January 21, 2024
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Romans 12:3-13
We have more communication technology, but less person to person communication. We have more social media, but less time socializing together. We’ve supersized our stuff, but we’ve downsized our time with others. As a result we are becoming more and more isolated from our families and communities. That’s why the call of Christ is a simple call to a personal relationship. Jesus says, “Come, follow me.” Jesus wants to connect us to God and to God’s family.
In the book of Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul appealed to believers to fully devote themselves to God, which would lead to a transformed and renewed mind that would know and follow the will of God (Rom.12:1-2). He then instructed them in the new way they were to think of themselves and one another in Christ. We can have this new way of thinking of ourselves and one another in Christ.
January 29, 2023
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Romans 12:1-2
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discipleship
Have you learned to pray as Jesus did? Asking for the Father’s will in your life? Do you struggle with knowing and doing God’s will? Most Christians don’t have trouble knowing it, they have trouble obeying it. Why? Because we have what Willard calls “the splintered will.” This is a will that has been “splintered,” corrupted and turned against itself by choosing to its own way, rather than God’s. The splintered will asks, “How can I get my way?” Rather than, “How can I please God?” Manipulation, deception, seduction, and malice replace transparency, sincerity, and goodwill, as exaltation of self replaces submission and service to God.
But what would it look like for our hearts, our wills, to be in total alignment with God’s heart and will? Is this way of life even possible? In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he appealed to believers to fully submit themselves to God for renovation of the will, transforming it to know and follow God’s will.
June 26, 2022
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Romans 12:1-13
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discipleship
God wants His people to be more than attenders of church services and programs. For gospel saturation to begin to happen in our city, God’s people must be transformed by the power of His Spirit. Transformation cannot be programmed by any leader, no matter how gifted.
Has your life been transformed by faith in Jesus? Are you becoming more like Jesus in character and behavior? How has your life been changed by faith in Christ? And if it hasn’t changed, don’t you want it to change? Life Transformation happens when we make Jesus King and Lord over our lives! In the 12th chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he appealed to the believers in Rome to give themselves fully to the Lord that He might transform their lives. We can give ourselves fully to the Lord that He might transform our lives.
November 21, 2021
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Romans 12:9-21
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exposition
How do you want to be known? Or another way to consider this is to ask, how do you want to be remembered? What kind of a legacy will you leave when you die? Will they talk about the business you built? Or the job you did so well? Maybe the possessions you passed on to your family? How will you be known and remembered?
What if you could be known for the greatest thing of all? What if you could be known for your genuine and sincere love? While 1 Corinthians 13 might be considered the most beautiful description of love found anywhere, Romans 12:9-21 is the most practical and succinct. Paul taught how we can be marked by God’s genuine love! In the 12th chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, having called believers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, he described how God’s genuine love would transform all their human relationships. We can let God’s genuine love be the mark of all our relationships.
November 14, 2021
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Romans 12:3-8
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exposition
How are you getting through the day? Have you believed the lie that you belong to yourself, that you’re responsible for discovering the meaning of your own life? The beginning of wisdom and of self knowledge, is to first know God and then know ourselves. And to know God, we must give ourselves fully to him. As we learned in Romans 12:1-2, Paul called believers to give themselves fully to God and be transformed by the renewing of their minds, so that they might discern and know the will of God.
Now in Romans 12:3-8, Paul instructed believers to think with this transformed and renewed mind, so that they might rightly discern and know themselves. We can rightly know ourselves.
November 7, 2021
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Romans 12:1-2
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exposition
Would you say that you have given your life fully to the Lord Jesus and experienced the transformed life that the gospel promises? Do the people around you, family and friends, take note that your life is different than it was before you placed your faith in Christ? If not, why not? The truth is that many Americans who call themselves Christians are more apt to share the beliefs and practices of the secular culture than they are the beliefs and practices found in the Scriptures. They aren’t leading transformed lives and therefore, those who are outside the faith see no attraction to the faith.
Yet Paul saw that believing and receiving Christ as Lord would mean giving ourselves completely to Him in order to truly experience the transformed life–– the life that reveals Christ in us for His glory. In chapter 12 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he appealed to believers to give themselves completely to God, so that they might experience a truly transformed life. We can give ourselves completely to God and experience a truly transformed life.
September 30, 2018
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Romans 12:1-5
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worship
We all have a basic human need for physical touch. It’s definitely an important love language. But how can we apply it to expressing our love and worship of God? We can offer our physical bodies to God as worship. We can say, “Jesus, you offered your body to save us, so we’re offering our bodies back to You as worship. Use us to touch someone in Your name!” In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul appealed to believers that they offer their bodies to God as worship. We can offer our bodies to God as our expression of worship.
September 11, 2016
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Romans 12:1-2
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discipleship
Do you feel like your are running in place sometimes or just not moving at all? Sometimes we can feel that our lives have no meaning or that we are going nowhere. We often put our focus or our worship on things that don’t move us or give us meaning. Newton’s first law of motion says that, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” You may feel this way now, like a stagnant person or a person in motion towards the wrong things. God has designed us for more. He is the unbalanced force that can get us not only moving but moving in the right direction.
In the book of Romans, Paul appeals to his fellow believers that they would become living sacrifices as worship before God. He tells the believers in Rome that their worship of Jesus will transform their life. We too can be transformed by our worship and witness of Jesus.