The Reasonable Choice - Romans 12:1-3 - Session 3 | 29 March 2026

Um, I don't have a lot to recommend, but

by God's grace, somehow he uses me. So,

that's that's the most important thing

you need to know about me. Uh, the rest

of it, you know, come or go. Um,

the title of today's message is the

reasonable choice taken from Romans

Romans 12:1–3

12:1-3. But I thought we should do a

little bit of review. Many of you were

there yesterday, maybe a few were not.

Um, yesterday we're talking about being

refreshed by the spirit of God. And you

know, when you travel a lot and you're

busy and then you have church two days

in a row, it's hard to remember what day

it is. What what day is it?

It's today. It's the day the Lord has

made. And we'll rejoice and be glad in

it. And I'm so thankful that more of

Psalm 118 was read because right before

that, we talk about the stone the

builders rejected

becoming the chief cornerstone. That's

the gospel. and the Lord has done this

and it's marvelous in our eyes. If I

understand it properly,

Jesus would have sung that

at the end of celebrating the Passover

and then they would have went out.

And for me, if my Lord could sing that

on that day, there will never be a day

that I will face

where I should not be able to say, "This

is a day the Lord has made. I will

rejoice and be glad in it." And in each

and every day, I will choose to

encourage and exhort those around me so

that I might be refreshed and be a

refreshing to those around me. Um that

passage is very very meaningful to me um

in trying to think about how I approach

each day.

Well, then yesterday, well, somebody

asked me, uh, how many words you given

me today? And I I said, 'Well, I'm going

to give you a blank piece of paper,

uh, for now. But we had four words. I

don't know. Anybody can remember what

those words were. What was the first

one?

>> No.

>> No. To know the gospel,

to to know the good news of Christ and

and not just his death, his burial, his

resurrection.

I I was trained to pray for empowerment.

You know, many many people don't pray

for empowerment. You know, it's not just

confession of sin. It's not just

identifying with Christ in his death, in

his burial, but also in his resurrection

and to ask the Lord for his his spirit's

enablement. That that that's something

we're to ask for. Uh we need to know the

gospel.

Once you know the gospel, what are you

supposed to do then?

>> Consider it. consider as a way of

thinking. Thinking of yourself as being

dead to sin alive to God. Um the way you

think about yourself is really important

and we'll we'll talk more about that

today. Very important the way you think

about yourself.

Do you see yourself as identified with

Christ and his death, burial, and

resurrection? Do you see yourself as

dead to sin and alive to God? That sin

has been rendered powerless in your

life. Do you see yourself that way?

Well, if you do, then that it's not just

enough to think. You know, we're

supposed to we we sin in our thoughts,

our words, and our actions, and we serve

the Lord in our thoughts, our words, and

our actions. So, there's another word we

talked about, present. We're supposed to

present the members of our body to God

as instruments of righteousness. and and

it just you know I mean this morning

Lord um I I need my mind to work and I

hope that my tongue will give life to

those who are listening present the

members of your body as instruments of

righteousness and then out of that there

was something else

>> claim yeah claim the promise that sin

shall not be your master we don't live

under law where sin is our master we

live under grace where we're we have is

undeserved help

by which in any and every circumstance

sin shall not be my master. Well, that

brings us to today.

Um, not going to give you quite as

simple of a message as you know whenever

you speak in the afternoon, it always

ought to be really simple.

We're in the morning now. It's going to

be a a little deeper dive this morning

than than yesterday was. these verses.

Um,

at Military Bible Church, we spent two

years going through the book of Romans.

Uh, there's another church I know of

that spent 10. I I sort of wish we'd had

10 because two didn't seem like enough.

But something that really surprised me

with regard to the book of Romans, I

mean, I kne I knew the information

about it. You know, a part it's

important to have knowledge, right? Uh,

I knew the information about

justification and sanctification. These

are things to know,

but we we're not just we're not just to

know things.

We're to feel things. We're we're to

experience things. And this is what

really shocked me as I worked through

the book of Romans was Romans

Romans 11:32

11

verse 32.

I always thought that Romans 11 ended

with 33-36 in the doxology and always

focused on that and I missed verse 32.

It says God has consigned all to

disobedience that he may have mercy

on all.

When I when I read that, I'm like,

that's the summary statement of the

teaching part of Romans is that this

those 11 chapters are written

so that he might have mercy on all.

I I would never have summarized it that

way. Even though in Bible college I

spent so many hours in Romans, I missed

that. I missed that. That that's a

purpose that God would have mercy on

all.

It's what touched my heart.

God would have mercy on all. God's heart

towards the helpless and the hopeless.

If you're here this morning and and you

don't have a relationship with the Lord,

I probably the rest of the message you

need to ignore. But you really need to

focus on this part that no matter who

you are, no matter what your situation,

all have been consigned to disobedience.

All have been all have lived disobedient

lives. Some more than others, but all.

But God's desire is mercy

on all. This is the gospel.

My personal testimony of the gospel and

when I got saved includes Romans chap

10:es 9 through13. And I'll read them

for you. If you confess with your mouth

that Jesus is Lord and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead,

you'll be saved.

I'll never forget reading that verse and

going see for many years I couldn't

understand.

I remember as a distance runner spending

a lot of time running.

I mean a lot of time 70 to 100 miles a

week a lot of time and trying to talk to

God not knowing how to do it and trying

to figure out what's life all about and

and all that. And here it is just so

simple. If you agree with God in your

mouth that Jesus is Lord

and in your heart you believe that God

raised from the dead, you'll be saved. I

remember reading that and Chris and I

talking about it

and and Chris saying one day, you know,

when you see what God says,

you just have to believe it.

And it's just like, wow,

he he's trustworthy. You can promise

him. You can trust his promises. He He

will do them. And he tells you why. With

the heart, one believes and is

justified. With the mouth, one confesses

and saved.

Everyone who calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved. If you're here today

without Christ, this is this is for you.

If you're here with Christ, this is for

you as well, right? this tremendous

promise,

you know, it it unpacks the mercies of

God. The stone that Bill has rejected,

the chief cornerstone. This is marvelous

in our eyes.

But it leads us to chapter 12.

You know, God is both intellect,

sensibility, and will. We are both

intellect. We we we think, we reason, we

emotion, we feel, but we choose.

This message is about choosing.

That's what this message is about.

Choosing.

What am I challenged to do? Romans 12.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by

the mercies of God. Mercies of God.

First 11 chapters. Mercies of God.

What should I do?

Present your bodies. Yesterday we talked

about present with regard to something

you do every day. Get up. Okay. This

tongue, you know, this these eyes, these

feet, these hands, you know, every day.

This present

is different.

This present

is a technical term for presenting an

offering.

You're going to do it completely in one

act and it's going to have ongoing

effect.

Because in the temple when they would

present an animal for sacrifice, it was

a one event and it had ongoing effects.

That animal is dead forever and ever and

ever. It's a one event and it's done.

But what God's saying to us, I'm not

looking for you for a dead sacrifice.

I'm looking to you for a living

sacrifice. You know, I'm looking to you

to make a choice

and out of that choice

to be a living sacrifice to continue to

offer your lives

to be completely consecrated to God.

Paul talked about it in Romans 1:9 when

Romans 1:9

he said, "Whom I serve in my spirit."

You serve God in your spirit. So, here's

a story.

Kristen and I got saved.

Uh started following the Lord, got

involved in stuff. We we were we were

pretty radical. Parents thought we

joined the cult. Uh you know, we were

going to church Sunday morning, Sunday

night, Wednesday night. What is wrong

with these people? Don't you know Sunday

morning is enough?

Um, I couldn't stop talking about the

gospel and offended all my friends and

family and all that. Um, I wish I knew a

little more then

about what I know now. Maybe I'd have

talked to them differently. Most of our

families were unbelievers or nominal

Christians. My mom knew the Lord. Um, so

anyway,

uh, a year or so later, we were invited

to a Christian concert.

Before the concert, the man was killed.

His name was Keith Green. Maybe a few of

you have heard of him.

The concert was Jesus commands us to go.

I never even contemplated that God want

might want more of me than just living

for him where I was at. Never never

crossed my mind.

That night began something that over the

next six months Chris and I worked

through and said, "Okay, Lord, we are

willing to go. we are willing to really

go nuts here. And uh we ended up going

to northwest Haiti for three weeks in

fall of 1983.

Loved it,

which is crazy. Came back.

Said sought the Lord in fasting and

prayer. What do you want? Since the Lord

was saying, I want you to go full-time

for me. I want you to sell everything

and go. We owned a business.

Okay.

Never forget first day of January 1984,

we told our parents, "Guess what family?

We're going to sell everything and go to

the mission field." They were just

thrilled.

And

I I've okay that we knew we'd need to

get some Bible training, so we did

correspondence courses. And we we just

have plan. This this plan is just going

to, you know, obviously this is what the

Lord wants. Put the business up for

sale,

had a buyer,

contingency,

and we sat and we waited and we waited.

An opportunity came for a short-term

trip back to Haiti,

uh, stayed at a friend's house and

watched what they were doing and serving

the Lord. But I'm so not ready to do

this. You see, the thing was, I wasn't

willing to go to school.

I was 28 years old. I'm not sitting in

school with people right out of high

school. What's that called? Pride.

That's what that's called. And you know,

and that's called telling the Lord

you're going to serve him. And you're

going to tell him how. And you're going

to tell him what kind of preparations

you're going to do.

I'll never forget

a Sunday morning early in the morning. I

got up and I climbed a mountain back to

their house and I read Romans 12:1 and2

Romans 12:1

and I told the Lord, "I will go anywhere

you want me to go, any time you want me

to go to do anything you want me to do,

even if it means going to school."

See, when I was 17, I got done with

school and I said, "I'm never going back

to school again. I don't like school."

It's not that I don't like the work. I

just don't like being inside.

I told the Lord that Chris was at home

in Pennsylvania running the business. We

had a phone call rendevous on Monday

evening. When we had that rendevous, she

said, "Todd, are you sitting down?

The business is sold.

Incredible.

I wonder what would have happened if I

hadn't prayed that prayer.

I I can't say for sure.

A living sacrifice.

It's holy and acceptable to God. People

can ask a question. What does God want

from me? Simple. Unconditional

surrender.

That's what he wants from you. That's

what he wants from me. Absolute

unconditional surrender because the war

is over.

And that's what happens. Unconditional

surrender. The war is over.

What does he want from you? What does he

want from me?

He wants us to know we're his.

His.

Are you his?

Do you know that you're his?

You might say, "Why does he want me?" I

don't know.

The God who made the world who needs

nothing,

why does he want me? All I can say is

for his purposes.

That's the only answer I can give you of

why. But I can tell you what he wants

from you. He wants all of you.

That's what he wants.

He wants all of you. He wants all of me.

You know, this choice,

it's a

onceanddone

decision that you will probably have to

revisit often.

I've had to revisit it along the way,

but I I can look back to February

of 1985 to remember when I stopped

fighting and said, "Okay, Lord, whatever

you want, wherever you want, whenever

you want,

you know, and that time it was even if

it means going to school, you know,

being able to name what is the battle

I'm currently fighting?

that I'm not willing to lay down.

You know, it could be well, you know, if

I actually follow the Lord, he might

make me move or he might make me change

this or he might make me and he might.

He might. I'm not going to tell you

won't. You

people ask a question of how do you

explain your life? I'm just trying to

follow Jesus. this you're probably doing

a a lousy job of it, but but this is the

only way I can explain it. We've pretty

much made everyone angry in our lives at

one point or another. Sometimes it was

our Christian friends and sometimes it

was our families, but following the Lord

usually doesn't look like doing what

everybody thinks you should do.

People often ask, "Why would you do I've

had people recently say, why are you

still working so hard? You're almost

70." I'm just trying to follow the Lord.

Just trying to be faithful. And who

cares? By the way, do you know Joshua

was probably in his 70s when he went in

to conquer the promised land? Do you

know that? I mean, if he was in his 30s,

he couldn't have been he had at least

been in his 30s when he's with Moses and

they were in the wilderness for 40

years. So, he's probably in his 70s when

he's leading them into the promised

land. So, you know, I'm not ready to

quit yet. Why? Why do it? What is your

spiritual worship?

This is your spiritual worship. It can

be translated reasonable service. And

that's where I got the title for the

message. It is your reasonable choice to

present your body as a living sacrifice

to God. It's the only thing that makes

sense. Now, sometimes when they people

use the word reasonable, they're saying,

"Oh, you know, I bought this new vehicle

and I got a really good deal on it. It

was reasonable." That is not what I'm

talking about because I'm going to tell

you at times it will feel very costly to

follow Jesus.

But it's the only choice that makes

sense when you consider the gospel.

It's the only choice that makes sense.

And if you don't make that choice, I

guarantee you, you will be miserable in

trying to live the Christian life.

You will be miserable

because you didn't unconditionally

surrender.

You have not considered and valued the

mercy of God in your life.

Now to the paper. Take out your papers.

Okay,

here is how people normally try to

follow Jesus.

This is the normal way.

They have this paper and they write all

kinds of things on it. It's kind of like

a contract and they say, "Here, God, I

want you to sign this and then I will

follow you."

And God says, "Oh, no, no, no. You You

don't quite get this.

I've got this blank piece of paper for

you.

I want you to sign on the bottom

and I will fill in the details.

This is how following the Lord works.

You see this approach

of having all the details filled in and

God's son at the bottom. That's a

contract,

not the construction company. We were a

lot of contracts. Here's what a contract

is. I'll do this, you do that, you sign

here, I sign here. I don't actually

trust you.

So, we're having paperwork

so that

everybody fulfills their part of the

bargain.

A covenant,

on the other hand,

by the way, anybody that's married,

you're in a marriage covenant,

husband, wa wife, you know, they come

together, they come down the aisle, they

make some promises

because they trust each other.

Young people, if you're walking down the

aisle and you don't trust that person,

don't get married. Right? It will will

not be good. A covenant is based on

trust.

Do you trust God?

Do you trust God that if you present

your body as a living sacrifice to him

without reservation

that he

in filling in the details

will be good.

At times he won't feel safe

but he will always be good.

Now, this is actually mine.

Uh, I made this one in the 90s and I had

to go back and fill in details from the

80s in it. You know, mine

includes cancer,

includes

leaving Haiti that I loved because the

Lord led us to Guyana.

going from working with my hands to

pastoral ministry, which was a real

struggle for me. We went to Guyana.

We went from community development work

in northwest Haiti to three little

churches with no leaders in Guyana. And

my wife said to me, "Can you do this

work?"

The Lord had so clearly led us. And I

said, "I can do all things through

Christ who strengthens me. If he led me

here, he's going to enable me. Right?

There's many things on here.

I'm the only person living from my

family I grew up with. They're all gone.

Grandparents are gone. Parents are gone.

Sister was killed in an accident,

you know.

And God's still good. God's still good.

Right. One time I was looking through

this and preparing a message and it

struck me

the see these are all the things I

wouldn't have chosen right that's the

only things I wrote on here is the

things I wouldn't have chosen

and so much of what's on here

has become the greatest blessings in my

life

I never would have chosen

Never. Never.

So my challenge to you is I don't want

you to write anything on this yet. Okay?

Not yet. When we get the end of the

message, we'll talk about something you

could write for now because we we need

to talk a little bit more about this

covenant versus contract.

Well, if if I'm actually going to

surrender,

how should I approach living this living

sacrifice way? How should I approach it?

That that's what verse two is about.

There's a big put off. And if you're

familiar with the concept of put off and

put on, you'll find it many places in

scripture. It's helpful when you begin

to identify it. Okay. Well, this is what

I'm supposed to get rid of, and this is

what I'm supposed to put in its place.

put off. Do not be conformed to this

world.

Don't be pressed into its mold. It's a

present passive imperative.

Something that's don't let this happen

to you. So, we're surrounded by I would

call them concrete blocks or cement

blocks. I don't know what you call them

here. and all those, you know, um, in

the states they're 8 by 168. It might be

a little different size, but but, uh, I

had the opportunity to get to see how

they're made when we lived in the third

world because we would make our own.

Here's how you make them. You have a

form

and you have cement, you know, sand,

cement mixed together.

We're the cement in this illustration.

Okay.

The world's the form here. Here's how

you make the cement and make the blocks.

You take this form. You take this cement

that you've mixed and and you put it in

and you smack it down into the form

until it gets pressed into the mold that

it's tight enough that you can take the

mold off.

That's what the world wants to do to us,

right? It it wants to just keep smacking

us and particularly young people wants

to smack them down. And I you need to

take this shape that the world's trying

to press on you. Take this shape.

The morals of the world, the values of

the world, the beliefs that typify this

age. We live according to the Bible in

the last days. Yeah. After Jesus went

back, last days started, they'll be

typified by being terrible times.

And one of the first things it says is

lovers of self.

We are in the kingdom of self.

Do you know that in the dictionary there

are over 500 definitions that start with

the word self?

We are a tremendously selffocused

society

and that's how we get pressed into the

mold.

Whenever self raises its head, you can

know I'm being tempted to be pressed

into this world. Blessed is the man who

doesn't walk in the counsel of the

ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or

sit in the seat of the scornful,

pressed into his mold.

You being pressed into the mold of the

world right now?

Well, there's

a different way.

We we've talked about this at

Millerville Bible Church and in fact the

one year we did a devotional. We always

do devotional uh in January uh called

refresh. We like that word a lot

refresh. You know you might have heard

about it yesterday a little bit. So we

take a week and we uh look at a subject

and together and one year it was don't

follow your heart.

The world says follow your heart.

Do you know what the Bible says about

your heart? It's deceitful and

desperately wicked. Who can know it? You

know, do you know that? You know that if

you follow your heart, it will take you

down bad paths. That's one of the first

verses Chris and I memorized to tell

each other your heart is deceitful and

desperately wicked. Who can know it? I

the Lord know. Anyway, it's kind of fun

once we understood that.

Yeah. Don't follow your heart. Instead,

put on be transformed by the renewal of

your mind. Transformed. Metamorphosis.

A metamorphosis.

The illustration is often used as a cat

caterpillar and the butterfly, but it's

really from the ugly to the beautiful,

right? That that's what's supposed to

happen with us.

going from a selffocused

deceptive

hidden

life

to a God-focused

others centered in the light life.

Right? That that that's what God's

calling us to. You know, if we are so

tempted to hide,

is there anything hidden in your life

right now?

The story is told of five different

wealthy men in London being sent this

notice.

You've been found out.

You'll be revealed in the morning. Run.

And all five men ran.

If you got a note like that right now,

you've been found out. It'll be revealed

in the morning.

What would you do?

Are there things hidden

that if people knew

oh

you you wouldn't be able to stay or if

you got a note like that you say okay

there might be something I'm not aware

of but as far as I know

and if somebody brings something I'm

ready to confess it and forsake it.

What a wonderful way to live,

right? Just get it all out there. And

someone says, "Well, yeah, I know you

did this." Yeah, yeah, I did do that

back then. And and I'm I have much in my

life that I'm terribly ashamed of in

their early parts of my life. I don't

stand before you as some pristine

person. I didn't know Christ till I was

25 and I acted like it. Right. And if

someone would bring it up and say,

"Yeah, that's true.

And I've been forgiven.

I've been forgiven by the blood of

Christ and the mercies of God. And what

you're saying is true and I'm ashamed of

it, but God has put that behind his

back.

You're not going to chain me by that.

The evil one wants to, right? Put it

behind.

Put on the new self,

right?

You know, put on being transformed by

the renewal of your mind. What what does

God use to transform my minds? By the

way, can you think of anything?

The word of God. Yeah. The spirit of God

takes the word of God to make the

children of God like the son of God for

the glory of God. Right. What what does

he what does he use? He use the spirit

of God uses the word of God to transform

our minds. The blessed person of Psalm

1, blessed man doesn't walk in the

counsel of the ungodliness, you know,

all those things, but his delight is in

the law of the Lord, and on his law he

meditates day and night that by it he

might have success. Is the law of the

Lord your delight today?

Do you love the word of God? I can

remember as a new Christian

sitting at my desk one day or a table um

and I was reading through his sermon on

the mount and for the first time I

understood it

and I was like how did I miss this?

How did I miss this?

I was actually angry and bitter at the

Christian leaders

who hid it.

I I had to work through that. See, I

went to church every Sunday of my life.

How did I miss this? Is your delight the

law of the Lord? You know,

it tells you that by this you will test

and approve the will of God. Many people

want to say, "How can I know the will of

God?" Well, it's actually quite simple.

Become his,

okay? You know, sign the contract and,

you know, just have don't be conformed

to the world, but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind, and you'll be able

to test it. You you'll be able to prove.

Here's my personal testimony.

Wanting what God wants

leads to knowing what God wants.

Right?

Wanting what God wants

leads to knowing what God wants. And I

could share a number of stories. One

I'll share one with you.

Chris and I were out of Haiti. We were

essentially homeless because uh when

we're ready to go back and there was a

coup and we couldn't go back and end up

living at the mission headquarters and

while we're there we're just asking the

Lord.

We sensed the Lord was leading us out of

Haiti but where and what we talked to

all of our directors no leading no

answers. One night we got down on our

knees and said well the Lord says

delight yourself in the Lord and he'll

give you the desires of your heart.

Here's our desires. We want to see

people saved. We want to see people grow

in Christ to maturity. We want to see

leaders develop. We want to see churches

plant. And we want to do that together.

And we could care less where we we don't

care. The next morning,

we have three of these. The the the next

morning. We're going to share two. Um

there's a letter read at the mission in

our prayer meeting about Guyana. We'd

never even heard of Guyana, you know.

And I sense the spirit of God say

that's what I want you to do. And hear a

voice by a really strong impression.

We had just prayed the night before.

Delight yourself in the in the Lord.

He'll give you the desires of your

heart. But the desires of our heart are

clearly things God wants. God wants to

see people saved. God wants to see uh

believers as they come to Christ grow to

maturity. God wants to see leaders

raised up. God wants to see churches

planted and he wants to see families do

that together. That those are things God

clearly wants. And when we finally got

to the right place,

God showed us. I'm not going to say that

that's exactly how it's going to happen

in your life. Everybody's path is

different.

Your biggest battle will be in your

mind, right?

Yeah. Your mind needs renewed.

You need to think properly about

yourself. Verse three, and we don't

we're not going to take the time to

unpack that. You could unpack three to

eight together.

Your biggest battle is in your mind.

So, I wonder what you're thinking right

now.

If I were to sign this,

I'm terrified what would happen.

Maybe that's some of you. Because you

see, I have all these things I want to

have happen.

Here's something I've learned. If the if

anyone would come after me, he must deny

himself, take up his cross, and follow

me. For whoever wants to save his life

will lose it. But whoever loses his life

for my sake in the gospel, he is that

will save it. I've learned that

somebody's going to paint the picture of

what your life should be like.

Is that you or is that God?

Somebody Somebody's painting the picture

of what your life should be like.

I I tend to be a really visual person

and and when I got a hold of that

concept,

the Lord is the one who has the right to

paint the picture because I'm his. I was

purchased. I was bought with a price,

the precious blood of Christ. I am not

my own. So, I don't get to dictate

what goes on

this paper. He does.

He does.

Well, how does this message end?

My challenge to you is get alone with

God

and really mean it and sign the

contract. But it's not a contract. It's

a covenant

because you'll only sign this if you

actually trust him.

Right? I mean, you could sign it but not

mean it. and we could have a nice

signing ceremony and all that. No, no,

take it home. Take it home. Don't write

anything on it. Take it home. Now, I'm

sure that there's a number of people in

here that said, "Oh, maybe I never did

exactly like this." But I've done that.

Revisit it.

Revisit it. I've I've pulled this. This

is not my original. My original is

actually falling apart and it's too

precious to me. Uh I I shared this

message at Millsville Bible Church the

other year and afterwards uh Elise said

to me

that's going to be a precious gift to

your grandkids someday.

In some ways this is my story in paper

right? Yeah.

In what ways are you struggling right

now with conformity to the world that

keeps you from signing?

You'll be so sorry

if you

let the world win.

It'll be hard along the way in following

the Lord. I'm I'm not going to say it's

easy. If it's easy, lots of people do

it.

There'll be times when you're flat on

your face before the Lord, I don't

understand.

I I'm so tired.

And then you'll see the Lord raise you

back up and empower you and enable you

in ways that you just can't even

explain.

Yeah.

What changes do you need to make?

Shane, I think you're family. What

you're going through right now is not

something you would choose.

But in God's sovereignty,

he's allowing that for his purposes.

It's probably going to go on your list,

right? I I've got some like that on

mine.

And God's still good. Yeah. Let's pray.

Father, you are the all powerful, all-

wise, all- knowing God.

And yet you choose to be merciful to us.

And your mercies are laid out in 11

chapters of Romans.

And then you say to us, uh, because of

these mercies,

willingly present yourself to me as a

living sacrifice.

This is reasonable.

This is the only thing that makes sense.

Don't let the world press you into its

mold.

instead

be transformed by the renewing of your

mind

that you might prove my good and

pleasing and perfect will.

I pray father that

these words this time will bear fruit

and that that fruit will remain. I pray

in Jesus name.

I do want to say what a privilege and

pleasure it's been to to be with you

guys. You are much more than I ever

would have imagined. God bless you.