Life on the Altar

And men, what church. You can have a seat and

you can grab your bibles.

Please grab your bibles and start turning to Romans chapter

thirteen this morning. Romans chapter thirteen. It's where we're gonna be.

And if you need a bible or a bulletin or

a pen, you see already the ushers. They are looking

for your hands raised there, So raise your hand if

you need one of those, and they'll get.

You situated with that.

And also, if you've yet to fill out a connection

card this morning, I encourage you to interact with those

QR codes and fill out a connection card. It's a

helpful shepherding tool for us. We ask everybody to do

that each week. And want to know that you're here

by name and to be able to pray for you.

So be sure to do that. Pastor Josh he's out

this weekend. He's serving some extended family out of town.

And so I'm Pastor Seth here with you this morning.

And I turned forty six. Recently turned forty six. Is

that a good age?

I don't know.

Well, they they tell me that's middle aged, at least

middle aged. I'm not quite sure when that started or

when it finishes. I'm pretty sure though, that it does

mean some things like I'm supposed to be relatively grown

up by now, supposed to be matured.

In life and in the faith.

And yet it's also super clear to me that there's

no real visible finish line to this process of maturing

and growing up, especially when it comes to my lived

out trust in the Lord.

My maturity is a Christian.

And even as I live each day, there's plenty of

me that needs to die. You tracking with me on that,

even as I live each day, there's still plenty of.

Me that needs to die.

And that's the paradox we actually read about at the

beginning of Romans chapter twelve. This morning is this hinge

point of Paul's Letter to the Roman Church that he

wrote about twenty five years after Jesus died and resurrected.

For the first eleven chapters of his letter, he largely

addresses doctrines, great doctrines concerning God's righteousness, an offer of

salvation for us these unrighteous people, now rescued, rescued ones

needing instructions, so desperately needing instruction for faithful living. But

it's faithful living as sacrifices we'll read here in a second,

this living sacrifices language. He uses, I'm calling for us

here this morning, life on the altar, Life on the altar.

So let's read the chapter now, Romans, Chapter twelve.

You can follow along with me.

He says, I appeal to you there, for brothers, by

the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a

living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your

spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but

be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by

testing you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the

grace given to me, I say to everyone among you

not to think of himself more highly than he ought

to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according

to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For

As in one body, we have many members, and the

members do not all have the same functions.

So we, though many.

Are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another,

having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,

let us use them, if prophecy in proportion to our faith,

if service in our serving the one who teaches in

his teaching. The one who exhorts in his exhortation, the

one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal,

the does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine,

Abhor what is evil, fast to what is good. Love

one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit,

serve the Lord, Rejoice in hope, be patient and tribulation.

Be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to

show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do

not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with

those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do

not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be wise in your own sight.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to

do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible,

so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with

all beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the

wrath of God. For it is written vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord to the contrary If

your enemy is hungry, feed him. If heels thirsty, give

him something to drink. For by so doing you will

heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome

by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is God's word for us this morning.

Anybody feel a little overwhelmed by all we are being

called to in this chapter?

It's very much the same for me. With that.

You know, every sentence feels like it could use a

sermon and a playbook as we read through it.

How do we do this thing?

You might also be wondering about the whole life on

the altar phrase that I used before our reading, since

you didn't hear any mention of altars in this passage, right,

But hopefully it's a quick connection that we can make

here together. From the time that we see Noah departing

from the arc in Genesis eight, and then throughout the

Old Testament we see these altars, these raised platforms of

earth stone and wood used for worship and often sacrifices,

a place where the blood of animals was shed to

make atonement for sin. And reading about altars, you read.

About a lot of death.

So Paul, in a way he picks up this imagery

and adds a twist when he says in verse one,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, a living sacrifice, right.

It's a call to ongoing, complete surrender in a life

of worshipful service. It's sort of like saying, we now live,

We now live as those putting to death every ungodly

way in us. Jesus he gives a related teaching when

he says, what we have recorded in John twelve, twenty

five and twenty six, whoever loves his life loses it,

and whoever hates his life in this world will keep

it for eternal life. If anyone, sir, he must follow me.

Jesus said, it's this call to complete, wholehearted, all of

life devotion. So now what Romans twelve gives us is

initial instruction for this kind of life, This Jesus following

life on the Altar.

It's a pretty hefty concept. So where do we start?

Where do we dive into this thing?

What we might begin our exploration by stating life on

the altar requires we get sorted.

Get sorted.

That's your first blank if you're taking notes here this morning.

Before considering all the good things we might do in

relating to others. We're first called to look close to home,

as close as our own minds, our very thinking, to

get all sorted out by God according to Godliness.

See.

Without proper attention and high intentionality. With this, you and

I will tend to to cozy into the forms the

molds the world has for us, the shapings that celebrate

earthly success, a parent winning and supposed arrival in life,

and that, at whatever expense, taking on an identity that

proves contrary to the priorities for citizens of God's kingdom.

So Paul tells us to be transformed out of that,

transformed out of that, and into a new place of

knowing God's will bill knowing it not so much as

in figuring out his future plan for you or for me,

but getting clear on what's good, acceptable, and perfect. It's

about really getting God's mind for the proper evaluation of

yourself and your ways. Now there are new opportunities to

learn this at every phase of endpoint in life. I've noticed,

just have to look around for just a moment, always

fresh ways I find I must get personally sorted out

and further transformed in my thinking. There's the whole middle

aged thing that I'll have you consider with me again.

I mean as simple as how should I even think

about things like this body of mine, this physique? How

am I supposed to think about this as a forty

six year old man? You know, I've got to consider

this because well, we were might have been even watching

the Spurs game. I'm sorry to bring that up right now.

I know, I know, I know, I know, but my

family was laughing I think during that time at a

commercial that we saw. I think it was like for

testosterone supplements or something of the like. It features this guy,

perhaps you know, my age, a little bit older, and

you see him doing sleeveless pushups, and you see his

slow mow run through the neighborhood, you know, getting the

attention of the ladies, maybe the forty six year old

ladies that are out there in the neighborhood.

It's chuckle worthy.

But but there's part of me that kind of wants

to buy into that idea of holding on to youth,

to vitality, to attractiveness, to sex appeal. There's an appeal

to that. Or what about the car adds? So many

car ads demonstrating vehicles that oh, they're just the perfect

combination of sporty, roomy, classy, luxurious.

Right. You've seen some of those so slick, Right.

They feature a lot of people my age too, communicating

that this stage of life means this level of financial

success demonstrated through.

These kinds of wheels.

Right, I'm being invited to think and step with their

value system and then do whatever I must to get

their sacrificing what or who that might require, instead of

giving myself to God as a living sacrifice.

It's the truth is behind the flashy ads. Right.

Of course, longing for nice bodies or fancy rides may

not be everyone's worldly mind trap here this morning, But

you've got your own phase of life and groups of

peers and targeted ads all aimed at molding you into

something contrary to the way of a living sacrifice, holy

and acceptable to God, where you build values and make

choices that line.

Up with His kingdom.

You know what helped me sort out a little bit,

sort out my own mind and renew my thoughts this

last week and add nothing to do with my own

age or life situation. I'll get off of the whole

middle life thing. It was read everything leading up to

Romans twelve simple as that, and then to the end

of the letter a little bit more after that, I

got to think God's thoughts through that exercise in a

way that so helped me to press out other empty longings,

replacing them with glorious truths of things good, acceptable, and perfect.

That was just so richly reorienting for me. But can

I level with you here this morning, I don't want

you to hear me say that if you read Romans

this week, everything is going to be great.

And you'll be in.

The perfect headspace for the summer. It'd be so awesome.

I think it was maybe Monday when I read through it,

And then part of my birthday celebration on Tuesday included

us sitting as a family and scrolling through our Google

photos on our TV from the last year, and then

Jen and I giving thanks for God's blessings right before

going to sleep, and then and then me waking up

the next morning in such in irritable funk, Oh my goodness,

such a funk. The next morning, weary in body and soul.

Where did that come from? But in that state where

I didn't want to serve nothing and nobody but myself.

With my next bits of Bible to read for that morning.

As I stumbled into it with a heavy and distracted mind.

I read the account in John thirteen of Jesus washing

his disciple bull's feet as an example for them of

the humble service they also were to walk in. And

then you know what I did. I read it a

second time. You know why, because I didn't remember a

lick of what my eyes had just passed over.

I don't even know if I could have told you

what account it was.

I had to read it a second time, and then,

through that battle of gaining something here, grabbed a few

verses of instruction from it, confessed my cold heart in

regard to things like serving all of you through preparing

this sermon.

Prayed for His help, and I was.

Gradually slowly yet yet steadily well revived to fight forward

in faithfulness. Guys, that's an that's a normal Tuesday or

Wednesday or Thursday for this guy. I share that with

you because it's important for you to understand something of

my basic weakness as I also try to live life

on the altar as a living sacrifice before God as

He sorts me out in this daily battle for Christian

renewal and hope in the Lord, and push against desires

for selfish ease and escape.

And simply my own way.

So that's something of a picture of how life on

the Altar starts as each of us we each learn

to be living sacrifices surrendered to God by getting sorted

out in our minds and our thinking. But life on

the altar doesn't end there. It also requires, as we

saw in this chapter, it requires we get moving it

we get moving, and that's our next point of focus

as we drive further into this chapter. Looking specifically at

Versus three through thirteen, which might be slightly different than

the non inspired but often helpful headings that you have

in your bibles in front of you. Look specifically here

now at Versus three through thirteen. In this section, these

next two paragraphs, we see how our right thinking needs

to move us into right actions, specifically when it comes

to our serving one another. Only even as we step

into this where this call is for us to get moving,

it's as if Paul tells us, hold on, hold on,

wait a minute, I still need you to engage your

brains here with some right thinking, specifically when it comes

to this serving, and that will be best done with

a mirror in your hand, where you'll do some honest

self assessment and evaluation.

Did you hear that? Look again at.

Verse three, he says, for by the grace given to me,

I say to everyone among you not to think of

himself more highly than he ought to think, but to

think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of

faith that God has assigned. So, in other words, think

soberly about yourself as you take a look at yourself

before using the gifts you've been given to serve one another.

Make sure you understand.

Your humble service is not about your prominence. It's not

about your personal fulfillment, but something you're doing as an

outworking of the faith that God has provided. Then, yes,

then get to it. Use those gifts you see there

in verse six, Let us use them.

Let us use these gifts.

Now, maybe yours is listed here in Romans twelve, but

maybe it's not. But covering every possible gift isn't the

point here in this list or in other lists in

the scriptures. Stepping into opportunities sometimes to even discover what

God has equipped you with according to your faith in

Him and strengths he's providing.

Is all we may have to go on at first.

So let's try to flesh this out a little bit

as we think about it here together, because there are

a few things I think are helpful to address as

we talk about using our gifts to benefit the body.

The first one is simply this, be patient. Be patient.

I don't mean to the extent that you fail to

seize upon opportunities there in front of you. I just

mean that most often good things we learn how to

do well are built over time and in sequence with

other things going on in the body. It's just the

way it tends to work according to God's design. For instance,

you see there in verse seven the gift of teaching

is mentioned.

But but for.

Various reasons, you know, you plug into the church here

and you end up serving somewhere more in the mix

of Sunday morning hospitality. That could have been because of

the needs of the church at that moment when you

were plugging in, or because you were at that time

not thinking much about the possibility of teaching within the body.

But then there comes up.

An opportunity later to teach in we'll say children's ministry,

and you step into that opportunity. Ruthanna our children's ministry

director was just sharing recently about such a situation, and

now she says she cannot get enough of that person

teaching because of the amazing capabilities that she observes there.

So that's the first encouragement. Trust in God's timetable here

for things right. Be patient, Be patient. But the second

one is this, The second encouragement I'd give for you

is this, don't flatten the command. Don't flatten the command

to use your gifts. So what I mean by that is,

don't see established church ministry teams or even small groups

as your only opportunity to serve others with the gifts

and the strengths that go Odd has given you.

Yeah, Yeah, be faithful. Be faithful in.

Those official areas of teams and groups as they are

serving unique purposes to ensure that church functions like this

are able to happen well, and more importantly, that people

don't fall through the cracks. You're a part of people

not falling through the cracks by being an active part

of your small group. Be steady, be reliable in those areas.

But you need to know that the leadership of this

church loves when organic, healthy things grow here as people are.

Caring for one another. We love that. We love that.

A lady with some gifts of administration, probably among other

gifts too, a few years ago saw an opportunity to

help the women of the church stick to a plan

of read their Bibles over the summer. And there's an

active chat thread now for it that's ramped up once

again for this summer. So I see my wife engaging

with that, even while she's not neglecting our small group ladies.

She's participating even in a summer book study with them.

And I can say, I can look at all of

these things and say, praise God. Praise God for using

his people to grow healthy ministry in all kinds of

corners that benefit the body.

Praise the Lord. We love that. Or maybe men, you

see written that the one who has a gift to

lead should do so with zeal.

There in verse eight, you caught that nobody has perhaps

invited you into a formal leadership role in the church

up to this point.

But you could start.

You could start with calling a couple guys in your

small group to summer of accountability of some sort.

It wouldn't have to be with reading.

Your bibles necessarily but maybe you've seen this theme among

the other guys of anger or relational coldness. You've seen

that come up as you guys have talked and prayed

together at the end of your meetings confessing these things.

They very well might need your leadership in establishing some

basic weekly check ins over the next six weeks to

see how you can spur one another on and faithfulness

in this.

Leadership.

Opportunities abound, So don't flatten the command viewing it in

some very narrow.

Sort of way.

Look up, bend around a bit, and take initiative where

you can. But here's one more also, a third help

in this, and using our gifts serve the body. Be

graciously persistent. Be graciously persistent. If the members of the

body don't respond the way you would want them to

the first time you try to use your gifts to

serve them, don't give up. Take another swing later, or

try a different avenue or angle. It's a little bit

like putting up window flower boxes.

Right, just me, just me, okay, Well, here's the thing.

Jenn had mentioned some time ago that she liked the

look of window flower boxes on other houses that she

had seen, and so I kind of filed that away

over the last couple of years, and I needed a

plan for Mother's Day last month, and so here we go.

We've got the plan. So I worked together with the

the kids on getting that as a gift for her.

I ordered a set of two of these flower boxes

and worked with the kids to go out and get

a few little potted flowers, which they did just a

bang up job on and I picked up some soil,

and then the night before Mother's Day had them helped

me get one of these situated right outside our bedroom

window where Jen sits in the mornings with her Bible

and her coffee for that initial start to the day.

So got all that set up and she got to

see it the next morning, and she liked it.

It was a good gift, she said.

But here's the here's the deal. There's a major issue

with my plan and all of this. The soil that

I got was of the sort that drained too quickly

for the type of box or basket material that surrounded

the flowers. We left for vacation, we came back to dirt.

Isn't that fun.

It's a good idea that needed some execution work right,

and really truly frustrating because of time spent and even

the fact that my kid's investment took a hit. I mean,

brought my kids into this and it becomes their failure

as well.

But guess what.

I learned something from that got the better soil and

a few more flowers, and then installed both the boxes,

which are looking pretty good last time I checked. I

needed a little more persistent and some different methodology to

best serve my wife through my still developing modest, modest,

modest gift of gardening. Right, So, let's creative prayerfully persistent

in serving one another, ensuring that brotherly affection for one

another in service to the Lord is the manner.

That we employ.

It seems to be what the Holy Spirit through Paul

would have for us here, especially in that final paragraph

of this section in verses nine through thirteen. So look

at it again, verses nine through thirteen, and note they're

the focus on love and honor and fervency and resilience

and welcoming, all ultimately in service to God. So we've

seen how this living sacrifice Christianity includes being sorted out

by God who calls us also to get moving in

our service. But here's a final requirement of life on

the altar, there's the uncomfortable call to thirdly, get meek,

Get meek. This is the requirement of humility in our

relationships that is spoken of throughout this chapter, but especially

emphasized beginning in verse fourteen to the end. So let's

read this section again together. Starting in verse fourteen, says,

Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty,

but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your

own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give

thought to do what is on in the sight of all,

if possible, so far as it depends on you, live

peaceably with all beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it

to the wrath of God. For it has written vengeance

is mine. I will repay, says the Lord to the contrary.

If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty,

to give him something to drink, for by so doing

you will heat burning coals on his head. Do not

be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Well.

This paragraph covers the territory.

I believe of many types of relationships so that it

can be applied in our wider communities, in the church,

in our homes. But what's especially clear is that Paul

has in mind, through many of these words, the hard relationships,

the hard relationships, or at least those that are in

a season of extra challenge. He speaks of matters like

blessing persecutors, slowing down enough to meet and mirror people

in the moment, giving ourselves to associate with stations that

might feel below us, only acting in ways that would

look honorable to others and would make for peace, taking

the loss instead of taking vengeance, satisfying the needs of

an enemy, and as a kind of summary, wielding only

the weapon of goodness in our relationships to gain victory

over evil.

Do you get discouraged by.

Or even bristle a bit against any of these directives

if you've been stung by someone, especially if it's happened repeatedly,

And these instructions can seem quite unreasonable. And I tell

you I have grieved with many of you over some

of those hurts that you've endured at the hands of employers,

of friends, of parents, of children, of siblings.

And of spouses.

And isn't it true that some of the last and

relationally closest ones that I just mentioned in that list

or the contexts for some of the deepest pains that

you've endured, And I certainly don't have any words that

can magically make those wounds disappear.

Doesn't work that way.

But at the same time, I believe this paragraph throbs

with some of the richest gospel application that we have

in all of Scripture. What portion of these words do

we not see exemplified through the life and cross of

Christ too, in his final breaths received the greatest evil,

and overcame it with the profound good of giving his

life for us, a sacrifice unto death, that we might

now walk as these living sacrifices, having received His mercy

and grace that we now get to extend to others,

mercy and grace we've received, that we get to extend

to others. Who comes to mind for you? When I

speak of offering horizontally the mercy and grace you've received.

From God, who comes to mind this morning, I'm.

Not speaking here, and neither is Paul of quietly submitting

yourself to domestic abuse or endangering your family through giving

criminals or their equivalent unrestrained presence in your life. In

the very next chapter of this letter, Paul even speaks

of the good gift of governing authorities who are God's

servants for punishing wickedness and restraining evil. There are those

of you who have needed to, or may need even now,

to call upon such authorities without hesitation. It's a clarifier

you need to receive this morning. But here's the common

It's an ordinary challenge that many of us are facing

on the day alien some of our closest relationships. We

want the win. We want the win, but don't cherish

Christian victory.

We want the win, but we don't.

Cherish Christian victory. Here's what I mean, markedly. Christian victory

looks like verse nineteen, which ends with the quotation from

Deuteronomy thirty two. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says

the Lord. So Christian victory looks like trusting that God's

vengeance is the only appropriate vengeance. And this is in

fact very good news, because He's far better at it

than we could ever be, and is not corrupted by

executing it. Some thing that we can't claim for ourselves.

When the temptation arises to get back at someone, we're

faced with the opportunity to choose the posture of I

can trust God with this and with this person. It's

not mine to try to score retribution points here. I

can trust God. But markedly Christian victory also looks like

Versus twenty and twenty one before us this morning, which

also isn't, by the way, only a New Testament call,

but a partial quotation from Proverbs twenty five.

It's showing a.

Kindness to the one who has made your life uncomfortable.

It's about that really irritating, potty mouthed co worker who

leaves his dirty dishes in the breakroom, but.

Has a birthday.

Coming up, and you scour the depths of your brain

to write in a card a sentence of kind encouragement.

And it doesn't count if it's something like, I'm truly

trusting God can help you be less of an idiot

over the course of the next year, happiest of birthdays,

your Christian enemy doing you good, Brad.

Doesn't work?

We laugh, and well we should, But isn't it our

tendency Sometimes in our more subtle ways to try and

still squeeze out fleshly wins in our interactions with difficult people,

even at home, even with our spouses who can sometimes

feel like enemies. Let me speak for a moment to

us married people in the room, although the application can

stretch farther than that for all of us. So for

the marrieds, how meek, how meek, how humble are you

willing to get with one another? Are you doing everything

you can everything you can to live peaceably with your spouse?

Are you seeking to do your husband your wife so

much good that even if they've been acting a little

bit more like an enemy lately, they won't know what

to do with the surprising good that is essentially like

a handful of burning coals on their head that they

can't help but have their attention awakened. That's the picture

here of the recipient of the good coming to the

place of conviction, needing to assume God's hand at work

through you, or at least to inquire of it, saying why.

Are you being so good to me? Now? I know

that sounds overly simplified.

Don't hear me downplaying the depths of trouble you might

be in over years of her in your marriage. Now

there are speedy breakthrough moments that come sometimes, but new

efforts for good. You know, often it looks more like

little leaguers trying to figure out which direction to run

around the bases. So let me give you two things

that might help as you seek to grow in meekness

in your marriage over the seasons. So first thing that

I hope is helpful, stop trying to work in a

fleshly win during your verbal and nonverbal exchanges. It's like

the subtler form of the backhanded birthday card I mentioned earlier. Right,

it's the I'm sorry I snapped, but you dot dot dot.

It's the thought pattern.

If I'm the one who makes the kind approach in

this chilly air moment, she'll think I'm weak, So I'm

not gonna None of those are the way of our master.

Can you imagine him going to the cross with that

ungodly attitude as he's being taken to death, even though

we didn't deserve any better than and some of these

kind of backhanded actions. If he had had that attitude,

he would not have been the spotless lamb.

We'd still be trapped in our sins.

Unimaginable, right, and what do our little perceived wins achieve anyway,

our imaginary top spot on our imaginary podium in our

imaginary contest. Oh wow, what a great thing to have achieved.

And it's silly, and we just stopped to think about

it a little bit. I get the temptation, though, I've

taken the bait, but it's a ridiculous fools errand to

try and work out our fleshly wins in our marriages. Remember,

fellow marriage struggler, and all of you, remember Ephesians six

that we do not ultimately wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against the devil and his forces who work to

see our marriages fail.

Let's not cooperate. Let's not cooperate with him. Stop trying

to work for the fleshly win. That's one.

But secondly, let me say, notice the efforts and tame

your suspicion. Notice the efforts and tame your suspicion. Wife,

If things haven't been going the best at home, and

your husband says this week, with this passage in mind,

I like the way you.

Did your hair today.

Don't roll your eyes and assume that the only thing

he's trying to do is make up for something dumb

he did before that, or that he simply got his

eye on something else at bedtime.

You don't know, You don't know.

And and what if you are right to some extent

if he is selfishly looking for his own fleshly gain

in a kind of comment like that, trust the Lord

with him, Trust the Lord with him. You do what's

right in that moment, and say thank you. That's sweet

of you to notice. And for either of us husbands

or wives, as we see any opportunities to build up

with our actions or words.

Let's take that initiative.

Don't sinfully withhold the good you can provide. You know

if you're in bad patterns in your home, craftily looking

for them win in ways like this, walking with suspicion,

withholding good, you'll need practice out of it. Ask for

help from the Lord in this very thing today and

every day. Seek out married people who are more practiced

at it than you are and are seeing some level

of success. Set up a meeting with your spouse to

pray together about it, asking forgiveness from one another, and

humbly receive any loving, gentle constructive criticism that the other

might offer, hear him out, hear her out with your

mouth closed. And again, if you can't make progress, ask

for help, starting with people preferably who already know you

reasonably well. I know, I know the situations in marriage

and in relationships in general. They are manifold and messy,

aren't they. But before we try to explain the way

in which we're the exception.

And kind of do what we want.

Before we start doing that, we've got to do the

hard work of holding our own hearts up against this

high call in Romans twelve to present our bodies as

living sacrifices.

One moment at a time.

That's all we're given from the Lord right, one moment

at a time, Our God of mercies is our help

as we seek to practice this life on the altar,

you stand and pray together with me. So, Lord, that's

our great need. Our great need is for you to

do your mighty work on us.

Lord. We need to be sorted out. We need to

think rightly. Father. We desperately need to get moving some

of us and doing good to others. Lord.

And oh you know our temptations toward pride. Lord, we

need hearts of humility. Lord, make us meek, Lord God,

we trust you with these things and pray for your

help even in this coming week, as we try to

try to take steps into faithfulness.

We love you, Lord in Jesus name. Amen,