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How Can We Know The Will Of God? Is it possible, A closer look at Romans 12:1-2
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Feb 19, 2025
Many of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ find ourselves asking the following question, what is the will of God for my life? And most people who ask this question are usually waiting for some mystical revelation from God. I’m not saying that God cannot reveal specific things to us via His word, or another medium. But when we think of God in those terms, we are in for a very frustrating life. Fortunately for us the Bible has provided us with practical guidelines to know what God desires for us. Paul in the book of Romans explained the wrath of God, the nature of the adamic man, our inability to live up to God’s standards, our hopeless condition as children of wrath, then introduces salvation by grace through faith in Christ, condemns salvation by works, all this from Romans 1-11. And He opens Romans 12 with the following verses” I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] 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” We are going to exploring these verses today as they give us the blueprint for discovering the will of God for our lives. See video
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hello good morning this is
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tayibatives.com
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good friday and i'm sure a lot of you
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guys are looking forward to the weekend
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and i am as well but i'm just not too
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fond of the snow
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i think it's gonna snow like on saturday
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or sunday and i'm not excited about it i
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don't like snow
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i don't know why it just makes me a
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little bit like depressed
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i don't like it but it is what it is uh
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if it snows it is what it is so anyway
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today's topic is
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is it possible to know the will of the
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lord
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and the passage that we're going to be
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studying is
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romans 12 verse 1 to 2. so i'm going to
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jump into my intro
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and then we're going to see what's going
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on here
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now many of us who believe in the lord
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jesus christ
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find ourselves asking the following
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question what is the will of god for my
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life
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i'm sure you've asked yourself that
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question and i've done it too
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and most people when when we ask this
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question we are usually waiting for
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some kind of mystical revelation from
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god
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you know hearing like another voice on
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some kind of sign
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and i'm not saying that god does not
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reveal specific
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uh things through his word sometimes and
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another medium he can use anything to
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talk
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but when we think in god of in those
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terms
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we are in for a very frustrating life
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because we just want to hear from god
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and we
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we are always like looking for this
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mystical revelation like i mentioned
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earlier
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but fortunately the bible has provided
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us with practical
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guidelines to know what god desires for
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you and for me
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now paul in the book of romans explained
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on the wrath of god
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and then he talks about the nature of
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the adamic man and then he talks about
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our inability to live up to god's
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standards
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and then he talks about our hopeless
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condition as children of
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wrath then he introduces on salvation by
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grace
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through faith in jesus christ and then
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he condemns on salvation by works
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and all this is from romans 1 to 11.
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and then he begins romans 12 with the
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following uh
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two verses i appeal to you therefore
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brothers
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by the mercies of god to present your
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bodies
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as a living sacrifice holy and
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acceptable to god
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which is your spiritual worship do not
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be conformed
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to this world but be transformed by the
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renewal of your mind
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that by testing you may discern what is
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the will of god
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what is good and acceptable and perfect
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so i want us to dive into the scriptures
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and we are going to understand how and
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if it is possible to know the will of
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god
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okay so let's let's jump into that so
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romans 12 verse one let's start with
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verse one verse one says
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i appeal to you therefore brothers
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by the mercies of god to present your
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bodies
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as a living sacrifice holy
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and acceptable to god which is your
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spiritual worship
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so paul is basically saying that in view
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of all that i've told you from romans 1
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to 11
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about god and his mercies i exhort you
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to live the rest of your lives
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as a living sacrifice holy and
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acceptable to god
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and this ought to be your reasonable
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response that's what paul is saying
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so we need to know what paul had in mind
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when he was uh
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writing those verses and to understand
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it let's go to leviticus 1 verse 1 to
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17.
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and we're going to talk about the burned
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offering so let's jump into that
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so we are going to talk about the burnt
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offering so what i'll do is
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i'm going to have the verses on on the
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screen
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and i'm going to play in the background
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so you can listen to the
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the orator the guy that's talking he has
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a better diction than i do so
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let me go there and let me start
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leviticus chapter one
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the lord called to moses and spoke to
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him from the attend of meeting
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he said speak to the israelites and say
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to them
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when anyone among you brings an offering
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to the lord
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brings your offering an animal from
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either the herd or the flock
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if the offering is a burnt offering from
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the herd you are to offer a mail without
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defect
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you must present it at the entrance to
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the tent of meeting so that it will be
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acceptable to the lord
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you are to lay your hand on the head of
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the burnt offering and it will be
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accepted on your behalf
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to make atonement for you you are to
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slaughter the young bull before the lord
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and then aaron's sons the priests shall
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bring the blood
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and splash it against the sides of the
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altar at the entrance to the tent of
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meeting
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you're to skin the burnt offering and
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cut it into pieces
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the sons of aaron the priest are to put
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fire on the altar and arrange
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wood on the fire then aaron sons the
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priests
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shall arrange the pieces including the
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head and the fat
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on the wood that is burning on the altar
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you are to wash the internal organs and
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the legs with water
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and the priest is to burn all of it on
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the altar
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it is a burnt offering a food offering
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an aroma
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pleasing to the lord if the offering is
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a burnt offering from the flock
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from either the sheep or the goats you
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are to offer a male without defect
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you are to slaughter it at the north
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side of the altar before the lord
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and aaron's sons the priests shall
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splash its blood against the sides of
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the altar
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you are to cut it into pieces and the
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priest shall arrange them
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including the head and the fat on the
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wood that is burning on the altar
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you are to wash the internal organs and
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the legs with water
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and the priest is to bring all of them
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and burn them
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on the altar it is a burnt offering
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a food offering an aroma pleasing to the
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lord
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if the offering to the lord is a burnt
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offering of birds
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you are to offer a dove or a young
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pigeon
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the priest shall bring it to the altar
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ring off the head
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and burn it on the altar its blood shall
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be drained out on the side of the altar
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he is to remove the crop and the
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feathers and throw them down east of the
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altar
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where the ashes are he shall tear it
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open by the wings
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not dividing it completely and then the
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priest shall burn it on the wood that is
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burning on the altar
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it is a burnt offering a food offering
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an aroma
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pleasing to the lord now you can clearly
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see
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that there was three separate uh items
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you can bring
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okay because god made it that way so
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that people that didn't have money could
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also
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be able to uh offer something so there
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was
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either um the goat and then you have the
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um
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um the sheep from the herd or a pair of
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birds okay birds that you can bring so
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he made it possible so that anybody
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could bring an offering so if you can
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afford a typical goat or
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maybe one other bigger animal then you
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could bring a young pigeon or a dog
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so basically god made it possible for
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everybody to bring something so but
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that's not
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that's not what i want to focus on here
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okay we're going to go back to our
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presentation
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and we're going to get some key point
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because paul when you wrote
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romans 1 romans 12 verse 1 he had this
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in mind so let's go back
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and then we're going to see why he was
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talking about this
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so as i was saying we need to understand
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that the burned offering was a voluntary
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offering
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it wasn't mandated it was a voluntary an
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act of
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drawing close to the lord okay so the
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worshiper will bring his perfect
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animal to the priest healthy
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because he represented an attitude of
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thanksgiving
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and gratitude to the lord so the priest
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will inspect the animal to make sure
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it was appropriate so that the worshiper
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would be accepted
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so it was done to measure the heart of
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the worshipper
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so accepting acceptance wasn't automatic
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the inspection was done to see that what
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was welling up in the heart of the
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worshipper
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basically you didn't just bring any
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animal you brought the best of the best
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and after all these steps were
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accomplished the animal was then
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completely
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burned at the altar and this action was
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not
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was not without meaning it was there was
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a meaning behind it okay
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the worship i was basically saying and
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essentially saying to the lord
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all that i have and all that i am is
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yours
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i'm giving it to you i'm surrendering
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everything
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to you i am yours in accordance with
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on deuteronomy 6 verse 5 you shall love
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the lord your god
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with all your heart with all your soul
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and with all your might so when the
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worshiper brought his offering to the
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temple
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he brought the male without blemish he
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was saying i'm giving you my best i'm
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giving you all of me
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all that i have is yours so the animal
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pretty much represented
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the person's heart and the uh his
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willingness to to give himself to the
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lord so basically
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what you did was you went into the
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temple you went into the
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the place and you pressed uh you put
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your hands on the headed animal you
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press it down basically you were saying
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everything that is mine and all that i
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am is your sloth and i'm bringing it to
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you
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because i want to draw closer so i'm i'm
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taking this and i'm giving you
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all of myself so it was it was basically
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uh bringing the the burnt offering was a
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representation of
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the heart of the worshiper like his
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willingness and his his
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his gratitude and his um attitude
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towards the lord is saying i want to
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draw closer to the lord that was the
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the intention and he was voluntary so
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and the point the important thing to
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remember is that it was a voluntary act
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of worship
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and this is what paul had in mind when
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he wrote verse 1 of romans 12.
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so we are completely setting ourselves
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apart to be holy and fully gods
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that's what this is saying and paul
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tells us in verse 2
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how to perform the ritual now we don't
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have a ritual to to do
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in our day and age but he's telling us
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uh practical way
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practical ways to and to offer ourselves
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as a living sacrifice so now we're going
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to look at verse 2 for that matter
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so verse 2 says do not be conformed to
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this world
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but be transformed by the renewal of
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your mind that by testing
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you may discern what is the will of god
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what is good and acceptable and perfect
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so paul is saying here that the way we
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offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to
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god
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is by number one no longer conforming to
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the ways of this world
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okay no longer conform to the ways of
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this world and we're gonna see what that
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means
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basically on the thoughts patterns of
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the natural person
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the person with the adamic nature the
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the person that does not have the holy
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spirit
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because without the spirit of god you
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are basically dead
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okay dead so let's look at some of the
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characteristics of the natural person
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and we're going to go to galatians 5
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verse 19 to 21
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and here the and and then and that
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passage shows us the fruits of the
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person that conforms to this world
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now the works of the flesh are evident
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sexual immorality
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impunity sensuality idolatry
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sorcery enmity strife jealousy
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feats of anger rivalries dissensions
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divisions envy drunkenness
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orgies and things like these so
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basically we have at least there that
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lisa does exhaustive war you get the
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picture
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so my question is do any of these
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qualifiers apply to you
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i'm not saying that you ought to be
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perfect even though god
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demands perfection but are you sinning
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less
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and are you desiring righteousness more
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or are you being sanctified
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are you sinning less do you find
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yourself loving god and loving the
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things of god more
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or are you double-minded
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okay remember what james says in verse
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um
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james 1 let's look at it james 1 verse 5
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james says if any of you lacks wisdom
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let him ask god who gives generously to
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all
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without reproach and you'll be given him
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but let him ask in faith
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with no doubting for the one who doubts
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is like a wave of the sea that is driven
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and
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tossed by the wind for that person must
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not suppose that he will receive
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anything from the lord he is a
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double-minded man unstable in all these
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ways and we're gonna see why this is
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important
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basically you cannot hang on to the ways
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of this world and expect
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god to disclose anything to you
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again i'll say that again you cannot
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hang on to the ways of this world and
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expect god to disclose
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anything to you and that leads me to my
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next point
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you will be transformed by the renewal
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of your mind okay so we're gonna see
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what that means
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so paul is saying that let the word of
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god transform the person that you
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are i don't know how long you've lived
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without the holy spirit i don't know
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okay but we grew up learning wrong
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thoughts patterns like our whole life
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okay and when god saves us he begins the
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process of
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re-educating us again through the
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sanctifying work of the holy spirit
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so he begins to teach us what he means
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to be a child of god
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and this is because god has a specific
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purpose which leads me again to my next
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point we're gonna get there
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in a minute the conclusion that by
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testing
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you may you may discern what is the will
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of god what is good and acceptable to
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imperfect okay so that's that's the step
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so
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god first erases the old thoughts
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patterns
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and plant new thoughts patterns so that
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we may be able to discern
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what he desires for us that's the main
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goal
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the sanctification process is so that we
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know the will
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of god it's a daily progressive process
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it's not some mystical revelation we get
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from the lord
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as we are daily changed our taste buds
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change and they begin to align
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themselves with the character of god
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and progressively our lives become
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closer and closer to the life of jesus
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and god's main purpose is that we may be
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conformed to the image of his son
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so that he may be the firstborn among
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many brothers
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the will of god is that we reflect
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christ fully
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throughout our life on earth which takes
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me to
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what can we learn from this so in the
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beginning we said is it possible to know
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the will of god
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and i'll say yes because here's the
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thing
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you cannot continue to live in willful
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disobedience
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and expect to know what the will of god
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is i mean i've known
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and myself i used to be like that and
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some days i'm still like that
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people live in open scenes open
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rebellion you go to church every sunday
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you listen to sermons after sermons and
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you remain unchanged
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and somehow you are satisfied with this
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form of christianity
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which is no christianity at all it is
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purely subjective
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and is based on emotions and has no
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power behind it and paul talks about it
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in
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second timothy 3 verse 1 to 5. basically
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what i'm saying is this
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you can't keep on doing the things that
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you used to do and expect god to speak
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to you or expect to know the word
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the will of god are you being
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transformed or are you holding on to
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your old ways of thinking
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and then you want god to reveal
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something to you hello it doesn't work
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like that
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first you're going to be sanctified and
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you're going to be
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sanctifying the sanctification process
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it's a slow long
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process because all our lives we've
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learned the wrong thing so god has to
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come
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and erase all these bad things in order
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to implant his own desires in
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us so it's not going to be some kind of
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mystical revelation where you're going
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to hear an audible voice and now all of
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a sudden
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things change no the sanctification
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process
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puts you in the place where you become
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more and more sensitive to the voice of
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god and
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and then now you are sensitive to sins
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because when sin
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when you see sin in your life you no
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longer like it you no longer enjoy
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you want to stay away from it but what
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people do in our churches these days is
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they hold on to their sins and they want
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to know the will of god as if that's
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going to happen
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it doesn't work that way first you be
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sanctified and as you've been sanctified
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the process begins to just line up
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itself
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and then little by little god reveals
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more and more and he may reveal things
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that he doesn't want in your life
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so the first process is the
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sanctification process he's going to
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take away the things of your life that
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are displeasing in
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sight but that's not what we have today
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we have
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some type of false sense of assurance
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we hold on to our sins we continue to
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live in open rebellion and we
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expect god to speak to us and actually
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sometimes we deceive ourselves because
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we go to church
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we sing songs and emotionally we we shed
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tears and the shedding of the tears and
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this gives us the false
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sense of oh yes the holy spirit is here
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maybe you're deceiving yourself because
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let's
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let's let's let's be honest like i've
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listened to certain young songs
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and i've cried sometimes else like in
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the past
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because my emotions were playing with my
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mind
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so sometimes that's that's what happens
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you have a false sense of assurance
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and you think the lord is pleased with
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what you're doing so therefore
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you don't change but paul is saying here
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be transformed by the renewing of your
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mind
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no longer conform to the pattern of this
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world but give yourself to god fully
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and ask him to remove in your life the
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things that are displeasing in his sight
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and i want us to go to timothy three
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verse one to five
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to 2 to end this listen to what timothy
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says
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but understand this that in the last
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days
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there will come times of difficulty
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for people will be lovers of self lovers
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of money proud
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arrogant abusive disobedient to their
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parent
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ungrateful unholy heartless
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unappeasable slanderous without
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self-control
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brutal not loving good treacherous
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reckless swollen with conceit lovers of
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pleasure
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rather than lovers of god having their
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appearance of godliness but denying its
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power
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avoid such people ladies and gentlemen
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our churches are filled with folks like
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this
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you have a form of godliness but you
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deny its power
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you continue to live in sin and that you
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don't even want to
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hear when another brother or sister in
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christ tries to
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um lovingly tell you brother and brother
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i don't think this is right
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you actually people actually say you are
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judging me and this is uh this is the
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key phrase and this is like the
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cliche phrase for a lot of people they
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say to you well don't judge me because
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god said don't judge
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but scripture also says the man of god
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the man
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with the spirit of god can judge all
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things but he himself
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is not subject to any judgment for who
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has the spirit of god
18:56
that he can instruct him so basically
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what i'm saying is this
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you may be deceiving yourself you may
19:01
have a form of godliness
19:03
where you deny its power basically you
19:06
won't know the will of god if you
19:08
continue to live in rebellion
19:09
how is god gonna speak to you when you
19:11
are rebellious
19:13
this is a call to a holy living
19:16
i'm not saying you're perfect but you're
19:18
gonna sin less
19:20
and you're gonna love the things of god
19:22
more it's a growing process
19:24
where you grow and god begins to change
19:26
your desires
19:27
and then you begin to love the things of
19:29
god more and little by little he's going
19:30
to show you where to go
19:32
but people want to hold on to their sin
19:35
and at the same time they want to know
19:36
the will of god as if
19:38
that's going to happen no paul says it
19:42
you no longer confront the pattern of
19:44
this world if you want to know the will
19:45
of god
19:46
then stop doing the wrong things that
19:47
you're doing and when the holy spirit
19:49
speaks to you
19:50
stop it because paul says
19:53
then you'll be able to to discern and
19:55
test and approve what god's will is
19:57
you can't keep on doing the old things
19:59
that you do and expect god to give you
20:00
new information
20:01
no paul says do
20:05
no longer conform to the pattern of this
20:07
world but be transformed by the renewing
20:09
of your mind
20:10
so that you may test and approve what
20:13
god's will is don't let nobody fool you
20:16
don't let anybody fool you with some
20:18
kind of mystical
20:20
um religion it is clear and the
20:23
scripture says
20:26
stop sinning stop living in sin
20:29
desperately cry out to the lord so that
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he gives you the strength
20:33
to give up the sins and to hold hang on
20:35
to him and
20:36
offer yourself as a living sacrifice
20:38
holy unto the lord surrender
20:41
okay is it possible to know the will of
20:43
god yes it is possible because god wants
20:45
to know his will
20:47
but it's not something mystical it is in
20:49
this scripture
20:51
no longer conform to the pattern of this
20:52
word i know i'm saying this again and
20:54
again but i want you to get it
20:56
because i'm also in this process it is a
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hard process but it is worth it
21:01
because god changes your desires in
21:03
order to plan in you
21:04
new desires have a wonderful weekend and
21:07
i'll see you next time thank you