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The Christian and A Life of Total Dedication to God · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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  Romans 12, verse number 1.
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  Perfect.
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  And so on.
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  So from this passage, we want to continue to look at what the Bible has to say to us about being healthy people, a healthy Christian, and being a healthy church.
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  And we have looked at various passages from 2 Timothy to John 15 and 1 Peter.
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  And the last time we took up the study, we looked at Ephesians chapter number 3, and we saw Paul's prayer for personal development.
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  And focusing on that chapter, we focused especially on God giving us an increased capacity in our hearts for the presence of the Spirit of Christ and for Christ himself.
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  It was focused very much on our hearts.
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  I want us to think this evening as something that focuses more upon our minds and our intellect rather than our hearts.
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  And having said that, I know the Bible, when it speaks about the heart, it includes all of the faculties of the soul.
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  That is, our minds, our will, and our affections.
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  But before we begin, I do want to say something about the faculties of the soul.
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  And I want us to think about them in this way as we look at this passage.
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  That we do have the mind and the will and the affections.
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  And the mind is the faculty that receives information and makes a judgment on the information received.
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  That the will makes a choice based on the judgment of the mind.
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  And that once the will makes a choice, our affections are fixed on the choice that the will makes.
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  And that may sound a bit mechanical, but if we actually take that on board, that is simply and profoundly the way we work in our souls.
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  We receive information.
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  We make judgment on that information.
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  We make then a choice based on that judgment.
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  And then our affections and our hearts go after whatever the will has chosen.
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  And we look into the beginning of this chapter.
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  And we see that it begins with an appeal from Paul that is based on what has gone before.
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  So when we read, I appeal to you, therefore, brother, he is referring to everything that has gone before.
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  In other words, all the great things that he has said about their salvation, about redemption in Christ, about them being indwelt by the spirit of God, about them having the spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father, the great privileges that are now theirs.
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  They are in possession of the grace of salvation.
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  And having possession of it, they now have a responsibility to be the people of God.
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  And we ourselves are here this evening because we trust in the grace of God.
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  God has made us what we are.
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  And therefore, God requires us to follow a certain path and to a particular kind of lifestyle.
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  And so tonight I want us to think of the Christian and a life of total dedication to God.
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  I want us to think, first of all, of the duty of consistency, to have a life that's consistent with the word of God.
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  And that's what Paul requires of them.
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  By the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
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  They are to present themselves or place themselves at the disposal of God.
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  And when he wants to draw attention to their need to be consistent with the word of God, he is drawing on an image from the Old Testament where the priest would come with a sacrifice to the temple.
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  And of course, the sacrifice was killed, the blood was shed and was presented to the Lord.
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  He is using that process and giving it a new sense of direction and a new meaning by applying it to the experience of the disciple, of the Christian.
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  And I think the process is this, that he is thinking of sacrifice and the temple and the tabernacle.
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  And now he's thinking of the Christian and Christ as the temple and them coming to him.
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  So that as the priests come with a sacrifice to the temple of Solomon, that they now come to the temple which is, who is Jesus Christ himself.
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  And that's the way in which Jesus himself sets himself up in John chapter 2, when he says to the Jews around him, destroy this temple and I will raise it up at the last day.
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  Jesus is the temple.
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  We take a sacrifice to the temple of Solomon, dedicating that to God at the temple.
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  But when I take our own lives and we dedicate them to the service, to following the Lord Jesus, we place our hearts, our lives at the disposal of the Lord Jesus.
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  And of course, that kind of sacrifice is living, it's holy and it's acceptable.
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  We are alive because of a union with Christ.
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  We are alive because we are brought from the dead by the Spirit of God.
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  And as living people who have the life of God in our soul, we come to present ourselves as holy and acceptable.
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  And both of these things, of course, go together, but it sets before us the need for consistency with the Word of God,
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  that we are holy as those who are set apart by God, and that we are also walking and living the kind of life that is acceptable to God.
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  That God looks down upon us and sees the direction of our lives, the life that we are living, sees us set apart for himself, and he takes delight in us.
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  He is pleased with what he sees.
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  He says to the Lord Jesus at the time of baptism, you are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
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  And when God looks down at his children, living the life that's consistent with the Word of God, set apart by himself, then God is well pleased.
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  And instead of thinking of placing our lives on an altar in commitment to God, we are placing our lives at the disposal of God.
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  We are God's possession, and we are giving our lives to him daily.
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  And Paul goes on to say that this is your spiritual worship.
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  In other words, he is making the whole of life an act of worship.
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  So that wherever we go in life, we come from the worship of God, as we are called together to the public worship of God with the people of God.
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  We will go and live our lives in our workplace, in our home, in our school, wherever we spend our lives.
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  Because the whole of life is worship, it is the service of God.
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  And we all have our individual callings.
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  And God expects us and calls us to serve him wherever he has sent us in our daily lives.
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  And that is your spiritual worship.
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  And here is one place where the King James Version is a much better translation.
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  Because it should read, I think, that this is your reasonable service.
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  The word that's translated spiritual, it's not a word in the original that is connected to the Holy Spirit at all.
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  It's a word that's connected to the Logos or to the mind or to a reason.
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  So what he is saying to them, this is your reasonable worship.
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  You're coming to present yourselves at the disposal of God, to serve God.
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  And you've done that in a reasonable way.
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  It's not something you do blindly.
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  Your intellect, your mind is working.
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  And you're going through this act of worship, every step that you take, because there's a process in your mind that arises from the word of God, by the spirit of God, which leads you to direct your life in a particular way.
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  That's the consistency.
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  And as the children of God, as those who, like them, by the mercies of God, who are saved by the grace of God, there is that intellectual process, as well as the movement of their affections after the Lord Jesus.
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  There is that intellectual process which leads us more and more to give ourselves to the Lord Jesus in the service of his name.
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  The need, the duty for consistency.
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  It's a challenge for us all to see how we measure up with the standard that Paul is calling them to reach here in the church in Rome.
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  But when we analyse what he is saying in the light of the way in which the grace of God works, then it's a kind of thing that should be natural for the children of God.
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  Natural to give ourselves, to place ourselves at the disposal of the Lord in his service and to do so because his word and his spirit working in our minds, persuading us daily that this is what we must surely do.
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  There is the duty for consistency.
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  Secondly, there is the danger of compromise.
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  And that's how we begin the second verse, the danger of compromise.
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  Do not be conformed to this world.
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  Don't take the outward form.
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  Don't take the shape.
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  Don't match the norms of the world in which you live.
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  Don't comply with the society in which you are living.
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  It's a sense of losing our identity because we're compromising with the society around us.
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  And we become more like the society around us than we are like the Christ who has called us to follow him.
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  It's compromising.
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  And there are many ways in which in every generation there is the pressure to compromise and the pressure to comply with what's happening in the world around us.
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  And in many ways we see that in our own society, in our own culture, in our own day, the pressure to simply go with the flow of the direction of society, to compromise our convictions, to compromise the way that we live our lives, to compromise our values and our beliefs.
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  There is that pressure presented on our beliefs, to compromise our beliefs, to compromise our beliefs, to compromise our beliefs, to compromise our beliefs.
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  And Paul here refers to this world.
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  And perhaps it will be better to say, do not be conformed to this age.
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  Because Paul is referring to this age and the experience of this world, the world that is in darkness, that is separate from Christ, that is alienated from God.
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  This age in comparison to the age that is to come, that is the eternity to which God will gather people and the glory that is to follow.
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  It's the danger of compromising with this age.
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  And the way in which there is that pressure on our thinking, on our lives day by day, that ultimately dulls the reality of God in our own lives.
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  And I'm sure we're all at different times in life aware of that.
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  That there is that dumbing down, that dulling of our experience of God, of our sense of God in our lives.
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  And it happens because of everything that takes place around us.
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  We are squeezed into the mold of the world in such a way that God is squeezed out of our lives.
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  And we struggle to live the life of consistency that Paul requires of them.
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  Interestingly, Paul, in writing to the Corinthians in chapter number 11, he says this to them.
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  As the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, he's afraid that your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
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  It's subtle.
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  We cannot say tonight that the world out there doesn't affect us.
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  We cannot say tonight that we're immune from the influence of the world.
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  By being in the world, it's impossible to be immune to everything that takes place around us.
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  And there's the sense here of deception, of being led away quietly and being led into a trap without us realizing it.
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  The danger of compromising.
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  How much we need to be on guard from the evil of this age that wants to rob us of our peace in Christ,
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  to rob us of the life that is pleasing to God and to make us like itself,
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  molded into thinking and living the way that this age, this world wants us to.
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  The danger of compromising.
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  How we need to be on guard against that danger and that temptation.
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  And thirdly, there is the demand for concentration.
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  And as we read many of the letters of Paul, there is a sense in which this is one of the great failings,
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  that we cease or slow down at a concentration.
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  And there is the challenge in that verse 2.
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  Instead of being conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
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  Instead of being conformed to the world, instead of being placed in the mold of the world,
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  there is the sense of being remodeled and reshaped to take on a different form.
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  And it's a form that arises out of what we are in our hearts as the children of God.
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  The same word that's used of the transformation of the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in places like Matthew 17.
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  He was transfigured before them.
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  His face shone like sun.
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  His clothes became white.
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  And the disciples were eyewitnesses of his glory.
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  His face shone like sun.
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  His face is away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away
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  He is using the passive of this verb here.
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  In other words, this is a work that is taking place
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  by someone outside of themselves upon their lives.
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  It is, allow yourself to be transformed.
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  In other words, there is the possibility
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  that there is a resistance in place
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  that stands in the way of this transformation.
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  If I have resistance in an electric circuit,
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  then I've got problems.
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  If there's resistance in any kind of plumbing operation,
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  then there's problems.
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  Whatever there is a resistance,
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  the mechanism, whatever it is,
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  it's not able to perform the way that it should.
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  The electricity will not produce,
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  the heating of it will not produce,
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  it will not perform what it is in place for.
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  And there is the suggestion here at least
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  that there may be resistance in their lives
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  to this transformation which God brings about in their lives
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  by his own Holy Spirit.
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  And we can ask ourselves,
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  and I can ask myself,
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  where, what kind of possible resistance
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  is there in my life or in your life
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  that lessens the impact of this transformation in our lives?
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  Can we examine ourselves
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  and find a blockage,
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  a loose connection,
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  anything that places resistance,
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  that stands in the way?
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  The transformation that we read of
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  in 2 Corinthians chapter 3,
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  and that's the point that Paul is getting to,
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  that they were there with unveiled faces.
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  The veil is taken away as we turn to the Lord,
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  and with unveiled faces,
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  beholding as in a glass or in a mirror,
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  the glory of the Lord,
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  are being transformed into the same image
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  from one degree of glory to another
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  by the Lord who is the Spirit.
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  The transformation takes place
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  as we live the consistent life
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  that looks to Jesus in his word,
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  and in that moment of looking to him
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  and in a life spent looking to him,
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  the transformation takes place.
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  It's not something that we do ourselves,
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  but in an exposure to the glory of Christ
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  in his word,
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  and the work of the Spirit of God,
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  through that exposure,
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  the transformation takes place.
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  And of course that means that we ourselves
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  have to keep in step with the Spirit,
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  but it emphasizes the fact
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  that in our progress,
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  in our transformation,
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  in our sanctification,
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  that God is the agent.
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  He is the person who drives the process forward.
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  And that's where we are tonight.
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  We are where we are on our journey with God,
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  following the Lord Jesus
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  with a measure of consistency.
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  We are not compromising with the world,
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  but God is, by his Spirit,
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  he is bringing his work forward in our lives
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  by his Spirit as we behold
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  the glory of Christ in his word.
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  And it reminds us of the way in which
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  our lives need to be always Christ-centered
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  and need to be always focused
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  upon the word of God,
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  where we see the revelation of the glory of God
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  in the face of Jesus Christ.
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  It's letting God bring his work forward.
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  Paul, and it's writing to the Thessalonians,
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  says to them in chapter number four,
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  this is the will of God,
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  your salvation.
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  That's the plan.
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  He wants to make you and to me
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  more and more Christ-like,
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  every step that we take in life.
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  And he does that by the Spirit of God.
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  And Paul in that same letter speaks
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  about grieving the Spirit of God.
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  There is a process.
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  It's a process of transformation.
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  It's the work of the Spirit of God
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  changing us into the likeness of Christ.
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  Be transformed by the renewal of your minds.
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  And we're back now to thinking of
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  what I said at the very outset,
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  that this whole process is dependent
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  on our intellect and on our mind
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  and our receiving information.
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  It's applying our minds to learning
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  the word of God,
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  to understanding the word of God,
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  to hearing the preaching of the word of God,
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  so that we become more and more
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  immersed in the word of God
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  and that our minds are more and more
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  filled with that word of God.
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  It's the renewal of the mind.
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  It's something that's ongoing once more.
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  It's something that God does.
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  He renews our minds.
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  But this is how it takes place.
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  If Paul was praying in Ephesians 3
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  for them to have an increased capacity
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  for God in their hearts,
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  here Paul is looking at them
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  having an increased capacity
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  for the understanding of God and of Christ,
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  having the mind of Christ
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  in the sense of knowing
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  and of learning and of understanding.
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  And it places upon us
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  that responsibility
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  to use our minds,
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  our intellect,
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  to use it in the study
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  of the word of God
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  and learning about the work of grace
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  and the work of salvation
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  as we have that in Christ Jesus.
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  And as we do so,
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  that's the mechanism.
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  That's the way in which God
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  brings his work forward.
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  It's through our minds.
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  We may feel a lot of things
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  and a lot of good things
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  as we hear the gospel
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  and learn about God's love.
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  But what leaves us
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  the greatest sanctifying mark
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  in our lives
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  is when we understand
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  and when we learn more,
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  when our minds are opened.
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  We saw in 2 Corinthians 3
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  the way in which
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  the veil is taken away
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  as we turn to the Lord.
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  The veil is on the Jews
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  when they read the book of Moses still.
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  But we have an enlightened mind.
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  And it's that enlightened mind
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  that we bring to the word of God
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  to learn more and more
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  of what God is saying to us.
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  With the outcome that
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  by testing you may discern
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  what is the will of God,
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  what is good and acceptable
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  and perfect.
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  It's not testing in the sense of
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  proving if it's right or wrong.
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  But it's testing
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  and proving the genuineness
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  of the word of God.
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  The riches of the word of God.
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  It's coming to the word of God
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  and discovering intellectually
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  more and more
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  of what the word of God means.
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  And that then has its own impact
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  upon our lives,
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  upon our relationship with God
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  and upon our relationships
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  with each other.
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  What are you doing
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  through the rest of the chapter
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  and we see the way in which
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  Paul expands on this whole,
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  on all these principles
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  that he's setting out here
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  by applying them
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  to our relationships
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  with each other,
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  to our humility,
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  to our Christ-likeness,
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  to our relationships
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  with one another,
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  that we are to love one another.
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  God, it all flows out
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  from this process
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  of transformation
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  by the renewal of our minds.
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  And tonight, God wants us
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  to reflect on that.
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  Our health as the children of God,
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  as the disciples
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  of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  To reflect on
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  how consistent our lives is,
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  that we have a duty
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  to be consistent
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  with the word of God.
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  To reflect on
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  the danger of compromising
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  with the world
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  and to reflect upon
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  the demand of God himself
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  on our concentration
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  on what his word says,
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  so that we may learn
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  and grow.
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  As one of the commentaries
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  said as we close,
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  dedication leads to discernment
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  and discernment leads
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  to delight in God's will.
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  That sums up
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  the Christian life.
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  If we're walking
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  the way that God
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  wants us to do
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  in his paths,
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  that's what we will find.
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  Dedication leads to discernment.
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  Our minds are working,
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  understanding,
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  and discernment leads
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  to delight in God's will.
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  And ultimately,
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  as the children of God,
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  we come to the place
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  where we delight in God.
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  We delight in God's salvation.
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  We delight in God's salvation
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  in Christ.
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  And we are more and more
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  drawn by him,
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  captivated,
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  motivated by all
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  that he has done for us
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  as we present our lives,
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  give ourselves
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  into his possession,
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  at his disposal,
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  as he calls us,
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  to serve him
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  wherever he has done so
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  in our lives.
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  May God bless these thoughts to us.
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  So we're now going to conclude
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  by singing in Psalm 143
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  in the Scottish Psalter,
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  in the second version of the Psalm,
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  and a version of the Psalm.