A Living Sacrifice

Today the scripture reading comes from Romans chapter 11 and 12.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

Starting in chapter 11, verse 33, we read,

O the death of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments, and how incruitable in his ways!

For who has known the might of the Lord, or who has been his counselor,

or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from him, and through him, and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever. Amen.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sherman.

We've got a short passage today compared to Daniel,

so well done for reading that.

Let me just pray for us as we get into God's word this morning.

Father, I just thank you that actually as we come before you

and we get in your word this morning,

this is such an incredible passage,

and I know it's a passage where many of us who've been in church

have heard this before,

but, Lord, we want our hearts not just to check out

because we've heard something before,

but we want you to warm our hearts.

We want you to melt our hearts.

We want you to change our hearts

so that actually as we go out this week into the rest of our lives,

Lord, that we live our lives as an offering of worship to you.

Lord, I pray even as I speak, Lord,

would my lips be worshiped to you?

Nothing about me, Lord, but about you.

Would as we listen, Lord,

would it be worshiped to you?

Would you open our ears so that we want to honor you

in the way that we hear and respond?

And I pray, Lord,

that you would just be with us right now.

By your Holy Spirit, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Great.

Welcome, everyone.

My name's Chris.

If you don't know me,

I'm one of the leaders at Watermark.

Today, Kevin's actually preaching at another church,

Faith Community Church,

so you can check out with him.

Actually, that's one of the things we really believe God has us here as a church,

is not just to be here for ourselves,

but also to be a blessing in the city.

And so that's why Kevin's going and speaking at another place this morning.

We're starting a new series in the book of Romans.

Let me start off by saying I was talking actually just last week to a cafe owner,

and she said to me,

you know, all religions are basically the same, aren't they?

You know, it's just about,

it doesn't kind of matter what you believe,

it's really all about just being good, isn't it?

So as long as you're a nice person and kind of help grannies across the road,

it's great.

It doesn't matter what you believe.

And it sounded plausible,

except for the fact that she had missed the crucial fact that,

though what you do is really important,

the why behind the what is also crucial,

in fact, even more important.

Because I can be nice to you just to manipulate you.

I can be nice to you to feel better about myself.

But the passage in Romans 12 that we're going to be looking at,

and we're going to spend a few weeks just going through this extraordinary passage in Scripture,

it's amazing.

I encourage you all to be reading it in between.

It's a passage which calls us not just to be nice people,

it calls us to be people of radical love and sacrifice.

It calls us to be a community,

which is so beautiful because it's shaped entirely by Jesus and his love for us.

And we're going to focus,

really zoom down into the first verse of this passage today,

which is really the foundation for everything else that Paul is going to say in Romans 12.

Because if you don't get this part of the verse,

everything else that he's going to call us to is going to be useless,

because it's going to be a what without a why.

It's going to be morality without the motivating power to sustain it.

You know, I remember when I was a teenager,

I mean, my friend, we went to climb the tallest mountain in the UK called Ben Nevis.

And we wanted to do it because it was the tallest mountain.

And so we got halfway up,

but we realized that actually it's eight hours of just monotony.

It's the most boring mountain ever in the world.

And halfway up, my friend and I, we were just exhausted.

We were kind of like, I can't bother to do this any longer.

We just sat down, we stopped, we looked at each other and go,

I can't be bothered.

And then, this really hot girl walked past us racing up the mountain.

And do you know what happened?

You have never seen two 16-year-olds climb Ben Nevis as quickly as we did.

Because we found our why.

Before, we thought we had a why, but it was just in our heads.

But then we had a why which captured our hearts at that moment.

And though that's a stupid story,

if we're going to live radical lives,

loving Jesus as he calls us to,

it's tough work.

It's like climbing a mountain.

And we're going to need a greater why

than all the other whys that the society around us preaches to us.

We're going to need heart-motivating rocket fuel.

There we go, the spirit is working.

Excuse me.

We're going to need heart-motivating rocket fuel

to really enable us to live this kind of life.

Excuse me, I'm going to put this down here.

So we're going to look through this passage,

this verse,

and I've just got two things that I'm going to say.

One is about give me your why.

And the second is give me your all.

Okay?

So just have the bulletin open in front of you.

And we're going to look through this.

Because here is the verse.

It says,

I appeal to you,

therefore, brothers,

by the mercies of God,

present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God.

He says,

therefore,

which is actually,

he means in the light of everything that I've said

in chapters 1 through to 11.

And then he summarizes

the why behind the what

that he's going to go into.

And he says,

well, the NIV translation says,

in view,

and actually our title says,

in view of God's mercy.

But that's actually only half right.

Because in view of means kind of think about it

and then go ahead and do it.

Maybe out of obligation,

maybe out of guilt,

but just do it.

That's not what he's saying here.

The actual Greek says,

by the mercies of God.

Because what by means is,

it means having thought about it,

having allowed it to marinate

and soak in your heart,

and allowing it to empower

and energize you.

These mercies of God

then live radical lives after that.

And do you notice,

it's actually not the mercy of God,

it's the mercies of God in Greek,

which means you try counting how many mercies there are.

They're innumerable.

And so what I'm going to do is,

I'm going to just go through a few

from the book of Romans,

from chapters 1 to 11,

of some of the mercies of God.

You see, chapter 1,

Paul says,

I'm not ashamed of the gospel,

because it's the power of God for salvation,

for everyone who believes.

And in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed.

The restoring,

the saving,

the healing,

the renewing power of God is revealed.

The gospel,

the mercies of God,

are not about what we do for God,

it's about what God has done for us.

It's about God's solution to our problem.

And so as the Romans carries on,

he says,

our problem is that though we knew God,

we didn't glorify Him,

or honor Him in our lives.

We walked out on Him.

We took the glorious symphony of God's creation,

in all its complexity,

all its beauty and wonder,

and we scrubbed out the name of the composer,

which was God,

and we tried to put our own names in there.

And then maybe we ended up worshipping the music stand,

or something we'd created,

an idol,

instead of the one who deserved all the honor.

And it says we became jealous,

selfish,

unkind,

judgmental,

and we justified it all.

Anybody like that?

One or two.

And he says,

religion couldn't help us,

morality couldn't help us,

because we failed even our own standards.

And he says,

all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And he says,

because of that,

the wages of sin is death.

We were under God's judgment,

under His wrath,

condemned.

No defense at all.

And then he says,

but.

But God showed His great love for us,

in that while we were still sinners,

while we were powerless,

while we had nothing in our hands,

Christ died and rose for us.

He took our punishment on the cross.

He freed us from the penalty of sin.

Instead of being His enemies through Jesus,

we're reconciled.

We've got peace with the Creator of the universe.

He said,

there's now no condemnation for any of us in Christ.

He says,

He doesn't just forgive us,

doesn't just wipe the slate clean.

He credits us with the gift of righteousness.

We have right standing before God.

And we can reign in the new life that He gives to us today.

And He says,

we have access into the very presence of this holy, awesome God.

And He calls us His adopted, beloved children.

And by Him we can cry,

Abba, Father.

Have you thought how amazing that is?

There's no other religion which says,

the God who created everything,

the galaxies,

the Milky Way,

you can call Him Dad.

And He loves to hear your voice.

And He says,

there is nothing in all creation

that will ever separate you,

if you're in Christ,

from the ever doting,

ever watching,

ever caring,

ever passionate love of God for you.

Nothing.

Because we're united to Him.

The mercies of God.

But then He says,

there's more.

He says,

God works through every circumstance,

you go through for your good.

He's going to conform us to be more like Jesus,

to be glorious image bearers,

the beautiful people we were made to be.

He is restoring us.

And He says,

even though we groan in this world,

He will,

He's not just setting us free from the penalty of sin,

but also the power of sin.

He fills us with the Holy Spirit's presence within us.

He doesn't leave us slaves to fear and anxiety.

But the Spirit reminds you,

you are a child of God.

Remember that.

He lifts up when we just don't,

we feel so weak,

and we don't even know how to pray.

He says,

He helps us in our weakness,

and He intercedes for us,

and He lifts our prayers to the throne of heaven.

And because of Him,

you have resurrection power inside of you

to say no to your selfish desires,

and to choose to live lovingly,

obediently,

and courageously with His power.

And in the groaning of the world,

He will not just move the penalty of sin,

not just the power of sin,

but also He removed the presence of sin.

Because He's giving you an unshakable future,

a hope that's never going to disappoint you.

You become heirs of the estate of heaven and earth.

You're co-heirs with Jesus,

will reign with Him.

You're more than a conqueror

through Him who's loved you.

And your body,

which right now may get allergies,

and asthma,

and high blood pressure,

will be healed and transformed

to a place where we'll go,

well, what do we call that back then?

Was it cancer?

Because He will have brought

this abundant new creation in life,

and you and I will be there

if you've trusted in Christ.

And we did nothing to deserve it.

Nothing in our hands.

It's purely the gracious generosity of a God

that we go,

why on earth would you do that?

And He says,

because I love you.

And we receive it all as an open gift

with empty hands,

the empty hands of faith.

And I've only just begun to start talking about

the mercies of God.

Because I could talk about the fact

that His mercies are new every single day.

And that even though I so often forget about His mercies,

He still continues to be merciful to me.

Even today.

How often do we rehearse the mercies of God?

And you know,

the amazing thing of this is that

Paul,

he's a brain.

He knows all this doctrine.

And you know,

people who have real intelligence,

often they're great at academics,

but they're cold a little bit

in the way that they're just clinical.

But actually,

he doesn't get tired of this

because in chapter 11,

he ends the whole of chapters 1 to 11

with this splurge of uncontrolled praise.

He goes,

oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom

and the knowledge of God.

How unsearchable and how inscrutable

are His ways and His judgments.

He's going,

wow,

I can't get my head around this.

I don't even have the words to say.

Why is Paul so excited about this?

This isn't theory for Paul.

For some of us,

that can be nice.

That's nice theory.

This is not theory

because his life is the testimony

to these mercies.

You know,

1 Timothy 1,

he says,

formerly I was a blasphemer,

a persecutor,

an insolent opponent.

But I received mercy

and the grace of our Lord

overflowed to me,

he says.

You know,

this is personal.

And you know,

actually,

this will only make you sing

when you realize

how much you need it.

Until God runs a 10-ton truck

over your life

to the place where you go,

wow,

I need mercy,

you will not realize

that the power and the joy

that there is

in the mercies of God.

You know,

I knew a guy,

I knew of a guy who,

his dad

was always working

for the family.

And as a son,

he was grateful

that he paid his college fees

and he was dutiful,

he was there on birthdays

and Father's Day

doing the kind of right thing.

But emotionally,

he was not really invested.

He was,

he was just,

you know,

he invested in a whole

load of other stuff.

He took his dad

quite for granted.

And you know,

they had a,

just a dutiful relationship.

But then one day,

his mom came to him

and said to him,

do you realize

why your dad

took so many multiple jobs

and was busy all the time?

It's because he had to pay off

the debts

for the treatment

that saved your life

when you were a kid.

And actually,

you meant the time

that he's actually spent with you,

do you realize

he was actually sacrificing

the sleep

that he should have gotten.

Actually,

it's affected his health massively.

And he didn't want you

to know about this

because

he didn't want you

to feel guilty.

And when the son,

the son heard this,

do you know what it did?

It melted his heart.

He broke down.

He wept at how cold

he could have been

towards his father.

And it changed him

to determine

to invest his life

in rebuilding

his relationship

with his dad.

You know,

Jesus isn't just

a busy, absent father.

He's an ever-present father.

But if you think

that Jesus is just,

you know,

the greatest mercy

that you have from him

is he gave you a good job.

Or he, you know,

helped you to get,

I answer a prayer

that you had.

If that's the extent

that you think

his mercies go to,

then you'll be grateful.

You'll go,

well, thanks, Jesus.

That's nice.

I'm forgiven.

Maybe here's $10

in the offering for you.

Thank you for dying for me.

Now, what price

were the Tesla stocks

at the moment?

Because you might give

your duty,

but you won't give

your heart

until you realize

the depth

of the sacrifice

for you

that he went to.

In fact,

to just give him

your duty

is actually quite offensive,

right?

After all he's done.

But if you know

that he sacrificed

everything for you,

the very breath

that you have right now

is a gift from him.

That if it wasn't

for his mercy,

you would be

in a way worse place

than you are right now.

And I know that

for myself.

Then that changes

everything.

You found your why.

You found

the way

that you can be

propelled

to really love

and to live for him.

Do you know

your need

for his mercies?

Do you know

just how incredible

much he loves you?

Because if you do,

Paul then appeals

to you

and to us

with this why

to respond.

And he says,

respond

with spiritual worship.

And that word

spiritual

means

the only

logical,

reasonable,

not external duty,

but internally

motivated

and fueled

from the inside

response

is worship

which says,

I give you

my all,

Jesus.

He's given you

his why

and now he tells you,

give me

your all.

That's the second point.

And this music stand

is getting lower

and lower.

Or I'm getting

shorter and shorter,

I'm not sure.

Paul says,

by the mercies

of God,

what should you do?

Present

your bodies

as a living

sacrifice,

holy

and acceptable

to God,

which is,

this is,

your spiritual

worship.

worship.

You see,

this is the language

of the Old Testament,

of Old Testament

worship,

where you take a bull

or a lamb

or some animal

and you'd offer it

on the altar

and you'd slit

its throat

and it would die

as a substitute

for the worshipers.

And it was a costly

sacrifice.

It was brought

before God

to bring

that offering

but actually

you would only

bring the best.

Your animals

were your possessions,

your wealth.

You know,

you didn't bring

a sheep with acne.

You had to be

spotless.

And there were

three types

of animal sacrifice.

There were sin offering,

sin and guilt offerings,

there were burnt offerings

and there were

fellowship offerings.

But the guilt

and the sin offerings

and the fellowship offerings,

the priest could eat

some of it.

But the burnt offering,

you brought it all

and you burnt it all

in front of you.

There was nothing left.

You didn't say,

oh,

I'll just take a thigh

from that afterwards

once it's cooked.

You didn't do that.

It was totally consumed

in front of you.

Why?

Because what you are saying

is,

this is my total,

utter,

no holds barred,

consecration

and devotion

to you, God.

This is my worship

for you.

And what Paul

is saying here,

he says,

Jesus has done away

with the animal sacrifice,

but do you know

where is the sacrifice now?

You're the sacrifice.

But you're not

a dead one.

You're a living one.

You're not a sacrifice

for the sin offering.

This is the burnt offering

of saying,

where my day-to-day life is,

thank you,

we need a repair man.

My day-to-day,

moment-by-moment life

is an offering

of responsive worship

to the God

who's given everything for me.

It's a heart

that's captivated

by his mercies.

Because you know

what worship is?

His worship

is giving

the highest value,

the highest worth,

the highest priority

to what you think

is most valuable,

is worth the most.

And so he's saying,

is Jesus

the most precious thing

to you?

Is he?

Can you say,

Jesus,

I want to surrender

my all to you?

And notice he doesn't say

actually just,

bring your spiritual life,

bring your church life,

bring your Bible studies

to me.

He doesn't say that.

He says,

present your bodies,

your lips,

your arms,

your mouth,

your tongue,

your every part of you,

your sexuality

to God.

Verse 2

is going to talk

about the mind.

And we'll look at that

next week.

But here he's saying,

true worship

is not just singing

some songs on a Sunday.

It's not even just

confessing some sins

from your heart,

although those are worship.

It's every single aspect

of your life.

Everything.

One guy,

commentator,

William Barclay,

said this,

we might say,

I'm going to church

to worship God.

But we should also

be able to say,

I'm going to the factory,

the shop,

the office,

the school,

the garage,

the mine,

not many mines in Hong Kong,

the shipyard,

the field,

the cow ship,

definitely not many of those,

the garden,

to worship God.

You're going,

I'm going to change nappies

and send emails

and have conversations

and plan vacations

and have sex

with my spouse,

all for the glory

and honour of God.

Every part.

Because he says,

if you've got your why,

and if your why

is not just here,

it's come down here,

then this offering

of what you present

to God,

it's holy

and acceptable.

You know,

in the Old Testament,

God doesn't accept

any old sacrifice.

It had to be perfect.

He won't accept

an imperfect sacrifice.

You know,

he won't accept

a sacrifice

from somebody

who isn't a believer

in him.

But the gospel says

that imperfect people

like you and me

are made acceptable

and holy sacrifices.

Because in Jesus,

God doesn't look at you

like we look at us

or like other people

look at us.

We go,

but can't you see

all the kind of things

I do wrong?

And God says,

yeah, I know.

But in Christ,

I have cleansed you.

I see you

with my righteousness,

holy,

spotless,

acceptable,

pleasing.

Your sacrifice

delights his heart.

Isn't that amazing?

Some of you

are not amazed,

but I think

it's amazing.

So what does it mean

for all of your life

to be worshipped?

Well,

there's a parallel passage

in Romans 6

which says this.

It says,

don't present

your members,

that means

your body parts,

your arms,

your legs,

all those things,

to sin

as instruments

for unrighteousness.

But present yourselves

to God

as those who have been

brought from death

to life.

You're alive,

you're living.

That's what he's saying,

a living sacrifice.

And you're members

to God

as instruments

for righteousness.

What is he saying?

He's actually saying

you are always

presenting your body

to something.

You are always

worshipping something

every day.

It's not a matter,

a choice of

whether you worship

or not,

but who or what

you will worship.

And so,

what you will do

with your lips

and where you are

focused with your eyes

and your ears

is where you will

lay those down

on the altar

of worship

to that thing.

You know,

the reason we present

our bodies

to pornography,

the reason we present

our bodies

to anger

and shouting

and all the other things

is because

we are worshipping

something other than God

and we've lost sight

of the mercies

of God towards us.

You know,

every morning

the first thing

some of us do

is present

our bodies

to our phones,

to Facebook,

to the news,

to WhatsApp

because we worship

being up to date.

We fear

missing out.

But you know,

one of the things

I've started trying

to do

as a habit

in my heart

and my life

is to start

my day

praying a prayer

that author

Elizabeth Elliot

prays

to actually offer

every single day

and here's

what she says

her prayers

loving Lord

and heavenly Father

I offer today

all that I am

that means I'm a father

I'm a son

I'm a colleague

I'm a friend

whatever you are

all that I have

my phone

my laptop

all the things

that you have given me

my flat

that all that I do

that project

that I've got

right now

this sermon

that I'm writing

whatever email

you're sending

and all that I suffer

my struggles

the pains

that I'm going to

go through today

to be yours today

and yours forever

isn't that an amazing prayer?

I want to be

a living sacrifice

to you

but you see

there's a choice

because you'll not

find your why

to change

and do these kind of things

by me just telling you

okay

just pray

before you

first thing you do

in the morning

before you're looking

at the phone

okay

if I say that

I can guarantee

tomorrow morning

none of you

will be praying

that prayer

but what do we need

to do

we need to rehearse

the mercies of God

towards us

personally

so that actually

it begins to melt

your heart

so you make decisions

and go

God I want to

put that in my diary

I want to put that

in my calendar

I want to change

my life

and you're saying

God

change my heart

so that actually

these mercies

are not just here

but are down here

because sometimes

we forget

right

and so here's

what's at stake

you know

it's possible

to have been

a Christian

at one point

in your life

and at one point

said I'm going

I'm putting my life

down on the altar

but it's possible

over time

to be a Christian

and not enjoy Jesus

you know that

because you remember

that sin and guilt

offering was about

atonement

Jesus has paid

the price

there is no more

sin and guilt

offering

you know

but there was also

that fellowship

offering

which was about

enjoyment of God

and communion

with him

but you know

the way that you get

from the atoning

sacrifice

to the enjoyment

comes through

the burnt offering

it comes

through that place

of sacrifice

of getting on the altar

and willing to stay

on the altar

and saying

God take me

I don't know

where this is going

but take me

and it's only there

that actually

you'll really see

that the joy

and the mercies

of God

will become

not just a theory

but actually

they'll become

even richer

in your life

and you'll experience

them more deeply

which will then

motivate you more

to want to offer

more of your life

to him

let me make this

practical

by giving you

four characters

I could do

many many more

but these are

characters that

over my time

in church

I've just

seen

different people

in these categories

and for what it

has meant

for them

to get on the altar

so I'm going to

give you

four different people

I'm going to

give you

feelings

Felicia

feelings

Felicia

her whole life

is presented

as an act

of worship

to her feelings

if she feels

a little tired

she cancels

on CG

sundial service

or any of her

commitments

if something else

comes up

that makes her

feel better

she serves

when she feels

in the mood

but not when

she doesn't

she lives

for the instant

gratification

of her feelings

whether that's

food

or YouTube

or other

things

and the

mercies

of God

come to

feelings

Felicia

and say

Jesus

didn't lay

down his

life

because he

felt like

it

he laid

down his

life

because he

loved

you

and so

he calls

you

as an

act of

worship

to lay

your feelings

on the

altar

to surrender

them

and to

find

that as

you keep

your

commitments

as you

persevere

in things

you find

difficult

to do

you'll

discover

that his

mercies

lead to

way more

joy

than

binging

on YouTube

ever does

because his

mercies

are for

your good

even when

in the

short term

it doesn't

feel like

it

feelings

Felicia

then there's

Burden Barry

okay

Burden Barry

used to be

on fire

for God

back in

uni

but he's

grown jaded

disillusioned

distracted

and he's

taken his

life off

the altar

you're here

in body

but your

mind is on

your deadlines

is on your

kids education

is on a

whole lot

of other

things

even on

the grievances

and the

pains that

you have

in your

life

grievances

with God

grievances

with your

spouse

grievances

with

everybody

else

and God's

going to

call you

today

if you

are like

Burden Barry

to stop

worshipping

your distractions

to stop

even worshipping

your pains

and to

come into

the loving

arms of a

God who

loves you

way more

than you

realize

and to

lay your

distractions

to lay

your burdens

to lay

your regrets

and your

hurts

on the

altar

and find

that his

arms of

love

are big

enough

for you

and let

him free

you

to come

back to

your first

love

some of

you need

to pray

and ask

for God

to change

you in

that

feelings

felicia

and

and

then

this

insecure

Ian

you

worship

your

insecurities

you know

that actually

God is

calling you

maybe he's

calling you

to quit

your job

and actually

go into

full-time

ministry

or maybe

into

missions

or maybe

he's actually

calling you

to join in

with the

core team

of this

second

service

that we're

starting

or he's

calling you

to give

away

or to

serve

in a

whole

load

of areas

which you

just don't

really want

to because

you're feeling

inadequate

in things

and you

want to

put a

little

toe

on the

altar

or maybe

an arm

but you

don't want

to put

your whole

thing

because it

feels

scary

and you

don't know

what's

going to

happen

and God

says I

want it

all or I

don't want

it at

all

present

your fears

to me

rehearse

how much

I've been

faithful to

you so

you know

that I'm

going to

carry you

all the

way

through

don't

live and

worship

your

insecurities

let me

be your

security

step out

and trust

me

with what

I'm

calling

you

to

do

feelings

Felicia

burden

Barry

insecure

Ian

final

one

committed

Carol

you

see

for

committed

Carol

everyone

looks at

you

because

you

look

like

a

living

sacrifice

you

invest

all

your

time

in

serving

other

people

in

missional

justice

and

in

a

whole

load

of

activities

and

a lot

of

people

think

you're

the

perfect

Christian

but

deep

down

you know

you've

lost

your

why

it's

become

dutiful

you

maybe

find it

hard

to

say

no

because

a lot

of your

serving

is

driven

maybe

from

childhood

things

but

it's

driven

by the

sense

that

you're

never

doing

enough

you

need

to

perform

to

be

accepted

and

to

be

valued

and

to

be

loved

and

if

you

stopped

you

just

wonder

whether

you'd

have

any

significance

and

actually

that's

a

really

heavy

yoke

for

some

of

you

and

the

mercies

of

God

come

to

you

today

and

say

surrender

your

desire

for

acceptance

and

value

on

the

altar

and

allow

my

acceptance

of

you

to

be

enough

for

you

because

my

mercies

are

way

more

way

more

way

more

satisfying

securing

and

delighting

in your

heart

than

trying to

gain it

from

anybody

else

or even

from

yourself

I don't

know where

you're up

to

I don't

know whether

you fit

into any

of those

or actually

God is

speaking to

you in

another

way

but

you

realize

you

can

have

the

most

amazing

attractive

spouse

in the

world

and

over

time

you

can

grow

familiar

and

just

take

them

for

granted

and

sometimes

you

need

somebody

else

to

remind

you

wow

your

spouse

is

amazing

in

the

church

we

need

each

other

to

remind

us

of

just

how

amazing

the

gospel

message

is

that's

why

we

talk

about

Jesus

every

Sunday

but

we

need

that

to

go

from

just

I

know

this

to

going

I

know

this

and

my

appeal

to

you

this

morning

as

Paul

appeals

is

don't

go

away

from

here

just

going

that

was

nice

God

is

calling

you

he

is

saying

I

want

it

all

but

I

am

not

calling

you

to

just

a

burdensome

duty

I

am

calling

you

to

delight

in

me

because

you

see

how

much

I

have

done

for

you

and

if

you

are

not

in

that

place

he

says

run

to

me

and

ask

for

me

to

change

your

heart

because

I

love

answering

that

kind

of

prayer

here

is

a

why

big

enough

for

when

you're

tired

when

you're

bored

when

you're

struggling

in

whatever

area

you're

up

to

to

propel

us

to

see

our

bank

balances

our

sex

life

our

careers

our

schedule

as an

offering

of

worship

not

for

ourselves

but

for

his

glory

and

his

praise

I'm

going

to

stop

there

there's

three

kinds

of

responses

that

we

started

talking

about

last

week

and

I'd

like

you

to

actually

think

how

should

you

respond

now

if

you're

a

Christian

you're

a

prince

and

a

princess

in

the

kingdom

of

God

some

of

you

may

just

actually

need

to

respond

in

praising

or

thanking

him

because

you

don't

take

time

to

thank

him

you

know

this

week

I

spent

I

took

about

30

minutes

to

just

go

over

the

mercies

of

God

that

I've

actually

seen

in

my

life

it's

an

amazing

thing

to

do

some

of

you

right

now

you

actually

just

need

to

take

a

minute

or

two

and

just

go

God

how

have

you

been

merciful

to

me

in

fact

don't

just

do

it

now

I

encourage

you

to

do

it

every

day

this

week

some

of

you

actually

just

need

to

confess

that

you

have

treated