225 ~ ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME ~ PART 7

Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.

We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will

encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.

We continue our series titled All Roads Lead to Rome, which is

a study in the book of Romans. As we study this letter written

to the Jewish and Gentile believers in the city of Rome,

we ask that you put yourself in their shoes, for our context is

not that different after all. Our hope is that through this

series you would experience the fullness of knowing who God is,

what He did for you through Jesus, and how you can live a

life that honours Him and blesses others.

Hi Church, it's my joy to bring to you part seven of all Roads

lead to Rome, a study in the book of Romans.

As you know, we've been looking at the book of Romans chapter by

chapter, looking at pivotal verses and strong themes that

have been emerging from it are that we are set apart for God,

that we stand justified because of our faith in God, that we are

counted as righteous just like Abraham was.

We looked at how God is the one who judges.

We looked at also how we have a new life in Christ and how we

are dead to sin and alive in Christ.

We also looked at what it was like to walk in step of the

Spirit by the resurrection power of the Spirit.

And last week we looked at how we can learn from Israel's

unbelief and arrogance and live differently in order to really

inherit the promises that are kept for us.

And so today we're going to be looking at Romans chapter. 12

Which on the surface of it is is an exciting chapter to read

because we all know Romans 12/2 that you know, we need to live

transformed by the renewing of our mind.

We all know this, but as we look at this chapter, there is

greater depth to it. There is a lot of meaning, and

this is the beginning of the application part of Romans.

Romans 12 to 16 is where Paul actually gives us the practical

outworking of our faith in Jesus.

Our faith in Jesus cannot just be a theology, just cannot be a

doctrine that we believe in, but it has to be worked out in our

everyday life so that it's evident to the watching world.

And so that's what we're going to be looking at from Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 today. We're going to be first starting

with Romans chapter 12, verses one and two.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

This is what it says. Therefore, I urge you, brothers

and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies,

dedicating all of yourselves set apart as a living sacrifice,

holy and well pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical,

intelligent act of worship. And do not be conformed to this

world any longer with its superficial values and customs,

but be transformed and progressively changed as you

mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing

on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove

for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and

acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.

I think it was DL Moody who said the problem with living

sacrifices is that they wander off the altar.

And here Paul is asking every single Christian brother and

sister who he's writing this to saying, I ask that you will

offer yourselves as a living sacrifice.

This is not in the literal sense of child sacrifice or human

sacrifices, but this is in the spiritual sense of offering our

entire selves to God. In the Old Testament, when we

look at it, you know, through Leviticus and Numbers, we

talked, we saw how different offerings were expected from the

people. A burnt offering, a grain

offering, a gilt offering, and all of these offerings were

placed on an altar of uncut stone and subject to fire.

And that's when they were made acceptable to God and it worked

on on the behalf of the offerer. It it, you know, covered their

guilt, it covered their shame. It was an atonement.

It was something that they brought as their first fruits.

Sometimes it was a tithe. It was an offering.

So when we bring our lives as a living sacrifice, what we are

basically doing is taking all of ourselves and giving it to God.

And he says, I want you to offer your bodies, which symbolizes

everything that is valuable to us, everything that concerns us.

It could be our desires, our needs, our sexuality, our

health, our intelligent, our intelligence, our emotions, our

will, our attitudes, everything, our upbringing, our backgrounds,

our childhood, our adulthood, every part of it is brought and

literally laid on that altar before God.

Now I have to ask you, is is being a living sacrifice scary?

Yes, it is. But is it necessary?

I believe so. Why is it necessary?

Because when we talked about this new life in Christ, the old

man tends to keep coming back. The old woman keeps tending to

come back, even though I've accepted Jesus.

That tendency to lie, that tendency to slander, that

tendency to back. By that tendency to steal, all

of that still remains. But in order for me to live the

new life, there needs to be something that changes, and

that's what we're talking about in this portion.

He says do not be conformed to the world.

The world is changing as we know it.

Traditions are changing, trends are changing.

It's very obvious when you're watching reels that the trends

are changing every week. Fashion that was fashionable in

the 70s is coming back now. Do not be conformed, but be

transformed. So if I had to put a title for

this week's sermon, it would be conformed to transformed.

What is being conformed mean? If you've had a child or you

have a grandchild or you have a friend who has a kid, when they

play with clay, what they do is they take the play DoH and then

they mold it in their hands. And then along with these play

DoH sets, they'll give you a series of molds.

And these molds have predetermined shapes and the

clay can be put in it, pressed into the shape, and then

eventually you get the shape of the mold.

That's what it means to be conformed, external pressures

applied in order to shape something into the mould of

something else. And that's what sometimes the

world does to us when you work in the corporate set up, when

you live in a neighbourhood with those who don't know the Lord.

You tend to get conformed to their ways of thinking, their

ways of being, their ways of leading their marriage, their

ways of bringing up kids. But here Paul is saying don't be

conformed any longer, but I want you to be transformed.

And transformation, the word, the root word for it is

metamorphosis. It's a complete change.

How you are now in Christ will not resemble who you once were

before Christ. It is literally the

transformation of a little Caterpillar into a beautiful

butterfly. The Caterpillar is grubby, furry

and and without it lacks lustre. But the butterfly is brilliantly

hued, has completely different modes of locomotion, completely

different creature almost. And this is what it indicates to

be transformed, a complete change.

But it starts inside, it is not from outside.

Many of us think that when we become believers that behaviour

modification is the key. Behavior modification is nothing

if there is no heart change. It begins from inside out.

Like we heard last week. God transforms us from the

inside out. And many of us are very

comfortable with conforming because conforming requires

little or no effort. What others tell you to do, you

do it. They tell you to do a business.

Transaction. It worked for me.

Do it this way you do it. They ask you to just step in

line at work. Do what the boss says, even if

it's unethical. Well, you're not ruffling any

feathers. It's the easiest thing.

Conforming is easy. Transforming is hard because it

takes a lot out of you. And the problem with conforming

is that you will never be set apart if you're a conformer, if

you just get conformed by what the dictates of the world and

culture, you will never be set apart.

You will never stand out because you're so busy fitting in.

And I want to ask you today, has that been you?

Have you been someone who's been so busy fitting in that you've

forgotten to stand out for Jesus?

God is calling you to live a transformed life by the renewing

of your mind. So before you even think about

behaviour modification, step one of renewal is your mind.

Because the mind drives everything else.

Our thoughts, our attitudes, everything is birthed in the

mind. And he says you renew your mind,

transformation begins, and the renewal of the mind is the job

of the Holy Spirit. But it happens with the

consensus that you and I give the Holy Spirit.

He can give us that nudge that you know what, you used to do it

this way, but I want you to do it differently.

But it's up to me whether I really lean into his nudging and

do what he says. When you think about all the

stuff that is in your mind going on in your mind, your

assumptions about people, your thoughts about a certain

situation, your affections, they're all birthed in your mind

1st. And he's saying I want you to

renew that. And why is renewal of the mind

so important? Because if you look at that

verse, he explains it. He says so that you may prove

what the will of God is, the good, pleasing and perfect will

of God. What does that look like?

When your mind is transformed or begins to get transformed, you

begin to have the mind of Christ.

When you have the mind of Christ, you begin to know the

will of your Father for you. When Jesus walked on earth, he

will often say this to his disciples.

I'm doing the will of my Father. My bread is to do the will of my

Father. When he met with people like the

Samaritan woman or someone else, he knew that he was living at

his fullest capacity because he was in line with what God the

Father had asked him to do. Today, if you and I want to know

what God's will is, too many of us are still stuck in.

I don't know what God's will is for me.

I don't know who he wants me to marry.

I don't know what job I should take.

I don't know what I should study.

But if you were to allow your mind to be transformed, you

begin to have the mind of Christ.

And the mind of Christ will give you direct understanding of what

the will of the Father is. He will help you understand why

you're in that particular position.

He will show you what to do next.

Too many of us are living with unrenewed minds, minds that are

full of darkness, minds that are clouded by doubt, minds that

have become dirtied with cultural norms and tradition,

minds that have been corrupted by the things of the enemy and

the things of the Kingdom of darkness.

But God is saying, I want to renew your mind first.

I want to open up your mind. I want to clear your mind up.

So that it's. Filled with the things of God.

It is filled with the things that the Father wants you to be

thinking on. When your mind is renewed, you

start seeing things from the perspective of Jesus himself.

So you don't look at your, you know, your temporary things as

just futile and and failed, but you look at it through the eyes

of Jesus who can redeem anything.

You see it and say there's possibility, there's opportunity

in this. Now there's an important element

to this living sacrifice idea. You know the the fact that we

are a living sacrifice. The minute you mention

sacrifice, there's an element that comes in which is fire,

because no sacrifice can be actually made accessible to God

without the fire. The fire is an essential part of

it. In fact, it says that Aaron and

his sons had to light the fire up, then do the sacrifice, shed

the blood, do the bloodletting, then cut the pieces of the bull

or the ram, and then arrange it in the fire.

Fire is essential for any sacrifice, and I want to

encourage you with this one thing.

Don't get scared at what we're going to understand next,

because this is a very essential part for every Christian's life.

Everyone of us need to understand that this was God's

will for us. Matthew chapter 3, verses 11 to

Matthew 3:11–12

12. This is a conversation which the

public is having with John the Baptist, and they're asking him

if he's the Christ. And he very clearly, you know,

distinguishes his ministry and Christ's ministry.

This is what he says. I'm baptizing you here in the

river. Turning your old life in for a

Kingdom life. The real action comes next.

The main character in this drama.

Compared to him, I'm a mere stagehand, will ignite the

Kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit

within you, changing you from the inside out.

He's going to clean house, make a clean sweep of your lives.

He plays everything true in its proper place before God.

Everything falls. He put out with the trash to be

burnt. Fire.

The purpose of fire, the fire that God brings and allows in

our life is to cleanse and purify us.

Look at this, it says He will clean house this temple.

He will cleanse with fire. Illness, setbacks, failures,

relationship hurt. All of it will be fires that the

Lord uses in order to purify and cleanse us.

One Corinthians chapter 3, verses 11 to 15.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one

already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver,

costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown

for what it is because the day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the

quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives,

the builder will receive a reward.

If it is burnt up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be

saved even though as only one escaping through the flames.

The last part of that was. I'll explain at the end of this

but I want you to look at this. It says it will be revealed.

Work will be revealed for what it is with fire.

Fire will test the quality of each person's work.

Fire cleanses and purifies fire. Test the quality and proves what

is valuable. I want to think, want you to

think about it. If you offer yourself as a

living sacrifice, the fire of God is imminent because Jesus

himself has come with the Holy Spirit and with fire to baptize

us, to cleanse us, purify us, and make us ready for him.

So is living being a living sacrifice?

Hard, yes. Is it necessary?

Absolutely is. Fire refines us, it purifies us,

it sets us apart. The things in our life that

don't need to exist anymore, That old addiction, that old

anger problem, that old abusive tendency, that all triggered

self, He wants to burn it out of us.

He wants to get it out of us. So don't despise the fires that

God allows in our life. What are some of the fires that

we experience? We experience when we're

confronted by people's wickedness, their unkindness,

injustice, bad attitudes. Sometimes fire is when we have

illnesses, obstacles, huge mountains facing us.

Sometimes fires are when we face face persecution, slander,

unjust accusations. I don't know what your fire has

been. Maybe you're currently walking

through a fire, but can I encourage you that the God who

was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they came out of

that fire, it said their head and smell of fire.

They clothed in smell of fire. That is the God that we serve.

He will bring you through, but you need to stay because He's

with you. He's never left you.

Every one of us who walked through this fire can be assured

that God is bringing about a transformation.

The thing about fire is this, it changes what touches it.

Fire never leaves anything the same way.

It changes it completely. And that is the purpose of the

fires of life, to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.

We are being transformed and I believe there are three ways

from Romans chapter 12. There are three distinct ways in

Romans 12 · chapter mention

which the fire changes us. The fire that God allows, the

fires, the different fires that I mentioned, three ways in which

transforms us. The 1st way it transforms the

way we serve the body of Christ. Romans 12 versus 3 to 8 says

this. 4th By the grace given me, I say to everyone of you, do not

think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think

of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith.

God is distributed to each of you for justice.

Each one of us has one body with many members, and these members

do not all have the same function.

So in Christ we though many from one body, and each member

belongs to all the others. We have different gifts

according to the grace given to each of us.

If your gift is prophesying, then prophecy in accordance with

your faith. If it is serving, then serve.

If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give

encouragement. If it is giving, then give

generously. If it is to lead, do it

diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it

cheerfully. I was reading the story this

week in the Daily Bread and it talked about this very same

passage and explained how. This is lived out in our

everyday. There's a story of two friends

and it's a true story. Both of them love to hike in the

wilderness and the Wilds of Colorado.

The only problem was both of them were disabled in their own

way. The woman had spina bifida

because of which she couldn't walk and the man had glaucoma.

He had lost his eyesight due to glaucoma.

He couldn't see. So what they would do is they

would go trekking everywhere together, but this is how they

would do it. He would carry her on his

shoulders because she cannot walk, and she would be his eyes

because she would be on his back directing his footsteps.

And that's not an image of the body of Christ.

I don't know what is, because each of us will come in to the

body of Christ with our lack, with our inabilities.

But God has graced us with certain abilities.

And each of my gifts and each of your gifts work together.

They complement each other. We need to use our gifts not for

ourselves, not to create a platform for ourselves, not to

create name for ourselves, but instead to serve each other.

When my mind has been renewed, I begin to think of myself in just

measure. I don't think of myself more

than I need to. I don't assume I'm a better off

person than others. I look at myself through the

lens of Jesus. I see myself as forgiven.

I see myself as being restored, and I look at people in the same

way. And when we do that, it changes

the way we serve the body of Christ.

I no longer live for myself. My gifting was given for the

edification of everyone. My gifting was given to build

others up, not just myself. Personal agendas won't stand a

chance because my mind is being renewed and I know I can

identify selfishness even before it starts to take root.

And I say no, I want to value others more than I value myself.

We live in a culture that glorifies self-awareness, that

glorifies self expansion and promotion.

But that was not the way of Jesus.

He asked us to honor others over ourselves.

Will I serve someone in the body of Christ even when I don't

receive anything in return? Can I serve them just because

it's what Jesus would want me to do?

Can I give generously without expecting a name tag attached to

it, without it being blazed in shiny gold?

Can I do what I'm called to do just because it was given to me

freely? I'll give it back.

When you look at the different gifts, he says just do it.

Do it to the best of your ability because you do it unto

the Lord. But as we do it unto the Lord,

we need to be so confident that God has given us this for

blessing others. So often we make our gift about

ourselves, but he's saying I've given it for the common good.

And the important thing is this, that we, when we have a renewed

mind, we're no longer comparing ourselves with someone else.

Oh, I wish I was a worship leader.

I wish I was this. I wish I was that.

What am I? I'm an usher.

I will do with the best. I'm a wiper of chairs.

I will do it amazingly. I look after kids.

That's the future generation. I want to do it to the best of

my ability. If each of us chose to do this,

can you picture the kind of reach we would have as the body

of Christ? Can you picture the kind of

unity and harmony we would have? Too many of us have lived

comparing ourselves. Too many of us are living for

ourselves. I will come if this works for

me. I will do this.

If it benefits me and my children.

But what about the Kingdom? What about the body?

It's the body of Christ. He was so sacrificial in how He

served me. The least I can do is be

sacrificial in how I serve others.

That's the first thing. The first thing that changes is

the way I serve the body. The second thing is the way we

love people. This has been a very hard sermon

for me to prepare because practicing this in reality is

very hard. I was reading the book of Luke

this week and Luke five and six undid me because it's talking

about turning the other cheek and giving away a quote.

And here I'm I'm, you know, I'm a self preserver.

I protect myself. That is my innate tendency.

I protect those I love. And yet Jesus is calling us to

live in this radical way of obedience where he says love

with abandoned Romans chapter 12 verses 9 to 10 says love is to

Romans 12:9–10

be sincere and active, the real thing without guile and

hypocrisy. Hate what is evil, detest all

ungodliness. Do not tolerate wickedness.

Hold on tightly to what is good be devoted to one another with

authentic brotherly affection as members of one family, give

preference to one another in honour.

So I love this because, you know, when I was reading it, I

went to the Strong's Concordance just to see the original text,

right? And it talks about the first

love. Love is to be sincere and active

is agape. And agape love is the love that

God shows us. It is beyond our reach in the

sense we could try, but we always have something painting

our love. There'll be some motive, some

agenda, some condition, but God's love is, is so pure.

And so it says over there, love is to be sincere and active.

That is the goal that all of our love will be so.

Sincere without evil, without hypocrisy.

There's no double standards. But then he comes down and he

says be devoted to one another with authentic brotherly

affection. And that word there is Filio.

It's the love that you and I have for someone that we love,

someone that. We care about deeply, and he

says be utterly devoted in that because the agape sometimes

feels too much, he says. That's the.

That's the bar I'm setting for you.

But this is what I want you to do.

Practically be devoted in authentic love.

I know the song that the Bee Gees wrote.

I don't know if you like the Bee Gees.

I used to like them. They wrote the song called How

Deep is Your Love? And I was.

Looking for the lyrics and I was just thinking, this is

ridiculous. They're talking about a love

between a man and a woman. And the man seems to be

questioning the woman's love and he talks about how he's a

saviour. And you know, the words are so

interesting. But I want to ask you, I'm not

going to ask you, how deep is your love?

How authentic is your love for people?

Maybe on a scale of one to 10 you feel your love for people is

at 2. But even at that level of two,

how deeply authentic is it when you talk to someone, when you

listen to someone, when you want to pray for someone?

Is your love real or does it have a mask on it where you

don't show your true self to people?

Where you cannot let your guard down with them?

Where there is a condition that if they do such and such, you

will love them. God is calling us into a place

of loving each other with great devotion and great compassion

and genuinity. But there's also the subtext.

If you look in the middle of that, it says hate what is evil?

True love. That agape love of God has

holiness tinged on it, fixed on it, and it's basically it will

not be able to love that which is evil and it will detest all

that is evil. It will love that which is good.

So in our quest for love, so many times we are condoning the

things that God absolutely, absolutely doesn't condone.

In our quest for love, in our hunger for love, we are

tolerating stuff that God would not tolerate.

But God is calling us into a purity in this love.

And that happens when our mind is being renewed because when we

are thinking on the things that the Holy Spirit leads us to

think on, the way I emote and show affection or demand

affection changes. I first of all realized how loud

I am. So I'm not going to be leeching

off someone else for that love, but it changes the way I emote

and show love to others as well. It is deeply real.

It is deeply authentic. And I love what the Passion

translation says. It says that let the inner

movement of your heart always be to love one another and never

play the role of an actor wearing a mask.

How scary is that? Because many, many of us

believers feel that when we step into church, we need to.

Put on a mask. Let them not see me on my other

side. While that makes for very

sanitized conversations, it's not the truth.

And I believe I was. As I was reading that, I felt so

convicted because I'm someone who avoids speaking the truth in

love because it always gets misunderstood.

The love part gets diluted and only the truth goes out.

But God is calling us into a place where you remove the mask.

You need to set those boundaries in love.

You need to say no in love. You need to speak the truth in

love. Love must be tough sometimes.

Don't. Don't keep entertaining the

things that God would never entertain.

Don't keep endorsing the things God would never endorse in the

name of love. And I pray that as we start to

have this transformation happen, the way we demonstrate love to

people will become more Christ like.

Where we can call a spade a spade with love.

Where we can love people beyond the boundaries that we had

thought we needed to have, that we can be full of wisdom and

discernment in how we love people.

That is important. So the second kind of

transformation which happens is in the way we love people.

And the 3rd way is in the way we respond to evil, the way we

respond to evil. Romans 12, verse 14 and then 17

Romans 12:14

to 21. That's what I'm going to be

reading. It says bless those who

persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone if it is

possible. As far as it depends on you,

live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear

friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written

as mine. To avenge, I will replace as the

Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy

is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him

something to drink. In doing this, you will keep

burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but

overcome evil with good. This is one of the hardest

things I have had to digest this week.

Because you know, the tendency is when we are persecuted, when

we are cursed or slandered unjustly, our tendency is to

lash out. It's to respond.

It's to send that text back. It's to put that, you know, the

reciprocal story on WhatsApp or whatever.

Our tendency as humans is to come back, to have a comeback.

But here it's a diametrically opposite thing.

It's it's in line with what Jesus said.

You heard that it said eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, but

now it's different. You show them the other cheek

and what was God actually saying?

He was saying don't become the judge and arbitrator of your own

revenge. I will work for you.

It comes down to my faith in God that if he allowed this fire, if

he allowed this opposition, if he allowed this painful, painful

situation, He will fight for me. He will bring me out of this

fire unscathed if I keep my mouth shut, if I keep my hands

to myself, if I don't retaliate, He fights for me.

I've seen this again and again in our lives when we have

silenced ourselves. We have kept quiet when we have

just torn down. Every impulse said, take that

phone and give them a tongue lashing.

Every impulse said you know what, you should write something

back. The Holy Spirit kept saying stay

quiet. I can fight only if you are

quiet. I can fight only if you don't

slander. I cannot fight for you if you

will fight for yourself. My daughter has made this lovely

little painting for me which I keep on my desk and I look at it

every day. It says be still, the Lord will

fight for you. It's Exodus 1414 and it's a word

for someone today. Stop waiting for revenge.

Stop plotting it, stop planning it, stop scheming about it

because God is saying I will fight for you if you keep your

hands clean, if you keep your tongue clean, I can fight for

you. I'm thinking also of Graham

Stains, the missionary and his sons who were burnt at the

stake. His wife, within a few weeks

when they interviewed her, said I forgive the men who did this

to my family as a wife, as a mother, I don't know how she did

it. I truly don't know how she did

it. But obviously as a spirit filled

woman, as someone who loved the Lord so much, that was her

conscious choice and response she made.

And I, I just felt when I was reading this, I said I was

thinking, she lived it out. She lived it out.

She blessed those who persecuted them.

She blessed those who killed her family in cold blood.

What greater testimony than to live in that place of

forgiveness, to live in that place of trust that God, you've

got this, you allowed it. I don't know why, but I trust

you. And so I want to just ask you,

what is your response to evil? Has evil touched you?

I'm sure it has. I'm sure it's touched you in

different aspects of your life. But here's the thing, evil is

real, but our God is real as well, and he's powerful.

He is fighting for us. Is there a season when we have

to endure the evil? Yes.

Is there a season when things don't make sense at all?

When, when the injustice around us, the corruption that has

touched us feels like it will defile us, but God is saying, I

will fight. I don't want you to be overcome

by evil because evil has that problem where it sometimes feels

like it will overwhelm you and turn you into a perpetrator.

But he's saying, no, I want you to overcome evil with good.

It's so important that we realize transformation even

happens there. The way we start looking, we

don't tolerate evil, but we don't go and attack it.

We don't go and become. We don't start stepping into

spaces that are not even meant for us, where there is no grace

for us. Ironically, as we start offering

ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, when the fire of

situations come around us, when the Holy Spirit begins its

transformation work, sometimes we start to burn out.

We use phrases. Like I'm exhausted, I don't know

how much more I can do. I've been fighting for so long.

I feel like I'm the candle is burning at both ends.

We feel like we lose our passion for God.

And I see many people like this because they've walked through

years of fire, fiery experiences.

They don't want to serve. They don't want to latch onto

the promises of God anymore. They they, they're starting to

backslide. They're starting to distance

themselves and say we don't want this because I've been through

the fire and I don't know if I can do more.

But that's where Romans 12 verse 11 comes in to just give us a

Romans 12:11

sneak peek into what we need to do.

It says don't burn out, keep yourselves fuelled and aflame.

It's so important that we remember that as much as the

fire of fires of life threatened to overwhelm us, that the Spirit

of God is within us keeping us aflame.

He refueled us. No matter what the struggle is,

it'll be uncanny how you have strength to face the day.

It'll be uncanny how you have a peace in the hardest situations.

It'll be uncanny how you can laugh in joy even at that

diagnosis because you know your God has a hand in it.

He's looking after you. He's looking out for you.

And I want to leave. Just a few quick thoughts on how

we can stay fuelled in A and a flame in Romans 12 verses 12 to

Romans 12:12–13

13. It's just one line in the NIV,

but it just caught my attention. It says be joyful and hope

patient and affliction, faithful in prayer, share with the Lord's

people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

The message that says be inventive in your hospitality.

How do you and I prevent burnout because the fires can tend to do

that to us. Sometimes you think Lord, when

is this ending? Will this ever end?

But stay fueled. Stay aflame.

How do you do that? You need to keep choosing joy.

Joy is a choice. It's a choice.

It's a fruit of the Spirit. It is being born in you.

But it is a choice for you to exhibit that joy.

Because Paul keeps writing. Rejoice in the Lord again.

I say rejoice. He's writing it when he's in

chains. And I want you to remember this,

that joy is a choice. It is not based on your

circumstances. It's beyond your circumstances.

And will you choose it? Why should you choose joy?

Because of the joy that is the hope that is set before you.

I love that verse which says Jesus endured the cross because

of the joy set. Before him, what was that joy?

That the whole world would receive salvation and that he

would be reunited with his father, and many sons and

daughters will be added in. That was the joy, that was the

hope, and so he endured. So it comes to the second thing,

which says patient and affliction.

You're walking through a fire. Stay patient because remember,

joy is coming. Hope is there.

There is hope. You're saying you can't see

light at the end of the tunnel. Be assured there is the light at

the end of the tunnel. Be assured that joy comes in the

morning. Choose to wait patiently because

in the wait, your character is being shaped.

Our character is not shaped only in the good times.

It is shaped in the hardest of seasons.

So as you endure and you wait in this fiery season, remember he's

shaping your character. He's like this, you know, metal

Smith this, this skilled worker who has this gold in the fire.

He has a metal in the fire. There is gold in this, but he

has to keep it long enough to in the fire for all the impurities

to melt. And then he shapes it.

And every part of this process is painful.

But remember this, you're in the hands of a master Craftsman, the

one who created you to begin with, the one who had a purpose

for you. He knows what he's doing.

Some of us feel like we were in the fire, taking on them back in

the fire. Some of us feel like we're being

whacked. But all of that is being done

with the purpose of preserving and protecting us, of setting us

apart. He talks about being faithful in

prayer. All of these three, if you

notice, are fruit of the Spirit, joy, patience and faithfulness.

But I believe that prayer is all important to keeping us fuelled

and a flame. Because if I'm not praying

constantly, the enemy is filling my mind with thoughts and doubts

that are contrary to God's will for my life.

He's telling me no. But this can't be happening the

way you know God wants. This is probably what you should

do. He fills my my mind with

negativity. He fills my mind with with lies.

But when I'm praying, my spirit and God's Spirit are connected

and he's filling me up. As I pour out, He fills me up.

Prayer is so important because it keeps me in close communion

with God Himself. There is no other source for us

to be fuelled in a flame. And then, as much as you choose

joy, as much as you choose to wait, as much as you choose to

pray, you must choose to live generously.

Too many of us, the minute the fire starts, close our fists,

bow our head down and just crumble.

We are unavailable to the ones we love, the ones that love us.

We are unavailable to the body of Christ.

We shrink away from anything remotely community driven.

Oh, I can't face people, I can't do this.

We use a whole bunch of jargon that psychologists have thrown

out there, but the truth is God is calling you back into

community because as you are in the fire, you will identify

there are many others in fires as well.

And you learn to live generously right from where you're at.

You give off your time, you give off your resources, you give off

your of your energies. You cannot help but choose

generosity because you realize there are many others who are

walking through similar seasons. Don't worry if this process of

transformation looks slow. Feel slow.

You're like, God, I don't know if my character is changing, but

it's amazing how you see over a season that something changes,

that discontent has gone. You've come to this place of

contentment with where you are at that seething.

Under the surface, anger has gone and you have a calmness

that others are noticing That tendency to grasp and and and

take things for yourself is slowly letting go.

You've you've found that things come to you when you rest.

You see that's transformation and it's a lifelong process.

Still, we close our eyes and meet Jesus.

Transformation is going to happen.

It's a long winded process, but I'm going to ask you again, will

you choose to renew your mind? Will you allow the Holy Spirit

to renew your mind? Will you offer yourself as a

living sacrifice? That's the question.

As I close, I want to just leave Mark 9 verse 49.

Mark 9:49

It says everyone will be salted with fire and that just didn't

leave me. This this verse has not left me

and I was reading the Old Testament to understand what the

background on it is. But this is a stand alone verse

with Jesus himself is talking to his people and he's saying, you

know what, salt is good, but if salt loses its saltiness is of

no use. He says preserve the peace

amongst you. The important thing to

understand here is every one of us will be salted with fire.

And you know what the encouraging thing about that is

salted with fire indicates that the fires you and I walk through

on this side of eternity are meant to preserve and not to

destroy. Whereas the the fire on the

other side of eternity, you know, Hell's fire is meant to

destroy and damage, and it's destructive.

It's eternal pain. But the fire on this side of

eternity that you and I walk through, those diseases, those

ailments, those struggles, those setbacks, those terrible

obstacles, all of that is assaulting with fire because

salt preserves this fire will preserve you when you emerge

from it. You might feel a bit scarred,

you might feel a bit tentative, but you were preserved for

eternity. So I want to encourage you that

this fire that God allows in our lives, these fires so to speak,

they will preserve you, they will purify you, they will

refine you, they will cleanse you.

They will test the metal of your faith.

They will test whether at the centre of your universe, is it

Jesus or is it you. At the centre of your universe,

is it your spouse or your parent or your money or is it Jesus?

That's what these fires do. They test the metal and quality

of your faith. And at the end of our lives

it'll be amazing, I'm sure when we close our eyes, whenever that

you know, the end date is marked.

Like that initial verse which said he will make a clean sweep.

He will take out the junk and leave it where it needs to be

thrown. But what remains will be worth

it. What remains will be invaluable.

And that's the purpose of being a living sacrifice, so that

whatever doesn't need to stay. Will be removed.

What one needs to stay will stay.

So I want to ask you, will you invite Gordon?

Will you say, Lord, I'm here? Ioffer myself as a living

sacrifice. I don't want that eternal fire.

I want. I'm OK with the fire now because

I know you will preserve me through it.

So as we pray, can I just pray that for you, for those of you

who are walking through a fire right now, that you will keep

yourself of flame and fuel. Don't think someone else should

do that. Oh, I need an encouraging word.

That's how I'll stay fuel or if I get you know that

encouragement. If I get that was you need to

work on that with the Holy Spirit yourself.

You need to take the time to choose joy.

You need to take the time to pray.

Don't don't outsource prayer to someone else.

Don't look only to Netflix to provide you with joy.

Don't look to someone else to help you walk through a fiction.

The Holy Spirit is your companion.

He's with you. He's saying I'm with you.

Choose joy, choose patience, choose prayer, choose

generosity. It's on you.

So as I pray, can we just agree together, each of us here

without us knowing it? Probably we have been living

sacrifices and God has been doing his work.

And Lord, we just thank you because you are so magnificent,

you are so kind, you are so good.

And we thank you for the fires that you walked, allowed us to

walk through, fires of ill health, fires of slander, fires

of of loss and grief, fires of financial damage.

God, we are thankful for every fire for we have emerged

differently from it. We have emerged transformed.

And Lord, if we haven't, we are sorry.

We pray that you will complete your work in US.

Thank you that you're shaping our hearts.

Thank you that you're shaping our character.

Thank you that you're shaping our attitudes.

And God, we just submit ourselves one more time to you,

that God, we will allow you to work in US so that your glory is

revealed through us. God, I pray right now for anyone

who has not chosen Jesus, who doesn't know him for who he is.

I pray that today they will make a decision and say I will follow

Jesus. That they will confess their

sins before you and they will accept you into their hearts.

God and I thank you that the Holy Spirit is such a gentle

counsellor and guide and how he walks with us.

We thank you for that. And I pray that God, you will

help us to stay fuelled in a flame.

If any of us, if the flame of love for you, if our passion for

you has diminished, forgive us. Holy Spirit, will you light the

flame again? Will you fill us for a passion

for God? Will you fill us with a passion

for His Word? Will you fill us with a passion

for His Kingdom? Come Holy Spirit, we need you,

we need you. Jesus, we thank you for the

perfect sacrifice that you wear. I thank you that you have been

our atonement and I pray that Lord, we will just come to you

with boldness today. We will come to you and say,

Lord, I'm here. I Ioffer myself to you.

Will you do with us as you see fit?

We pray all this in your name, Amen.

Amen. As you get into this week and in

the rest of the months of this year, can I ask you to make it

an everyday thing? If you put put it on your notes,

if you could put it on your phone screen or you put it above

your, you know, cubicle at work. I'm a living sacrifice because

it reminds you that everything you're walking through has an

end purpose. The goal is transformation.

The goal is the likeness of Jesus.

It will make the present not just tolerable, it may even make

it enjoyable. So I encourage you not to

burnout, but keep yourselves fuelled in a flame.

God bless you. Thanks for listening to this

message. We hope you were blessed.

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