Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / June 23, 2019 | There's An App For That - Romans 12:2

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June 23, 2019 | There's An App For That - Romans 12:2 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
0:03
SPEAKER_00: I am so pumped.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Good to see you guys over here.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking down.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing Mark.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm not used to seeing him over here.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: And Katie, good to see you guys.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Um life is good.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: It what did Doug will call it?
0:21
SPEAKER_00: He call it a soggy Sunday or something like that.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: So when I left uh to go out to Juice for Jesus board meeting on Thursday morning, it was raining.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: I came back last night.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: But life is so good.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: I am so excited.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: By the way, if you're visiting this morning, we're in a series call.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: There's an app for that, if you couldn't tell from the bumper video.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And we're in week number three of that.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: And I chose this partly because just background, this is there's a the number one Bible app in the world, actually by far, is UVersion, called the Bible app, and billions of chapters last week shared, or last last year shared, 409 million verses shared, and so forth.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: And so what I've done is I've picked the last eight years of number one verses.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: They advertise the number one verse this year that was read, that was shared, that was bookmarked, that was sent, and so forth.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: So two weeks ago, the number one verse for 2012 we looked at Philippians 4, 6 and 7.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are here?
1:29
SPEAKER_00: Be anxious for nothing, remember that, but by prayer and petition, let your requests be made known to whom?
1:37
SPEAKER_00: To God.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, of God, peace of God, serenity of the Trinity that passes understanding.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh, did I say with thanksgiving?
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Did I leave that out?
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Make your petitions with thanksgiving, let them be made known to God.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Last week, Psalm 118, 24, this is the day.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: This is the day that the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: We will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Sounds simple, but we realized it was more than just Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday this day.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: It was the day of salvation.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: It was the day of when you trusted Christ as your Savior.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: It was Easter.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: It was Good Friday.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: It's the future day when you're finally saved from this body from sin and death.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and this morning, that 2014 favorite verse, I'm sorry for those of you that have sent me Romans 12, too, hoping it would be the verse that we would choose.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I ask you to send me a favorite verse for the sort of empty Sunday I have in August, so I can preach on TBC's favorite verse.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: If you sent this verse to me, it's not going to be preached then, because we're preaching it today.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: It's a verse you know, like the rest of the verses we're preaching on this summer.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Say it with me.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: This is the famous uh version that most of you know.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: This is the New King James, a lot like the King James.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Say it together.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that verse before?
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Unlike the last two verses, so the last two verses, as we studied them, we found out that there was a lot more juice in them than we had known before.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
3:29
SPEAKER_00: They were really cool.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: This verse this morning actually means something a little different.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna take us in a little bit different place than you might expect.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean probably exactly what hundreds of millions of people think it means, but what it means is really awesome.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna share with you what it really means and briefly what most people think it means.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: And and uh no criticism here.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what you thought it means isn't too bad, but okay.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna talk about it.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna take this verse in an interesting way.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: I am not gonna start at the beginning and walk my way through as I have the two previous weeks for a couple reasons.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: I sort of need to start at the end and work my way back, you know, sort of the way you put on a coat or whatever.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: You start sort of at the back and then put your arms in and you finally button it up.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm gonna do.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: This first, I'm gonna start with one of the two words or phrases in here that I could preach on for weeks.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: So I worked through this.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: I thought, oh my goodness, I'm gonna have to push two X.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, like Marco Paul or whatever.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: You if you have to, if you want to listen to something, you're kind of bored and you want to listen to it twice as fast.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: You push two X and you go, and so I'm gonna talk twice as fast this morning so I can get through everything, because there are two amazing themes in this verse, the will of God and the mind of man, both of which are so huge, I could talk about them both for at least a whole Sunday.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: So I have got to get through this whole verse in the next 30 minutes.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna do it.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: But let's start with the will of God, because the will of God doesn't always mean what you think it means when you say the will of God.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there are more than one will of God in Scripture.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
5:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying to you that there are at least two different things called the will of God in Scripture, two wills, and they seem to contradict each other at times.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so one of the greatest theologians in Scotland in the last hundred years, a wonderful man, he's recently died.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: I chatted with him before his death, I Howard Marshall, wonderful Scottish theologian, put it this way: we must certainly distinguish between what God would like to see happen, okay, and what he actually does will to happen.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And both of these things can be spoken of as God's will.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: You go, wow, wow, wow, wow, what?
5:57
SPEAKER_00: God is sovereign, God's God, why can't he make happen what he wants to have happen?
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Why would he ever will or designate to have happened, decree to have happen, something that he really doesn't want to have happen?
6:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
6:13
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about that this morning.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: We must certainly distinguish between what God would like to see happen and what he actually does will to happen, and both of these things can be spoken of as God's will.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Some people think this is crazy talk, and maybe it is.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna find out.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: So, what I'm saying is that God has two wills.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: On the left-hand side is one of these wills and four different names for it that you read in theologies and so forth.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: It's sometimes called God's determined will, it's sometimes called God whatever.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: That's the problem with talking twice as fast.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Sovereign will, secret will, decreed will.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Then there's another kind of a will that we're gonna talk about, and that's oftentimes called God's desired will, or God's moral will, or God's revealed rather than secret will, or God's commanded will rather than his decreed will.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's start by talking about the left-hand side of the page, God's determined will.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm talking about these is we need to figure out which one of these, the end of Romans 12, 2, is talking about.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: When it says that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
7:19
SPEAKER_00: So what do we mean?
7:20
SPEAKER_00: What does the Bible mean?
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what are what's proof that there is such a thing as God, God's determined will?
7:27
SPEAKER_00: What God has decreed, what God has planned, or what happens, because it can't be broken, it happens.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that you're familiar with some of the evidences in the Bible for this.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 19, 21, many plans are in a person's heart, but the Lord's decree will prevail, which has led to the bumper sticker.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Man plans, God laughs.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Or there's other verses like that in Proverbs.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Lord turns the king's heart whichever way he pleases.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
7:59
SPEAKER_00: So there is a determined or sovereign will of God.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: You see it especially in the stories surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: If you cut off the last four words, Jesus is talking about what he desires to have happen.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: What he wants to have happen is he right at that point, he really doesn't want to go through the hellish crucifixion.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Says that, but not as I will, but and all of a sudden we find out that he is submitting his personal desires to God's determined or sovereign will.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: And thank the Lord he did, that he didn't fight against that, or other, otherwise you and I would be doomed.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: If he had never submitted to the cross, right?
8:53
SPEAKER_00: We would be doomed forever.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Thank the Lord.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: He submitted to what he knew was God's sovereign will.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Peter, however, points out right after the resurrection that God's sovereign will used sinful men doing sinful things to Jesus, committing murder, in effect.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: Somehow God's determined will incorporated sin.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: Peter says this: Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people in front of him at Pentecost.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: And he says, You guys blew it, you guys sinned.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: However, at the same time, this was God's determined will.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: This was according to God's definite plan and foreknowledge.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Two chapters later, Peter and the others are praying, and they say this in their prayer.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: They say, in this city, Jerusalem, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: They're praying to God, and they're saying there were some sinful men in this city gathered together against your servant Jesus, and then he lists the people who crucified him.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: He says, Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: And here's where you need to remind yourself how awful Christians, Catholic Church, especially down through, you know, for a long time, but other, all the Christians, you know, in persecuting Jews across the world for 2,000 years nearly, because they said, you Jews crucified Christ, therefore you're automatically going to hell, therefore it's okay if we persecute you, if we kill you, or whatever else.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: This verse is clearly saying it wasn't just Jews who did it, the people of Israel.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: It was also these Romans, Herod and Pontius Pilate.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: It was also the Gentiles, in fact, of course, it was all of us, wasn't it?
10:44
SPEAKER_00: So here you have sinful people doing sinful things, and yet, the prayer concludes, to doing whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: So there is a determined or a sovereign will of God, which we don't know about ahead of time, which is secret, and it's what happens.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we have things like this in the book of Daniel.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: God does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
11:18
SPEAKER_00: The most famous verse is, of course, Ephesians 1.11.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: In him, Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who, here it comes, works all things according to the counsel of his will.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: What will is that?
11:33
SPEAKER_00: That's of course his sovereign, his determined will.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: It's what happened.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Now I confess to you that for hours last Sunday afternoon, I was occupied with the determined will of God.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: I was, in effect, praying, God, let your determined will be my desired will, which is that the Topeka boy wins the U.S.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Open.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And when finally he sunk that long putt on the 18th hole and won the U.S.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Open by three strokes.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: And then it showed a picture of his mother who was sitting right up there last Sunday.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: I thought, thank you, Lord, that your determined will, that what happened was that Gary Woodland would win that tournament.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: And you're going, you are so carnal, Jim.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: You're always thinking of sports.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: But I kind of baptized it, didn't I?
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Kind of made it spiritual, God's determined will.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: So you can't criticize me.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Because God's determined will is basically what happens.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And what happens when a sparrow falls, Jesus says, is God knows.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: God's in charge of that.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: God sees that, okay?
12:43
SPEAKER_00: He knows every hair in your head.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: God's determined will, God's predestined will, includes everything that happens.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: And uh, by the way, this gets really personal in the New Testament.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: For those of you going through hard times, 1 Peter, it's better for you to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: That's clearly God's determined will.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: If it is in God's plan that you suffer, better for you to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: And wow, in a, I mean, we live in years where more Christians across the globe are being persecuted, wounded, killed.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: One of our own missionaries, maybe being kicked out of Turkey after decades of helping that country, helping people, talking to people about Jesus, persecution all over the globe of innocent people, and yet somehow sinful people doing sinful things can fit into God's determined or sovereign will.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: And we ought to talk that way and we ought to think that way when we talk about the future.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: James says, instead of you saying tomorrow we'll do such and such, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall do this or that.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: I once preached a sermon and called entitled D, capital D period, capital V period, Deo Valente, if God wills.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: The way my mother always ended her letters, Deo Valente.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: So God's will is important and you need to simply submit to it and accept it.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: That's the way the apostles always talked.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: They said things like, I'll come to you soon if the Lord wills.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
14:18
SPEAKER_00: So that's God's determined will, that's God's sovereign will, that's God's secret will, that's God's decreed will.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about this other will, because some people say, well, there's really no difference.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: If God's God, these two things will morph together.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: And I say, no, they don't.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Let's take a look.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: God's determined will is his plan that determines everything.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: You may not be able to see it, maybe too small.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: His desired will is different.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: It's God's commands for us.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: God's determined will is hidden.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: You know it in hindsight only.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: God's desired will is totally revealed in the Bible.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: God's determined will, you cannot learn it in advance.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: God's desired will, you better learn it in advance for guidance.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: God's determined will, you can't miss it.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: You just need to submit to it and accept it.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: God's desired will, you can miss it through ignorance or disobedience.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: But you shouldn't.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: And where do you find this desired will in the Bible?
15:15
SPEAKER_00: That is what God wants us to do, what God tells us to do, what God commands, these things that God wants but don't always happen.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, you find it throughout, especially when it comes to salvation.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote to Timothy, God our Savior wills all persons to be saved.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, then why aren't they?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: If God wills it.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: This must mean it's God's desired will, because if this was God's determined will, it would happen.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: But what he means is God has a desire for all persons to be saved, for none to be lost, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Peter puts it this way: God isn't willing that any should perish.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: There it is, the same word will, but that all should come to repentance.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: This is God's heart.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: This is God's desire.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: God does not wish for anyone to be lost.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God's desire won't come true, but the one who does the will of my Father who's in heaven.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's clearly something God desires from us.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: We oftentimes think what that means is the Ten Commandments, or it means keeping a list of do's and don'ts, you know, avoiding the nasty nine or the dirty dozen, you know, and living a certain kind of a life that we're saved by works, and then we read the Bible, and as if we don't know from experience, we find we can't do that.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: We're not good enough.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Christ comes along and says, Listen, God will apply my life to your account in heaven if you'll simply believe in me.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: The work of God is this, Jesus said, to believe in the one he has said.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: So that's God's desired will.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: His desired will is that everybody be saved, and his desired will to make that happen is that everyone believe in his son as Savior.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Notice this is not only God's desired will that he believes.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: The real point of the second sentence is God's determined will that whoever looks to the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: The point is, God has determined that if you believe in the Son, you will have eternal life.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: No man can pluck you out of the Father's hand.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: You can't even pluck yourself out of the Father's hand.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Apparently, you have eternal security.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So that's the point here that God has determined that those who look to the Son and believe in him will have eternal life.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: That's God's desire.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: Now, so what?
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, you go, there's a lot of so what here.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: This is that God really cares that I talk to my neighbor about Christ because God really wants my neighbor to trust him as Savior.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good so what in here.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's there's more good so what, more good implications than you can imagine.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: More good reasons why God's determined will should be precious to you and why God's desired will should be precious to you.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about God's determined or sovereign will.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Look at how that gives you comfort in your suffering, knowing that God is in control and he's gonna make all things work together for good.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Because you have a God who is in control of history and everything that happens, including sparrows falling, you know he cares about your grief.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Because he's in control of it and he will bring it to good in the end.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: And another implication of the fact that God has a sovereign will, that he is the king in control, is that gives you comfort in your schedule.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: You know how you make a schedule each week, how you make a list, some of us, every day.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: You make that schedule and you lay it out before God, but you can make your plans and then you just leave it in his hands because you know many times you make the to-do list and you only get one thing done in your to-do list all day.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: You kind of feel like a failure, but if you've laid it out before God and his sovereign will for that day, and you've walked your way through that day and done your best and allowed those interruptions to be God's will in your life, then you're okay because God's in control, God's sovereign, and it'll work out.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: And that's why you should talk that way, the way the apostles do.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: I'll return to you if God wills.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: I put it on my to-do list, I put it on my schedule, but it may not happen.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: In God's sovereign will.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: The implications to God's desired will that make it precious in your heart are just as great, as revealable.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: This is how we know right and wrong.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: This is how we know that God grieves when things go terribly wrong in our lives.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Because you know this is not what he wanted to have happen either.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe, let's just take it, let's take an example or two.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you were terribly terribly abused when you were young.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: A lot of us were.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And someone comes to you and they says, Was that God's will in your life?
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, your answer should be knowing God is desired will.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Are you crazy?
20:19
SPEAKER_00: Heavens know.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: God hates abuse, he absolutely hates violence.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: He hates for children to be mistreated.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: The Jesus who will put them on his lap absolutely is irate at that.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: And we have a sympathizing Jesus.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: That's wrong.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: No, it wasn't God's will.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: You go, but in another way, it was God's sovereign will because there were a hundred ways he could have stopped it.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: He chose not to.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know why.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: It's a mystery, that's his secret will.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: I submit to it, maybe one day I'll understand it.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: But I do know that all things work together for good.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Or let's say, let's say you've lost someone close to you.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: This morning, a good friend of mine at this church came up sharing with me that 72 hours ago her husband died.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: It was just she was not she's not ready for it.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: We cried together, and and she's and and and and I just thought, wow, what an illustration.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: If someone came up to her right now and said, Was this God's will?
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Did he die?
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, why don't you say heavens know God hates sin?
21:30
SPEAKER_00: God hates death.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: God's looking forward to the day when he absolutely wipes sin and death and germs and all evil uh out of this world.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: He came to he came to get victory over death.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: On the other hand, God could have stopped that.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: He could have had her husband, husband's cancer retreat, you know, and he could have he could have had her husband live for another 20 years.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: And yet somehow, though I don't understand that, I embrace that, I submit to that.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: I had I submit to God as my sovereign king who is in control.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: And I submit to him as my sovereign king at the same time, thank God.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: I know that he is my compassionate high priest, too, which Hebrews says means that he can sympathize with me.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: He's gone through the feelings that I have.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: He's an emotional God and he grieves with me.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: So these things are really precious and they have application.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: I know this feels sort of like a seminary classroom.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: The other thing, by the way, and now we're moving back towards Romans 12, too, is that God's desire to reveal the will, the Word of God, gives me guidance and gives me direction, and it tells me what the good life is, that life that philosophers have spoken of ever since Plato and Aristotle.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: This life that is the ideal life, that if you live this life on earth, you will be happy, okay, and the world tells you that this life is a life that's over here.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: It's a life of uh uh of living for yourself to some extent, maybe living for money, indulging your your your most immediate passion, you know.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: And if something if something is is is hindering you from full pleasure, whether it's an unborn fetus or whether it's uh some sort of a command, you know, about fidelity, then just pass that off.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's the life that's the good life, according to late-night talk shows, perhaps, and movies and magazines and so forth.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: And then God brings us this other life, this good life, and he says, I'm telling you, this is this is my desired will.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I've laid this out for you in the word.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: This is a life of kindness and generosity and love and joy and peace, and not envying and not being jealous, and not being lustful, and not living for yourself, but living for me and for others, and walking, you know, by the Spirit and so forth.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: And this is the life I've laid out for you.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: That's the good life, okay?
23:49
SPEAKER_00: So we get back to uh this desired will of God, and Peter says, listen, live the rest of your earthly lives no longer for your human desires, but for God's will.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: What does he mean?
24:00
SPEAKER_00: He clearly means this desire, this desired will of God, this revealed will.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: It's not secret at all.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: It's laid out clearly in Scripture.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: So back to Romans 12, too.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: When he says, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: What does he mean by will of God?
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Is he talking about God's determined will?
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Or is he talking about God's desired will?
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Is he talking about the secret will of God that he's laid out that somehow we're supposed to prove and know?
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Or his desired will, it has to be God's desired will, right?
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Because it's something that we can know.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: It's not secret, it's something that we can find out is good and acceptable and perfect.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: That's the will of God that he says, I'd like you to, I'd like you to discover by experience that my will, this will which is the good life, that it really is the good life and it's a better life than you've been hearing about in the books and magazines and TV shows you've been watching.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Don't be conformed to this world, he says.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: So be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable perfect will of God.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is hold what does he mean by prove?
25:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, was he scientist doing experiments?
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a tricky word, and this is where perhaps the world loves this verse because it misunderstands what this word means, because oftentimes what people think this word means is that you can discern the will of God.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: You can discover the will of God, and what they're thinking of is I can discover what girl I should marry, or what guy I should marry, or whether I ought to quit this job and change jobs, right?
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Or what college I should go to, this hidden will of God for my own individual life that I can discover and discern.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: If I'll just do the formula, then I can find out what the secret will of God is for me personally as to whether I should marry him or him, or something like that.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: But we know that can't be what it means because we're talking about a will of God that is revealed already.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: It's not something to be ferreted out and found and searched for, that God's hidden under a tree somewhere.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: And the other reason we know that this is not what it means is because the word itself never means that.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: This word prove used elsewhere, so it doesn't mean discover or find or discern.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: This word in other texts, consistently in the New Testament, means that you test it and you prove it.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Find out if it meets standards, like 1 Corinthians 3.13.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: When you die, dear Christian, you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and the fire from the throne will prove by testing each man's work.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: It'll burn away the chaff and leave the gold and the silver and the precious stones.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what this word is.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the the word is kind of a cool word, and again, you're gonna go, Jim, you're such a you're you've got the idolatry of sports.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is this word is dokimadozo, and I'm suggesting that at Alan Fieldhouse we start a new chant this year, dokemadzo, doke.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: So, and because there's they got this seven-foot Nigerian basketball player named you Doka.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: This is just the way I am, so you think I'm deep, but I'm actually really shallow.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: So this is the word that's used here and all of the dozen times used in the New Testament.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: It never means to discover, it always means to prove something by testing, okay?
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Dokumazo.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it basically, as the as the Greek dictionaries would say, has three meanings: bottom level, test, so that you can prove does it meet standards?
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Does this thing have value, okay?
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's metal in a fire or whatever, to the to the goal that you approve it or disapprove it, okay?
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you'll eventually appreciate it or delight in it.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: And some of you have been through doctoral oral defense, because I've talked with one of you this morning already.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: So in in the 90s, when I got my doctorate up north of Chicago and so forth, when you get a doctorate, it's different than a master's degree.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: You write this, you write this doctoral thesis that's uh 150 pages or whatever, but you're not done yet.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: The key part is you have to meet with a couple of professors.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: You take a test, but it's not a written test, it's always an oral test.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: You have a couple professors who've read this thing, and for a couple of hours they grill you about it.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: They totally grill you about it, they question it, they want to know whether or not you really know what you're talking about.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: I was really nervous about it.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: I met with these professors, they were nice, but what they're doing is they're testing you to find out whether this thesis that you've written really has merit so that they can prove whether or not it has value or not have value.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Does it match up to the standards of a doctoral thesis, of a doctoral idea?
28:48
SPEAKER_00: And in the end, fortunately, they approved it.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: They go, thumbs up.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: And see, this is what God is saying.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: I want you to test and to prove and hopefully approve, appreciate, and delight in the good life as I've laid it out for you in scripture.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: I want you to do that by experience.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: And you know what amazes me about this?
29:10
SPEAKER_00: That God cares what we think.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Every time I see this in scripture and I keep seeing it in the Old and New Testaments, you know, all those verses about God has a reputation.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Don't damage God's reputation inside the four walls of your home by taking his name in vain.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Things like that, right?
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Don't damage God's reputation in public if people know you're a Christian and yet you, you know, you cheat on, you cheat on your boss or you cheat on your spouse.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, that ruins God's reputation.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: God cares what people think about him.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: And now what we come to is that God cares what we think about his will, his desired, revealed will in Scripture, this good life he's laid out, this life of living for others and living with a love for Jesus Christ rather than living a selfish life all wrapped up in ourselves and in money and in whatever else.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: God cares about this.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Is that incredible?
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Say with me, that's incredible.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's incredible.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just hold it.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Was that a TV show or something?
30:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: So he longs for us to delight in this life he's designed for us, and so he says, don't be conformed to this world, be transformed, that you may test and approve what is that good and acceptable, perfect will of God.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: So here's my translation, and frankly, it's it's close to NIV and some of the others, but it is still brilliant and it's inspired, and so therefore I want you to again affirm me by reading it out loud with me, Romans 12, 2, together, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: That's what this verse is about.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: It's primarily about how you get to the place where by experience you live the good life laid out in Scripture, and then you go, other people on their deathbeds who've lived this other life that the world has offered, who've made a million bucks, who've traded wives or husbands four or five times, and they've gone around the world and so forth, and they're unhappy because you find this to be true.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: They've risen to the top and found out that it's not really been all that fun, but you're lying on your deathbed going, thumbs up, baby.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: I may not have had the biggest house, the fastest car, the hottest spouse, but I lived the good life.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: I approve it, God.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: So let me summarize where we are so far with five minutes to go.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12.2 is not about how you discover God's hidden will.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12.2 is about how you live God's will and discover by experience that it's the good life.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
31:52
SPEAKER_00: So how do you live God's will and discover by experience that it's the good life?
31:57
SPEAKER_00: How do you do that?
31:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, he says it happens as the first half of the verse by the renewing of your mind.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, we're getting to this humongous idea about the mind.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: And I want to share with you just briefly the incredible importance of your mind.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is clear, we overlook it.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, Proverbs 23:7.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is all about the fact that the central part of you is the mind.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Today, scientists, psychobiologists talk about it as being up here somewhere, and oftentimes just think it's all physical.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Don't think there's anything invisible at all.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: They talk about a hundred billion neurons flashing every moment.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: A psychobiologist in Science Magazine said, Isn't it amazing how this blob of petroleum jelly in our head, squirting juices from cell to cell, is responsible for all of history.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: And you go, oh come on.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Cows have have blobs of petroleum jelly that blast jelly, you know, of whatever, that do the same thing.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: It's clearly not the physical part of your brain.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: There's something invisible there.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: There is something that Genesis 1 says, and God made us in his image.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And it is in his image that we have this part of us, this invisible, reflective, spiritual part of us that sets us apart from animals and plants and flowers and trees and everything else.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And that thing is called the thinker, it's called the mind.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: It's why we have signs that say you're not what you think you are, but what you think you are.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: And which is true, right?
33:42
SPEAKER_00: If you, like me, have thought about basketball for nine-tenths of your life.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: You've got, as the as the water of basketball thinking has run down like a waterfall down in your head, it's caused these deep ruts.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's created these rivulets that have created these ruts.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: If you think about girls all the time, you're gonna have uh the ruts of lust in your head.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: If you think about money all the time, you're gonna have the ruts of dollar bills in your head.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: If you think about whatever you think about, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: That's how significant the mind is, right?
34:17
SPEAKER_00: And if you think on spiritual things, then you'll have spiritual ruts in your head.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me say quickly seven things about your mind and end with the verse, and we'll be done.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Number one, your mind is the most amazing thing about you.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: The greatest philosopher of all time, perhaps Aristotle, said exactly the same thing.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: By far the most amazing thing about us is our mind.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: Number two, your mind's also the most powerful part of you.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: It drives your body.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12 1, at the end of the doctrinal section of Romans says, how do you be spiritual?
34:50
SPEAKER_00: It says, present your body to God.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Why does it say that?
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because with your tongue that you say what God wants you to say, it's with your hands that you touch what God wants you to touch, or that you hand, you use it, it's with your feet you go where God wants you to go, right?
35:07
SPEAKER_00: It's it's with your eyes you look at what God wants you to look at.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: So it's physical.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: It's your body God wants.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: But but I mean, how how is your body driven?
35:15
SPEAKER_00: How does your body do that?
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2 says it all starts with your mind.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: It's in your mind.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it sounds like you know, the USA uh Olympic coach saying, what did he say the other day?
35:26
SPEAKER_00: He says, he says, in the end, victory or defeat is all between your ears.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Or the tennis pro who said, it's not how you hold your racket, it's how you hold your mind.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: Right?
35:36
SPEAKER_00: You've heard things like this.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: It's not the first time you've heard this.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: It's the most powerful part of you.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: It drives your body.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: And what was it Tiger used to say?
35:44
SPEAKER_00: He said, Uh, most of the tournaments I've won, I won in my head.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Number three, but your mind is itself formed by what you feed it.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I was just with a bunch of Jews this weekend and they were telling Jewish jokes.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish joke is that this Jew is on a train in Tsarist, Russia, and then there was a there was a uh there was a Russian nobleman next to him, and and the Russian old one goes says, says, says to the Jew, he says, How come you Jews are so smart?
36:10
SPEAKER_00: And he says, it's because we eat these herring, these gefilter fish.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: And uh Russian Owen says, I don't have any of those.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And the Jewish fellow says, I'll sell you.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: Sell you one for 20 bucks.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: 20 rubles, he said, which is even more than 20 bucks.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Noble says, Well, I'd like to be smart.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he hands him 20 rubles.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: And he eats this horrible, horrible pickled herring, this gefilte fish, it's called.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: He goes, This is awful.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I could have bought the same thing for 20 Copex in Moscow.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: And you says, see, you're getting smarter already.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: So that's really not a great illustration, but your mind is formed by what you feed it, what you put into your mind.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: You understand that, you know that, what you put in your mind.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: All of the statements are you feed your mind with porn, it's gonna make deep ruts, they're gonna make it hard for you to ever to get out of that, right?
36:58
SPEAKER_00: You feed your mind with whatever you feed your mind with, it's going to shape your mind.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: So it's really, and then we get to get any worse, managing your mind's the hardest and the most important job you have.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: But to change your life, that's all you need to do.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Change your mind.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: But how do you change your mind?
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 20, you need help, and I'm I'm giving you help, says God.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: And God says, you know what?
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Once your mind was in the dark, but I turned on the light.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm in the mind-changing business.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Once upon a time, 2 Corinthians 4 4, Satan blinded your mind.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: You were in the dark, you were your mind was depraved.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't really think about holy and spiritual things, but I turned on the light in your mind.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and now, he says, Romans 12, 2, I'm offering to renew, to reform your entire mind.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm asking that you deliberately not be conformed to this world, to the good life as the world paints it, but I'm asking that you allow yourself to be transformed by letting me renew your mind.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna start with you sending your mind up to me.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on this earth.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 3, Philippians 2.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Have this mind in you, which was in Christ Jesus.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Take every thought captive to Jesus Christ.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: You understand these things?
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter 4, whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are holy, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 26, 3.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: That will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on thee.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: So the Bible is full of this.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: If you will just simply put your mind up in heaven rather than on earth, if you will focus on things that are eternal and things that are spiritual, you'll find your life beginning to be gradually changed by the Holy Spirit of God.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: Mindset on the flesh is death.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: The mindset on earthly things is death, on money and sex and power and fame and envy, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: And if you let God do this by fixing your mind on spiritual things, your life will change in one, two, three ways.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you will stop letting the world press you into its mold.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: You tend to keep pace with the traffic today.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: If the traffic is going one direction when it comes to LGBT, it's so easy for you to follow the traffic.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: The traffic is going a certain way about what we ought to do with unborn fetuses.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: You go that way.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: If the traffic is going a certain way about money and how big a house you ought to have, or how big a car that you ought to have, or whether or not you should live for yourself or others.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Tendency is to just go with the traffic.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: But don't be conformed to this age.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Instead, let yourself be transformed into a Christ-like person.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: So the people around you say, Wow, I love the way that you live today.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: And non-Christians say, How did you get that?
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Why are you always so happy and so positive and so calm?
40:11
SPEAKER_00: And finally you'll live God's will, Romans 12, 2, and you will delight in it, knowing it to be the good life.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: The good, acceptable, and perfect life.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: You're living the will of God by experience, and you're going, thumbs up, God.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: God's like a chef.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: He's bringing out his eight-course meal.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: He's going, Would you please eat, instead of steak and penny, would you please eat this special meal I prepared?
40:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, you're gonna love it.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: And you go, okay, God.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: And you eat his eight-course meal, you test it, you prove it, and then you go, wow, best meal I've ever had.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: On your deathbed, you say, God, that good life that you laid out in your scripture.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: One more time, say it together with me.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: And now pray with me.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: There's a prayer on the screen right here.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: I want you to just start your prayer with these words.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah's gonna come out and sing these words, but the words that follow it in the song as well.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: Would you start your prayer this way?
41:26
SPEAKER_00: Say this with me.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Dear Lord, calm my mind, still my heart, let me know that you are here.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: Take control of every thought, fix my mind on you.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: Dennis the Minnesota said to his next-door neighbor, Mr.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: Wilson.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Dennis Minnesota holding up a flower.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: How can something so beautiful come out of such dirt?
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Dennis first answers that question.
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SPEAKER_00: You can live a beautiful life that comes out of a dirty background because you have submitted yourself to God.
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SPEAKER_00: Let him renew your mind.
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SPEAKER_00: And at the end of your life, you'll say, Thank you, Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: I approve that life you told me to live.
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SPEAKER_00: It was a good life.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
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SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for laying this out for us, for sharing with us your desire for our lives in such a way that we can choose it, and it all starts in our mind.
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SPEAKER_00: It starts with sending our mind to you and thinking on your things, thinking on the word of God, and thinking on spiritual things and things that are good, positive, and holy.
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SPEAKER_00: Bless us, Heavenly Father, as we are gradually remade into the image of your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
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SPEAKER_00: Amen.