and be not conformed to this world. Be not conformed. Don't fit into the world's mold. And I brought this out in the tent a couple of weeks ago that we ought to be careful that we don't jump into the world system, the world's thinking, the world's way of doing things. And that's a whole message in and of itself. But we are to be transformed. How are we to be transformed? How are we to be changed from the inside out? That's what that word talks about, what it means. That's where we get the word metamorphosized or metamorphous, and that's changing from the inside out. And as we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, what happens is we, God, the Holy Spirit through His Word begins to do a work in our heart. Before you ever see a change on the outside, say someone gets saved. We can be preaching, but someone can sit there in the pew, and we don't see a change in their facial expression. They may not even grunt, but then at the end, when an invitation is given, they may walk forward, they may get saved, they may surrender their lives to the Lord. How does that happen? It's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's that transforming work as the word of God comes into our heart and our mind, it changes us from the inside. It changes. Every decision I've made for the Lord, it started in my heart and my mind. And then it worked its way out. And so as we think about this, these are all important things that we must remember. We are to be transformed. How is that to happen? That is by the renewing of our mind. And as we look at the renewing of our mind, the renewing of our mind, it's talking about renovating our mind because in our mind, we have the flesh. In our mind we have the worldly ways, the worldly system that many of us we get used to and we allow to be built up in our mind. And so what is Paul telling the church at Romans? He's telling them, you know, you need to present your bodies a living sacrifice. How are we going to do that? Not be conformed to the world. We need to be transformed. How is that to take place? We got to renew our mind. That means we got to renovate. Now, in renovating our mind, all right, letting God do a work in our mind, we have to let him tear some things down. And Satan comes to us, and the world comes to us, and how many have ever gone through renovations, all right, in your house, all right? And it was a trying experience, wasn't it? All right, it was a time of deep, deep distress. Maybe, all right? It depends if you just could hire someone else. But how many have tried to do it yourself? Oh, man. And praise the Lord. Moving on, all right? We don't even start, amen? I know what will happen. But you know, it's a process. I mean, you think it's gonna be a simple fix, you'll just tear this one wall down and everything will be fine, and then you tear the wall down and there's even more work to be done. Oh, heaven help us. You know, and it just, it's one thing, and you think it was gonna cost a certain amount of money, and then, you know, then the next thing you know, you're replacing not only the wall, the flooring, you're replacing the light fixtures, you gotta get a new mirror, the bathroom fan needs to be done, and you just, I mean, and it costs double the amount that you thought it would. It is a process, it is a work. There is that renovating work that needs to take place. And in our minds, how are we to be transformed by the renewing of our mind? Sometimes we gotta let the Word of God, all the time we have to let the Word of God come in our heart and our mind and allow God, the Holy Spirit, to start ripping things down. Maybe the lies of Satan, the lies of the world, the lust of the flesh that we have hidden in our heart and our mind. And that's how we begin to renew our mind as we let the Word of God do its work in us. It's a renovating work. It's a renewing work. Hey, we don't always like the process. You don't always like the process of ripping things apart, but when you get it done and you put on the trimming and everything is just right, it's like, oh, I like that. I like that. We may not always enjoy the process of being transformed and taking care of issues in our life. None of us like to be uncomfortable, do we? But yet, if we're gonna grow and we're gonna be moving forward in our Christian walk, we have to let the Word of God do its work and renovate so that we can be, what? Transformed and then be conformed into the image of Christ. That's our goal. And so when we think about this, mentioned it's easy to use this Romans chapter 12 verse 1 as a call for laborers and sending out missionaries, and I believe that is important. And I don't want to minimize that at all. But in verse 2 it says, 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. perfect will of God. How many want to know the perfect will of God for your life? I do. I mean you say, that goes without saying, let's move on. All right, quit asking those kind of questions. All right, but I want to know the will of God. And for many of us, and I mentioned this in the tent this morning, many of our young people, we grow up in church. We grow up in this good environment, and we hear the preaching of the Word of God. We're told that we're to surrender our lives to the Lord, and that's good. But many of us, we... And I'm as guilty as the next one. I can't blame anyone but myself, but sometimes we treat the will of God like it is something just over the horizon. It's in the future somewhere. Many of us treat the will of God like the dog that was chasing the fog early in the morning, he missed. Okay, it'll sink in later, all right? It went over that good this morning, so you're in good company. But we treat it as something out there. attainable. But here the Apostle Paul is coming to them, hey, that ye may prove, that ye may test what is that good. The will of God is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God has a perfect will for us. And he goes on, the Apostle Paul goes on in Romans chapter 12, he goes on and he lays it out what that perfect will is. Because then he goes into how we are to serve in the local church. How we are to serve one another and work. And so he goes in verse 3, it says, For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. And so as we think about Romans chapter 12, and then moving on in the will of God, I want us to consider some things this evening in the context of the local church, because this is the context in which it is written. It is not only written to send people out into the mission field, but it is written so that we can minister to each other in this local place. Check the context. That's where it's written. It's written to us in this local church. So as we come here this morning, or this evening, we are to present our bodies as that living sacrifice. This morning, as you walked into this place, you should have had your heart and your soul, your mind prepared, and your body presented to the Lord so that you could minister in this place. That's an amazing thought. But Paul goes on and he says, he talks in verse three, he says, for I say through the grace given unto me. Paul draws our attention back to the grace of God. He, once again, Paul draws the believer's attention to the wonderful grace of God, not only saving grace that assures us a home with Jesus Christ in heaven, but the grace needed to live out our faith on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis. Salvation and service, salvation and service is all by God's grace. We need God's grace to be saved. If you're here and you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, God comes to you by His grace and He offers you salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It is the grace of God that we're saved. And think about the mercies of God that we've been given. That is the grace of God at work in our life. And it is the grace of God that we obtain salvation. It's not in anything that we've done. And it is the grace of God that allows us to serve. The Christian life is a life of service. And here Paul is telling us, through the grace given unto me, he draws our attention to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10, it says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul's saying, by the grace of God, I'm a sinner saved by grace. I am what I am, and that's all we are, sinners saved by grace. It says, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. saying, I'm not taking that lightly. The grace that God has given me, the salvation that I have in Jesus Christ, he was thinking about on the road to Damascus, and I trust, all of us wanna be on that road to Damascus, all right? Oh my, you can tell. I'll get back to the message, all right? But his mind went back to the road to Damascus and how the grace of God came to him and saved his soul. Think about the grace that God bestowed upon you when he came and he saved your soul. Think about that. And here Paul is saying, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but how did he labor? How did he serve? How did he work out what God had called him to do? It was all by God's grace. We need the grace, we need God, God's grace in our heart and in our mind for service. It says, but the grace of God, which was with me. And so Paul draws our attention to the grace, not only of salvation, but the grace we need to serve. I'm sure he was thinking about Damascus and just all the different churches that God allowed him to travel. You think of the church at Ephesus, the churches of Galatia, you think the church at Colossae. God gave Paul grace to minister and to start those churches and to edify those churches. We need that same grace. As we think in the context of the local church, we need grace to serve each other. We need grace to minister. We need God to do a work in our hearts so that we can minister grace to those around us. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, Paul is talking again about the grace of God. And he says, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, Paul was saying, whatever goes on in my life, I need the grace of God, not only for salvation, but for service, and for just being the Christian that God wants me to be. And we need the grace of God in our life, as we think in the context of the local church. And when we think about the local church, and we think about what God has called us to do, and if we would continue, we won't take the time, evening, if we would continue to read through Romans 12, we would see how God has called us to serve one another. And so, God has given His children gifts and callings for the perfecting of the saints. If you would go to 2 Corinthians 12, let's go there real quick. We will take the time. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 1, I think that's 1 Corinthians 12, sorry. It's gonna say there's not 27 verses there. All right, here we go. Now concerning spiritual gifts, verse one of 1 Corinthians 12, one, it says, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. God wants us to know. Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations, but it is of the same God. which worketh all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. as it has pleased Him." We're here for a reason. God has placed you here and it pleases Him. We're here for a reason. Every believer has been given a calling and God has gifted us to fulfill this calling. And God has given us the gifts needed. And when we think about the body, when we think about the body, we think of every part of our body working in concert to get us where we need to go, amen? We get up in the morning and your knee says, no, you know, you should just stay in bed and every, no. Something is wrong when your body says no. When you want to get up and your body says no, I remember talking with Brother Milburn and we were talking about hockey and he said, you know, the hardest thing about getting older is remembering what you could do on the ice and then you're playing hockey and then you tell your body to do a certain maneuver on the ice and your body says no. How many of us are there? Quite a few of us. But when we think of a body, the body of Christ, wherever we find ourselves, God has placed us here for his pleasure. And the body of Christ, the local church, this church in this place, all of us fulfilling the will of God where he's placed us, all of us having a heart to serve God by his grace, we ought to be moving, we ought to be in shape. We ought to be in shape. I mean, it's hard to get in shape. But once you're in shape, praise the Lord, I mean, you can do a lot more than when you're out of shape. I just went the other day jumping on the trampoline with Zach, and he wanted to body slam me, and I wanted to body slam him. And you do a couple of those body slams, and I get off, and I'm riding into Winkler later on in the day, and it's like, oh, what happened? And I got a chiropractor appointment tomorrow. Amen, that's what happened. All right, I'm gonna get straightened out. But when you're feeling good and the body is just where it needs to be, I mean, it's great, it's a great feeling. But it's every part of the body doing what it's supposed to do. And when we think in the context of the local church, are we doing what we have been called to do? We presented ourselves as that living sacrifice that we can fulfill the perfect will of God in this place. When I think of the body of Christ, I think of a sports team. I enjoy watching sports. I enjoy playing sports. I enjoy all those different things. I enjoy watching funny plays and bloopers of the day and all that. And I remember there was a high school or a college game going on. And one of the, there was a fumble, and one of the players, you know how in football, as soon as there's a fumble, it's everybody flopping on the ball, trying to grab the ball, and this guy batting the ball, and this guy jumping on the ball. They tell the big linemen to, you know, if there's a fumble, you need to deflate the ball, you know, just jump on it and flatten it out, you know. And that was going on, and this one guy, I mean, it was just bouncing all over the place, and this one guy, he lost his bearings, and he picked the ball up, and he started cruising. He started running down the field. And that was great. The only problem was he was running the wrong way. He was running towards his end zone. And then all of a sudden, you see this guy just booking it. And one of his teammates figured out, this is not going to go well. And so here, his own teammate was running down the field. And eventually, around the 10, 15 yard line, right before the end zone, his teammate tackled him. And it was funny to watch. And the guy got up, and he was like, man, what? I was almost in the end zone. What are you doing? And then his teammate explained to him, you know what? You were running the wrong way. You were running the wrong way. And the guy was like, oh, man. And it was funny to watch, but sometimes in the team, we got members who are running the wrong way. And the body life is, the team life is, hey, you're going the wrong way. I'm not saying we tackle people, but I am saying, hey, in the sense of the body life and fulfilling the will of God, hey, we gotta be watching out for each other and all moving in the same direction. 3 John 1 verses 9 to 10, is just something you can write down and study a little bit later. It's about the atrophies and how he loved to have the preeminence and the work of God was being hindered because of him. But when we think about fulfilling God's will in the context of the local church, it's been the grace of God given to us and And every believer has been given a calling, and God has gifted us to fulfill that calling, His perfect will, that perfect will of God. In light of verse two, when we go back to our passage of scripture, in light of verse two, I believe this is why Satan and society seek to minimize the church. Because we're not to be conformed to this world, we're to be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The context of this local church is that we are to be ministering to each other. are to be helping each other become more like Christ. We are to, as God has gifted us, this is the place, this is the first place that we fulfill the will of God for our life. You think about that. When we come here, hey, God has a specific will for our life. If you This is why Satan and society seek to minimize the church. If they can get the believer to think lightly of, or even take the church for granted, how can the believer find the perfect will of God? If you come here and it's just about you, or it's just about what kind of show is gonna be placed or take place up here, We're not coming here with a heart to fulfill God's will for a life. We're not finding the perfect will of God for our life. And so God has a will and God's will starts here in the local church as we seek to minister and we seek to help others grow. And it says going on in verse two, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Many people struggle with a puffed up attitude because of their perceived value of self-importance. It only takes a little pin to burst the bubble of pride. And what hinders us in the local church? What hinders us from fulfilling God's perfect will? In the local church, many times it's pride. Many times it's pride. There was a illustration, a brand new professional was excited about his new office. As he sat behind his red mahogany executive desk, he thought to himself, I finally arrived. I'm really important. As his mind wandered, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Aha, he thought to himself, my first client. Yes, come in, he yelled to the client at the door. In order to look important and overly busy, he quickly put his phone up to his mouth and started an intense conversation. I need to know your final answer now. Are you committing to the business deal of a lifetime? Can we close the sale today? Great, let me call you right back. After he hung the phone up, he greeted the new client warmly. Hi there, how can I help you today? The client just shook his head and said, I'm here to hook up your phone. He had miscalculated his own importance. The hallmark of the believer's daily walk must be one of humility. And that's what Paul was saying. He's drawing our attention to the grace of God that enables us to do the work of God. And he said, hey, don't get puffed up on how God uses you. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Pride is the enemy of every believer. When we think of body life, one must be careful not to thrust themselves into positions to which God has not called him and for which God has not gifted him. Like I said, pride is the enemy of every believer. It brought Lucifer down and it has led to the destruction of countless believers who thought more highly of themselves than they ought to have thought. We have to be careful. It could be that God has blessed us or blessed you in your appearance. We can get pride on how we look. We can get proud on how we look. I told the teens in the tent, I said, God may have blessed you in your appearance or your artistic ability. I'll let you fill in the blank there. All right. He may have given you an outgoing persuasive personality. He may have given you some sort of position in this life or in society. God may have given you some talent or ability, but we must never forget that it is God that gives talents and gifts as it has pleased Him. And we ought to use these talents and these gifts to please Him and to edify each other in this place. This is a warning because as God begins to work in and through one's life in the body of Christ, the church is edified. As you fulfill your God-given responsibility, and you exercise your God-given gifts in this place, the entire body is edified. As the musicians use their gifts, and as the preachers use their gifts, and as you use your gifts of maybe encouragement and exhortation, and you just fellowship one with another, as you do that, as you come and do that in this place, the church is edified. and you can encourage believers and you can reach out and encourage people, but if we're not careful, the flesh can easily rise up and we begin to think that somehow the spiritual work is of us. But we must never forget the grace of God that enables us and empowers us to do that work. And it should be God, it is God through us. If anything is accomplished, it's through God working in and through us. God is displeased with pride and he deals righteously and in many cases, swiftly with pride. A stark, illustration is found in the Old Testament. Let's go to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12. And this should be a warning. I'm going to read this large portion of Scripture. But just to see the attitude that many of us can get, it says in Numbers chapter 12 verse one, it says, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. He was married to her. He was married to her. And they were using that against Moses. What do we use against brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church? Things that are none of our business, yet we interject ourselves in them. Verse two, and they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. We need to remember that everything we say, the Lord hears. Everything that we think, the Lord knows. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam, come out you three into the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. He said, all right, we need to deal with something. You guys come with me. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Mariam, and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision. and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, and he departed. You know, they interjected themselves in a place that they had no business interjecting themselves. They started nitpicking at Moses, and God dealt quickly with them. We need to be careful in the local church that, hey, we don't lift ourselves up with pride, and we don't interject ourselves in things and situations that we have no business being in. We need to be on guard of that. And so God dealt very quickly when they stood up and they were full of pride and stood against Moses. God dealt very quickly with them. And that should be a warning and a lesson for us. But we are to think soberly, if we go back to Romans chapter 12, For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly." We are to think soberly. We are to have a sound mind. We are to be in a right mind. And that is a mind of service. A mind of service. As we think about coming and working in the local church, it is a mind of service. We are here to serve. You are here to come, not only to be built up and edified, but to encourage each other. Just as we expect the preachers and the pastors and the teachers to exercise their God-given gifts and abilities to edify us, what gifts has God given you to minister in this place, to edify the church here? Do we know? Have we given it a thought? We are here to serve, Philippians chapter 2 verse 1, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And then it goes on, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." We have to be in our right mind. We are to think soberly. To be in our right mind as a believer, we are to have the mind of Christ. And so moving on, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. So we are to, We are to remember the grace that is given unto every man that is among you. We're not to think more highly than we ought to think of ourselves. We are to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man that measure of faith. It is God, we must never forget that it is God who has dealt to every man the measure of faith. This faith that Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 12, This is a working faith. It includes the gifts and abilities that God gives to a person. This is a working faith. And so the faith and the drive or confidence to use the gifts that God has given us, a working faith is the ability and drive within a person to get it, get to it and to serve God. And so God has given us gifts and that measure of faith, it's talking about the gifts that God has given us that will enable us to do what he has called us to do. James 1.17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Let's go to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. I'll jump into the reading. It says in verse 7, But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. Verse 11, And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie and wait to deceive. Verse 15, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself, in love. And so God wants us to edify. God has given us gifts, given us the ability to work those gifts and to edify the church. And so as we think in conclusion and we think about Romans chapter 12, we often go to the Romans 12 verse 1 and 2, but that is setting us up for a specific purpose, and that purpose is to minister in the local church, and to edify each other, and to build each other up. And so I say here, in conclusion, every believer is to come before the Lord, presenting themselves as that living sacrifice, holy and acceptable before the Lord. This is the most reasonable, the most logical thing we can do. So let me encourage you every time we get ready to come to church, let me encourage you that you come before the Lord and you present your body a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God. We cannot serve God if we follow the world's ways. Our mind needs to be renewed. It needs to be renovated. The lies of Satan need to be torn down. The wrong, rotten, worldly, fleshly patterns of thinking need to be torn down. And the transforming work of God, the Holy Spirit, and His Word will be accomplished in our lives. And so before we ever get here, we need to make sure that we're submitted and that our mind is submitted to the Lord and we get some time alone with God before we even come to church and we get things right so that when we get here, we can performed the perfect will of God in this place. And I jumped ahead of myself, but the first step of proving that good and acceptable and perfect will of God begins right here. It begins right here. The first step to proving that good, acceptable and perfect will of God begins right here in the local assembly, God's church. Because if we would go on, like I said at the beginning, we'd begin to read, we would see how it is necessary, these first three passages of Scripture are necessary before we can begin to work and move and fulfill God's will in the local church and to exercise our gifts. And so it starts right here. It starts right here. when we think about this, are you fulfilling God's will? We can know God's will. We can know God's will. We can know God's perfect will for our life. As we come here and we minister, as God has called each and every one of us, it doesn't matter whether you're an introvert, extrovert, you have that outgoing personality, you smile or you can sit there stone-faced, it doesn't matter. Let me ask you, have you submitted yourself to the Lord? Do you come here to serve the Lord, proving that good and acceptable and perfect will of God so that we can serve each other? so that we can serve each other, not to consume it upon our lust, but to edify. The church needs to edify, to build ourselves up in the love of Christ and to encourage one another and strengthen each other so that we can go out and reach the lost and dying world. I ask us this evening, can we say we love God and hate our brother? How can we say we are willing to cross the oceans to preach the gospel to the uttermost, and we are not willing to cross the street or even the aisle in the church to help our brothers and sisters here? We're called to begin here. We're called to serve here. And so as we think about this, Romans chapter 12, one through three, before we get to service, we need to make sure our hearts are right. We're thinking right. We're humble before the Lord. Then we can fulfill the perfect will of God in this place. We can know the will of God. You know, one of the greatest things that we can do is know the will of God and do it. One of the greatest joys that you will ever experience is knowing the will of God and doing it and looking back on your life and saying, you know what, I fulfilled the will of God for my life. That brings joy, that brings satisfaction. But how many of us come to this place, we don't even care how God has gifted us. We don't really bother to search the word of God and see, how can I be a blessing to each other? How can I be a blessing to my brothers and sisters in Christ? How can I exhort them? How can I build them up in their faith? Do we know? Do we know? That is God's will for our life. We can know God's will, and we can fulfill the will of God for our life, but it needs to be that we not think too highly of ourselves, but that we think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man, that measure of faith, that ability to work out how God has gifted him. Let's fulfill God's will here. Let's work those gifts out.