By the Mercies of God

“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.” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

If our faith in Jesus Christ is biblical faith, authored by Jesus Christ, persuaded of God, and gifted to us by God, and not of our own doing – not of the will nor of the flesh of man – then we will be followers of Christ, his sheep, who listen to him and who obey him. Our lives will be surrendered to Jesus Christ to do his will and to live out the lives that he has for us to live in the callings that we have received from him, and not to please ourselves.

We will be those who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Our lives will no longer be our own to be lived out however we want to live them, for we were bought back for God (redeemed) by the blood of Christ shed for us on that cross to deliver us out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we can now honor God with our lives and with our bodies – all in the power of God within us.

But we are still human beings who live in flesh bodies who may be tempted to fall back into sin or to follow the ways of the world and of the flesh, for the influences out there in the gatherings of the church and in the world are enormous, especially in the times we now live when we are being bombarded with media of all sorts 24/7. And it can be so easy to slip and to fall back into the ways of living to please the flesh if we are not careful, and if our hearts are not guarded, and if we are not fully committed to Christ.

So we need to hear encouragements like this to remind us of why we are here, and of why Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross, and what it means to believe in Jesus Christ and to be his servants and messengers and not to please ourselves. For if our faith in Christ is biblical and genuine, our lives are to be surrendered to Jesus Christ to now live for him, and to do his will, and to follow him in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living.

And that is what it means if our lives are given over to the Lord as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. We do not consider our lives to be our own to be lived however we want, but our goal is to please our Lord in whatever we do. For to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because our lives are now being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. We are now becoming more and more like Jesus and less and less like who we were when we lived in the flesh.

So, what this means for us in our day-to-day living is that we will consider our Lord in all that we do and we will inquire of him if we have any concern about whether or not we should go a particular direction. Our minds and our hearts will be open and receptive to hearing him speak truth to our hearts 24/7, and we will not shut him out just so we can do what we want to do. And we will be guided by him in our day-to-day living so that we are following in his footsteps and so that we are no longer going our own way.

And now this is our spiritual worship of God. Worship is not just gathering together with a bunch of people and singing songs and raising our hands and getting all emotional, at least not in itself. For we can do all that and never truly worship God. True biblical worship of God, although it may include singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, is surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ on his altar of sacrifice, denying self, dying daily to sin, by the Spirit, and walking in the ways of the Lord, according to his commands.

So, we are no longer to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world. We should no longer be participating in anything that is immoral, evil, wicked, deceptive, and anything that is contrary to God and to his will and purpose for our lives and that robs us of our relationships with Jesus Christ and us working for the Lord and that keeps us entertaining and pleasing the flesh, instead. So many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are not much different from those who make no professions of faith, and this should not be!

So, if we have drifted from what God has called us to do, and if we are being captivated once again by the sinful pleasures of the flesh or by what the world is offering us in the way of entertainment that is contrary to God’s moral values for our lives, and with regard to what our minds should be set on, then we need some more transforming of our minds back to the ways of the Lord and away from the desires of the flesh so that we can live lives fully pleasing to the Lord, and so we can discern and do the will of God.

[Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Php 2:5-11: Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]  

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263