Well, greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a true honor and privilege to be with you on this occasion. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Beeky and to this church and to the seminary, of course, for the invitation to be here to preach on this occasion. And as we often do, as we gather, we open our Bibles and we focus on a text of Scripture and we worship through the Word. So I invite you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 will be the text this morning, as my assignment is to preach on the subject of gospel empowerment, gospel empowerment. Romans chapter 12, you can begin to read with me in verse number 1 as I read aloud. This is God's Word, and it reads as follows. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 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 you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this wonderful conference. Over the last couple of days, the privilege to be able to unpack the gospel of Jesus Christ and now to turn the pages to Romans 12 and to focus in on the calling of the Christian to be empowered by the gospel, through the Spirit of God, to live lives that put on display the glory of God. We pray this morning that You would strengthen us and encourage us and help us, O God. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. The very first English New Testament, as we remember from church history, was translated by William Tyndale. And if you know the story, of course, you know that he was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church. He was hunted down. And when they arrested him, he would then be eventually taken down, condemned as a heretic, as an enemy of the gospel, where he would be burned at the stake. Literally, his body would explode as he was burned there on that occasion. But as God would guide things in His providence, His friend, John Rogers, went to the very place where he was staying and had discovered that the authorities did not find the manuscripts of the Old Testament that he had been laboring in. So he quickly gathered those and would give himself to the translation of the Old Testament. And he would work under a false name, Thomas Matthew, and eventually, as God would guide this process, This Bible would be presented to King Henry VIII, and when he was presented with this Bible that was finally finished, translated from the original languages, and when John Rogers came to the end of Malachi to honor his friend William Tyndale, he put two large letters there, W-T. When King Henry VIII was presented with the Bible, he asked this question, does this book contain any heresy? He was assured that it did not, and so the rest is history. The first authorized Bible translated from the original languages was the Matthew Bible. Yet sometime later, John Rogers was arrested, and he was arrested not for his work in the Old Testament Scriptures, not for his translation work, but he would be arrested for his unwillingness to submit to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass, specifically the doctrine of transubstantiation. and he would be tried. He was imprisoned, and after spending over a full year in jail, he was brought to the place of his execution in February of 1555. It was there in Smithfield, England. He would be the first martyr under the reign of Queen Mary I, Bloody Mary. as they led him to the very street in Smithfield where he would be burned. He would see his wife and his 11 children as they marched on their way to that very place of execution. He would see his youngest child for the very first time in that moment. He would try to keep his emotions in check as his dear children and his wife looked upon his face to give their final goodbyes. When he arrived at the stake, the sheriff gave him one final opportunity to recant, and according to Fox's Book of Martyrs, John Roger said, quote, that which I have preached I will seal with my blood. They lit the flames. And as his body began to burn, he washed his hands in the flames and then lifted his hands high in the air. According to J.C. Ryle, quote, the enthusiasm of the crowds knew no bounds. They rent the air with thunders of applause. Ryle went on to say, for up to that day, men could not tell how English Reformers would behave in the face of death, and they could hardly believe that some would give their bodies to be burned for their religion. Now when we consider this scene, we must first go back before this scene. When we consider the stake and this body being burned, we must come to the realization that before John Rogers had offered up his body at the stake, he had first offered himself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. We must see this, and we must understand this. This is the call of the Christian life. Now, when we consider the gospel as we've heard the gospel preached through this conference, the gospel is central to the book of Romans. We must… we must learn and we must see as we study the gospel that we never come to the place where we outgrow the gospel. Friends, we never come to a place where we outknow the gospel. We never reach a place where we think that we must go beyond, transcend higher than the gospel of God. The gospel is mentioned, at least the word euangelion, some ninety-one times in the New Testament. In fact, when you survey Acts, you see Paul, the very author of Romans, preaching the gospel of God. And then here, of course, you see, as we survey the New Testament, you see in Paul's writings outside of Romans, you'll see some fifty-five times this reference to the gospel. In Romans, we see the word gospel employed eleven times. And in almost all of these instances, we find the definite article there. It is the gospel. In Romans 1.1, the gospel. Romans 1.9, we see the language, the gospel. Romans 1.15, it's the gospel. Romans 1.16, the gospel. Romans 2.16, the gospel. Romans 10.16, the gospel. Romans 11.28, the gospel. Romans 15.16, the gospel. Romans 15.19, the gospel. Romans 15.20, the gospel. But something happens. When we arrive at Romans 16, 25, after providing this monumental display of the gospel in Romans, Paul comes to Romans chapter 16, verse 25, and he calls it, my gospel. My gospel. You see, we must come to that place where we say with Paul that the gospel, the gospel that saves us, is now my gospel. And when the gospel of God is your gospel, it will impact how you live. And what he's communicating in all of these occasions in the gospel is that there is only one way to be reconciled to God. Jesus is not one of many ways to God. He is the only way. He is the exclusive way. There is salvation in no other. As we survey Romans, you come from Romans chapters 1 through 11, and you see the gospel of God that's explained with great detail, justification by faith alone in Christ alone. But then there's this hinge, as is often the case in the writings of Paul, where then we go from chapter 11 to chapter 12, where we find ourselves this morning. And in this very place here in chapter number 12, we begin this journey from 12 to 16 to see not only what we need to know about God, but how we must live a life that is obedient to God. Paul transitions, if you will, from what we are to know to this section that is devoted on how we are to live, from why we worship to how we worship. In other words, he connects orthodoxy to orthopraxy, and this is something of great importance as we consider a conference on the gospel. It is not enough to just have your head full of the gospel, now you must live out the gospel. You must live the gospel in such a way that is honoring to God and that brings glory to God. So let's look at this passage before us in verses 1 and 2, and let's consider the language of these two verses. We're going to look at two specific points today, and first, we are empowered for total surrender. Look at 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. Paul launches off in this powerful statement, and he appeals, he makes his appeal on the basis of the mercies of God, the mercies that he has been explaining in these first 11 chapters. The grace of God, speaking of the Holy Spirit, speaking of faith and righteousness, this alien righteousness, forgiveness and reconciliation, justification by faith alone. in Christ alone, the love of God, the peace of God, the joy that we have in Christ, comfort in the gospel, strength in the gospel, wisdom in the gospel, hope in the gospel, patience in the gospel, kindness in the gospel, honor, honoring God. And then, of course, we come now to this very text, and it says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. You see, it is through the gospel that we are empowered. We can't do this in the flesh, that we are empowered to total surrender. A life of total surrender. Now, this is a strange phrase employed by Paul because, you see, sacrifices were dead. Now, yes, they were brought to the very place of sacrifice alive, but then they would be slain. And so when he uses this language, there's great imagery that's here. Obviously, we see here this imagery he's pulling from the Old Testament sacrificial system. As Moses met with God, he was given the commandments to give to the people, to regulate how they were to worship him. And of course, we find language in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 24, "'An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen. In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.'" The Hebrew root for the word altar means to slay or to slaughter. And so as Moses met with God, he was likewise given the very specific blueprints, if you will, of the tabernacle. this tent-like enclosure where the Ark of the Covenant was, the very meeting place of God with His people. And then, of course, surrounding the tabernacle would have been the walls, and there would have been one entrance. And when you went through that one entrance, before your eyes could be fixed upon the tabernacle, you would come into full gaze of this blazing altar. What a scene it must have been. The altar was made of wood. It was overlaid with bronze, which is a typical sign of judgment on sin. Seven and a half feet on all four sides, four and a half feet deep. On the inside, it contained this bronze grating from which would hold the very animals that would be burnt there as an offering to God. And here's what A.W. Pink says. Quote, there it stood, ever smoking, ever bloodstained, ever open to any guilty Hebrew that might wish to approach it. The sinner, having forfeited his life by sin, another life, an innocent life, must be given in his stead. We, of course, see all sorts of offerings through the Old Testament. Of course, if we go to Leviticus, we can see the specific types, burnt offering and grain offering and fellowship offering and a sin offering and guilt offerings. But each year at Passover, there would be literally hundreds of thousands of lambs that would be herded through the streets of Jerusalem. In 2 Chronicles 35, when King Josiah celebrated Passover, he slaughtered more than 37,000 sheep. Needless to say, the Israelites understood something about sacrifices. They understood something about blood sacrifices and burnt offerings. So when Paul uses this language, he is communicating something to the Jews that would have been, of course, a part of the church at Rome, but also to apply it to both the Jew and Greek alike. A living sacrifice, a living sacrifice. And so from the commitment, if you just look at your life in terms of your commitment to God, in other words, we need to have this total surrender. It's not enough for us to just live for God on the Lord's Day or live for God at five o'clock in the evening. We must burn the bridges behind us, burn the ships, there's no turning back. and from a worship perspective. We are to offer up to God that which is acceptable. We are to give everything, heart, soul, mind, and strength to God. Do you remember when Jesus was having a dialogue with the scribe in Mark 12? He was trying to trip him up with a question to see if Jesus would actually violate the law of God. Do you remember that scene? And he asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? And Jesus responded by quoting the Shema. And he said this, Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. with all thy strength." This is the first commandment, and the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." What was Jesus communicating? Well, obviously, He's summarizing the first of the two tables when He points vertically, we are to love God supremely. And then He summarizes the second table of the commandments by pointing us horizontally, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yes. But the idea is beyond that, it's also this idea of this holistic view and commitment to God. Everything, we are to offer up everything that we are to God, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Calvin says, quote, by bodies he means not only our skin and bones, but the totality of which we are composed. He adopted this word that He might more fully designate all that we are, for the members of the body are the instruments by which we carry out our purposes." In other words, this is why Paul would use similar language as he communicates to the church in the city of Corinth when he says in 1 Corinthians 10.31, so whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, you do all to the glory of God. Everything, all that you are must be completely surrendered to God. And what does he say in verse 1? He says it must be acceptable to God, holy and acceptable to God, dedicated, consecrated to the service of God. You go back to Malachi and we see this striking, sobering scene where the priests were offering up profane sacrifices to God, that which was blind, defiled, lame, and they were rebuked for that, and rightly so. And so the idea is that God wants our best, and when it comes to us as a living sacrifice, God wants the totality of who we are. He wants all of us, and it must be holy. This is why when Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter number 1, we see in verses 14 to 16, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, all of your lifestyle, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And then, of course, acceptable, well-pleasing, approved, acceptable in the sense of pleasing a higher authority. That's the idea that's being communicated with this word. And so, how acceptable is your life, your conversation, your marriage, your family worship, and your corporate worship to God? The totality of who you are, is it acceptable to God? Every day, our youngest son goes off to school. We are committed to home education with our other three children, but our youngest, Judson, he has some special needs and he's been diagnosed with speech apraxia, which means that he's been working out some issues with not only his speech development, but also his maturity. But every day when he goes to school, at least last year, his teacher had this color-coded system whereby every single day he would be graded by a color. And of course, if he got red, it means that a note comes home and he's in trouble. And if he gets green, then that means that he was acceptable. But if he gets pink, that means that he was the very best that he could possibly be. And so every day when our son would come home, he would get off of the bus or we would go pick him up, he would be overjoyed. He could not hardly get in the vehicle fast enough to get his book bag off to try to communicate to us, to show us his folder, to show us what color he got. And on those rare occasions that he would bring home the pink color, he would be rewarded for it. But he was so interested, not so much in pleasing his friends, he wasn't interested in making sure that his behavior was acceptable to his buddies, or even to his teacher as important as she is, but most of all, to his mother and father. And you see, that's exactly what Paul is trying to communicate here, is that we need to make sure that the totality of our lives, it's not superficial, it's not something that's just being put on display to the eyes of men, but that we are offering ourselves to God as a sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. So it's not our friends or our family or this culture or anyone else that matters. Most of all, it's that God matters. a reasonable sacrifice. Logikos is the actual term that's used here to bring this idea. It literally means to be carefully thought through. It's where we derive the English term logical from. It's why it's translated here in this text as reasonable. And then the word service, latria, is the word that we could translate as worship, but it's the idea of service, your service to God. And so it's focused on the service and worship of God, the holistic life that we offer up to God, a life of worship. Oftentimes you talk to people in evangelical circles and you ask questions about worship, and they talk about when they worship. It's almost as if it's some sort of compartment that's just on the Lord's day, and in some cases, sadly, just the Lord's morning. But is your life, the totality of your life, who you are, offered up to God as a life of service that's a life of worship to God? That's what God has called us to. In the home, you are to worship God, serve God in the home. In your car, in traffic, at least where I live in the Atlanta area, it's brutal, and that's a special opportunity of sanctification nonetheless. At your job, with your fellow employees in your prayers over coffee in the early hours of the morning, in your devotional life? Are you worshiping God? Are you serving God? What about family worship? Are you serving God? What about in simple, common conversations and relationships? Are you serving God? Is it acceptable to God? You see, when we live this way, then it makes the corporate gathering on the Lord's Day that much easier, does it not? For if you're living a life of just superficiality, a trivial life that's just man-centered, then when you come into the corporate gathering, you'll be tempted to make your worship on that day man-centered as well. It's certainly a problem within evangelical circles. J.C. Ryle states the following, there is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day which many have and think they have enough, a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing and is worth nothing, end quote. We don't want to put that type of Christianity on display to a watching world. That is not Christianity at all. Second of all, not only does the gospel empower us to a life of total surrender, but in verse 2 we see that the gospel empowers us to a life of sanctification. Look at verse 2, 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." Orthodoxy must never be disconnected from orthopraxy. What we believe will actually impact how we live. And the first thing that we see in verse 2 is this idea that we are to resist the temptations of the world. Do you remember reading through the Pilgrim's Progress? Do you remember seeing when they come to the very scene of Vanity Fair? You know, it's interesting when you think about that scene as Christian is, his eyes are fixed as Abraham was on a city. on a city that has foundations, whose maker and builder is God. He wasn't interested in the trivial things of Vanity Fair. No, no. And that's the way that we must be seen in this world as we're passing on. We must live in this age of compromise, and we must see that God has provided us some boundaries. He says here in this text we are to be not conformed to this world. We live in a world that, in a culture that despises boundaries. Boundaries. Boundaries or guardrails, if you will, can be a good thing for us. We understand when we come to worship God, we are regulated by the Word, the very Word of God, the Scriptures. It operates and functions as a guardrail to show us the boundaries, what God has called us to do, and how we are to worship Him, but also in life in general. We're not to be conformed to this world. Boundaries are good. I remember traveling with my family some years ago to the Grand Canyon, and I remember the first time walking up to see the massive expanse of this canyon. And I remember watching people go beyond the border and stand on the edge of the rocks. And I actually, I'm a little, you know, I really enjoy some extracurricular, you know, stuff every now and then, as far as just entertainment is concerned, or maybe a thrill occasionally. So I made my way out on the side of this rock to walk that. It was fairly large and it got very narrow at the end. And I remember as I was walking out on this massive stone that I could sense that this wasn't a good idea, so I turned around and went back, but I watched others get very close to the edge. And as we made our way around, walking around to various sites around the Grand Canyon, you could see people constantly doing this. We got back to the car that afternoon and my My stepmom had purchased a book in the gift shop and it was all of the stories of people who have plunged to their death at the Grand Canyon. And so for the next several hours as we're traveling, she's, oh, you've got to hear this one. And she would read us another story of this person who, and some of the stories were very sad stories. A family travels many hours to see the Grand Canyon for the first time, children all excited, running full steam ahead to the edge, to the fence, and flip over the edge and off to the death. Boundaries are good. Now we're not talking about legalism here, we're talking about the very boundaries that God Himself gives us, chapter and verse. And here in this text, be not conformed to this world, the word here conformed, it literally means to form according to a pattern or a mold. It is a very powerful verb. It literally means to be stamped out of the mold. And so what's being communicated here by Paul is this, is that we are not to be stamped out after the image of this world. We are to be different. We are to be sanctified. We are to be set apart for the glory of God. And so be careful what you allow in your life. Be careful of the friendships that you allow to be close to you. Be careful of the conversations that you allow into your mind and heart. Be careful of what you watch on television. Be careful of what you listen to on the radio. Be careful of what you read in the morning. And that brings us to this next piece where sanctification is this idea of this negative prohibition followed up by a positive exhortation, renewal of the mind. But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, quote, there are people who have their heads packed with doctrine, but who don't talk about practicing it. The trouble with them, as I say, is they never really understood their doctrine, end quote. The renewal of the mind is more than just having knowledge rattling around up in your head. You see, the problem with the Reformed faith at times is that we pride ourselves on what we know, how many books we have read, how many times we've read through the Bible, how many books we have in our library, all these things. We like to pride ourselves on having knowledge. Knowledge is a good thing. But we have to live out this knowledge, and that's why the idea here is communicated, to be transformed. It's where we derive the English word metamorphosis from. We are to be different than we once were. There is to be a marked change in us. This is what we know as sanctification. And of course, the mind is extremely important in this process. J.I. Packer, in his excellent book, Knowing God, asks, quote, what were we made for? And he answers, knowing God, knowing God. What aim should we set ourselves in life, he asks, and then he answers, knowing God. James Montgomery Boyce stated years ago as he described the evangelical culture in his day, he said it was, quote, mindless times. I wonder what he would say about the evangelical culture today. Mindless. But when we think about how we use our mind, it matters. When you think about screen time, it was mentioned that I'm preaching from an iPad. Yes, brother, I am preaching from an iPad. I remember years ago, the first iPad came out, and I decided I was gonna try it out. I'm a technology guy, and I decided I was gonna try it out, so I'd been test driving it in my office for a couple of weeks, and I decided I was gonna preach my first sermon from, and I was not used to the way it structures, and you can flip the pages, or you can scroll, and so I was trying to figure out how I would use it best. And so I decided, you know, I'm gonna use it for the first time. I told my associate pastor on Sunday evening. So I went into the pulpit, kind of had it concealed. It wasn't quite as large, so I had it concealed in a little leather case, made my way into the pulpit, opened it up, sat my Bible down and began to preach. And then one of those common thunderstorms that we have in Atlanta moved through. And suddenly there was a strike of lightning and a clap of thunder and the lights just went out. except from the pulpit there was this glow coming. And my associate was sitting right here on the front, he said, be sure your sins will find you out. How we use technology matters. Screen time, average age for children to get their first phone is 10 years of age. Eight to 12 year olds spend six hours per day online. Teenagers spend nine hours per day connected to the cloud or surfing the internet or using apps on their phone, constantly connected. It's a very rare thing if you're traveling around and you see people walking on the side of the road if they don't have their, you know, some sort of connected device to their ears, they're listening to things. And before we throw the children under the bus, How many hours do you spend listening to talk radio? How many hours do you spend listening to politics unpacked on Fox News or CNN or some other news network? You see, if we're not careful, we will allow the progressive mind of the day to stamp us out so that we'll be swayed by the virtue signaling that's so commonplace within the world of social justice today. The progressive politicians continue to attack our freedom, and we'll be swayed by this. That's why Jonathan Edwards years ago wrote in his resolutions, number 28, resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently as that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same. You see, we need to make sure that we are careful about what we're putting in our mind because it will shape us, and we need to demonstrate, put on display the gospel of God in how we live. And that starts with our mind, our mind. Is God renewing our minds or are we renewing our minds? And the answer is yes. You are called to renew your mind, but you're called to obey the commandment, and it is God who empowers you in the process. This is the way it works. And then, of course, we see in this text that, here's this purpose, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The idea of proving here, this language, is not this idea of like, I'm gonna examine God's word versus some other message from the culture and see which one I think is actually true. That's not the idea. The idea is that as we are giving ourselves to the transforming power of the word in our lives, that we will see and understand that the will of God will become very, very clear to us. And when we continue to walk in obedience to God, we understand that this is a good thing, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Every single day in this life, as you journey onward, dear friend, the world, the flesh, and the devil are trying to deform you. trying to conform you, trying to transform you to be conformed to the image of this world. And so that necessitates reformation. As the world, the flesh, and the devil seek to deform us, deform our service, our life of worship, our corporate worship, then that necessitates consistent, weekly reformation, being reformed to the very Word of God, to the will of God, to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son, so that we have a life that is solideo gloria, to the glory of God alone. Jonathan Edwards labored in his ministry 300 years ago in New England, but his legacy remains strong today. He was considered to be one of the most brilliant preachers to ever come from the United States. Edwards was capable of communicating to the level of a genius or on the level of a common, unlearned Indian. Jonathan Edwards preached the most famous sermon in American history, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And many scholars and theologians have given themselves to the study of the resolutions of Edwards. They've written dissertations upon the resolutions of Edwards. These resolutions were a series of statements, much like a personal commitment in each of them, pithy and strong in many ways. Listen to some of the resolutions that Edwards penned. Number seven, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Number 56, resolved never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be. Number 41, resolved to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better. Number 28, I've already quoted, resolved to study the Scripture so steadily, constantly, and frequently as that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same, end quote. Do you perceive yourself growing in the knowledge of God or do you perceive yourself growing in the wake of culture? A man who studies the Bible with such vigor and seriousness will have precious little time to get wrapped up in critical race theory and intersectionality. But what many people fail to remember is that Jonathan Edwards was not 65 when he wrote that list of resolutions. He was not 75. He was about 18 years of age. B.B. Warfield said that Edwards, quote, stands out as the one figure of real greatness in the intellectual life of colonial America, end quote. R.C. Sproul describes Edwards' work, Freedom of the Will, as, quote, the most important theological work ever published in America, end quote. What a statement. But the reason that Edwards is celebrated today and studied today and remembered, quite frankly, three hundred years after his ministry is because of his total surrender that came through the power of the gospel. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a study was conducted upon Jonathan Edwards' descendants, and that study discovered the following. From Edwards came three hundred pastors, missionaries, and theological professors, one hundred and ten lawyers, more than sixty physicians. more than 60 authors of really influential books, 30 judges, 14 presidents of universities, numerous giants in American industry, 18 holders of major public office, three mayors of large cities, three governors of states, three U.S. senators, one chaplain of the U.S. Senate, and one vice president of the United States could all be traced back to Jonathan Edwards, a man of total surrender. My question is, is that the type of life that you long for, empowered by the gospel of God? May it be. Therefore, my brothers and sisters in Christ, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord Your labor, your service, your worship, your dedication, your commitment to God is not in vain. Let's pray together. Father, we love you and we praise you and we thank you for the privilege that you've granted to us to be here for this conference, a conference on the gospel And I pray even now, O God, that you would cause us to see the connection from what we believe and what we see in the pages of Scripture, and the greatness and the glory and the majesty of the gospel should be lived out in such a way that we put on display the gospel with our very lives. May we live in such a way that we will leave an indelible mark upon our children, our grandchildren, our fellow members within our local church, and those who might come many years after us because of a life of total surrender and a life of genuine sanctification empowered by the Spirit through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we ask this in Christ's name, amen.