WEBVTT - Giving God The Glory (Dewey Smith) 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.280 Hello evams, especially our West Coast family. We have an 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.760 announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.480 We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.280 tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.480 be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.840 these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:35.920 Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.320 Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.360 to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.600 Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.040 Let's see you there. Let's go to the message. We'll 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.800 praise the Lord. Everybody here. This is the day the 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.480 Lord had made, and let us treat joints and glad 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.880 in it. Holleylujah, God, we honor you, and we bless you. 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.839 We thank you afresh. Would you move in this place 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.160 by your mike, by your power, spirit of believing God 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.720 fall fresh on us even now, and we give you glory, 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.759 We give you honor, and we give you praise. Amen. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.880 Come on, Shot, Hollylujah to his name, Praise the Lord. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.400 What a blessing is to be here with you today, 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.679 and we thank God for Jesus. Of course, as you 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.399 can see, I am not Pastor Stephen Ferdick, and so 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.480 I apologize for those who've driven afar to be here. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.520 But God is here. We're gonna worship God together, and 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.640 we're going to praise the Lord together. Won't you join 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:50.080 me in saluting one of the most incredible leaders, communicators, proclaimers, songwriters, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:56.040 my brother, Pastor Stephen Ferdick. Come on, Praise God for him. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.200 And while you're clapping for him, praise God for Pastor 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.760 Holly as well. To God be the glory. What a 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:03.960 pleasure is to be here. I want you to do 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:05.640 my favorite right quick. Just look your right hand up, 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.840 right quick, move it down, right hand up, move it down. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.960 Okay good, I feel better now. That way, nobody can 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.760 leave her saying that the preacher didn't move me. So 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:19.000 we give God praise, but I want you to get 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:20.840 your Bible. Say we're going to jump quick into the 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:22.799 word of God. I want to look at the Book 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:27.000 of Romans, chapter twelve, a very familiar passage of scripture 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:28.840 that I want to share with you. Don't thank the 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:33.679 Praise team for just just my God, the Music Ministry 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.200 for confirming the message a very familiar passage Romans twelve one. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.079 You find these words. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.320 the mercies of God, that you present your body as 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:50.400 a living sacrifice, holy and acceptably unto God, which is 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.120 your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.560 But be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.959 that ye make prove what is that good and acceptable 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.720 and perfect will of God. Then in Roman's eleven thirty 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.799 six is our key verse. It reads, for of him 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.800 and through Him, and to him are all things to 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:21.079 whom be glory forever man. For of Him, through him, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.360 and to him are all things to whom be glory 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.480 forever man. I want you to consider this thought this morning, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.720 very simply giving God the glory. Let's give God the glory. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.160 You may be seeing the Prince of the Lord. Let's 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.600 give God the glory. My elevation family, and I shall 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.920 never forget one of my most recent birthdays. It is 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.000 nostalgic for me even now, because this was the last 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.800 birthday that all my siblings and I spent together prior 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.080 to the death of my baby brothers some years ago 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.560 and my sister a few years ago. My two older 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:58.960 sisters and my two younger brothers and I were gathered 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.480 at my old this sister's home in honor of my birthday. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.960 And when I arrived at my oldest sister's home, I 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.120 was met by my older sister at the front door, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.080 and she met me with some intriguing words. She said, Brother, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.720 I said yes. She said, I did not get you 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:18.279 a gift this year for your birthday. And I got 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.520 to admit I was a little taken aback, particularly because 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.480 I had just purchased her a gift for her birthday, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.320 you know, and so brother wanted some sense of reciprocity. 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.359 And so I began to inquire as to why she 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.080 decided to not get me a gift, and she said 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.080 something that intrigued me. She said, I didn't get you 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:38.880 a gift this year. I said why. She said, because 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.120 I was struggling with something. It's okay, Well what were 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:43.719 you struggling with? She said, I was struggling with this, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.640 what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.320 And I knew she wasn't struggling, she was just being trifling. 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.080 So I responded with my own sense of fasiciousists, what 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.960 do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? You 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.560 give them some more of what you think they seemingly have. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.640 Pretty good answer, would you say? And it was right 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.920 there in that context that God sent me a fact 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.800 straight from the Holy Ghost facts machine of Heaven. And 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:18.039 I thought about another relationship that I have, but more specifically, 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.839 the relationship that we all share with the God who 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.840 is sovereign. Because in light of my sister's questions slash statement, 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.480 what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.159 I hear Paul say to us this morning that you 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:38.000 and I ought to give God the glory, that we 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.479 ought to give God the glory. But right there, my 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.480 sister's question statement comes to bear, because how can we, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:51.600 as fallible and finite creatures, give God anything that God 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.320 does not already possess? I mean, can we give God glory? 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:02.119 When the Psalmist calls him the King of glory? Paul 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.960 refers to Christ as the Hope of glory. Another epistel 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.480 writer refers to God as the God of all glory. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.600 So how can we really give God glory if God 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.320 is already king of glory. Christ is the Hope of glory, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:18.760 and God is the God of all What can we 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.039 give to God who does not seemingly own everything, but 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.480 who actually already owns everything? And I thought about God 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.680 in creation, because God in creation knew that at times 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.320 he would have periodic needs. So what did God do? 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.960 God knew at times that he would need a word, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.840 presented a word, and so God created and urch angel 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:44.480 whose name was Gabriel. Gabriel was the word angel. Whenever 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.800 God wanted to bring a word to his people, often 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.080 he would use Gabriel. In the Book of Luke, chapter one, 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.279 verse twenty six, when he wanted to announce the birth 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:56.080 of Jesus and Bethlehem of Judea, he sent Gabriel to 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:01.359 Mary to make that heavenly annunciation. Because whenever God wanted 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.800 a word, he would use Gabriel. The Book of First 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.000 Thessalonians tells us that when chapter four and Christ comes 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.960 back in the Rapture, Paul says, for the Lord himself 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.560 shall destin from heaven with a shout with the voice 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.120 of the archangel. Scholars believe that voice would be the 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:21.280 voice of Gabriel, signifying the return of the Lord Jesus, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:26.320 because whenever God wanted a word, he would use Gabriel. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.160 But then God also knew at times that he would 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:33.360 need warfare. Warfare, so God created an archangel whose name 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.560 was Michael. Can the church say Michael and Michael is 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.160 the warfare Angel. The Book of Jude chapter one tells 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.200 us that when Moses died, there was a battle for 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:50.040 the physical remains of Moses. That battle was between the 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.520 devil and his angels and Michael and the warfare angels 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.000 from heaven. Michael and his angels won that battle, took 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.160 the body of mo Jes and buried the body in 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.400 a place where only God is aware of why, because 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.520 whenever God wanted a word, he used Gabriel. When God 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.360 wanted warfare, he used Michael. In the Book of Daniel, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.160 chapter ten, it tells us that Daniel prayed to God 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:21.120 for instructions and for direction, and for twenty one days, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.600 for three weeks Daniel was waiting to hear from God. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.720 And three weeks After this prayer, Gabriel showed up, and 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.280 Gabriel says, Daniel, from the first time you prayed Daniel 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.160 ten fourteen. From the first time you prayed, God heard 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.400 your prayer and God dispatched me, Gabriel from heaven to 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.280 bring you your answer, he says, But I was withstood 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.640 from some demonic forces around the region of Persia, and 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.559 I couldn't bring you answer because Satan's chief demons in 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:57.080 the Persian region had me held and bound. So God 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:01.720 sent Michael, the warfare angel from heaven to engage in 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.000 combat to release me to bring you your answer. Here's why, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.959 because whenever God wanted a word, often God would use Gabriel, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.880 and when God wanted warfare, God would use Michael. But 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.359 then God also knew at times that he would need worship, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.959 and so God created the archangel whose name was Lucifer, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:28.199 and Lucifer was over the praise, worship, and music departments 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.840 of heaven. But then Lucifer wanted to be like God, 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.719 and instead of glorifying God, Lucifer wanted to be worshiped, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.440 and God had to evict Lucifer from the heaveness. Luke 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.680 says that he felled as lightning from heaven. And when 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.240 Lucifer got kicked out of heaven, God never replaced him 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:55.360 with one individual who'd be responsible for worship. Because of that, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.960 John chapter four says that the Father is seeking worship 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.480 shippers who would worship God in spirit and in truth. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:11.959 And here's the reality. Gabriel is still bringing forth the word. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.240 Michael is still involved in warfare, but no single person 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.520 is responsible for worship. And since the Father is seeking worshipers, 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.800 this is the primary reason why the enemy hates you 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:31.560 and I whenever we praise God, because whenever we worship God, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.520 we literally remind the devil of the job that he 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:42.000 got fired from. And I wish I had somebody around 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.360 the Elevation Church who just take a moment and help 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:51.120 me make the devil mad for me. I mean, every 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.600 time you clap your hands, you make the devil mad. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.960 Every time you shock Holleylujah, you're making the devil mad. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.960 Come on, say t get night enough. We will bless 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:10.320 the Lord at all times, and his south continually be 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:18.680 in our mouths. Listen and see here's the reality. Paul says. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.040 For of him and through him and to him are 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.960 all things to whom be glory, that work glory. Then 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.000 the Greek is the word docsa. It means a place 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.800 of pre eminence. It means reverential adoration. It means to 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.120 make God an audience of one. Because up in the 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.040 heaven is do the cherboms and serophims bow twenty four 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.160 hours a day in perpetual obeisance to our God, who 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.360 sits on the throne. And the only time when God 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.000 is most comfortable in the earth is when we create, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.560 when we create environments that remind God of what he's 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.560 accustomed to in the heavenless. That's why the scriptures teach 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.520 us that God in habits the praises of his people. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:04.880 And so Paul says, for off him and through him, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.959 into him are all things to whom be glory forever 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.199 are man. Literally this passage in the Greek manuscripts that 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.440 were no chapters. It was one continuous flow. And so 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.280 what Paul says is God deserves to be worshiped. And 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.760 since God deserves to be worshiped, I beseech you. Therefore, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.200 my beloved brethren, that word beseech. That in the Greek 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:33.360 is the word parah clayo para, meaning alongside the verb calayo, 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:39.319 meaning to call it is a military summons para Calayoh beseech. 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.480 In the first century world, whenever those generals were preparing 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.840 for battle, they would issue a para calao for every 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.800 soldier to come and to engage in combat. Here, Paul 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.520 uses a military term to call those of us whose 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.640 soldiers of the Lord Jesus to engage and worship to 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.080 our God God a warfare that is not Colonel and 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.200 God says to Paul that if God is going to 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:11.319 be glorified, because sometimes I think we've created different identities 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.960 for what really brings glory, and unfortunately, sometimes I believe 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.520 that the things that we think glorify God may not 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.440 actually bring glory to God. So Paul says, if you 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.760 and I want to give God athenic glory is right here. 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.840 I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, by the mercies 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.640 of God, it is that you present your bodies, your soul, 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.280 maya essence all of who you are unto God. And 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.480 so the first thing that glorifies God, get this, It 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:47.840 is the upward presentation. Can somebody say the upward presentation? 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:53.920 I present, we present everything, we are, everything we have 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.520 as a vertical act of reference to God who sits 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.440 on the throne, and Paul else says, here's why we 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.280 should do this. God deserves the upwut presentation. It is 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:11.000 because we are responding to God's mercies. It is an 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.439 amazing passage. He says, I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:19.200 it is by the mercies of God. I'm urging you, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.800 I'm compelling you, I am imploring you to give God 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.800 an upward gift and upwut presentation. Why, he says, you're 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:33.880 responding to the mercies of God. Now, this is what 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.760 blew my mind because all my life I thought it 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.240 was I thought it was mercy. So we see things 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.240 like Lord have mercy. Paul says, no, it's really not mercy. 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:49.359 Mercy is really plural. The Greek word there connotes plurality. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.880 That's why it says mercies of God, not just one. 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.560 But it is plural mercies of God. Paul says. It 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.640 is not singular mercy because God is too inexhaustible to 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.800 be relegated by singular abride. It is not mercy. It 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:15.840 is mercies, meaning anything that God has deliberately withheld from 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.280 each of us. That we rightly deserved. It is a 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:25.440 type of mercy. It is one of God's mercies. Anything 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.840 that God has deliberately and intentionally withheld from us that 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:34.720 we deserved is one of his mercies. Can let me 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.840 come this way? Perhaps there are some of you who 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.440 are in town for the football game yesterday, the HPCU Classic, 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.960 And maybe some of you remember back in your college 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.880 days twenty five or thirty years ago at North Carolina 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.840 Central A and t or Duke, or at Davison, or 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.080 at North Carolina State or at the University of North Carolina. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.680 Some of you remember some of your college days before 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.960 you be in church at nine thirty on the sun 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.600 the morning before you had given your life to God. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.760 Some of us football season, we have gone out on 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.040 Saturday and all day long watching the game, and some 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.720 of us would have imbibed on some beverages that were 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.800 not necessarily kool aid, iced tea or communion. Come on, 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.880 talk to me, somebody, somebody remembers back in your BC 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:25.120 days before Christ Days. Perhaps you consume some things that 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.720 you should not have consumed, and if you're not careful, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.400 you could have consumed too much of what you should 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.080 not have been consuming in your college days, and even 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.600 in your inebriation and in your intoxication when you got 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:42.280 behind a wheel of an automobile. Somehow, some way, in 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.920 spite of our irresponsibility, God allows you to get back 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.040 to your dorm room or your apartment safely. You didn't 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.480 get a hicclahomicide or a DUI. Can I tell you 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.360 what it was. It was not because you are a 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:02.840 coherent driver. It's not because of the dictrity of your senses. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.160 The only reason you made it back safely, in your 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:11.080 inebriation and your irresponsibility, is because God gave you a 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.960 drunk mercy. Am I talking to somebody who can look 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.399 back over your life and testify I've been done that, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.359 But I'm thankful for as mercy. Okay, all right, maybe 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.720 you've never had alcohol before, but maybe in nineteen eighty 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.320 five when you were in love with Charlie or june Bug. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.080 You remember him. He had the crew cut or the 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.879 Jerry curl and were the members only jacket and the 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.240 Jordash jeans, and you fell in love with Charlie or 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.680 june Bug. But he left your heart when he married 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.720 Melissa or famee Quisha and you thought your life was over. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.800 You thought the sun rose and sat on them. But 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.919 you went back to your thirty fifth class reunion and 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.439 the first person you saw was Charlie or June Bug 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:58.000 and they had that same crew cut Jerry Curle members 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.880 only jacket, short ash jean with three teeth in their mouths, 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.600 and one of them was gold. And you look your 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.840 hands right in the class for you, and it said, Lord, 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.080 I thank you for a breakup mercy. I thank you 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.320 for the things that you have provided and prevented. And 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.200 am I talking to somebody who can look back over 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.320 your life and see stuff God that's kept you from you? 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:27.560 All give God the offput presentation and give God glory holeymia. 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.720 And so Paul says here that this offput presentation, that 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.439 you're responding to his mercies. And then Paul says, it 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.399 is a reasonable mandate. I beseech you, therefore, my beloved brethren, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.359 by the mercies of God, that you present your body 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:53.760 as a living sacrifice, A living sacrifice. That is interesting. 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.320 I need to dig that for a moment. That word 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.160 living is the word zio in Greek, where you get 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.800 the word zoology from through Sayah living za o through 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:07.480 Sayah living sacrifice. Now this is very very interesting because 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:12.280 they brought in the first century an Old Testament with 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.840 the Greeks would have called to God the pak fistko 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.520 through Sayah, which is a dead sacrifice. Some of you 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.760 remember in the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty two, God 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.399 told Abraham, Abraham, take your son Isaac up on Mount 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:33.040 Mariah to offer him as a sacrifice under God. Abraham 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.719 gets his son Isaac. They go up on Mount Mariah. 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.160 He builds the altar, he has a knife, he has 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.040 a wood, he has the dagger. He gets ready to 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.960 kill his son to offer him as the pok fist 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.480 go through Saleh under Jehovah. And right before he gets 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.040 ready to kill his son to offer him as a 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.080 dead sacrifice, God speaks to him and say, if Abraham 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.719 lay no hand on the lad, look in the thicket, 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:01.000 there's a ram there. Release your son and get the ram, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.480 the lamb to offer the lamb the ram as a sacrifice. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:09.240 Because in the Old Testament God only accepted dead sacrifices. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.480 In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses to go 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.159 to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh to let the people go. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.480 God sends ten plagues. And then God speaks to them 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.000 and say, tell the people in Egypt that they should 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.439 get a lamb, kill the lamb, and put the blood 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.480 of the lamb on the door post, because this night 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:32.120 in Egypt, the Death Angel is coming through Egypt, and 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.560 if the blood of the lamb has not been applied 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.560 to the door post, the death Angel will go into 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.639 that home to kill the first born. Because in the 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.480 Old Testament they had to bring unto God pigeons, turtles, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.320 you lambs for the priests to kill to apply the 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:52.240 blood to offer as an ocpacracist go through sale a 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.560 dead sacrifice under God. In the Old Testament they had 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:01.119 to bring dead sacrifices. But Paul says in this text 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.960 that since we no longer live by a legalistic millie, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.560 that since we no longer live under the law, that 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:15.160 God doesn't deserve a dead sacrifice. And our pop fisto 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.879 through sail. Paul says, God wants a si through sayl, 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:24.960 a living sacrifice. And I don't know about you, but 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:29.520 when God rode by this morning in his golden chariot, 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:35.040 chauffeured by the invisible winds, and dispatch his darling angels 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.879 to touch our bodies with the finger of love in 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.320 our eyes. I think it came open to greet the 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.880 vergin light of a brand new day. We rest under 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:49.359 the canopy of God's benevolence, favor, and grace. And since 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.280 you and I are alive today, how dare us enter 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.800 into this beautiful place? Or watch online and give God 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:05.080 a dead sacrifice? God deserves a life, worship and a 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:12.200 life praise and live glory to God lives giving live service, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:18.159 life praise. The Bible says, let every thing that hath breath, 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.080 which means you alive, praise ye the Lord, and do 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.800 me a favor. When you come to worship, get here 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.600 in time enough to make sure you're seated by the 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.359 right people. And here's how you know if you're seated 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.159 by the right people. Just get on your role and 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.920 hollow at your role. And if you holler at your 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:40.600 role and nobody hollers back, that's the wrong road to 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.800 sit on. No, when you come to worship, you ought 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.160 to look at somebody and say halle If they don't 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.000 say Lujah, find somebody else to sit by, because you 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:52.399 want to be besides somebody who has some life and 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.040 has some energy and some praise. Is there anybody in 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.440 this place who came to give God a live worship? 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:10.320 I'm living sacrifice, nothing dead. But I'm letting sacrifice and 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:18.000 so and so. The upward the upward presentation, it's you're 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.040 responding to His mercies. Is the least that you and I. 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:26.560 It's a reasonable service, a reasonable worship. Then, Paul says, listen, 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.800 once we give God the upward presentation. Secondly, in order 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:36.399 to glorify God, listen, he says. Go backwards from conformation. 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:46.000 Say backwards from conformation, not confirmation, conformation. Listen what he 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.760 says in verse two, and be not conformed. He says, 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:55.240 don't assimilate, don't fashion yourselves into the Ion, which is 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.280 the spirit of the world. Very powerful passes because at 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:02.760 the time of the first Entry, Rome was considered to 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:07.399 be the citadel of the Caesars. Rome was the darling 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:10.520 of the human race. When Paul wrote in the first century, 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.320 Rome was at home of Claudius and Caligula, of Nero Antiberius. 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.199 It was a place where barbarity was celebrated. It was 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.720 the darling of the whole world. And Paul's ultimate desire 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.760 was to get Trome because it was the citadel, it 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.720 was the Darling, it was the Empire. But there were 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:32.360 some believers who had moved into Rome. But Rome had 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:37.480 historically been paganistic and pantheistic and polytheistic, and the message 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.400 of Christ. Paul wanted that to be paramount in Rome. 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:45.159 But the challenge was this, when believers had begun to 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.960 develop and grow in Rome, the spirit of the age 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:56.240 was so intense that you couldn't demarcate between the saints 0:24:56.280 --> 0:25:02.080 in Rome versus the Ans in Rome. Paul was saying 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:06.040 that many of the believers had been affected by this 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:11.320 Roman spirit that did not prioritize Christ. It was about 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:15.800 the empire and power and greed and selfishness. And Paul says, 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:21.280 in order to glorify God, don't conform to what's happening 0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:25.040 in the world, all the craziness that you see around you. 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:29.800 Don't ever allow those things to become your reality. And 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:32.280 let me share with you. I believe this passage is 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:36.720 incredibly relevant because even now, there is a spirit in 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:41.159 this age that has troubled my spirit. It's kept me 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:45.320 up at night, a spirit of the age that's destroying 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:49.840 relationships and causing people to fall out. It is a 0:25:49.920 --> 0:25:54.639 spirit of political divisiveness and ideology, and the spirit of 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:58.800 separation and the spirit of division. You can't even watch 0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:02.520 the news now with out ended up being nauseous and 0:26:02.560 --> 0:26:06.040 having a headache. So much hatred in the world Christians 0:26:06.119 --> 0:26:11.160 believers black and white, and a Church of God versus Baptists, 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:14.119 and it seems that we can't get along because the 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:18.640 spirit of this age has made so many prioritized politics 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:21.520 over the Kingdom of God. Let me share with your 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:26.199 brothers and sisters. We should vote our political perspectives. We 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:30.160 should vote our convictions. We should vote and promote our beliefs. 0:26:30.160 --> 0:26:34.120 We should be civically engaged. But we should never believe 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:39.480