Our Reason for Being — Romans 12

0:00 You know, I I look at I look at what's happening in the world today, and I look at what's taking place in the lives of people. You know? I look at the geopolitical issues that are surrounding us, and it seems like it's never been worse. I I was born in 1952. Grow...

0:26 Go crew of '52. Right, bro? That's right. And we got a few brothers here that were born in the same year. So we grew up in the late fifties, saw howdy duty, and and then we...

0:40 In the sixties and saw Vietnam, and we saw all these kinds of things. And it's just... You know, Vietnam era was a nasty time. My sister was at Kent State University. My brother was at the Washington Peace March.

0:58 My sister was shot at 05/04/1970 and hid behind a tree. She lied to my parents like crazy, told them that she was up in the building. She wasn't. She was right on the area where bullets were flying. And when a guy named Bill Schroeder was killed at...

1:16 There were four students or... Yeah, four students, and he was an ROTC student that was just passing by and got hit by a bullet and was killed. We thought my sister was hit and they had the name wrong. So it was a very very tumultuous time for us, our family, and it was a tumultuous time for our country. And it seems that we're working right back into into that very trouble as times.

1:45 It does it does seem like that, especially from a philosophical point of view. I was coming in today from where I was staying, and they were reporting on the news that Minnesota Minnesota's Department of Education is is foistering or pushing a Marxian view in terms of education of of k through three, of third third grade, and then also high school. Marxism. Just just amazing to me that this is... And this is on the news.

2:25 This is not, you know, some I... You know, Newsmax or some conservative thing. No way. And I'm thinking to myself, we're moving and moving. And I also think in terms of our own personal lives, how we're living, and what is our life really going?

2:46 Where are we going with our life? What is happening in our in our personal lives? And I think to myself, as I get older and face those issues that older people face, and that's true. And then they have separate issues that that only the elderly and the younger folks are not sympathetic until they get to be 65, and then all of a sudden they have an incredible sympathy for it. It is true.

3:16 It is really true. When I was in high school, actually in college, when I was in college, could take a basketball, I could put it... Jump, of course, put it inside dunking two hands, take it out reverse and slam it. You know, I could hold the ball and just hang and hang and hook slam. You know, those were the days, my friend.

3:40 I tried to do that. Today, I'm in the chiropractor for at least six months. You know? So, I mean, things are things are a lot different. You know?

3:48 The old rocker step, all that kind of stuff. It's it's just really really an interesting thing. And then my friend John, I've told... Talked to you about my friend John, well he almost died. He had a two and a half inch kidney stone that infected his whole body.

4:08 They had to bore a hole in there and then explode it and then vacuum his kidney out. But in the meantime, the infection went to his brain and he stroked. So you'll you'll look at these issues. This guy was a blue chip athlete. This guy was recruited by University of Michigan, Ohio State University in two sports.

4:28 And, I mean, the blue chipper. He went to University of, Louisville. Then to see him go from two two thirty five to to one eighty and look at him and just go, man, oh, man, know, we're... Things are moving. You know, things are really moving.

4:47 And you're going, wow. Well, you know, what's my life? And and and here's a question that I think we all have to ask. What is the reason for my being? What is the reason for my being?

5:01 I'd like us to look at a passage of scripture that I think addresses this question. And the passage I'd like to have Bob, if you wouldn't mind reading for us. In verses one and two, we see here in verses one and two, this is the crux of the whole of the whole chapter. Without verses one and two and our obedience to it, it's over for us. We can't do three through 21 unless we have one and two.

5:53 You were built for God. And then in verses three through eight, equipping from God. Reason for being in verses nine through 16, exercising with God. And then 17 through 21, reason for being exhortations from God. So we look at this in engaging with God.

6:15 I mean, we're built for God. That's who we are. We're built for God. That's why a lot of times people who do not know God have this unsettleness in their lives. In fact, it's it's warfare.

6:31 I talked to a Chinese communist Wednesday. She is getting her PhD at Wayne State University, and she's from China, Mainland China. And I said, you're a communist. I said, you're a red communist. I mean, you believe in communism.

6:46 Absolutely. Which precludes one thing, there's no God. And now she might have been raised with that, to think that there's no God, but she was protesting. And I said, why if there's no God, why would you protest it that there's no God? Why be so strong on there's no God?

7:05 And I I did a cutout for, you know, we're standing in this public area because we were preaching in the open air, and I had this cutout of cement. You know, they have them cuts. Right? And so they they would... If they're gonna crack, they're gonna crack at those cuts.

7:20 Okay? So I said, okay. Let me just ask you a question. I said, let's just say that all there is to know is in this block of cut, this cutout. All there is to know is right here.

7:32 I said, how much do you think that... She's a PhD student electrical engineering. I said, how much do you think you know of all there is to know? She goes, it's infinitesimally small. It's so small, it's unbelievable.

7:50 And she was being humble about that. Right? I said, so of all there is to know, and you say you just confessed that you know very very... I mean, so tiny it's unbelievable. Don't you think of all there is to know that you don't know, there might be a God?

8:09 Don't you think that there might be a God for you? And don't you think that this... No. What? I said, you know what you're doing?

8:18 You're taking communism by faith. You're taking communism by faith. You are not. You're you're trusting communism and the communist doctrine. You're you're trusting that because it's the only...

8:31 Well, you know, my parents are communist. My grandparents are communist, etcetera etcetera. What a what an emptiness, but I could tell, not that I'm super perceptive or anything like this, but I could tell the emptiness that she was experiencing. Because she kept telling me that she had to get back to her lab, but she never went. We kept talking.

8:58 She kept inquiring and talking. And I told her about how God loves her so much and cares for her. You know? And this is this is some of the things that people are experiencing in their lives is there's no God. And a lot of us...

9:14 Here's a here's a killer. A lot of us think about this just for a moment. Those of us who say we know God, a lot of us live as if there is no God. Ain't that true? We try to live our lives.

9:31 It's it's really interesting. There was a story regarding there was a story regarding Martin Luther, and I guess he was in a bout of depression. Now he was... He left the Catholic church, was excommunicated, I believe, and then he married an ex nun named Katie, and the famed Martin Luther. Okay?

9:54 From, you know, fifteen hundreds. Right? Not Martin Luther King Junior. Okay. So Martin Martin Luther was, the ex priest, doctor in theology.

10:06 He was just, you know, almighty fortresses, the author of that hymn, just amazing, was depressed. So one day, he was coming down the stairs in his house, and, his wife was completely dressed in black. And she... I'm gonna give him my best Martin Luther accent. He goes, Katie.

10:37 What Katie? Who died? And she goes, Martin? God died. Katie.

10:49 And then for about a half hour forty minutes gave his dear wife a lecture, theological lecture on how it would be impossible for God to die and all those things. I tell you this before? Yeah. Did. And she goes...

11:07 After she finished, she goes, well then, Martin, why do you act as if God is dead? Many of us are like this. Many of us are like this. We have... We we are we are built to be engaged with God.

11:28 This communist Chinese lady, young lady, Ting Li is her name, t I n g l I. She knows right and wrong. I said, Ting Li, where did you get to your idea of what is right and what is wrong? It's called the moral argument for the existence of God. And how do you how do you know what is right?

11:53 She couldn't answer that. Well, this... My parents told me what was right and wrong. I said, where did they get it? And she just started to smile because she knew I was gonna go.

12:02 And where did they get it? Where did they get it? And where did they get it? You know, this kind of thing. It's the...

12:06 It's called the moral existence of... Moral arguments for the existence of God. And it's it's a good argument. Where do we get the whole idea of what is right? We see, the point is we're built for God.

12:32 So we're engaged. We want to be engaged in in verse 12... Verse one of chapter 12. We see it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren. He's talking to those who have trusted Christ as their personal savior.

12:46 That is the answer for every human soul that has ever been or ever will be except the Lord Jesus himself. He's the answer. And it's not one of the answers that really makes us... It really works. No.

13:05 He is the answer. That's why he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And if you say in your heart this morning, yeah, amen to that, bro. Amen to that.

13:19 I'm thrilled. That is... There's nothing like knowing God. There's... Through the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing better than that.

13:29 But it's also... Notice what he he's gonna give this exhortation, I beseech you or beg you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. So not only is it salvation, it's now all of a sudden sanctification. What happens after I trust Christ as my personal savior? Now what?

13:49 Now what do I do? And notice he tells us exactly what he what he wants us to do, what God wants us to do by way of the inspiration of scripture, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ESV says logical form of worship. It's the only thing that makes sense. So if we're not living for him, if we're not living for him and we know him as our personal savior, but we're not living for him, and you know if you are or not.

14:25 And God certainly knows if you do or not. If your heart affection is not him, then you're one of the most miserable people on the planet. It's true. If my heart is not there, I am miss... In misery.

14:44 Why? Because that war is going on inside. An unsaved unsaved prostitute who's doing drugs is not as miserable as you are. It's true. Most miserable people on the planet are those who know Jesus as their savior, and they're not living for him.

15:07 It's a kill. It's a tough one. Oh, we we we plast... We try to salve that conscious, that guilty conscience with a lot of junk. You know, it's interesting.

15:22 I was coming here today and listening. I just wanted to get, it was advice by a professor of mine at Moody Bible Institute, a homiletic professor. He said, before you go to a preaching engagement, listen to the radio. See what's up. And so I I turned to WTAM, voice of the Cleveland Browns.

15:45 And the guy actually said this. He said, yeah, every day people go to work and all this kind of stuff, then they go to the church. They go to church at Cleveland Brown Stadium. The the God of the NFL. And people are like this, you know?

16:01 It's just wow. You know, you can you can... You don't have to go to church on Sunday morning. Why? Because we're going to the game, going to a different God.

16:12 But see, people are trying to find meaning and purpose in life. They're trying to do that with the tribe, trying to do that with the cavaliers, trying to do that with football. Trying to do that with money. Trying to do that with family. Trying to do whatever it is.

16:27 And this is true of even Christians. This is true of Christians. Christians do this kind of stuff, and we see the decisions Christians make in terms of how they run their families or how they run their own personal lives, and what decisions they make into... Of of actually for future plans, etcetera. Not giving God any thought as to what this is, is this your will for my life?

16:58 What do you want? And I think that we have this malaise that drops over our life, and then we start to wonder why our Christianity is not vibrant, not exciting anymore. Why? Because we who are built for God and who have trusted Christ as our personal savior and have that relationship, sometimes we back away from him. It's a mistake.

17:31 This is why he says to us, I beseech you or I beg you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. You know, it's an interesting thing. You take an altar, you know, in the old the old testament altar, had dead sacrifices. Those those things never left until they were removed. Right?

18:01 But the thing about a living sacrifice is that we can squirm off the altar. I can take it back. Oh, no. No. I'm gonna do my thing.

18:09 I'm gonna live my life. And it might even be imperceptible in our thinking. It's... You know how it is. It's it's not a it's not a slow leak.

18:19 You know, people think... I mean, excuse me, it's not a blowout. It's a slow leak. We make these little decisions that are selfish decisions, and not consulting God, and not asking God to show us what he would have us to do. And we make these little little tiny decisions, and it's like a pinhole in a tire.

18:37 And then all of a sudden, we wonder why our Christianity is flat. Because we have let the air of the spirit of God out of our lives, to keep that metaphor going, you know. We, we do that. And so he tells us he tells us that he wants us to give ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. Would you keep your finger here, please, and turn with me to the left of your bible to Exodus.

19:31 I I want you to listen to this to this list. Listen to this list. Verse 16, if a man entice a maiden and not betrothed and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. Verse 18, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

19:59 Verse 19, this is Exodus 22, whosoever lieth with the beast shall surely be put to death. Verse 20, he that sacrifices unto any other... And to any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall utterly be destroyed. That's the old testament economy. Of course, we're not going to take a gun and shoot you.

20:27 But I want to... See, God God takes your life very seriously, so much so that he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and pay for your sins. And when we receive him as our personal savior, we have everlasting life. But now, he wants all of us as Christians. He wants it all of us, and we keep pulling back, and he wants it all.

20:53 He wants everything that we are. See, this is the this is the this is the crux of chapter 12. The book of Romans is talking about the gospel. It's a doctrinal dissertation on the gospel of God. But now in chapter 12, he's telling us how we can live this.

21:18 How this is starting to live. I mean, are other parts in in the Romans one through eight that really explain it and tells us how to live, of course. But now he's telling us what to do and how to live it. As a group of individuals together as Christians and as individuals. And so we as individuals, and he's telling us that we're, you know, the one of the reasons for being is being engaged with God.

21:47 In fact, you know, one guy put it this way, I don't know who wrote the Westminster Confession. I don't know who wrote that. It doesn't matter. But the first thing is, first article of the Westminster Confession was what is the chief end of man? I want to change that.

22:06 What is the reason for being? What is the chief end of man? What is the purpose for your life? And so without verse one of chapter 12, you won't know anything. We can do do do do do and be busy in doing and doing and doing and miss the will of God.

22:29 God is interested in you. He's not interested so much in what you do. He is interested in who you are, and his relationship. This is the thing that is a killer to me. That God wants a...

22:44 Yeah, I want a relationship with God. I want to go to heaven. I don't want to go to hell. It's... And that's all good and wise thinking.

22:53 But understand that it's deeper than just that, that we have that he wants a relationship with us. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? It's all there. He has poured it out.

23:17 In fact, that's exactly what he says. John writes that he lavishes. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed. And one one translation renders that lavishes on us. I mean, this is incredible.

23:33 And yet and yet, we squirm off the altar. How crazy is that? How crazy is that to not to entrust ourselves as Christians to an individual, to a God who is the only God, who created the universe and spoke it in six days, spoke it into existence, spoke the... I believe in six days creation. I'm no progressive creationist or anything like that.

24:05 I believe that he spoke it into existence, and rested the seventh day, created the universe. He knows my heart and my mind and my life totally, and yet I can't trust him. What would you think? Foolishness? I would say it's foolishness.

24:28 Unless we're so arrogant to think that we are wiser than him, stronger than him, more loving than him. Would anybody claim that? Would anybody ever claim that? So engaging with God. This is the beauty this is the beauty of this of this.

25:26 I'm not... When I trusted Christ, was sick of me. One of the things that led me to Christ, and I never spent a day in jail, I've never done any illicit drugs, I never toked on the weed, none of that stuff. I was a great guy, we might have even liked each other. You know, we might have even done that.

25:45 But one of the things I was so sick of me, I knew I was a sinner. I didn't want to be me anymore. And when you trust Christ as your personal savior, Old things have passed away, behold all things become new. And now he tells us not to be, you know, after this world, conformed, squeezed into it, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It's a whole different ballgame.

26:13 Transformed. Wow. Transformation. Maybe I need plastic surgery, no questions about it. And maybe I need you know a little weight reduction.

26:30 My ministry is expanding around the middle of my body. And I look at this kind of stuff, and I think, you know, I need some transformation there too. But see, when you trust Christ as your personal savior, predestination guarantees that you will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Romans eight twenty eight and twenty nine. And Paul reiterates that when he says to the Philippians, being confident of this very thing that he who hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

27:07 To be like him. That's the end game. That is the end game. Hey, where did you... Did you retire?

27:15 Yeah. Yeah. Where'd you work? I worked at a company called Diamond Products. Yeah.

27:19 What'd you do? I was a computer guy. A computer. Anybody know this? How many knew that that's what he did?

27:26 There's some of some of you not raising your hand, who cares? Who cares, bro? Nobody cares. I mean, I'm really ostensibly nobody cares. And at your funeral, they will definitely not care.

27:46 They're gonna say, who are you? Yeah. I'm a Christian. That's the thing that's gonna be the telltale sign. I don't think of where you worked when I think of you.

27:57 I think of who you are, and that's the key. God wants... God is interested in who we are, and he wants to make us more like his son. Transformation. By the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

28:21 And this is the thing that is so important. This is the thing that is so important. When we when we think of transformation, I want to I don't want to be in the same place I am now tomorrow. I want to be deeper in love with Jesus. I want to know him more, and I want to obey him more.

28:43 Because that's the only thing that matters. That really is. It's the only thing that matters. Not the car because we can always replace that. We can always get more money and all less lose it or whatever.

28:55 You know, the physicality of this life is so temporary, it's incredible. I know I know you're an athlete. I've seen your picture in football and all this kind of stuff, and it's cool. You look good in the uniform, bro. You know?

29:08 But I tell you what, that's over in a very short time. It's over. Boom. Over. You know?

29:17 I mean, you look at this, and you you think to yourself, wow. I mean, do you know John Gorman? Do you met have you met? You know, I want to tell you something. He was all Ohio in two sports.

29:28 You didn't know that? For forty years, he held the single reception reception, single season reception. Did you know that? Willoughby South? Yeah.

29:41 Yeah. 10 yards to carry, a 10 yards of reception. I mean, you imagine that? No wonder they wanted them. I mean, was just amazing.

29:49 But you didn't know them, know them. Right? No. Who cares? You know?

29:54 Seriously. Who cares? Who cares? Did it really matter to you that I can dunk two hand or could dunk two hand? No, it didn't matter.

30:02 Didn't even bother you. Bothers me. But who cares? What is what is the thing that will really matter? What is really the reason for being?

30:16 Our engagement with God. And then notice notice what he tells us that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is the normal Christian life. The end of verse two, which is your normal reason for worship. And that's amazing to me, that translation, the ESV says that.

30:36 It is amazing to me, because that, you know, you ever talk to somebody, man, that guy or that girl is hot for God. That person is really on fire. You ever hear that? Folks, that's not unusual, but we treat it as unusual. But God treats it as normal.

30:55 It is unusual not to be hot for God. Not to pursue him. Not to be flat out for him. You know, played basketball in high school. I thought to myself, I'm going to leave it all on the court.

31:15 I... When I'm finished with a game, I'm going to be totally exhausted. And that guy that I'm guarding, he's gonna, you know, he's he's gonna wish he never started... Stepped on the court with me. Because I'm gonna be all over him, and I'm...

31:28 He's not gonna be all over me because I'm gonna rock or step him right out the door. You know, I'm going to put so many fakes on that guy and I'm going to out hustle that guy and that's exactly how I thought. And I think to myself, as I reflect back on that attitude toward basketball, I'm not going to have the same attitude towards God? Things that will matter forever? Wowzer.

32:20 It is an emptiness. So we come together, you know, we come together at Westlake, and I love Westlake Bible Fellowship, I really do. I covet the times that they invite me. In fact, I I try to weasel the weasel more times to speak here. So when I talk to Roger, and I go, he goes, you know, you see any other dates you'd like?

32:43 Yeah. Here's, like, six other dates, Roger. And he goes, Chris, we don't want you once a month. You know? You know?

32:52 So I mean, I'm I'm... Yeah. I'll take as many as you want to give me. You know? Yes.

32:56 And and hopefully, that's a lot. You know? I really like that. I really enjoy that. But I want you to know, so Westlake Bible Fellowship is not here because you're some country club or you're some gathering together.

33:08 You're a family. And he's about to talk to us in three through 21 about familial relationships. That is what he's going to do. He's going to talk to us about the exercising of our gifts. He's going to talk about being equipped by God in verses three through eight.

33:30 He's talking... Notice what it says. But you you look at this in verse three, he says, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man, not among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according to God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. So don't you dare for one instant, for one millisecond, think you're better than another Christian here in this place. Because Philippians chapter two tells us if there be any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, the cross levels it all all out, doesn't it?

34:12 It's the grace of God within the local expression of the body of Christ and how we are moving and dealing with each other. So if you're sitting here and you're harboring something in your heart towards another saint, or you're harboring the idea that you're better than this person, or you're better than that person, or this person, whatever, you've got to deal with that right now and finish it. In other words, stop it and confess it as sin. Because we're not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We're not to think of that.

34:46 Because if we start to do that, you know what we do? We start to think that somehow we deserve the grace of God. Somehow, I'm I'm better than you, and not realizing our sinfulness before God. And if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus Christ, and his grace poured out in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his death, burial, and physical resurrection, if that's not true, and if we don't we don't realize that that that's the only thing that gets us to heaven, and it's the only thing that gets us into the body of Christ, It's not because of money, it's not because of education, it's not because anything else except Jesus Christ. And then we take his word and he transforms us by his word into the person he wants us to be, and he wants us to be like his son who humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross.

35:46 That's why Paul writes to the Philippians and says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So we don't think highly of ourselves. We can't. It's not... It's false reasoning actually.

36:05 And then equips us in terms of function. By the way, attitude is everything. You ex athletes and athletes and all that, you know attitude is everything. I've seen basketball players who did not have a lot of talent be great basketball players. Why?

36:22 Because they were willing to run through a wall, if the coach told them to. And I've seen guys with incredible talent, lousy athletes. Why? Because they rested on their talent, not anything else. They they, well, I I can do this.

36:39 I can touch the rim. I can run fast. I can do that kind of stuff. I've seen people in open air evangelism who are gifted, incredibly gifted in talking to people and trusting that and not God in the midst of their discussion on the... In the open air and fail.

37:02 Just plain fail. Why? Because they were trusting something else, whether it was themselves or their talent, giftedness, whatever, they were trusting something else than God. That's a big mistake. It's a huge mistake.

37:24 E. M. Bounds once said, you know, and this is really true. I never forgot it. I think it's so true in this power preacher preacher and prayer.

37:33 It's a book on prayer. He said, you know, sometimes when we have a incredible spiritual victory, it's, you know, it's wonderful. We see this incredible spiritual victory and how God mightily worked and it's just fantastic. Right? Ian Bounds makes this point.

37:54 Watch out. Because if you start looking at that victory and you start trusting that victory, Satan comes and knocks your legs right out from underneath you. Because you're doing that instead of trusting the God who gave the victory, and you leave that in the past and you say, your mercies are new morning by morning. Great is your faithfulness. We continually trust God, And that's that's our attitude.

38:45 Don't have the same thing. So in this assembly of believers, God has placed people with various gifts. We're going to look at some of those gifts very briefly. But not everybody has the same thing. But God has placed us in here to be a blessing.

39:04 See, giftedness by God doesn't make you better, it makes you a servant. You are there in terms of you are here in this assembly to be a blessing to others. It's not for self aggrandizement. Oh, look at me, I'm an evangelist. Oh, look at me, I'm a teacher.

39:25 Oh, look at me, I'm this. No, no, no, no. No. It is to be a blessing to those around you. To minister to those around you.

39:34 That's why he gives us, so we can minister to others. And then he tells us, you know, we we look at the equipping of this. We look at those gifts and we see these. And he's read he's read those gifts to us, Bob did, and I I want to just go down to those and you can read them, exhortation, ministry, prophecy, they're one of three or four lists in the New Testament that gives us, and there's between nineteen and twenty one spiritual gifts in the New Testament that you are, if you know Jesus as your personal savior, you are equipped with at least one dominant gift. So, and you might have multiple gifts, but one dominant gift, but it's not for you.

40:26 It's for us. It's for the world. I mean, that's the thing. Because he is telling us that we're family, and now he's going to tell he's going to move right into that familial exhortations. He's going to give us exhortations.

40:42 He's going to talk to us on how we are to live with our giftedness and with our complete yieldedness to him. Well, how does he want us to do it? This is way better than at some great team. I was on a great team. We were eighteen and five, and the reason why we had five losses was because we had massive sickness go through our team.

41:06 It's just unbelievable. We were... I know my season, my whole reason for being was shot at the district finals. I mean, I look at that and I go, wow. But I never had more as in in terms of secular time.

41:22 And I look at this and we had so much fun beating up and beating other teams bigger, faster than ourselves because we worked as a team. We didn't care, and some of those guys I didn't like, but if they were open, they got the ball. It was selflessness. I'm thinking, if that's true in a stupid basketball team, how greater it is for people who are really going to spend eternity with each other. And it starts now.

42:01 It starts now. Notice what he says. Notice what he says. Look at verse nine. We got to exercise, let love be without hypocrisy.

42:13 Wow. How long do you want to talk about that? You want to call in pizza? I mean, let love be without hypocrisy. It's not two faced.

42:26 Let love be true. Let love be honest. Let love be real. Let it be there. It's not because of, I love you bro, not because you've got the beard or you don't have the beard or goatee, whatever we call that.

42:39 You know? I I love you not because you're missing a tooth, Christian. Three of them. Okay. I love you because of Jesus Christ.

42:50 I don't even know you. I don't even know who you are. I don't even know your name. But if you know Jesus Christ as your savior, I do too. You're my brother in Christ.

43:03 You're closer to me than my own brother, my own sister, for sure. Easy, hands down. We're going to spend eternity together. Let love be without hypocrisy. It's not fake.

43:20 So don't you dare have fakeness. Don't you dare have fakeness. I mean, that's the Schroeder translation of this. Don't you dare have fakeness. I don't want to have fakeness.

43:31 How's it going? Good. Love you and the Lord. I'm thinking, how about any other time? You know?

43:39 God made me love you. Wait a second. No way, man. You know? That's not what I'm looking for.

43:47 I'm not looking for... Let love be without a part. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. And then he...

44:26 I see us moving ever so slowly to being anathema to this world as a group. I really do, the Christians. I see this happening before our very eyes. I really do. I teach apologetics at the Ezekiel Project School of Evangelism, and I'm talking about, you know, how existentialism and all that kind of stuff makes it.

44:51 I want to tell you something. Existentialism fails. You know what's going to supplant it? I tell you exactly what it's going to supplant. It's going to take its place, Marxism, Communism.

45:06 Oh, you're so you're so radical. You're so weird about that, Chris. Come on. Let him that thinketh he stand, take heed lest he fall. We as a nation are moving and have shifted, and we don't even know it.

45:22 We don't even know it. We see it in the political arena, but do we see it here? And so do we see it maybe even in our own lives? This is why we gotta constantly yield ourselves to him, being transformed by the word of God. We have no moorings.

45:44 No moorings. It's not even political moorings. It's not even anything. The only mooring that we can hook our anchor to and have stability in our lives is the word of God. End of story.

46:01 There is no other thing that will give you stability except the word of God, the spirit of God taking his word and driving it to your heart and mind, and teaching us how to live. He's telling us how to live right here. And notice what he says, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given to hospitality. And hospitality is not just having your friends over for pizza. Hospitality is the entertainment of strangers.

46:31 The taking caring of strangers. People you don't know and people you can't get something from. All you can do is give to them, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given to hospitality, ministering to them, being a blessing to them. And then notice what else, bless them who persecute you. Wow.

47:02 Man, those are... They're not fighting words. They're words you go, how can I live this? Me? Bad temper.

47:12 I got a bad temper. Hate to say it. You know, even at the great Moody Insta Bible toot, where I... Moody Bible Institute. Yeah.

47:20 That's it. I'm playing basketball as a as a Christian. I'm a Christian, and we go on the open air and we're telling people by Jesus and all that stuff. I'm playing basketball in a in a... Not a pickup game.

47:32 It was what they call intramural. The hustle and hubbies. I was on the hustle and hubbies. And this guy, I played high school and college basketball, so they they they... Yeah, Chris is on our team.

47:47 Big deal. I go up for a shot. This kid goes underneath my legs and knocks me out. I land on my back. Boom.

47:54 I come popping up like one of those karate guys, know. Boom. I took that guy. This is the Moody Bible Institute. I grabbed him and threw him against the wall.

48:05 I said, you want to you want to do this? Come on. Let's go. I'm going, I think I just lost my temper. Guys are separating and all this kind of stuff, and you call yourself a Christian, know.

48:20 Oh my word, I I lost it. I lost that kind of thing. So bless them who persecute you, bless and curse not. Wow, that's got to be an act of God. Isn't the Christian life in our everyday living as well as our initial relationship with him, isn't it an act of God?

48:49 The answer is yes, it is. And I've got to consistently yield to him. I have to consistently yield to him. And then so he tells us to he tells us to have devotion and service and with humility. Look at verse 16, be of the same mind one toward another.

49:12 You know, bless those who persecute you, curse not verse sixteen fifteen, rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep. You know what that means? You know what this means? It means to be discerning and when somebody's hurting and nobody cares. Because you are not you're thinking about you.

49:38 When we live our lives, we don't think about ourselves as Christians or we shouldn't. We're to look on things of others, not on our own things. We're to be scouts. How can I minister? How can I do this?

49:56 How can I bless? Now, you're not going to know everything because you're not God. You're not you're not God. But he is going to put it on your hearts and in your minds. He's going to say, hey, look at this person.

50:06 It's going to be a subtle push, a prompting of the spirit of God as we yield to the spirit of God. He's going to say, hey, come alongside. Minister. Because it's one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We'd say that about, you know, people coming to Christ, but it's also true for us believers ministering one to another, weeping with them that weep, rejoicing with them that rejoice.

50:35 This is the life of the Christian. And if we're not doing this, the question is this, as a Christian, why? Why? This is our reason for being. Who cares about the past in terms of our great achievements on the athletic field or in the in the classroom or in whatever, business or whatever.

51:09 If this isn't taking place, then what is taking place? Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own eyes. King James says conceits, but the translation of that is wise in your own eyes.

51:31 Oh, I am something. Oh, thank you so much. I didn't know you knew me. I know me. I mean, it's just really crazy.

51:44 Sorry about the British accent. Alright. And then notice verse 17 because he he gives us some excerpt, recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. And if it be possible, I love this verse because sometimes it's just plain not possible, and if it be possible as much as lieth then you live peaceably with all men.

52:12 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. I I I just have to tell you, and I know I'm overtime, but I just want to tell you something. I've been in a few spiritual scraps. Maybe you can relate to that. In which I wanted to go in the flesh and take care of some people.

52:43 I did. I've been in that kind of a situation. I called Bill McDonald, a friend of mine, and his advice to me at that moment was to let God have control. Okay. Alright.

53:03 Step back, Chris. Don't even count to 10. Just get out of there. Just don't don't respond. And I'm talking about stuff that would make a corporate takeover look like a little sissy game.

53:23 Just awful. So I know that pressure. I know that situation. I know it keenly, and am allowing even to this very moment, trying to allow God to have control and let him take care of it. And you know what?

53:46 He will. Bless them who persecute you. Bless and curse not. You've... Every one of us have experienced that kind of a thing.

53:58 Do not respond in like kind. Turn it over to the Lord. Trust him in it. Even if you've been defrauded financially, even if you have been, you know, people are trying to ruin your reputation, even all these different things, we are not to respond in like kind. We're not.

54:25 Notice what he says. Verse 20, therefore if your enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, let him... Give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

54:41 Look at verse 21. Could you read verse 21 for us, Bob? Sure. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That's just exactly the way the King James puts it, but the Greek puts it, do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.

55:07 What is in the world are we here for? And what is your reason for being? Why? This is the Christian life that he is explaining to us. He's gonna tell us about in chapter 13 about our responsibilities in terms of the civil government, etcetera.

55:28 But this is talking about us right here, right now, and how we're to minister to each other. I want you to do this, and I think God wants you to do this. I want... And one of the things that is important for me is to not only, you know, talk like this, but I... Am I living this?

55:49 And I gotta do business with God on that one. Am I living this? God, show me where I'm not. Show me where I've fallen. Because he's talking to Christians, I beseech you therefore, brethren.

56:07 Why the exhortations to the Christian? Because Christians can be so cruel to each other, and Christians can hold back to God. And if we're so cruel to each other, what are we doing to God? What are we saying to God? Father, I pray right now that you would help us to live the life you want us to live.

56:36 And your life that you have given to us is totally generated from you, and you have given us all things, and you've given us all power to live this life that we could never live. And we ask you, Lord God, that you would just really minister to us and help us. If there's sin in our lives, Lord, we ask you to forgive us. We ask you to help us to seek your face in your word and to obey it, and to give us the strength to obey it, and to give us some changing of attitudes, and every... Whatever is needed for us, we pray that you would work in our hearts.

57:31 It's coming. We want to be, as somebody said, ready. Help us, we pray, and bless our departure and get us home safe and sound. Jesus' name, amen.