Don't be too hard on me. Thank you. Good evening. It's been a blessed day so far, and I pray that the message tonight will be a blessing to you, if not an encouragement. The title of the message tonight, Be Not Conformed to the World. Of course, this is taken out of Romans 12, so if you would turn there. And then also turn to 1 John 2. We'll actually begin reading in 1 John 2, and then we'll go over to Romans 12. It was very interesting to me, so many times when two preachers preach on the same Sunday, how many times the messages go together. giving Brother Ofield, our pastor, the title of my message on Friday. I said the title would be, Be Not Conformed to the World. And he emailed me back and said, well, my message is going to have to do with being converted. And then as I listened to the message this morning, I thought how appropriate it was, the message that he preached this morning, the necessity of repentance and conversion. So this evening as we consider what it is to not be conformed to this world, let's begin in 1 John chapter 2. We'll read 1 John 2 verse 15. 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. Notice that. That's a strong statement. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And then go over to, we'll come back to this passage, but now turn over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, beginning 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. And then this verse, and be not conformed to this world. but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." I believe that this message tonight, be not conformed to this world, is not just a message for the new believer. It is not this message for all believers. This concept of the necessity of being transformed by the renewing of our mind is something that takes place throughout our Christian life on and on. We are constantly, we looked this morning at conversion, being converted as a turning about in our actions. And yet there are so many things in our life, salvation, but then there are so many things in our life that we have, we find ourselves needing to turn away from these things. Maybe we've been a Christian for 10 years, 20 years, and then God will show us something from His Word and convict us something about the way we're living, or the thing that we love, this part of the world that we are still hanging on to, and then God will convict us, and then we have to turn from that. There's all these things in the world that we have to constantly be turning from. And He says here in verse 2, "...and be not conformed to this world." In verse 1, we see we are to present our bodies. a living sacrifice. It is not just about our mind and our heart. Repentance, that part of repentance and turning to Christ. But it is very important what it is that we do with our bodies. Our bodies are to be presented as a living sacrifice, and that living sacrifice is to be holy and acceptable unto God. And this verse, this isn't the main part of my verse, but just by way of introduction, we can't neglect this verse. And it says, which is your reasonable service? It's only expected. If Jesus Christ came and died for you, shed his blood for the salvation of your soul. It is only reasonable that you should live for Him. It's not too demanding that you actually live for Christ and that you'd be not conformed to this world, but you actually are converted and your life changes and you are transformed. And of course it says here, transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so as we consider this conformed, it says, be not conformed to this world. The conform that it's talking about in this passage in the Greek means, fashion alike or fashion self according to, to fashion oneself according to. We are not to be fashioned like the world. And of course, one of the first things that comes to our mind when we think of fashion Fashionable, what is fashionable? In fact, me and Taylor were talking just before as we headed to church, we were talking about clothes. And who decided that buttoning, this is what the question was, who decided that buttoning the top button of your sport jacket, this is a sport jacket, not a suit, you know, but it's okay to do this, top button. This is not okay. Don't do that. And don't do this. You look like a slob, right? But who decided that? But fashion, right? Somebody makes up the rules. And so as I got to thinking about this, this word literally means not to be fashion-like. not to fashion ourselves according to the world. Our world is obsessed with trends, fads, fashioning ourselves after the latest. And this goes way beyond clothes and all this. But as we consider, this passage is talking about our bodies. It says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And then we think about, the world and this is just by way of introduction to the message but how it is that our world is obsessed with trends and fads and fashioning ourselves after the latest thing and each generation is running around copying And there's so many ways in which that's done. Hairstyles, clothing, speech, music, certain drugs of choice, all these different things. As we consider hairstyles, now this isn't the main part of the message, but it's just to get you to thinking about how it is that we're conforming. We've conformed ourselves so many times. This is nothing new. Now, Paul wrote this 2000 years ago, and he was telling those people not to be conformed to this world. Men have been copying men and living and dressing and all this like the world since the beginning. When we consider hairstyles though, it's very interesting. If you go back and look at pictures from the Civil War era, there was a certain look. Like men had certain mustaches, they had certain beards. And then those things change. You go and you start looking at pictures from the 1920s, the roaring 20s. And men were combing their hair and parting their hair in different ways. You know, back in the 80s, it kind of became a thing when I was growing up to part your hair in the middle. And I remember trying and wanting to part my hair in the middle, and my dad would have none of it, right? And you don't need to be doing that just because other people are doing it, and things like that. But as I got older, then I started looking at some of the pictures from the 20s and the roaring 20s, and man, all the guys would run around with their hair was parted in the middle and greased down and everything. There's always all these different looks. And then it gets real interesting. You know, in the 50s, there was a certain look. And I'm talking about guys, because that's more what I know about, right? But in the 50s, there was a certain look, you know, that young people had. And then, oh, but then you start getting into the 60s, and Brother Osmondson and Brother Berg, especially, they can, they know more, oh, Brother Kilgard, Brother Oldfield, I mean, we all know about this, you know, long hair, right? It went from the 50s, with the crew cuts and the short hair and all that, and then it started getting a little bit longer. Then long hair kind of started to become a thing and people blamed it on music and different things like that. But then something happened in the late 70s and the early, like 81, between 78 and 82, in the disco era, all of a sudden guys started perming their hair. growing their hair out. And I remember one of my family members at that time, I was a kid, but my family member, I mean, he had a perm going on. And wow, what happened? Just being conformed to the image of this world, just the latest, you know. And then in the 80s though, Then it went from long hair, like hippie long hair, to now we had the big hair bands. You know, we had those groups, and this is more what I know about, but then they started taking, and the rock stars even started wearing lipstick and just doing gaudy things. And then, of course, that generation was rebelled against. And then the newer generation that set themselves apart, then you start with grunge music, grunge rock and roll and stuff. and these groups coming out of Seattle and so forth. And it was long hair, but it was just, I don't care. It was a totally different look. And then, I don't know what happened, but then they all decided they needed to just start cutting all their hair off. And so by the late 90s, guys were just, these rock groups, they were just cutting all their hair off. And it went from having long hair, and then it just is constantly changing, and that's evolving. And that's the way the world is, though, is whole generations, young people, they grow up Having to do things and cut their hair and look a certain way Because that's what the famous people are doing. That's that's just following the world. There's no real sense of doing it because I like it or having a self identity. It's following the world. It's just following the masses. There's no individuality to it at all. And think about how fickle this is. Young people in our generation that are the same. A lot of times older people talk about this generation is so much worse than the former generation, so forth. Listen, man, Younger generations have always rebelled against the older generation and tried something new. And like I said, in the 80s, they were actually going and doing what they were doing in the 20s. And if you go back and look at old pictures, it's like, and this whole thing with having beards, everybody has beards. I had beards before anybody had beards. I actually had a beard before Pastor Ofield did though. I've had a beard since I was 18, but now it became a fad somewhere along the way it became cool. And now everybody is having a beard. And in 10 years, there will be a rebellion and nobody will have a beard. It's just the way it is. But how fickle is this? To fashion yourself after a public figure that all the girls like, and women do the same thing, but I'm a guy, so I relate to this. You look like this certain person and people see you and they identify like, oh, he has his hair like so-and-so. Oh, he looks like so-and-so. And they want to be with you because you're like so-and-so. But how sad is that? And then they feel better about themselves because they were able to get with you, but you're a clone. And so it's still not the real deal, but that's how fickle, I'm saying all that to show how fickle it is, especially young people, how fickle this is. There's clothing. This is real interesting, and I don't have time to get into this, but I did a lot of research and studying on fashion going all the way back to, and I remember in the history books. Do any of you remember pictures of like Shakespeare or, oh. Francis Bacon, or some of the, even the sailors, when you look at their pictures, there's some of the Kings and some of the public figures, some of the stuff that they would wear, you wouldn't be caught dead wearing. I mean, it was absolutely hideous. But in the 1500s, there was a certain style, the 1600s, there was a certain style. This is before, movie stars. This is before rock stars. Listen, the world has always had its people, and it's always had its fashions, and it's always had its trendsetters, and there's always been fads. This is nothing new. And so some of this clothing that they wore was just The men looked like sissies to put it no other way. Long hair on men was a huge fad in the 1500s and 1600s. I mean, long curly hair. And if they couldn't grow their hair that way, they wore wigs. And it was just the things that people wore. And I was thinking, what were the preachers saying back then? What would the preachers have been saying back then about these men, wealthy men, kings, lords, all these people running around? I mean, sometimes they had these, they called them scarves, but they really looked like these giant collars that come out to here, puffed out, ridiculous clothes. What about speech? Is your speech or your mannerisms the way, in your way of speaking, communicating, like your idols in Hollywood? Think about all the different cliches, all the different terms that have been come up throughout the years. Younger generations, they tend to have their own vocabulary. You know, their parents don't, they come home from school and they're saying words a certain way and their parents are like, what did you say? And it's like, they'll repeat it and they'll, well, what's that mean? And they have to explain it. There's this new vocabulary that comes along with every generation. And music, I already touched on music a little bit, but from generation to generation, It has as much to do, the new thing, it has as much to do with rebellion and being different than parents as anything. But what do you identify with? And what do you listen to? You. How conformed to this world are you? Do you identify more with the people of this world, lost people of this world, the entertainment of this world, the music of this world, than you do godly music, God's people, Do we have a lot of work that we need to do as far as taking out the trash and not being conformed to the image of this world? That's what I want us to think about tonight. The question for us tonight is why do we dress the way we do? Why do we look the way that we look? Why do we act the way we act? Is it to fit in? Is it to be accepted? What governs our behavior and what is our moral compass? This was a problem with man 2,000 years ago and nothing has changed. The warnings that we see in the word of God, this was written about 2,000 years ago. It's as applicable today for us as it was to the church in Rome or to those to whom, John was writing to in 1st John. And so if your life is your life fashioned according to the world, we are not to be conformed to this world. So flip back over to 1st John chapter 2. I want us to consider what is it about this world that we're not to be conformed to? And what is meant by this world? We are in the world, but we're not to be of the world. as the people of God. Going back to 1 John 2, love not the world, it says 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. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." The first thing that I want us to consider here is what he says in verse 15. Love not the world. Man will literally worship sometimes the creation and the creature, but ignores God. There's a segment of our society that are earth worshipers, and they're more concerned with this planet than they are their soul. They give no thought of God. They feel like they are in control of their own destiny, and they worship this planet, and they worship man. But they give no thought to the actual creator. Man loves, this says love, not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. The consideration for us is where is our love? Man loves the works of man. What he builds, or how he performs, what he performs. And man praises those men, but cannot praise God for the work of his hands. What about the works when they look at creation? When they look at what God has done? The works of His hands. They can't find it in them to praise God. But they'll praise man over architectural feats, over a bridge that is built, over a rocket ship that goes into space, over how we can cure certain things in medicine. Man is quick to praise man, and so reluctant to consider that there's a God who's actually in charge of all this creation. But the world loves the world. It's in love with itself. Man also loves the systems of the world. It's not only creation. It's not only the works of man's hands that man loves, but man also loves the systems that are in the world. Do we spend more time listening to politicians or economic forecasters than we do preachers? As we're considering us. You know, Paul in Romans 12, he was writing to believers. Be not conformed to this world, to the world. What do we appreciate more? A good political speech or a good preaching message? Are we more entertained, are we more quick to listen to Fox Business News or whatever or the business forecast than we are to listen to what a man of God might have to say? Are we more concerned with the direction this country is going than we are concerned with the Kingdom of God and His Church? And people being saved. Now, we should be concerned about our country. But are we more concerned? What's at issue here is our love. Love, not the world. Nor the things that are in the world. Where's our love? Where's our actual love? Man loves the philosophies of man. Not just the systems, not just the creation, not just the works of man, but man also loves the philosophies of man. And men are more quick to listen to other men about different aspects of life, the philosophies of man, more than he is willing to consider the things of God. I think many professing Christians are actually still in love with the world more than they are the kingdom of heaven. If you think about that, what piques your interest more? What stirs your heart? What actually stirs your heart and gets you excited? Considering the Kingdom of Heaven, missions, the Lord's Church, and the work of it, or these other things. We need to really concern ourselves with where is our love? And then it goes on, it says, love not the world, and then it says, neither the things that are in the world. Like these are two separate things. They relate, but they are a little bit different. Now, when we consider the things that are in the world, God made us a certain way. We like food. We like companionship. There's a lot of things in this world that God created and intended it for good. And we are to appreciate it. There are many things in the world that are not evil at all. But this says, neither love the things that are in the world. What I want to consider here is what's talked about in this actual passage. There are three things listed in this passage as things in the world. If we go to verse 16, it says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. That's what I want to touch on here briefly. First, considering the lust of the flesh. Lust is a longing for, but especially that which is forbidden. There are those things that our bodies by nature crave. Remember back in Romans it says we're to present our bodies a living sacrifice and we're not to be conformed to the world. As we consider this, the things that we are not to love in this world, the lust of the flesh, those things that our bodies crave by nature, bodily appetites that are done to excess, drunkenness, drug addiction, gluttony, fornication, There's the entertainment of the world. There's parties. There's all these things. There's extreme sports, people that are hooked on adrenaline in different ways. the things that we feed our body. The world lives, the lost world lives for these things. There are segments of society that they live for parties. That's their life. They get through the week so they can make it to Friday, because it's party time on Friday, and then they party on Saturday, and they party on Sunday, and then it's back to Monday. Why is Monday such a bad day in the workplace? If people were actually with their family on Saturday, and then with their family on Sunday, I was about to be me. But if they're with their wife and family on Saturday, and with their wife and family on Sunday, they'd be ready to go back to work on Monday. I'm not a nice person and I don't really mean that. Okay. But if men though, really, if men spent time with their family on Saturday, and they were actually going to sleep on Friday night and were out carousing, and then they were in the Lord's house on Monday, serving the Lord, having their perspective right. And by Monday, they'd actually be feeling pretty good about actually getting back to another work week. And let's see what the Lord's going to do this week. And there's nothing wrong with working. It's actually good to work. If you've been rested up and done what you're supposed to on the weekend, but the world as a whole dreads work on Monday. Why? Because they're hung over and they feel horrible and their bodies drain. That's why Monday's not fun. And then, oh, you just think of all these things that the world does, the world lives for. We are not to be conformed to this world. And so the next thing we want to consider here, not just the lust of the flesh, but then it mentions specifically the lust of the eyes. I think this is probably a hard one for a lot of us. Think about our eyes. You could preach a whole message on this, but the lust of the eyes. Our corrupt heart, our natural corrupt heart, feeds itself with what it wants to see in many different ways. What do you set your eyes upon? And what do you lust after? What are you wanting to watch? What are you wanting to see? And then finally, we have the pride of life. When it says, love not the things that are in the world. This third one is the pride of life. The definition of this is braggadocios, or boasting, in this particular context. As we consider this, the pride of life. Proverbs 6 says, These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. And you know what the first one is? A proud look. A proud look. God hates that. God absolutely hates a proud look. Our society is so corrupt and so outside of God that it doesn't understand that there's something actually wrong, morally wrong, with the people in our society who puff themselves up and brag about themselves. And it starts from the president. I hate to admit it, but Our president is that way. Very braggadocious. From before he was president, 20 years ago, now. It's not a good thing. God hates it. And it goes all the way down to our athletes. And it goes all the way down to our Hollywood actors. Our society becomes a norm, a way of life. That we should just brag about ourselves. And we should just pat ourselves on the back. And we should just give ourselves nicknames. We should just title ourselves who we are. But we have to, as the people of God, we're not to be conformed to this world and we're supposed to be, things are supposed to be different once the conversion takes place. We start thinking about things differently and then we start to consider, well, what does God think about this? In another passage, Proverbs 27, to let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips. Our country needs to should really pay attention to those verses. And we, all we can control is ourselves. But we need to have this mindset and we need to take this to heart. Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth. The pride of life, these are the things of the world that we're not to love. People are set on making a name for themselves, leaving their mark. And if nobody else notices them, then they will name themselves and let themselves be known. So let's go back over to Romans chapter 12 as we begin our conclusion. Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says, And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, God's Word has an answer for every aspect of life. And just as I was reading those simple verses about pride, there are verses in the Bible about every aspect of life. And we should consider how our behavior is and how we are to not be conformed to this world. Part of the being transformed and the renewing of our mind is looking for and trying to understand, well, what's the will of God in this area? What would God have me to be like? How would God have me to behave? There are growing pains to being a child of God. It really is. It's like growing pains. I remember when I was young and I began to really grow. And sometimes the faster you grow in the Lord, the more painful it is. And that's how it was when I was a teenager. I was one of the shortest kids in class. And I was just a little guy. But man, when I hit 13, I started growing like a rocket. And it hurt. You know, the growing pains that we have as young people and just laying in bed at night and just hurting. And that's how it is though as a child of God sometimes. We were so conformed to this world. That's all we thought about. That's all we cared about. And now all of a sudden there's this transformation going on. There's a renewing of our mind that's going on. And now we're supposed to be concerned about the will of God. And the will of God is so opposed to everything that I'm about. And we want to serve the Lord and we want to please the Lord, but man, I mean, it can be a painful process sometimes. And so we realized just how far away from God and how far off base we were. And so, but all men think about this. All men have been conformed to this world in one form or another. It's obvious because people are not born again as infants. You know? And so they had to live in this world and grow up to a certain age until their time came that they were born again. And you might say, well, OK, so what if a kid is saved at the age of 9 or 12 or 13? He wasn't conformed to this world. You want to bet? Take a nine-year-old. If you want to know just how conformed to this world kids are, go to a playground at a school. Just hang out at a school and see how much those kids care about what other kids think about them and how they dress. Now, I was a non-conformist. I'm the exception to the rule. When I went to school, I didn't care that everybody else had a Spider-Man lunchbox or a Incredible Hulk lunchbox. That was the thing back in the day when I was like five, six. And no, I had a Tupperware. I was a nonconformist, and I looked at that stupid Spider-Man lunchbox and didn't want to have anything to do with it. It was more just because I had to, because my parents weren't going to give me it. So that's how I coped. That was my coping. But anyway, listen. Kids, from the time that they, from the beginning, they're conforming to this world. And all they care, actually, all they care about is being accepted by the group, by the masses. And so the conforming begins way back in the beginning. And so the time comes that you're born again. This passage is telling us, it's not saying don't become conformed. to this world. No, you have already been conformed to this world. And the verse is saying, be not conformed, but be ye transformed. That means you're already conformed. You're already there. You're a part of the world. You've just been born again. And now you need to not be conformed to this world. Now, as a child of God, we can slip, and we can begin to fall and slip back into being conformed to this world, and then we need to not be conformed once again. But the reality is, as I was thinking about this message, is everybody has been conformed to this world. And you need to not be conformed to this world. But you need to be transformed. And that's the thing that we need to really focus on here. And so there's a change that must take place in the mind and heart of a believer. A change which, and I already had this in my notes before pastor preached his message this morning, so I'm not copying. I literally had a change which begins in the mind, caring about the will of God, which is evidenced in a change in behavior and outward appearance even. There's not just our behavior, but our appearance will begin to change. And we will stop looking like the world. You know, it'd be really weird for my wife, as a Christian, for 10 years, if Kim Kardashian decided I don't know how many of you know who Kim Kardashian is, but whatever. For those of you who do, well, those famous people that's never done anything with their life, but they're worth millions just because they're famous. Okay, if she just decided one day, I'm gonna cut this whole side of my hair off, and then I'm gonna dye my hair hot pink, and my wife was like, oh, that's cool, I wanna do that. If my wife showed up on Sunday with hot pink hair and half of her head shaved, and she still wanted to get up here and play the piano, We might actually kind of have a problem with that. I know I would. I'd be like, why did you do that? Well, Kim Kardashian did it, and I think it looks really cool. So what? Go dye your hair again or put a wig on to cover up the bald spot. I mean, it's not acceptable. Why? Because she's doing it just to look like the world. She's copying a lost heathen. There's nothing godly about it. There's no sense of modesty in it. And so there's that sense in which even our outward appearance is supposed to start changing. We're not supposed to look like those lost, godless, immoral people. And so, our transformation is a witness to the world. Turn to 1 Peter 3. This chapter begins with instruction for wives. 1 Peter 3, verse 1, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, They also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear." Who's adorning? This is the instruction for the wife. You're adorning. Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, in wearing of gold or in putting on of apparel. All those things that say, look at me, however you want to put it. If things are done in modesty, fine. But it's about that flamboyant, look at me, represent, you know, trying to represent something. We're not supposed to be out there. We're not supposed to be putting ourselves out there to be seen for the sake of being seen. But Let it be the hidden man of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." We see in verses 1 and 2 that that testimony that we have by our actions, and our outward appearance actually has a testimony to those who are lost. They see that we're different. I've seen some TV preachers recently, there's a couple of them, when they get up to preach, they look like a rapper. They literally look like the world. There is an image that is the world. They got gold chains hanging down. They got earrings in. They got the pants up short, wearing sneakers and wearing a logo t-shirt. There's one of the guys, he's a very famous big time preacher. And he walks around, I mean, he's cool. He's hip. And oh, he's trying to win the world by being the world. He's saying, I'm one of you. I'm no different than you. I'm just another person just like you. But I have Jesus. But that's not how we're supposed to do it. This verse actually goes very much against that. This is talking about women, much less men. It's saying not the ordaining of plaiting the hair and wearing gold and putting on of apparel, putting on all that stuff to bring attention to yourself. It's the opposite. It's about what's in here. That's a testimony. And so we're not supposed to be putting ourselves out there. Don't be conformed to this world. And then finally in James 4, verse 1. This is a very, very sobering verse in verse 4. How in love are you still with the world? For whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? You lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, and then notice this, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." How strong is that statement right there? We are to separate ourselves. Now, if you are a strong testimony, you're supposed to be a testimony. But if you're a strong testimony, the world is going to separate itself from you for you. Right? So it's not that we're not friendly with the world. It's not that we don't witness to the world. But you are not to be the friend of the world. Your person who you go to in confidence to ask for advice is not supposed to be a heathen. You are not to look to one of your favorite role models, whoever it's been, as the example of how it is that you should look or how you should live. Because that's what they did and they're successful. No. A friend, therefore, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You can have it two ways. God is a jealous God. There's a lot of that, a lot of verses speak to that in the Old Testament. Guess what? God is still a jealous God. He does not want you cheating on Him. He does not want you to be a friend of the world. He wants you to be in love with Him. He wants you to love His people, not the people of the world. They're two completely distinct things. And now that we're born again, we are not to be, no longer are we to be conformed to the world. In conclusion, 1 John 2, 5, once again, we already read this verse, but if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It's another strong verse. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Where is your friendship? Where is your love? Are you, the challenge for me even, am I still conformed to this world? Or are you being transformed? Becoming more like Christ every day. If we were truly being transformed like we're supposed to be being transformed, If I was born again in 2001, I should be so Christ-like. I haven't done like I should have. Because if I was truly not being conformed to this world, if I truly had been working on being transformed like I ought to be, I would be so Christ-like by now. Because there's a lot of time that has passed since 2001. But then there are those who have been saved much longer than that. I think about people that I've known and I know there's probably even people here in this church that were, I was born in 74, I'm sure some of you were saved about that time or before then. We obviously have a problem, don't we? Because we should be, if this was going on like it's supposed to, we should be so holy that people would be able to look at us and we would be without excuse. But we're human and we have this in nature. And so this transforming, this renewing of our mind is supposed to be an ongoing thing. So don't be conformed to this world, pastor.