will I again EX [Music] heart ra [Music] [Music] oh is [Music] [Music] only I of my streng [Music] [Music] [Music] even oh [Music] good morning Redeemer let's stand and worship Our Savior together I was in my [Music] shame who could carry that kind of [Music] away you are my till I'm made [Music] I was breathing but not alive all my failures I Tred too high it was my until I made you you call all my name and I ran out of that grave out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that [Applause] grave out of the darkness you to your glorious [Music] day now your mercy has saved my soul now your freedom is all that I [Music] know the Hope may do yes Jesus we I met [Music] you you call my name it now ran out of that [Music] gra out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that Gra out of the darkness into your glor [Music] day put our hands [Music] together I needed resue my stand was heavy but chains break at the weight of your glory I needed shelter I was in nor now you call me a CZ of heaven when I was BR you are my healing now your love is the end I'm breathing I have a fut My Eyes Are Open cuz when you call my name [Applause] out of out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that CR out of the darkness you your glorious day [Music] theill of calary my savior BL for me my Jesus s me free and look at the wounds that give me life gra flowing from the side no greater SA and what he's done what he done all the glory and the honor to the Ser my sins are forgi my future is heaven and I praise God for what he's done s for the freedom he has won even death is dead and D his life is overcome speak say the name above all names over every broken place he is raising from [Music] the what he's done what he's done for the glory and the honor to the son my sins are forgi my future is heaven and I praise God for what he [Music] and now on a throne of majesty the father's will complete he raign in Victory sing Hallelujah to the king he is worthy to receive all the worship we what he's done what [Music] is all the glory and the honor to [Applause] the my SS are forgi my future is heaven I praise God for [Music] what what he's done what he's done all the glory and the honor to the my S are for my future is heaven I praise God is I praise [Music] God done amen well good morning Redeemer you can go ahead and take a seat my name is Jeremy and just as we're singing that song what he's done I can't help but think about what God has been doing in our generational Ministry so I want to take a moment to highlight that in young adults over the summer we've just been seeing many young adults uh graduating out of the Young Adult Ministry young adults moving into our adult discipleship groups here which is something we celebrate we're so excited about but it blew me away in light of that what God did this last Wednesday this last Wednesday night we we ran out of chairs we ran out of pizza and every year it just astounds me at how God brings in these young adults who are who are hungry for truth hungry to walk with Christ hungry for fellowship and obviously hungry for pizza that part is not very astounding it's kind of what you'd expect from a group of young adults but uh it's truly amazing what God is doing and so I want to encourage you if you're between the ages of 18 to 29 specifically if you're in that sweet spot 18 to 25 most of our young adults fall there um please come check out young adults this Wednesday night um this Wednesday night we're getting back into the normal swing of things and so we would love this is a perfect night for you to come come check things out here at the church at 7 p.m. I'm also thankful for what God has done in our students Ministry those of you who watch the the camp highlight video that was played I think a few weeks back just it's just amazing every summer what God does at camp but a huge reason for that is because of the work that our students director Jake fan gills and his team of volunteers what they do every week in their investment in caring for and loving our students so so well and tonight they are kicking student Ministry off uh doors are going to open at 5:00 pm and then at 5:30 things will get started uh similar to Young adults they're going to dive into worship and have a sermon and break out into discipleship groups and so if you're a student AKA if you're a middle schooler or a high schooler we want to see you here tonight uh at 5:30 please come check it out and if you if you've been a little on the fence I'm going to speak to maybe maybe a few of you who have been on the fence with coming to students maybe you feel a little hesitant I'm going to challenge you right now come for one month you're like I thought you were just going to say come tonight no come for give it a shot for four straight weeks and I really believe that the Lord will meet you in a tangible way in that month through our student Ministry next I want to talk about kids ministry a little bit and I'm just so thankful that even now as I speak God is at work he is doing things in our kids ministry as an army of volunteers is caring for an even larger Army of these these little disciples God is raising up it's amazing what's happening back there and uh Michelle Stomps the director of our kids ministry has instituted these MMA events these moms meet at events moms are going to be meeting at Craig Park this Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. from 10: to noon uh any moms in here who are craving some adult conversation can I get an amen all right if that's you uh come bring your kids let them play together and moms you all can connect and get to know each other at Craig Parkwood would love for you all to join there now I want to speak to another group of you and that's those of you who are visiting here at Redeemer for the first time we're so thankful that you chose to worship with us this morning thank you for being here and I want to ask would you please give us the opportunity to get to know you uh after service would you walk across the lobby to our Welcome Center you'll find a volunteer uh standing next to a table who would just love to personally engage you and get to know you you can also let us know that you're here uh by going to the link on the screen behind me now to the rest of you I'm going to ask you to go ahead and pull out your phones and and check in let us know how we can be praying for you I you know I was talking with our staff and a lot of times it's weird if you're at an event let's say and someone's speaking it feels weird sometimes it almost feels disrespectful to pull out your phone and be typing as I see many of you doing that right now it actually is such a blessing for me to see it encourages me and so I want to encourage if you haven't yet please take out your phone there's two steps with this go to our church Center app first step check in let us know you're here that's so helpful step number two to please let us know how we can pray for you as someone on staff I love getting to read these prayer requests and pray over so many of you and so whether it's a small request a big a quote unquote small request or a big request let us know how we can be praying for you now finally uh if you've been around here at Redeemer for any length of time uh you know that we love bringing Clarity to what it means to be a follower or a disciple of Jesus Christ and we Define a disciple as someone who is worshiping Christ walking with Christ working for Christ and witnessing about him and we have an opportunity coming up September 7th as a church family on our serve day to engage together in all four of those W's we're going to be partnering with local organizations as we um get to to engage communities in the area by meeting practical needs we're going to be working together and as we do that we're going to be witnessing about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all from a place of worship and abiding walking with Christ and so if you want to engage with your church family the forb life I want to encourage you sign up for serve day you can do that on the app go to the events page you can sign up there you'll also find a card on the back of a seat nearby you that'll give you some more information okay with all these things in mind let's continue in a spirit of worship would you pray with me God we're going to go into this song you've already won and I just pray specifically over those in the room who are struggling this morning who are going through something really hard God would you just help us to remember that even in the hard even in the difficult even even in the pain whatever it may be God that you've already won that we're Victors in you Lord that we can we can rest in what you've accomplished in our behalf Lord Jesus we love you we pray all this in your name amen [Music] this peace that Outlast Darkness hope that's in the blood this future Grace that's mine today that Jesus Christ as one so I can face tomorrow for tomorrow in your hands all I need you will proide just like you always [Music] have I'm fighting the battle you've already won no matter what comes my way I [Music] willcome don't know what you do but I know what you've done I'm fighting the battle you've already won there's Mercy in the waiting Mana for today if when it's gone I know you're not You Are My Hope and stay when the sea is Raging your spirit is my help he'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ I'll say that it is well W I know that it is [Music] well I'm fighting the battle youve already won no matter what comes my way I will overcome don't know what you're doing but I know what you done I'm fighting the battle youve already [Music] W I know how how the story ends we will be with you [Music] again you're my savior my defend no more fear in life for death [Music] see you were dead in the trespasses in sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by Nature Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but but God but God being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and he raised us up with him and he seated us with him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and the kindness toward us in Christ Jesus see he has caused us to be born again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuiness of your faith more precious than gold gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ we know how the story ends we know that the battle has been won and so we can rejoice in hope in peace in Love In Joy even as we walk through trials even as we walk through hard things because we know at the end of our story The Battle has been won and so we sing that again this morning we know how the story ends we'll get to be face to face with Jesus one day let's sing it again I know how the story end we will be with you [Music] again you're my savior my [Music] defense no more sheing life for [Music] day I know how the story is thank you Jesus we will be with you you're my savior might no more feing life for death I know how the [Music] [Music] story I'm fighting the battle youve already won no matter what comes my way I will don't know what to do but I know what you done I'm fighting the battle youve already won [Music] I'm fighting for [Applause] battle you all you [Music] see him there The Great I Am the crown of thorns upon his head the Father's Heart displ for us oh God we thank you for the cross lift it up on calary hill we curs your name in even still you bore our shame and paid the cost oh God we thank you for the cross Behold the Lamb the story of redemption written on his head Jesus you will re forever more the victory is yours we sing your praise Endless Hallelujah to your name Jesus you will re forever more the victory [Music] offer this sacrifice for every s Our Savior died the Lord of life can be content Our God has risen from the Oh Our God has rais his for [Music] behold the the story of redemption with all his head Jesus you will make forever more the [Music] victory we see your praise in this Hallelujah to your lord name Jesus you will R forever more the [Music] victory of death is done we'll see your face bright as the sun will bow before you the the King of Kings oh God forever we will see behold the L story of redemption written on his head Jesus you will R forever more the victory [Applause] Behold the Lamb the story of Redemption on his head Jesus you will forever the victory is yours rece your praise end this Hallelujah to your home name Jesus you will forever more the victory is yours you L forever more the victory is yours you Reign forever the victory is your [Music] and I can't wait for eternity join the song s there already singing Holy Holy Holy are you just bow down before your throne see your face I cry out because you're holy holy holy are you Lord [Music] Jesus king of [Music] kings Jesus my I wait for et join us s singing Holy Holy Holy are you just about down just down before your see your face I'll cry out because you're holy holy holy are you [Music] Jesus king of King [Music] Jesus mesty Jesus Jesus [Music] king Jes [Music] mesty standing with those who have heard well done proclaiming forever that you're the one who's faithful faithful faithful are [Music] you what can we give you name is praise the heavens are Earth we shout your name is Jesus Jesus Jesus you [Music] are Jesus king of king and the of Jesus [Music] just Jesus king of [Music] kings jus mest [Music] worthy worthy worthy Lord another glimpse of Glory we sing once more worthy worthy worthy Lord forever forever worthy worthy worthy Lord the glimpse of Glory sing once more Worthy worthy worthy Lord Forever Forever sing worthy worthy worthy Lord the of glor sing more worthy worthy worthy Lord forever forever singing worthy Worthy worthy Lord another the glimp of Glory see more wor worthy worthy Lord [Music] forever Jesus king of king and the Lord of Lord Jesus [Music] [Applause] just There's No One Like You Jesus king of [Music] kings jus mesty [Applause] [Music] worthy worthy worthy [Music] Lord worthy worthy worthy in yes you are worthy worthy worthy Jesus you are worthy worthy worthy and Worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the you [Music] are you Lord God almightyy wory is the Worthy is the You Are Holy sing it out to [Music] him you God Mighty Worthy is lamb sing worthy Worthy is thy L sing that again worthy Worthy is [Music] the Worthy is the [Music] Isaiah 6 verse 1 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the seraphim each had six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory so many needs as we walk in here today uh so many questions some of you have big life decisions ahe some of you have had a terrible week some Of You' had an awesome week and like our greatest need right now is whatever the swirling circumstances that we walk in with would just be like totally eclipsed by the Holiness and the glory of God and so no need to rush this moment I'll condense my sermon down let's just sing it again and ho ho are you Lord God might Worthy is the Worthy is the Lamb You [Music] Are Holy you Lord God Almighty Worthy is the L Worthy is [Music] isy is the Lord we just thank you that you are worthy we praise you you are set apart You Are Holy there is no one like you God as your creation we just worship our creator we are tiny and you are massive and Powerful you are in control you are everywhere all the time God we thank you that we get to submit under your Authority because there's peace here and so God I pray that you would just meet us in this place you love to meet with your people when we're together and so we we thank you that you're here we don't have to ask you to be here you're already here but God for our own sakes we ask you to meet us here we ask that you would would um open our ears to hear the word that's about to be preached that it would be living and active as you promised and that it would change us we want to be changed we want to be more like you and so would you do that work in US Lord we thank you in Jesus name amen amen if you have your Bible grab it turn with me to Romans chap 12 if you happen to need a Bible there's one in a seatback somewhere close to you and if you don't happen to own a Bible please leave with that one that is our gift uh to you but we love to have God's word in front of us when we study it on Sunday mornings um I I I know you've probably experienced this I have different times in life where you've run into someone that you haven't seen in a long time and you know they were maybe part of your life in a different season and you haven't seen them in a while and and you run into them and and they are they are not the same they're recognizable uh by their outward appearance but as you're talking to them you're going something something's different this is not the guy I went to college with this is this is not the coworker I what and as you reconnect a bit you finally say what dude what what happened and he tells you he met Jesus you ever had that experience some of us in the room are the people on the other side of that experience right I remember being back home a few years back and running into an old friend and teammate of mine from high school and he said where are you I said I'm down in the Indianapolis area what are you doing said I'm Pastor in a church and his draw his jaw dropped open a little bit and his next words were words that I can't repeat from the pulpit I said a lot a lot changed in life we're studying this awesome book called The Book of Romans and in the first 11 chapters of Romans Paul unpacks like the like just the deepest unpacking of the Glorious doctrine of the Gospel but but as we make our way now to part two of this book which begins in chapter 12 he he now is going going to teach us and show us and tell us that uh the gospel properly understood and prop properly having gripped a heart will lead to life change like we we we can't have believed the gospel truly and our lives not be changed by it sure progressively and over time and as we say around here all the time pattern not not perfectly but the the gospel does change us and so many of us in this room have experienced that the The Book of Romans is all built around this thesis statement this purpose statement that we find in Romans chap 1 ver 16 and 17 and I hope I hope many of of us can even just recite this by memory right now because I don't want us to get to the end of our study in Romans and and not have this verse committed to our hearts but it says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it in this gospel in this good news the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith and from there Paul embarks on what we have as an 11 chapter Manifesto on the gospel and all of its glories coming right out of that verse right there he says now the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man we're like whoa but but that's where Paul knew he had to start we've all fallen short to the glory of God in the rest of Romans 1 and into Romans 2 Paul's going to make clear that that's true for all of us some of us in this room had had rebelled before Christ saved us had had rebelled against God just through utter Rebellion we just didn't care others of us as Paul gets into Romans 2 will say have rebelled against God by our self-righteousness by thinking that we didn't need this gospel of grace and that we could somehow earn it ourselves and from there Paul begins to unpack for us that we all have a problem sin has separated us from God and all of us in this room are sinners and then he says we we we even have a bigger problem that in our in our broken nature we think that we can earn our way back to God we we think that we can somehow keep the law good enough well enough to to earn our rightness before God and and by the time we come to like you know Romans chapter 3 Romans 5 Romans 6 Paul's hope for us is that we would understand we got nothing on our own and then he's like I got such good news for people who got nothing on their own and it's a a gospel of grace and a gospel of righteousness that comes by Faith from there we begin to understand how are we made righteous with a holy God we're made righteous by the good grace of an awesome God the moment we believe the moment we have faith and now Paul's going to tell us as we get to part two um this changes everything it really does and the the the gospel truly is I it's the only thing that actually transforms us holistically I can change my behavior through some hard work of some things and through putting new habits in my life I can change aspects of my behavior but there's nothing that changes a heart except the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there's nothing and this is where he's going to go now in the rest of this book and and it and it's going to be just an awesome awesome study for us to say now what is this gospel living look like and it part two section one is a very short section it's the two verses we're going to study here today and it's going to set the stage I I think Romans 12 veres 1 and two are really the headline over the rest of the practical application of this book and Paul's going to call us to be a sacrifice and it's beautiful how he's going to do that and so here's the main idea for today the gospel calls us to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of worship to God and verse one he's going to appeal to us he's going to lay out a clear appeal and in verse two he's going to give us some instructions as to how we live that appeal out and so if you would just uh gather your Bible stand to your feet with me I want to read God's word for us and then we'll take our time here walking through it together this is the word of God Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and two I appeal to you therefore Brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect father uh we just bring ourselves now before you for these moments here uh Lord we bring ourselves under your living and active word we ask Lord that as we walk through it um Lord would you um take the words that are inspired by you and Lord would they uh grip our heart Lord would would this would this move us towards a deeper greater Fuller offering of ourselves as a sacrifice pleasing in your sight please Lord that's why we're on this Earth and we want to hear it we want to see it we want to grow in it so Lord come meet us now through your word we pray in Jesus name amen so let me just take our main idea and let me just set it as the point this is the point of the sermon and then we'll get to two sub points of instructions at how we live that out the gospel calls us to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of worship to God now before we get to what the appeal is look at how Romans 12 verse1 starts he says I appeal to you therefore brothers so that's not the appeal that's the leading to the appeal but there are some important things we need to see about the leading to the appeal uh the first is that Paul says it's an appeal seems pretty obvious doesn't it an appeal is a request but it's weightier than a request it's a it's a request with the weight of a command it's a commanding request it's a what we might uh call an exhortation Paul is exhorting them he's exhorting these Believers to something and he's appealing to them but I I want us to notice a really important word I appeal to you look back with your heads in your Bible I appeal to you what's that word therefore and and this therefore in the Book of Romans really is carrying a lot of weight this therefore in the Book of Romans is a carrying a lot of weight of what came before it and this therefore in the Book of Romans is carrying a lot of weight of what's going to come after it uh growing up my uncle had a dairy farm and so my summer job as a kid was I got to work on the dairy farm and now um if you'd ask my family it's no surprise to them that I went into more of a study and uh talking career cuz like the mechanical side of things just not yeah so there wasn't much on the farm that I could do well but one thing I could do is when my uncle backed a tractor up to a wagon I could put that hitch pin into that hole with the best of them okay like I'd put myself right up there top 10 but like that is the one job I was confident I knew how to hook a wagon up to a tractor driving it backing it up from there not your guy okay but and it always amazed me as a kid you stick this this you know little piece of metal into a tractor hitch and connect it to a wagon the amount of weight on both sides that that little pin is Towing this therefore is one of those kind of hitch pins of the book of Romans he's appealing to them therefore brothers and then I I want you to notice what he says is the basis of his appeal I appeal to you therefore Brothers by the mercies of God now as chapter 11 ended you can go back up with your eyes in verses like 30 and 31 where Paul speaks of the mercies specifically that it's Mercy that leads to any Gentile being saved and it's Mercy that will ultimately lead to a Revival among the Jews to see Jesus as the Messiah that's all Mercy that's all God's mercy but that therefore connects back to way more than just the end of verse 11 the mercies of God are encapsulated in the full breath of the Gospel message and so that therefore is Paul saying hey in light of everything I've just unpacked in the first 11 chapters of this book that that's the heavy tractor that's about to pull the heavy wagon of all the application that's coming in the rest of the book and this therefore Clause is kind of the pin that lynches it all together I appeal to you therefore Brothers by the mercies of God by this full breadth of everything that I've unpacked in the first 11 chapters and now Paul gets to the appeal he says here's the appeal to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship now there's three questions I want to ask about Paul's appeal here let me just tell you what they are and then we'll walk through them what the first is what does it mean to present our bodies as a sacrifice what does that mean to present our bodies as a sacrifice the second is what kind of sacrifice are we to present and then the third what does it mean that this is our spiritual worship so let's start with the first the appeal the heart of the appeal the Crux of the appeal the center of the appeal the bullseye of the appeal is that now with an understanding of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ for people who were dead in their sin completely lost helpless and hopeless to save themselves in light of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what he had done to go in going to the cross of Calvary and dying on the cross and being buried and three days later in Rising again that we now would understand the entire motivation purpose driving center of our life is that we now offer ourselves back to God as a sacrifice of worship that every day alarm goes off we get up and we say once again Lord here am I here am I a sacrifice of praise and worship to you this means to live as a sacrifice is to bring all it's to bring all All to Jesus I surrender all to him I freely give a sacrifice as God requires is not a half-hearted sacrifice it is a heart that has been gripped by the gospel that understands the depth of God's love and says you have it all now what kind of sacrifice are we told that we are to be to the Lord I appeal to you therefore Brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies here's one adjective that Des describes the sacrifice a Living Sacrifice there's a couple others that come after the word sacrifice holy and acceptable to God this is the kind of sacrifice we are to bring of ourselves to the Lord the first word he says is living now if you think about it for Paul's readers everything associated with sacrifice was death sacrifice meant death sacrifice meant something died something had to die we brought the animal we sacrifice the animal on the altar the animal is dead to atone for something Paul's instruction here is in light of the Gospel we bring ourselves is a sacrifice before the Lord but we're a Living Sacrifice now what what might be involved in that word living I think a couple things I think very practically Paul's saying we are to be a sacrifice on and on and on and on every day of Our Lives until the Lord calls us home there's an ongoing nature to the sacrifice uh just as when you're at a wedding and you hear a couple Covenant their lives to one another until death does them part so to we our sacrifices unto God for the remainder of our days we don't take a day off but there's another aspect of this word living that I think gets at a spiritual reality that as we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to the Lord that offering is now the greatest fullest most deep sense of ultimately what it means to be alive what it means to have spiritual life that in the death of Jesus Christ he took our death upon himself that the moment we believe in him we have life and we're to go about with these days on this world as a sacrifice of praise to him a living sacrifice of praise and as a Living Sacrifice we see another word that describes the kind of sacrifice we're to be it says holy we're to be holy we're to be set apart we are to be set apart to God and we are to be set apart from the world verse two we'll get into that a little a little bit more but we are to live a holy life now here like this is where it's really important that everything that comes on the back half of the book of Romans as we talk about application and practical things we don't unhitch the wagon from the tractor y'all hear me y'all understand we don't unhitch the wagon from the tractor meaning there's no power in me standing before you and saying you're to be holy be go be holy go be holy without coming back to the reality that it's only in the power of the Gospel through someone who's genuinely believed on the Lord Jesus Christ who now has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them to actually live out a command for holiness so we're to be a Living Sacrifice we're to be a holy sacrifice and connected now to this word holy it means we're now to be an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord um when you think about the Old Testament and you think about some of the places that the Lord calls out the sacrifice of his people and he's like no no no that don't accept that sacri I don't accept that I that's that's not that's not an acceptable s like I see your heart there's no heart in this and then the Lord says here's a here's a sacrifice that's acceptable to me like in an example of Hosea 66 he the L Lord says for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings it's it's him calling out like there's something broken in your worship as you go about with the sacrifices here or Psalm 51:17 the sacrifices of God are broken Spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise this is the kind of sacrifice that the Lord says is acceptable to him and so we now a people gripped by the gospel we're a gospel people we're not just churchgoing folk we are that but we're Church going folk because we're gospel people we're not just moral hopefully we're moral but not for the sake of morality for the sake of that we've been so transformed by the power of the Gospel like we're gospel people we're good news people and like it means that every day we get up and we say All to Jesus I surrender all you can have it all and and we can be honest with the Lord and Lord I know my heart I know that is we go about today I'm not going to want to give all I'm going to want to give part and I'm going to want to hold some back but but but you are worthy of it all and he says the proper response of the Gospel taken root in the heart is that we present ourselves as a sacrifice what kind living holy acceptable and then this is a really this is a really important phrase end of verse one which is your spiritual worship which is your spiritual worship what an important phrase uh Jesus was uh he went he was at a well you can read about this in John 4 and he meets this woman and he's drawing out her heart she she went there to draw water he's there to draw out her heart and in the midst of drawing out her heart he begins to put his finger on things in her life and she asks a question about worship what her motive is I don't know if she distracting the conversation with but she she begins to ask she says so okay Jesus I can see your Prophet is worship is true worship does it happen on this mountain or this mountain as Samaritans we say true worship happens over here you Jews say true worship happens over here and Jesus says no no no no no no no I'm after a worshipper in spirit and truth I I'm not after a worship it's not about geographic setting I I'm after worship that will take root in a heart in spirit and in truth so think about what this says under the reality of the Gospel no longer are we showing up here today bringing a sacrifice with us we're showing up here today as the sacrifice where where worship has taken root in our heart completely transformed by the gospel we're we're coming today as the sacrifice living holy acceptable which is which is our spiritual worship this is our true worship but now don't don't tune me out now don't miss this but this isn't the only place we come to worship this isn't the only place to come to worship worship by the teaching of Romans 121 is not segmented we don't we don't come to church to worship sure we do but it's not the only place we worship now under this reality that we're we're we're a gospel gripped heart transformed sacrifice to the Lord living holy and acceptable we're going to walk out here in a few moments and we're going to go to lunch as worshippers and then tomorrow we're going to get up and we're going to go to work as worshippers and on Tuesday students you're going to walk through the hallways of your high school or your middle school and you're thinking about and I hope you are I'm a sacrifice unto the Lord living holy and acceptable I'm going to worship my way through these hallways today and when you're driving down the interstate behind us and someone cuts you off you're a holy sacrifice unto the Lord and when you help your neighbor move next weekend you're to be a holy sacrifice it what this teaches us now is worship is not segmented to a morning of our life we're going to worship all the week long and how we go about the things that God has entrusted and called us to for that day and then we're going to show up here next Sunday and it's not going to be our our only worship time for the week it's going to be the Overflow of a week of worship in which the body gets gather as living sacrifices to sing praises to the Lord as worshippers it I mean right like if you just take Romans 121 this week and you just chop it into its parts and you just meditate on it every day it will fuel us as holistic worshippers of the Lord who understand I'm a sacrifice Jesus Christ has sacrificed everything I am a sacrifice for him a living one a Holy One an acceptable one this is my true worship this is my true worship this is my true wor so that's that's the appeal that's verse one verse two is going to give us instructions for that appeal and I'm going to get into those instructions next week if you're all okay with that even if you're not we're going to do that okay because um some of us even coming out of Romans 121 some of us are really fired up right now like that this week I was fired up I was just sitting there like thank you Lord like just such well-known verses again if you've grown up in the church like you it's not that you probably haven't heard these verses before but it just fired me up at the reminder of of what true worship is to be and how the gospel makes a way for that to happen uh but also so as much as it fires us up we also sit here and if you're like me you're like wow I've fallen I fall short of this that I just fall short of that like I I just have worship Amnesia and by like tonight I'll just I this I'm lose sight of this in some ways like I just fall short of that it's why we we get to close with communion today where we get our eyes back on the sacrifice of Jesus because guess what we have fallen short of this guess what as we get to verse two next week and it says do not be conformed to to this world well we've fallen short of that be transformed by the renewal of your like we've Fallen yeah we have thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord who came for some people who have fallen short who've pulled up short of God's holy commands and so as as we offer ourselves here today as living sacrifices we have have to bring ourselves back to the foot of the cross to just acknowledge Lord I need to confess some things I need to confess some things to you of where I've fallen short of this and to bring ourselves back to the foot of the cross as we look out of the week ahead and say Lord Jesus I need you I need you I need the death burial and resurrection and all and all that that accomplished I need all of that Gospel Power as I go about this week and so we're going to just spend some time here uh preparing to take the elements we're going to do this a little bit differently today uh those of you who like order you're not going to like this okay um you're used to like I we give you some time I come back and I lead us through the taking of the elements we're going to end today just a bit more open-ended um Jesus said um he took bread and he broke it don't take the elements right now okay but he took bread and he broke it and he said this this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance we're doing it in remembrance of him and then he took the cup after supper and he said this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood do this in remembrance of me and so we're going to take our time with the Lord we're going to let Romans 121 come to bear on our heart we're going to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to drive those truths deep into our heart we're going to search our hearts so we don't take of communion in an unworthy way we're going to confess and you're going to do that between between you and the Lord and whatever timing the Lord has for you this morning and after you've taken the elements you're free to dismiss yourself you can you can be in here 30 seconds and say i' I've done the business with the Lord I need to do and off we go you can be in here until um 11 o'clock when the worship team is going to get fired back up for another service but just take the time with the Lord to search your heart to take of those when you're ready and to once again renew and say Lord I'm a I'm an offering to you living holy acceptable I want more of that to be true in my life this week so as you're ready you take it on your own and you can dismiss yourself whenever you're done e