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and again. Hear me say it again and again and again. Oh, again and again.

God, hear me. Say it again. Amen.

I love you, Lord. For your mercy never fails me. All my days I've been held in your hand.

From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Cuz all my life you have been faithful.

And all my life you have been so so good. With every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.

I love your voice. You have led me through the fire and darkest night life. You are close like no other.

I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. And I have lived in the goodness of God.

Cuz all my life you have been faithful. Oh yes you. All my life you have been so so with every breath that I am able.

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me.

Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now.

I give you everything, oh Lord. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me.

Your goodness is running. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Your goodness is running. It's running to me. My life surrender now.

I give you everything. Everything. Your goodness is running out.

It's running out. And all my life you have been faithful. And all my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am aable.

I'm going to sing of the goodness of God. I'm going to sing all of my life. So with everyone I'm going to sing of the goodness of God.

Yes, I am sing of the goodness of God. Oh, I'm going to sing of the goodness of God. Praise God.

I'm a little emotional this morning. You serve a g great God. When I look at the hearts of the people and the eyes of the people, it's like something is going on within.

Sometimes it's hard for us to express how we feel. Have somebody been checking on you and you just feel alone. But I dropped by on this great Sunday morning to let you know that God loves you.

He's here for you. You're in the right place. Don't think that you're not because you're in the right place.

I want to let you know he loves you. He loves you. He loves you.

He loves you. If you hear that voice that he don't, if someone let you down turn their back on you, God will not do it. He's faithful in all things.

Can we stand up on our feet and begin to call upon the name of the Lord? cuz I believe in the hour that we living in, we need to pray some intense prayers. We need the Lord.

Somebody may got an answer um this week a bad report didn't get the answer they wanted to get. Somebody may be need to be delivered from drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, gossip, anxiety. I don't know.

But I know he's able. I know he's able. He's able.

He's able. He's able. He's able.

He can do it. He He can do it. He won't let you down.

I'm not trying to prolong it, but he won't let you down. He won't do it. Lord Jesus, we praise and thank you for this day.

Lord, I know I heard from you. I know I heard your voice say. Your people are weighed down.

They're going through. They don't know how to express themselves. Ohmy God, ask you to begin to speak and move and minister.

Oh, in between the pews, up and down the highways. Lord God, begin to touch like never before. Someone may be carrying a lot of pain, may be confused, Lord.

Let them know that you're not the author of confusion. Let them know they in pain. That you can heal them.

You can deliver them, Lord God, with all different types of situations. I rebuke any demonic evil spirit that try to rise up in this house this morning in Jesus' name. I dismiss it.

I rebuke it. send it back to hell in the name of Jesus. Now, mighty God, BEGIN TO RESTORE, RESTORE, REJUVENATE, and revive right now in Jesus' name.

Come on, let's pray. God can do it. He can do it.

Somebody may have kidney issues. Somebody may have other type of issues going ON IN THEIR LIVES. THEIR EYES, I don't know, anxiety.

He can do it. He can heal. He can set free.

YES, HE CAN. SOMEBODY may be an emotional wreck. SOMEBODY MAY BE OVERWHELMED, but God can deliver you.

Yes, he can. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Be with us, oh God, in this service. Have your way and do whatever you want to and however you choose to do it in Jesus' name. Amen.

How many know that we serve a great God? Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

knew nothing. What a guy. What a god.

What a god. What a god. What a god.

>> I thought you'd shows for the lost. No, it's not. No, it's not.

>> No, it's not. No, it's not. What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

What a God. What a God. What a God.

What a God. What a God. What a God.

If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I done it all. If the best thing that I seen is your glory, then I seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever.

Satisfied. God, you are my everything. If the highest place I reaches at your feet, then I done it all.

If the blessing that I seen is your glory. Then I seen it all. Your love has changed my life.

Forever sisfied. God, you are my everything. If one word is the only thing you see, then I heard it all.

If I feel your heart has ever seisfy, but you are my Everything God you are my everything. God you are my >> What a God. What a God.

What a God. What a God. What a God.

What a God. Oh, what a God. What a God.

>> Yeah. It's the highest. It's the highest place I reaches at your feet.

And I've done it all. It's the best thing that I see is your glory. >> And I've seen it all.

Your love has changed my life forever. You are my everything. If one word is the only thing you speak, then I heard it all.

If I feel your heart and never see your hand, I still have it all. No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. God, you are my everything.

God, you are my everything. God, you are my everything. If the highest place I reach is at your feet.

Then I done it all. If the best thing that I seen is your glory. Then I seen it all.

Your love has changed my life. Forever sisfied. God.

If one word is the only thing you speak, then I heard it all. If I feel your heart and never see your hand, I still have it all. Your love has changed my life.

Forever sisfied. God, you are my God. You are my everything.

Say God, you are my everything. God, you are my inar. You are my everything.

>> Say, God, >> you are my everything. You are everything God. You are my everything.

>> God, you are God. You are my God. You are >> my everything.

>> I am. >> You're my everything. >> You are my highest.

In the highest, in the highest place I reaches at your feet. Then I done it all. And the best thing that I see is your glory.

Then I seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever. Sisfied.

You are my everything. If one word is the only thing you'll see, then I heard it all. If I feel your heart and ever see your hand, I still have it all.

Your treasure of this life forever. You are my everything. God, you are my everything.

Oh God, you are my angels bow before him and heaven and earth adore him. What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

Angels bow before him and heaven and earth adore him. What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. >> Angels bow before.

>> Heaven and earth adore. >> What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a God.

What a God. >> What a God. What a God.

>> What a God. What a God. >> What a God.

What a God. >> Angel bow before. >> Heaven and earth adore.

>> What a God. What a God. >> What a God.

What a God. >> What a God. What a God.

>> What a God. What a God. >> What a God.

What a God. >> What a God. What a God.

What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

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>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god. >> What a god.

What a god. >> What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. >> Angels bow before him and heaven and earth adore him. What a God.

What a God. >> What a God. What a God.

>> What a God. What a God. >> What a God.

What a God. >> Angel bow before you. And heaven and earth adore.

What a God. What a God. >> What a God.

What a God. >> What a God. What a God.

>> What a God. What a God. You are my God.

You are my say God. >> If you're everything, say God, you are >> my everything. >> Nothing can replace you, God.

>> That's why you're my everything. >> God, you are. You are my >> Say God.

>> You are my Hallelujah. >> Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Hallelujah. Come on, let's lift him up. God, you're great.

You're great. And you're greatly to be praised, oh God. We thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Amen. Amen.

As they're singing that song there, that last phrase, you know, you are my everything. How much different would our world be if people could truly live with a mindset that he is everything to me. I think it may have been DL Moody that said that the world is yet to see what can happen through one person who's fully surrendered to God.

Amen. We're we're people who like our independence. We like our autonomy.

We like to establish our boundaries and have our walls of protection. And I'll go this far. I'll do this much, but I'm not going to go that far.

And nobody's going to have too much influence on me. I'm going to maintain the right to do what I think is right for me. Nothing wrong with that.

I understand we got a lot of hurt people. We got a lot of reasons why you want to protect yourself. Uh, you know, but well, I guess we just celebrated 250 years of America.

We celebrate that document called the Declaration of Independence. But when it comes to the kingdom of God, we need our Declaration of Dependence. Amen.

We've got to be totally dependent on God. How much more could God do? I think there's people that's hungry in this church today.

I feel the spirit of the Lord is hungry to do something in somebody's life. I feel a spirit wanting to impact somebody here today. Amen.

Let's take another moment and love him right now. God, I open my heart to you. I open my heart.

I open my spirit. I open my mind, my soul. I want you to have complete control.

I want you to be my everything, dear God. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus.

Let me just encourage you to keep your heart and your mind, your spirit opened up throughout this service. You feel God leading you, you feel God pulling at you, go ahead and respond. No matter where we're at in the service, no matter what's going on, respond to what God is doing in your heart.

Amen. Throughout this service, we want to go to the Lord in prayer right now. Uh we want to pray for two requests up here.

Brother Cochman, Michelle Crosby. Also want to continue to pray for brother brother Webster, Sister Janet. Also, Brother Marcus God's not able to be here today.

Needs a touch in his body. I'm sure there's other needs. So, just feel free to lift up your hand right now.

You got a need in your life or a need that you're close to and you believe God. How many believe God can do a work? Amen.

Lift up hand right now. Everybody who believes God can do a work. God can do a He's a miracle worker.

Amen. Let's take these needs of the Lord right now. God, I thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for your goodness, oh God. I thank you, Lord, for your greatness. Thank you, Lord, for the desire I feel you have, Lord, to touch people, to direct people.

to involve people, Lord, to change circumstances, to work miracles, oh God, to heal, to provide. Nothing's too hard for you, Lord. Every one of these that's struggling embody.

We ask you to release your power, your healing power, your virtue, dear God. Let it flow. Let people experience Lord the power of your presence in this service today God right now every need Lord every need whatever it is God let them feel the influence of your spirit Lord working in their life working in their situation.

Hallelujah God. Hallelujah God. Thank you Jesus.

Thank you Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Lord bless you. You can be seated. So good to have each of you here today.

If you're a guest, we're so honored and thankful that you decided to worship with us today and hope you'll feel free to come back. Uh, so hope you filled out a connection card. If you have not, well, there's a QR code there on that pew in front of you there.

Scan that with your phone. But we just love to have your information, be able to stay in touch, also be able to give you an invitation to a VIP breakfast that we have occasionally, just give my wife and I time to sit down with you, get better acquainted, uh, just let you know who we are, tell you about our church, and give us an opportunity to get acquainted with you and you get acquainted with us. So, I hope you filled out that connection card.

Amen. And I want to remind you some of our regular activities here at Christian Life Church has Spanish service this afternoon at 3:00. Have celebrate recovery every Tuesday at 6:30.

Then midweek matters every Wednesday at 7 o'clock. I want to remind you that this on July 25th, our church is having a community event here having a free yard sale. Everything will be on the parking lot.

It's just free something you can use. Just take it with you. Want to be a blessing to our community.

We're also going to have a free book bag giveaway on this day as well for those that can get here in time to get one. But we've got quite a few. Appreciate Sister Kathy what she's done to help coordinate this.

And uh if you've got any questions about how you can be involved or how you can be a help, we'll just see Sister Kathy over here. She can give you a little guidance. And my wife has something say to say this morning here.

What a God. I woke up thinking about that song today and it's just like wow. I walk in here and hear it being sung and it's just what a God.

There's a song I sang when I was a teenager at home and I said Jesus is everybody's everything. He's the song we sing when we're all alone. And that's just it.

He's everything we need. He's everything we need. Can I get an amen?

He's everything we need. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Um, I'm actually supposed to make an announcement. Today is the last Sunday for a mother's memorial. Some of you ladies are very aware and give tremendously every year, but our mother's memorial offering goes to help orphanages and uh, Bible school students overseas and buys appliances for missionaries and a whole lot of things.

And um, we do this every year. And so if you want to give when we have the offering, um, please designate it or I'm the pastor's wife, so I'm just seeing here if I can pull some strings. Anyway, just give for Mother's Memorial one last time.

On Wednesday, I have to report our offering. But let me give you a praise report. This morning, I found out that there's one little lady in Spartanberg last year.

She determined she wanted to give 10,000. And if you saw her, you'd know she's not really, you know, she couldn't give 10,000, but she got donations and she gave over 10,000 by herself last year. This year at ladies conference, she came up to me and said, "I'm going to double it." And I said, "Well, praise the Lord." And in the back of my human mind, I was thinking, "Ain't no way." And some of y'all know Sister Brenda Chapman, she's a miracle.

She loves God with her whole heart. She would have been dancing and shouting across the front of here this morning singing What a God. And she's given two 20,000 dollars to Mother's Memorial by herself.

I just think that's she Yeah, she deserves it. So if you give, God gives back, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Bless you.

>> Amen. Amen. Well, it's time for an offering.

Quite an introduction there, but our ushers are going to come at this time. And if you'd all stand with us, uh, I heard about three college students in New York that they went in together and pulled together $20 to buy a used couch at the Salvation Army to put in their dorm room. And they noticed while they were sitting on it a while, they kept noticing it was lumpy.

And they kept wondering what these lumps are, you know. And they finally opened the thing up to see what was causing these lumps while they were trying to set on it. And they found out that this $20 couch they bought at Salvation Army had over $40,000 stuck inside that thing.

Now, according to one estimate, listen to this. According to one estimate, there are as many as 10 million couches in the United States. And on average, every couch has $155 in lost coins.

So just cleaning out every couch in the US would raise over $15 million. So maybe we need to have a couch potato offering here one of these days. But you know what?

Proverbs 3:9 says, "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase." So, let me just remind you here today that giving our best offering, the best offering we can give to God comes from our heart, not from our couch. Amen. We believe that God wants every one of us to give of our time, talents, and our treasure as we advance his kingdom.

Amen. So, thank you for your faithfulness as we move forward and trying to advance the kingdom of God in this area here doing what God's called us to do. Sir Ushers, they're going to be coming through the sanctuary here to give you the opportunity to give.

They'll be receiving offering. You can also scan the QR code. You can give through our Giblify app from your phone.

There's also a credit card terminal in the back if you want to swipe your plastic. Uh but God will bless this offering, I believe, and help us to use it, be good stewards of what he provides. Amen.

So, let's pray together right now. God, I thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give.

Pray that you'll bless these as they sacrificially give as well as giving of our first fruits, God, which is is uh expected according to your word, God. Help us to do our best, Lord. Giving from our heart, be a blessing to your kingdom, receive these gifts, receive these offerings, dear God, and help us to have wisdom and guidance to put it to good use.

Be good stewards, Lord. Give back in abundant ways, God. We ask it all in Jesus name.

In Jesus name. Amen. Lord bless you as you give today.

>> Come on put your hands together. Allelujah. You give all the praise.

We say allelujah. We give all the praise. Halle.

Hallelujah. You get all the praise. We say hallelujah.

You get all the praise always. I've got a God who is for me and he known for making. He fought the battle so I wouldn't have to.

All glory belong to his name. Yeah, I've got a God who's been faithful more than I could explain. And through every season, in spite of my weakness, he gave me a song I can sing.

I came to praise. I came to praise. That's why I woke up today.

I came to praise. We say hallelujah. You get all the praise.

We say hallelujah. You get all the praise. And I got a king who is risen.

He put my shame in the grave. went to hell and back and now I'll never have to. And he did it all in three days.

I came to pray. >> I came to pray. >> That's why I woke up today.

>> That's why I woke up today. I came to praise. We say hallelujah.

You get all the praise. We say hallelujah. You get all the praise always.

I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night. I'm singing the battle.

That's how I fight. I'm singing he's holy. I'm singing it twice.

I'm singing he's holy. The rest of my life. I'm singing in the morning.

I'm singing at night. I'm singing the battle. That's how I fight.

I'm singing these holy I'm singing it twice. >> I'm singing holy rest of my life. I'm singing holy rest of my life.

Allelujah. You get all the praise. We say hallelujah.

You get all the praise allelujah. You get all the praise. We say hallelujah.

You get all the praise. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night.

I'm singing the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing he's holy.

I'll sing it twice. Twice. I'll sing these holy rest of my life.

You get all the praise. All the way. I came to praise.

I came to praise. Get out of my way. Get out of my way.

I came to praise. Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Isn't it good to be in the Lord's presence in God's house on this beautiful Sunday?

It's been roasting hot and I'm grateful that we've got a slight amount of relief. It feels better outside, but it's good to be in God's presence with God's people. We just one more time just clap our hands to the Lord together and just acknowledge.

>> Amen. It's just good to be in a church where things are happening, where the Lord is working. Uh several weeks ago, uh brother Estus um had preached a sermon or had made a comment during one of his or during his sermon.

It was somewhat unrelated to the actual sermon itself, but there was just a point in the sermon where he made an important observation about the Christian life. He said you can't, and I if I misquote you, forgive me. You can clean it up later.

Sorry. The idea the idea what he was getting at, he's like you you can't go uh pedal to the metal your entire walk with God. You know, there there are seasons uh to what the Lord is is doing in our individual lives and also in our church as a whole.

There are just seasons. And this is this is just true to the rhythm of life. It's true to the the week where, you know, one day a week we rest.

And there there's just time after time in scripture, this has proven to be to be true over and over again. But I do really feel, and this is based on conversations with people in the church, based on uh some of our our prayer services, that the Lord really is just working in our church. And I do feel that the Lord is taking us into a season in which he wants to take us either whether the term be deeper or whether or not it's a a reconsecration or whether or not it's just a dedication of our lives and and a just a time to evaluate our commitment to the Lord.

I feel like that's a theme for even what pastor had mentioned even at the kind of the the middle portion of the service here and that is certainly a theme of my message today. Charles Browski was a poet. He's an atheist, by the way.

He's an alcoholic. Uh, but several years ago, I came across a quote of his that I found to be powerfully true in spite of the fact he's an atheist and seems like his life was pretty miserable. If you lift up the hood on it, uh, he does have a quote that I think is powerfully true.

He says in a letter or a mock letter, "My dear, find what you love and let it kill you. Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all.

Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly. But it's much better to be killed by your lover.

I don't know if Burkowski read the Bible or knew too much about the Apostle Paul, but in a sense he is getting at a similar theme that is visited by Paul in his letter to the Romans uh in what is a very very familiar text and a foundational truth upon which this sermon that I'm going to preach today rests. I'm sure you've heard this uh uh text many many times. Uh it's a critical text.

is an important text. I won't say anything new about it. I will simply remind you about it.

Paul's letter to the Romans is his magnum opus of the gospel. If you uh uh I just for fun I I I just Googled that to see what AI would say. What is Paul's magnum opus of the gospel?

So even AI knows that Romans is Paul's magnum opus on the gospel. And we're going to pick up in chapter 12. And for the first 11 chapters of this book, the first 11 chapters, he has brilliantly proclaimed why the gospel as well as Jesus is worth falling in love with.

And in that crash but effective words of Bowski, why you should let the gospel kill you. The Apostle Paul said it a little more eloquently than Bkowsk's blunt words. I'll read this familiar verse in Romans 12:1.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. This was Paul's letter to the church in Rome, but it's also God's letter to us.

I wish Paul's a heavyweight. I'm lightweight. I wish Paul was standing in this pull pit today to say it, but he is these are his words inspired by God to the church.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, I beseech you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies, this is for all of us, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. What a powerful verse of scripture. The purpose of my message today is to convince you or to remind you to both convince you or remind you that the greatest privilege that you and I can have in this life is being a living sacrifice for the glory of the Lord.

Amen. Let's clap our hands to the Lord. Thank him for his word.

Lord, help us to receive it today, to believe it, to put our faith and our confidence in it, Lord, and to live it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. I beseech you, brethren. This portion of the text is critical in that Paul is acknowledging men and women in Rome who are new to the Christian faith.

They are Gentiles mostly. There's some Jewish folks there who have a greater understanding of what it means to walk in God's paths and live in his ways. But many of them are Gentiles.

So they are men and women who have not yet been trained in God's ways. So they have received the message of the gospel. They've heard the good news.

They've turned away from their life of sin and towards Jesus. They believe the message of Christ. They did not reject him, but they received him.

They have responded to the gospel. These folks in Rome had already been baptized. They have already been filled with the spirit.

From what we know from Paul's other letter to churches like the church in Rome, like in the church in Corenth, likely the spiritual gifts were in operation. Uh things were happening in their midst. Yet the apostle Paul here clarifies the now what of the gospel.

You have received the gospel. Your life has been changed and transformed by the gospel. Now what?

Now what? Remember this this this message for for you today is is if you don't haven't heard the gospel, if you don't know anything what it's like to live for God, I'm I'm not preaching this message to tell you to present your life as a living sacrifice to save yourself. This is to the church.

This is to people who have already recognized that they cannot save themselves. That we are helpless without the Lord. And it's only because of his grace that we are in this house today and our lives have been transformed and we have the power to live for him.

But there is a now what? A now what. And in this particular now what moment this text is a transition from what you have received from God to what is required of you.

What you have received from God to what is required of you. And the language here is a language of elevation. It's a language of calling you upward.

It's a movement from where you are right now to the place where God wants you to be. I beseech you, brethren, that you present yourselves. Present a sacrifice is the role of a priest.

To present a sacrifice is the role of a priest. That's foreign language to us because we don't make sacrificial offerings. But both the Jews and the pagans all understood that when you present a sacrifice that is a priestly role.

In other words, Paul Paul's saying, "You are brothers and sisters in Christ, but God is calling you to move into the role of a priest. You are brothers and sisters in Christ, but God is calling you to step into the role of a priest. This isn't just Paul's idea.

This isn't just an a kind of a isolated moment or an isolated idea that he had. Paul echoes it in his epistle when he says, "But you to the church, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal what?

Priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him THAT HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF darkness and into his marvelous light. See, this is exactly the point that Paul is making in chapter 12 of Romans. He has spent 11 chapters talking about how GOD HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF darkness and into his marvelous light.

But now he's teaching us that we aren't just called to be brothers and sisters. We are called to a priesthood. And our sacrifice is different than the priesthood.

and that it is not a LAMB BECAUSE WE HAVE THE LAMB. Our sacrifice is not a LAMB BECAUSE WE HAVE the lamb. Our sacrifice is ourselves.

And he does this with a great great sense of urgency. This is not some small thing that he's saying. It's not a throwaway idea.

Uh uh it's there's a sense of urgency to it. TD Jake Jakes has this to say about the verse. He says here the Apostle Paul who speaks what most theologians agree is at least five languages.

PAUL WAS TAUGHT at the feet of Gile. He was known for his intellectual capacity. He was known for his scholarly approach to God.

He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was of the law as zealous as any of the Pharisees. He was steeped in tradition, purity, and holiness and all the sanctimonious things that went along with how they served God in his time.

And now the apostle Paul who is the antithesis of the Romans is sent to the Romans and he is sent to this Roman church which are Gentiles and they are on the ground level trying to figure out what it means to serve God. And he starts the text by saying, "I beseech you, my brethren. I beg you." That's what the WORD MEANS.

I BEG YOU to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. THIS HEAVYWEIGHT, THE APOSTLE Paul says, "I will be down on my hands and my knees." My brothers and sisters, it is of the utmost importance that YOU DO NOT MISS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY NOT JUST AS A BROTHER BUT AS A PRIEST THAT YOU WOULD PRESENT YOUR BODIES A living sacrifice. See, Paul has this sense of urgency because he understands that you can believe the gospel to be true.

I want you to hear this. You can believe the gospel to be true, but not be in love with it. The measure of whether or not you are in love with it is whether or not you are sacrificing your life for it.

The measure of whether or not you are in love with it is whether or not you are sacrificing your life for it. In other words, it's possible THAT ONE CAN HEAR THE GOSPEL, believe it, yet not fall in love with it. It is possible that one can hear the gospel, believe it, even obey it, and later fall out of love with it.

It is possible to have it all of it up here in your head, but not have it in your heart. It's not what you worship. IT'S NOT WHAT YOU LIVE FOR.

IT'S NOT WHERE YOUR purpose comes from. SO HE SAYS, "MY BROTHERS AND MY SISTERS, YOU GOT TO SOAK THIS THING UP. YOU GOT TO GET IT INSIDE OF YOUR BONES.

AND THAT'S THE ONLY REAL way that you're GOING TO HAVE LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST. The paradox of the Christian life is that you sacrifice yourself to the Lord. But at the end of THAT SACRIFICE OF YOUR OWN LIFE IS A KIND OF LIFE THAT YOU CAN ONLY HAVE in Jesus Christ.

AND THAT IS LIFE AND life more abundantly. It's what it means to be a living sacrifice. As Keller puts it, he says, "You put to death the idea that you belong to yourself." You put to death the idea that you know best what should happen in your life.

You put to death and you give it to God. It feels like a death to really say you know best and I trust you. That feels like death.

Pastor Gan was talking about all the walls that we have up in our lives. There's this there's this great fear that we have. And what separates the the one that is committed as a living sacrifice is whether or not you will let those walls down.

And you only let them down when you trust God. You know best and I TRUST YOU. HERE'S WHAT YOU SAY IN YOUR WORD.

AND I DON'T LIKE IT, BUT I'M GOING TO DO IT BECAUSE I DON'T CHOOSE ANYMORE. And that feels like death. But on the other side of it is life.

That's why it's a living sacrifice. Not a bloody dead sacrifice, but a living sacrifice. BECAUSE YOUR SACRIFICE OF YOUR OWN LIFE leads to life in Jesus Christ.

So you might BE IN THIS PLACE TODAY AND YOU MIGHT SAY, "WELL, I WENT TO CHURCH AS A CHILD. I HEARD ABOUT THIS MY WHOLE LIFE. I PRAYED THE SINNER'S PRAYER.

YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED. YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST. AND I'M GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF THOSE STEPS.

BUT IF YOU ARE STILL HOLDING ON TO YOUR LIFE, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW THE FREEDOM THAT IS AVAILABLE TO YOU IN JESUS CHRIST. SO, I WANT TO ECHO THE APOSTLE PAUL AND TO URGE YOU TODAY TO GET OVER YOURSELF AND FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS AND TRUST HIS WORD WITH YOUR OWN HEART BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO LIFE AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY. Trust his ways.

COMMIT YOURSELF TO JESUS. BUILD YOUR LIFE ON THE ROCK OF AGES. MOST HARMFUL THING IN THE WORLD IS FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE AN EXPERIENCE WHERE THEY ARE TOLD to just come repeat a QUICK PRAYER AFTER ME AND WALK OUT THOSE BACK DOORS AND JUST LIVE YOUR LIFE.

AND THEY WALK AWAY AND THEY FEEL NO PEACE. They feel NO JOY. THEY FEEL NO SATISFACTION BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL HOLDING ON TO THEMSELVES.

AND THE ONLY REAL PEACE THAT WE CAN HAVE, THE ONLY REAL PEACE THAT WE CAN HAVE IS WE ARE TOTALLY committed to the Lord. Power of God in church works through those that not only profess Christianity but sacrifice their lives for it. May I remind you that we are following a savior who presented himself a living sacrifice.

The entire life OF JESUS, THE ENTIRE LIFE OF JESUS WAS GOD GIVING ALL OF HIMSELF FOR US. We refer to him as the lamb of God. Why we call HIM THE LAMB OF GOD?

because that's a direct reference to the very sacrificial system that he made obsolete with his death. NO LONGER IS BLOOD REQUIRED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OUR SINS. THAT'S DONE.

No longer do we have to bring a lamb AND KILL IT TO DEAL WITH THE THE GUILT THAT WE HAVE. ALL OF THAT IS DONE. IT DIED WHEN JESUS GAVE HIS LIFE.

AND I THANK GOD FOR THAT TODAY. IT'S BECAUSE OF JESUS THAT WE NO LONGER HAVE GUILT. IT'S BECAUSE OF HIM THAT WE NO LONGER HAVE SHAME.

THAT OUR LIVES ARE PUT BACK TOGETHER. That relationships can be mended. THAT THE WORKS OF THE FLESH CAN BE REPLACED with the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

AND THAT THE HOLY GHOST GIVES US POWER OF TRANSFORMATION. But it is in light of this, in light of this mercy that we have received, we now respond by sacrificing our lives for Jesus Christ. I'm reading a book right now called Tried by Fire.

You want to be inspired about what it means. It's about the first thousand years of Christianity. And if you want to be inspired by people who took dead serious what it meant to present their lives as a living sacrifice, I recommend you read it.

We are all here today not because people said they believed in Jesus Christ. I want you to consider this. Every single one of us are in this place today.

Not because people said that they believed in Jesus Christ, but because people said, "I'VE HEARD THE GOSPEL. I've obeyed it." And they decided that they would let it kill him. And for some people, that was literal.

Ignatius was one of the early bishops of the church. And he embodied the idea of being a living sacrifice. I am humbled by his words and his zeal.

He knew he knew deep in his bones that his life for the Lord would end in death. And he said this, "I am writing to all the churches and assuring them that I am truly and earnest about dying for God. If only you yourself put no obstacles in my way.

I must implore you to do to do me no such untimely KINDNESS." HE IS TELLING THEM, "DO NOT try to prevent my fate." speaking prophetically about his fate. Do not try to permit it. Pray, leave me to be for the beasts.

For it is they who can provide my way to God. I am his wheat ground fine by the lion's teeth to made to be made purest bread for Christ. So intercede the Lord for me that there may that instrumentality that through their instrumentality the lions I may be made a sacrifice to God.

You think he was just a sociopath that wasn't scared? No. No.

No. He wasn't. Prayed.

I I hope it's quick. I hope when they tear their teeth into me I hope it's quick. Pray a year after he wrote these words.

and they tore his body apart pieces. Oh God, God help us to understand in real life, the willingness to come and sacrifice everything to you is the only path to real joy, real satisfaction in you. We need people who are a living sacrifice.

Don't you know today, don't you know this, that marriages are held together by people who say, "I'm a living sacrifice." Don't you know that people, including your children, may I add, will receive the gospel, because others presented themselves as a living sacrifice. Not because they simply say they believe, but because people believe it in their bones so much that an unbeliever looks at them and say, "I THERE'S GOT TO BE SOMETHING THERE." Don't you know churches HAVE REVIVAL BECAUSE SOMEBODY SAYS, "I'm a living sacrifice." Don't you know that new believers are grounded in the church because somebody gives up their time? It says, "I'm a living sacrifice.

Therefore, I will disciple them." Don't you know generations are changed because somebody says, "I'm a living sacrifice." That God is glorified by those who say, "I'm a living sacrifice." that God's kingdom comes down to this earth through people that say, "I'm a living sacrifice." That if there is a light shining in your workplace, that if there's a light shining in your workplace, it will be there because somebody says, "I'm a living sacrifice." I know. I know how this sermon can come across. I know what you're thinking.

I'm here today. you to jump higher, to shout louder, to faith harder, to give more, to pray, come and be at all the church services. I know, I know, I know some of you are even holding back.

You're afraid. You're afraid because you think this is about me trying to figure out how to manipulate you. Nope.

That's not at all what this is about. See, you could do all of those things and not be a living sacrifice. Did you know that you could faith harder?

You could show everybody in this place how much you believe and not be a living sacrifice. Paul didn't motivate them by guilt. He didn't motivate them by condemnation.

That's not at all what he did. He didn't say, "Do what I say or you're going to hell." Didn't dangle that carrot out. He motivated them BY THE MERCY OF GOD.

Don't you know what God has done for you? That's what he said. See, we use our sacrifices and we'll get this wrong if we're not careful.

THERE'S A CHANCE THAT WE CAN SACRIFICE AND OUR MOTIVATION IS TO DEMONSTRATE TO EVERYONE ELSE HOW GREAT WE ARE. Show everybody. I'VE GOT TO SHOW PEOPLE WHAT A REAL HOLY INDIV LOOKS LIKE.

And I promise you, everybody could sniff it out. They know. And it's a stench in the nostrils of God and other humanity.

Everyone can smell it. Stinks. There's a chance that we use our sacrifices to manipulate God.

And we are really just sacrificing to get what we want. THAT IS NOT A LIVING SACRIFICE. DR.

James Ger preached a sermon on Romans 12 and he tells about a young woman he knew in the 1930s at a Christian conference when she was 15 or 16. She was moved by the messages and she decided she was going to give her life to Christ in a very special way. She made a commitment to go into lifetime missionary service.

This was in the 1930s, mind you. And as a 15year-old, she bravely said, "My heart desires to go to Asia." An American girl, she committed herself at 15 years old to a lifetime of service. Dr.

Girtzer said he had seen a lot of children or young Christian teenagers make these sort of vows. If you've been in church any length of time, you've seen plenty of people come at a young age and say, "I'm going to vow to do this." A lot of them didn't last for weeks, just like you've seen. She stuck with it.

As the years went by and she went through high school, she kept laser focused. She did her research. She went to missionary agencies.

She learned how difficult and dangerous it dangerous it was from then. This was the 1930s. It was a dangerous time to be a missionary in Asia.

As Asia, you could have to pay with your life. So the agencies knew this and they told her about it. But they said, "There are two things that we're going to require of you.

You've got to be trained. You have to do all of this. You have to get cross-cultural training.

You have to learn languages. You're going to have to learn Bible and theology. And oh, by the way, one other thing is you're going to have to be married because they did not send single American women and mission agencies to Asia.

It wasn't safe. There were cultural reasons that they couldn't go. They said, "You're going to have to be married." So one night near the end of high school, she prayed, "Lord, I take my hands off my life.

I give you everything. I don't care about a comfortable life. This is a beautiful prayer.

I don't care about a safe life. I'm going to give you my whole life. Everyone else is getting ready for all sorts of fun, but I'm going to go.

I'm going to give myself to missionary service. I'm going to do all the training I need. There's only one thing I need from you, Lord.

I just need a husband. So, she goes away to Bible college training. She got out with after four years.

She went to missionary training school, which would be something like our seminaries. It was like a graduate school. At the end of Bible college, there was a problem.

No husband, no boyfriend, no prospects. She went on to further graduate school and spent two years there. And as the semester went by, you see this she's sacrificing her life.

As semesters went by, no husband, no boyfriends, no prospects. On the night before she was getting ready to graduate, no husband, no boyfriend, no prospects. Dr.

Girtzer says in the sermon that she said that night, the night before I was supposed to graduate, I sat in my dorm room and I was an angry young woman. She said, "God, how could you do this to me? I have nothing else I can do.

I have nowhere else I to go. I put everything into this. I have no other prospects.

I committed my whole life to you. I took my hands off of my life. I gave my life to you and I only asked for one thing and you didn't do it.

How can you do this to me?" Incredibly, that night she suddenly realized something. She realized that she was lying to herself the whole time. She wasn't miserable because she had taken her hands off of her life.

She was miserable because she was still holding on. She realized that she had developed this idea in her mind about what it meant to be a have a heroic life for the Lord, this noble life. She said, "If I could live that, then I know I'd have value.

If I could just do that thing, I would be a person of worth." So, finally, she says to God, "That's the life you have to give me. Here's how you're going to have to get it for me. I'm going to do all these things, and I expect you to do this for me, God." She really realized in the end, I'd never taken my hands off my life.

I was using God. I wasn't serving God. I was telling him what he had to do.

10 years of training, 10 years of sacrifice, all the time she was lying to herself. I don't know God's plan for your life. I don't even know what it means for every one of you to become a living sacrifice.

If you're waiting for some sort of special application today where I tell you exactly what that means, this is not the sermon. I have no idea. I simply want to ask you the question that Dr.

Girtzner concluded after the end of this story that he asked a room full of Bible students. He said, "If that girl who spent a third of her life being ready for missionary service, saying goodbye to everything, saying goodbye to fun, to safety, to comfort, to everything, and thought she had taken her hands off of her life, and that night realized she had never done it. Never taken her hands off of her life.

Are you sure that you've taken your hands off your life?" He said, "I doubt it. I doubt you have. I don't know.

Not God. I'm not here to say this is what it's supposed to look like there. There's too it's too complicated.

Christ Christ makes it clear. He gave to some one talents, three talents, 10 talents. That's what's required." I don't know that the application of this text is not to tell you.

The question is whether or not you're trusting God with your life and giving it wholly and completely to him or whether or not you're hanging on to self. And the Apostle Paul tells us can't be motivated by the outcomes. You can't be motivated by some carrot that's dangled that's a promise to you telling you what your life down here is going to look like.

You got to be motivated by the mercies of God. The outcome might be you getting chewed up by lions. That might be the outcome.

The outcome might be you being a missionary somewhere else. The outcome isn't the point. The point is is whether or not your heart has said, "I present myself to you, God, a living sacrifice.

And I'll give you everything because of what you've done for me." I'm going to tell you, that's the only way you're going to find peace. That's the only way you're going to find joy. That's the only way you're going to find satisfaction.

You're sitting in this place today and you think Christianity is broken. You think God isn't working in your life because you're frustrated. I I I I just wonder if you should question whether or not you've really given your life to him.

Whether or not you've really and I'm not trying to mock you or put pressure back on you or anything. Just the question is for all of us when we're anxious. What are we anxious for?

Is it because we have a certain idea of what our life is supposed to look like? Is it because we believe that we've got this this profile that we're presenting to the world and we're just scared to death that for a moment it's going to be broken? I beseech you, brethren, to present yourself, to step away from just being a brother and sister and step into the role of a priest and to present yourelves a living sacrifice.

You stand with me. Like to invite the musicians to come. Help us, Lord.

I feel your presence so strong. I'm so grateful, Lord, for all my brothers and sisters, Lord. And I pray that you help us today, Lord.

Help us. Help us, Lord, to break down those walls that we've put up of ourselves between what we're allowing you to do in our lives. Lord, help us to just to tear them down, oh God, to invite you to tear them down when we can't tear them down ourselves, Lord.

To invite you to tear down those walls. Say, "Lord, I I I'm I'm holding on to self and I I can't let go. But Lord, if you'll help me, I'll let go.

I can't do it. I've tried. I'm asking you to help me, Lord.

We release to you, Lord, our lives. We release to you control of ourselves, Lord, because that is the only way, Lord. That's the only way, the only way, God, to freedom.

That's the only way to life and life more abundantly. I worry today that we there's enough faith that you have because of your faith in Christ. You're going to walk through those pearly gates.

You're going to be with the Lord forever. But your life down here isn't all that it can be. This isn't a message of condemnation about hell.

Finally, brethren, Paul didn't say, "Finally, unbelievers, you haven't presented yourself as living sacrifices yet." He didn't say that. Finally, my brothers and sisters, in light of what's been done for us, this is how we respond. And this is where you will have life, life more abundantly.

DL Moody observed this. He said, "The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off of the altar." I found that to be true. But there are seasons and rhythms.

As brother Esther said, there are rhythms in our lives. There's a time for us to come and consecrate ourselves once again and say, "God, am I giving you everything I need to?" because that is really the only safe place that there is. Everything else will fill you with angst and anxiety.

When you know you've given everything to him, that is where our refuge is. That is where there is safety. So I implore you today to present your body a living sacrifice, not because of guilt or condemnation, but because of God's mercy.

Remember the seasons in your life where God has delivered you. Remember the seasons in your life where the Lord was your protector. Remember the time whenever Lord called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

And in light of that say, God, if I could trust you with salvation, my with my salvation, I can trust you with everything. You may be here today and know that you have drifted in your commitment to the Lord. Today is a day that you recommmit yourself.

The Lord has called us to present ourselves. You might not know at all what it's like to walk for the Lord. You might not know anything about Jesus.

And you might think, "I have no idea what it's like to be a Christian. I have no idea how to approach God." It's very, very simple. You approach through Jesus Christ.

You come and you repent. Meaning you turn away from your old life and you turn towards him and his sacrifice Jesus the one who created you. His sacrifice where he died for you will become your covering of your sins.

We can baptize you and the Bible says that we will go down in that water and when you come out it will be for the remission of sins. That means everything in your past will be wiped away and you will have new life in Jesus Christ and God will fill you with his spirit and his spirit will empower you to start your walk with him. I don't if you say to yourself, I don't know if I can give everything to the Lord.

God always meet. He starts there's not a single person in this place as pastor acknowledged no one is giving everything. Imagine what it would be if we would commit ourselves holy to the Lord.

No one save Jesus has committed everything. So come because of your faith in Jesus Christ. Come, repent, turn away from your sins, and God will give you new life.

Can we come to this altar? Crawl onto an altar and say, "God, I' I've crawled off. It's too easy for me to to walk away from prior to commitments, Lord, but I want to recommmit myself today, Lord.

My life has become busy with other things that are filling up my time. I'm not close to you, Lord. I feel far away from you, but I'm going to come and I'm going to present myself, Lord, a living sacrifice.

Lord, we need you. We need you in this place today to change us and transform us. Give us power to give up ourselves.

Give us power to give up ourselves. Oh God, change our hearts and our minds. Oh Lord, forgive us, God, for not trusting you.

Forgive us, oh God, of hanging on to self. Give us the grace, Lord. Give us the grace to give everything to you.

In Jesus name we pray. I surrender all to you. Everything I give to you with holding nothing with holding nothing.

Lord I surrender all to you. Everything I give to you withholding nothing withholding nothing. See I surrender all >> surrender all to you >> everything I give you.

Withholding nothing. >> Withholding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Holding nothing. >> See, I surrender it all. >> I surrender all to you.

Everything I give to you. >> Withholding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Withholding nothing. >> Holding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Holding nothing. >> With holding nothing. >> Holding nothing.

>> See, I surrender. I surrender all to you. Everything everything I give to you.

>> Withholding nothing. >> Withholding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Withholding nothing. >> Withholding. >> Withholding nothing.

Withholding nothing. >> Holding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Holding nothing. >> Withholding nothing. >> Holding nothing.

>> We surrender all to you. Withholding >> holding nothing. >> Withholding nothing.

>> Withholding nothing. >> I give you I give you all of me. I give you all of me.

I give you all of me. I give you all of me. I give you all of me.

I give you all of me. I give you all of me. I give you all of me.

King, King Jesus, my savior, forever. I give you all of me. I give you all of me.

>> Oh, King Jesus. >> King Jesus, >> my savior. >> Myior >> forever.

>> Forever >> I give you all. I give you all I need. >> I give you all of me.

>> I give you all of me. >> Yeah. King Jesus.

>> King Jesus. >> My savior. >> Myior >> forever.

>> Forever. >> I give you all. >> I give you all of >> I give you all.

>> I give you all of >> Jesus. Jesus. >> My savior.

I say >> forever. >> Forever >> I give you all of me. >> All of me.

>> I give you all of me. >> You all give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me.

I give myself away, >> Lord. I give myself away. Give myself away.

So you can >> give myself away. Give myself away. So you can >> use say here I am here I am here I stand Lord my life is in your hands Lord I long to Your desires prevail in me.

I give myself away. >> I give myself away. Give myself away so you can use me.

Give myself away. Give myself away >> so you can use me. >> Take my heart.

Take my heart. Take my life as a living sacriice. All my dreams, all my plans, Lord I give myself away.

Give myself away. So you can use myself away so you can use my life. To you I belong.

I give myself I give myself to you. Save my life. My life is not my >> you.

See my life is not my own. Life is not my own. To you I belong.

>> I give myself I give myself to you. >> Say my life. My life is not my own.

To you I belong. I give myself I give myself to you. Give myself away.

>> I give myself away so you can use me. I give myself away. >> We give ourselves away.

Give myself away so you can save my life. My life is not my own. To you I belong.

>> I give myself I give myself to you. My life is not my own. My life is not my own.

To you, you belong. >> I give myself I give myself to you. A life is not a life is not my own.

To you I belong. I give myself I give myself to you. Life is not my I give myself away.

So you can use myself. >> Yes, Lord. Can we just receive that?

Acknowledge what the Lord has said to us today. Accept his word. God, thank you for your word, the truth of it, Jesus.

We trust it. We We build our lives on it. Thank you for the blessings, Lord, of your body.

Pray for my brothers and sisters, Jesus, that you'll bless them as they prep for this week, as they go through the week, Lord. And uh just help us, Lord, to be a light in this dark world. and uh give us the grace to present ourselves as a living sacrifice in Jesus name.

Thank you all so much for coming. I'm so blessed and honored to be part of a just a wonderful church. Thankful for my brothers and sisters and hope you greet one another and take some time of fellowship.

God bless you.