God's Dream for Your Life

This is the Chip and Grim Sermon podcast brought to you by Living on the Edge.

In this podcast, you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from beginning to end.

Well, here's Chip with today's message, God's dream for your life.

I want you to know that every parent has a dream for your child.

I want you to think back if you're a parent, if not just listen and think about this is

what your parents were thinking.

Every parent, I want you to go back to that first born.

You didn't have any kids and your wife was pregnant or you were the wife and you are pregnant.

And you thought about all the things that went through your mind about what this little

boy or what this little girl might be like and the dreams and the thoughts and the hopes

and the aspirations.

And what I want to tell you is that God has a dream for his children, but what we do is

we get that sort of theological over there and somehow we think he's more like the transcendent

force out there someday, some way and there's rules and standard to live up to.

And so for you to capture the emotion of how God feels, I want to share a very brief and

personal story about when I understood how deeply God plants desires and dreams for

us for our kids.

It was our first born for treason myself.

We were the banquet.

Middle of the banquet, Teresa says, Chip, it is time.

I said, Teresa, let's go.

You know, you don't know what you're doing.

The contractions had been about three hours.

We go home, get things set up.

We go to Baylor Hospital.

For the next 27 hours, treason and I will be together.

It's a long labor.

There's complications.

For a number of reasons that can't take the baby, they find out something's wrong.

They put a monitor on this little boy inside of my wife and I sit next to her for 27 hours

and that little monitor, if you know a baby's heart beat goes like this.

Bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi.

Right?

And then she would have a contraction and we go, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi,

then doctors and nurses would run in, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi, bibi,

and we went through that.

About three times, in 27 hours, about every eight hours, we just stopped and we prayed

and we cried, and we gave that little boy back to God, and I thought we may have him,

we may not.

Then I started thinking about tree sin.

I may not have her.

What's going to happen?

And with 27 hours, I had a lot of time to think about all the dreams I had for that little

boy that came to the surface that I thought I might lose.

And I want you to know that something deep, deep inside of me was so fearful and grieving

at what I might lose.

And then when that little boy was born, 27 hours later, that nurse wiped him off, Theresa

was wiped out.

I think she said, hi.

And then they put that baby in my arms, and it was one of those places where they really

thought the dad was important, and I got a half hour with my son.

And I held that little baby, and I held that baby with tears dreaming down my face, thinking

I didn't know if this was going to happen.

And I thought of all the dreams I might have lost.

And I still remember it was a linoleum floor, and I had such a sense of gratitude.

I remember getting on my knees on a linoleum floor and holding that little boy and just

crying and thanking God.

And I want you to know why, because I made an image of God and embedded in the heart

of a father and embedded in the heart of a mother is a dream and a desire for your kids

because God made you.

And that's how he feels about you.

And for many of us, when our kids are small, the dreams, and we're sort of young immature

parents, we have dreams like, I hope he's a baseball player or I hope she's musical or

he'd be great if she's athletic or artistic.

And then as you get a little bit older and they go through some stages in life, then you

will hope they get a good job and hope they do well in school.

And a lot of the dreams are about kind of what they do.

Then the older you get and the older they get, you get to where I don't care what they

do.

I just want a kid that loves me, loves God, tells the truth, your dreams turn into what

kind of person will this be.

Because here's what I will tell you.

Potentially the greatest joys you will ever experience on this earth will be connected

to you, the relationship with your child and the greatest heartache and the greatest

pain you may ever experience is related to your children.

No one can hurt you as deeply as your kids.

They're part of you.

Your heart's tied up in them.

And if I could get a microphone and pass it around here tonight and we could tell stories

about kids that have made really bad decisions or kids that are in addictions or kids that

don't talk to you anymore or kids that say how many of us would say I could care less,

what school they went to, I could care less, what kind of job.

If we had a great loving relationship and we were friends as their adult children, I

wouldn't care about any of the rest, would we?

You can see at the end of the day, the real dream in your heart is not about what your

kids do.

It's about who they become and it's about their relation and genuine connection to you.

And you'll notice on your notes, I want you to know this is that our Heavenly Father

has a dream for every one of his children and God's dream is to make you like his right

the word son.

Be ye mature or fulfill your design, Matthew chapter 5 verse 48 says, be ye perfect

even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

In Romans 829 he says, God uses every circumstance, every up, every down, every relationship, everything

we ever go through to conform us to the image of a son.

He says in Ephesians 4 that the whole purpose of the church is designed so that through the

relationships that we have and the gifts that God places in the body is that we would all

grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

You need to understand primarily your life with your Heavenly Father is not about what

you do, not about what you accomplish, not what kind of job you have, not how many points

you're scoring spiritually.

His primary dream is the kind of person you become, the kind of relationship you have

with him.

He wants you to be a loving, kind, gentle, holy person who walks in integrity.

He wants to have casual conversations and have you talk with him when you're driving

in the car and when you come to the crossroads of big decisions and everyone says, do this

and your Heavenly Father says, do that.

He wants you to say, Father, I want to do it your way.

I want to please you.

He wants intimate, loving, deep relationship with you.

Unfortunately, in our day, we have a crisis in Christianity.

Something has happened in the last 40 to 60 years that it's unprecedented and it's awesome

and it's amazing.

Literally, more millions and millions and tens of millions of people have come to Christ

in the last 40 to 60 years than in the last two or three centuries.

The gospels gone around the world like never before.

More people have authentically said, Lord Jesus, I recognize that you're the God of the

universe, you paid for my sin, you rose from the dead.

I trust in you and he comes into their heart.

But in the words of John Stott, the former great statesman who traveled all around the

world, he said, Christianity has never had growth like it's had in the last four or

five decades, but it's about 16 million miles wide and about a 16th of an inch thick.

He said, the greatest need in Christendom today and every country of the world except

where there's persecution or focused discipleship is spiritual maturity.

All the barn of reports, all the gallop reports, many of our own experiences tell us what.

About eight out of ten people who claim the name of Christ have very little family resemblance.

You know what I'm saying?

I mean, when you're spiritually mature you think like Jesus and you walk like Jesus

and you love like Jesus and you're selfless like Jesus and your priorities and your

money and your time are just like Jesus living inside your body.

For many, many, many, many people, the great vast majority, their words and their intellectual

belief system about Jesus and God is over here and their actual lifestyles are over here.

And that's why there's an awful lot of people that are outside of Christ that look at Christianity

and they look at churches and they meet people who are genuine followers of Christ and they say,

you know, something, if that's it, I don't think I want it.

I think it's the greatest need in the world today is for Christians to live like Christians.

And here's what's exciting, it's not guess work, it's not about trying hard,

it's not about being religious.

God gives us a very clear picture of what His dream is for your life in Romans 12.

God's dream for every child is to become a disciple or a follower and you can write it in a

Romans 12 Christian. That's His will. Are you ready? His will for every child of God on the face of

the earth, regardless of background, nationality, gender, denomination, God's desire, God's will

for every single follower is that they would become a Romans 12 Christian.

Now I'm not saying that Romans 12 is all there is to being a disciple but here's what I'm saying.

I'm saying it is the executive summary, it's the snapshot, it's like this amazing mind that

God gave the Apostle Paul, he takes all the teachings of Jesus and for 11 chapters he writes about

the work of Christ and the sin of mankind, all that God has accomplished and how much He loves

people and then in chapter 12 he stops and he gives us a snapshot and he gives us this very quick

kind of cliff note snapshot. It's like some of those people in the venture capital world and

someone has a big plan and they got a new product and you know what might be 20 or 30 or 50 or 80 pages

of research. My experience when I talk with those guys is if you can't give me on one or two pages

the whole game plan, what you want to do, how you want to get it done, I won't even read it.

And the Apostle Paul gives us the executive summary of what it means to be truly spiritual.

What we're going to learn is we go through it number one, are you ready for this? It's relational.

Look in your notes, will you open your notes and just look at them completely open?

And if you have a pen, circle a few keywords just as we go through the passage, all we're going

to do is give an overview and we'll dig into each of these sections but circle the word, it says

relationship with God, circle the word God. Verse 1 is going to talk about what's the snapshot of

spiritual maturity, of true spirituality with God. Then go down it says look it's the relationship

with the world, circle the phrase the world. There's a world system that we're going to learn about.

A world system that's anti-God that's energized by the enemy of your soul, seeking to seduce you

away from your love for Christ. And then it's going to talk about your relationship with yourself,

circle the word yourself. We're going to learn a little bit later that God wants you to have an

accurate sober self-assessment. Then notice that we talk about relationship on the second page

relationship with believers, circle the word believers. There's a way that spiritually mature

authentic followers relate with other Christians in a way that does amazing things in them

and amazing things in others. And then finally circle the last one, it's a relationship with

non-believers. There's a way that people that love Jesus where his spirit lives inside of you

respond to the harshest, most difficult, painful evil that comes into your life. The second thing you

learn about a Romans 12 Christian is that it's practical and it's measurable. Okay, this isn't just

a ui-gui spiritual feeling. Follow along if you will. Notice what it says in verse 1,

therefore I urge you brothers and view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice

wholly pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. We'll look at this, but this word

for offer is at a point in time. And what he's going to say is that here's what you can know

practically and measurably. A spiritually mature authentic follower is surrendered to God.

On a certain day, at a certain time, on their spiritual journey, a man or a woman or a student

has realized how great and how powerful God is and that his will is good and you have bowed the

knee and bowed the heart and said to God, I'm all in. I will do whatever you want me to do. Your

word will be the God of my life. I want to arrange my life, my relationships, and my priorities

around whatever you say. And that answers one of the biggest questions that you'll ever face in

your life. And that question is this, how do you give God what he wants the most? Have you ever

thought about that? God is a person. He's not some invisible, transcendent, impersonal force.

He's a person. And if you have a good friend and they have a birthday, don't you ask questions

like, I wonder what he or she would want for their birthday. Or if you're married, you say, I

wonder what my mate would want the most. Or if you're a parent, I wonder how I could really

help or bless my kids the most. Have you ever asked yourself, I wonder what God wants the most

for me? And you know what you're going to learn? He wants you. He wants you.

Not your religious activity. I mean, there's a place for Bible study, there's a place for church,

there's a place for prayer, there's a place for all kind of things, but you can do all those

things and him not have you. My observation is in most Christian's life there's a missing

ingredient. In Romans 12, not only is relational and practical, it answers this big question,

and it also gives us the missing ingredient in every relationship. And the missing ingredient

in most Christian's lives, and you just jot this on the side of your notes, is power.

We're anemic. So many Christians try really, really hard. We've had tens of thousands of small

groups in American around the world go through this material. So I've got like research.

And there's still one email that I remember reading and thinking, wow, ladies said I was at the

kitchen sink, doing the dishes, and that morning I woke up and I felt kind of distant from God.

I've been a Christian about 22 years. And for some reason I just thought about, I wonder if any

friend described me if they would even use the word good Christian or someone who really loves

God with my name. And she said, you know, I've tried failed, tried failed, tried failed. I know

that I'm born again. I've been a Christian 22 years. I have an alcohol problem that I

presently have right now. And I have an immorality problem and a porn problem.

And I don't like me. And those thoughts that guilt because of how I'm living, we're popping up,

and I'm doing the dishes, and the radio was on, and this message comes on about becoming a Romans 12

Christian. And it was the one on surrender. And she said, as I was doing the dishes, the tears

just started streaming down my face. And she said, I never heard that before. I never understood

that before. And she talked about drying her hands, going to her bedroom, kneeling by her bed,

and telling God, I can't do this. I can't live this life. I surrender to you. And the rest of that

email was that was four and a half months ago. And let me tell you what God did in my life since then.

Power. You know, if you've ever been in one of those water fights in the backyard,

and someone starts with a squirt gun, right? And if you're smart, what do you do? You get the hose.

And so they got one of those guns, and you get the hose, shh. But what does someone really,

really smart do if you get the hose? They go over here, and they grab the hose, and they,

they kink it. And when they kink it, how much water comes out? None. What I want you to understand

is you can be a legitimate, sincere, born-again believer in Jesus. And if your hose is kinked,

if your life isn't surrendered, you don't experience his power. And so all it becomes is this

moralism and attempts to live a life that's absolutely impossible.

Becoming a Romans 12 Christian begins in your relationship with God by being surrendered to him.

But notice beginning in verse two, it says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and improve what

God's will is. That which is good and pleasing and perfect. There's a negative and a positive

command, and we're going to develop this and talk about it. But in essence, what he says is,

with regard to this world system that tells you that money and stuff and sex and power and prestige

will deliver on security and significant and great relationships, he's saying, you got to live

separate from the world's values. You can't let it, but notice he doesn't say try hard to be a good

Christian. He says, let your mind be transformed. Then you'll test your experience. You know the question,

the big question of life this verse answers, how do you get the very best from God?

How do you get the very best from God? Verse one answers, how do you give God what he really wants?

Verse two says, if God really loves me and he died for me and he rose from the dead, he has a

plane for my life, how do you tap into that? What's plane from this verse exactly how it works?

And the missing ingredient I find in the great majority of Christians that I talk to

is not just lack of power because of an unsurrendered life, but a lack of peace.

There's Christians that can't come in. You got to turn on the TV. You got to go to the

refrigerator. When you get in the car, you got to put sound and music on because absolute dead,

deathly quiet times make you very uncomfortable. There are a few positions I think in all the world

that are more miserable than a legitimate born again follower of Jesus in whom the Spirit of God

who lives with one foot in walking with God and the other foot in the world system.

I happen to be an expert on this. I've done extensive personal research. I know what it's

like to be at Bible study on Thursday night and hit every bar on Friday night. I have been over

here where I've oh Bible study and talking about sexual purity and lusted like crazy over here

and telling God I'll never do this, this, this or that again. I know and I will tell you I was the

most miserable Christian in the world for the first three years. That is the place, the great

majority of believers live and we forfeit God's peace. The guilt and the shame of logging on,

the guilt and the shame of flirting over here, the guilt and the shame of all the kind of stuff

that you're lured into as the world conforms your thinking to a bankrupt system that never delivers.

See God loves us too much for that. We're going to learn. You ready? We're going to learn how to

break that cycle, how God's spirit and God's power can help you live the kind of life that you

long to and that he wants for you and we'll learn that's how you get his best. Beginning in verse

three and through eight we learn that in our relationship to ourselves God desires a sober

self-assessment. Notice a little phrase for by the grace of God. What I want you to hear in all where

he sort of sets the bar of holiness and righteousness and what it means to have true spirituality. I want

you to hear behind it this compassionate heart of love for by the grace of God. I say to every man

among you don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think but think as to have sound

or sober judgment as God has a lot of to each measure of faith. He talks about how you get that

and how you're a part of a body and we'll discover that he's deposited a supernatural gift if you

look at verses six to eight we'll cover all those later but he wants you in your relationship to

yourself to look in the physical mirror and to look in the spiritual and the relational mirror and

say I like that person God made them that personality that gives that height that eye color

those struggles that family background in the sovereignty of God he wants you to have an

accurate sober view of yourself in that one verse that word sober think think think think

four different times God wants you to see yourself the way he sees you

dearly loved valuable precious forgiven and and you know the the big question this answers

how do you come to grips with the real you I mean do you realize how much time and energy

and money and posing and image management we do just as normal human beings even as Christians

to try and project all these different people that I'm like this and I'm like this and I'm dressed

like that and I'm cool like that and I know this and did you know I know so and so and this is how

many people report to me or my son of my daughter they got this on their SAT scores and he hit two

home runs and I want you know I went to an Ivy League school and this person's not a knockoff it's

really real and this watch it really is and I got promoted and yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

and then you spiritualize it on you get in a Bible study well according to your son's

those common cherry when I was reading the Greek text a little bit earlier in preparation for this

we do it we do it we do it we do it we do it

this section will teach you how to come to grips with the real you and then it supplies the missing

ingredient verse one supplies the power when you understand it verse two supplies the peace

and verse three supplies your purpose because see God made you specifically you are his

workmanship you're created in Christ Jesus unto a good work which before the foundations of the

so guess what he's gifted you to do something specific in his sovereignty he has you in relationships

that have been difficult in some ways and empowering in others but God has a purpose for your life

when you're always pretending to be someone else or comparing yourself with someone else

and not accepting these are my strengths these are my weaknesses these are my gifts this is my

background this produces some difficulty and dependency this produces some great things until

you get a sober self assessment you end up playing games your whole life you try to fulfill your

mom's purpose your dad's purpose or the culture's purpose or the company's purpose or what other people

think do you know how freeing it is to understand this is why I'm here my purpose is this and this

is what I'm good at and this is what I'm not good at this is where I need help and this is where I

need to step out and let God use me it's revolutionary it's absolutely revolutionary

have a good friend over in Santa Cruz and he was a fellow entrepreneur he ran a half of the United

States of one of those really really giant companies and saw that he was kind of losing touch with

his family and the travel and so he decided that he would start a business of his own and so he

developed these about 26 of these stores around that you know kind of like Joanne's or Michaels but

he called it by his wife's name which I thought was very nice and he became a mentor of mine I'd

spent a lot of time and he would help me and I was teaching through sort of an infant stages of

my journey about a sober self assessment and a part of that understanding what your primary spiritual

gift is and and he went through that and and you know what just people were people in his world

okay he was a good business guy he became very successful when you're very successful in business

he made a lot of money so there he was a good leader and blah blah blah blah blah because you know

what his hold like 25 years of church experience was sitting on committees in meetings where everyone

wanted to talk about money and then counting money afterwards and if there's ever a capital

campaign dick you do it and he said I hated it all and we went through a journey and he discovered

his spiritual gift and he discovered what he likes to do is launch things and what he likes to do is

equip people and what he likes to do is bring together networks and so he said you know what I just

decided I'm not going to be on anymore boards this was a spiritual decision he said this is what

I'm going to do and he actually was the one that launched living on the edge it was his idea

it's him his his he's a guy got it going and I could now tell you four five six seven eight

different ministries he's launched and he just says there's such joy when you figure out how

God made you and you fulfill your purpose do you know yours do you kind of start to get what I'm

talking about is so different than all right it's Sunday morning or Saturday night we better go

to church oh yeah this is great we're going to hear about what we ought to do and I'm not doing

very much of it I'm going to try really hard it's not really going so I better fake it a little bit

better than I'm taking it right now I was really convicted oh boy more to do more to do they

want you to do this do you do you do you realize how so much of Christendom is like people got like

another job and often a job you don't like and often a job you don't like and you're actually

not doing very well at that's not true spirituality true spirituality is relational it's practical

it's measurable it's normal people like us that are surrendered to God on a on a on a day where we

actually cross that line and then progressively we're separate from the world's values and then we

develop a sober self-assessment and we start to discover our purpose and why we're hearing it

actually gets downright exciting the fourth thing you see is that its relationship with believers is

it's serving in love true spiritual maturity is love must be sincere in the word literally is

without a mask or without hypocrisy hate what is evil cling what is good be devoted to one another

brotherly love and then the rest of that passage will unpack it and it'll talk about honoring one

another and giving preference to one another and it's it's really about people that actually know

each other and like each other and sacrifice for one another and and pray for one another and and do

whatever it takes to help one another and it's like doing life in community but you serve in love but

it's real love it's not a a meeting I go to it's not okay you know we made it three out of four times

this month I'm feeling really good about that check box I read the Bible four times this week

it's so different when it's a relationship with this God who loves you so much and you open his

word with a sense of holy trembling that he would so love and want to speak to you today and he

would love to hear what's on your mind and on your heart and actually his spirit lives inside of

these other people called other fellow Christians and he's deposited gifts in them and he wants to

hug you through them and he wants to love you through them and he wants to hold you accountable through

them he wants to encourage you through them and are you ready he wants you to do that right back

and there's this amazing thing in the early church remember what Jesus said a new commandment I

give unto you to the early disciples John 13 that you love one another how just as I've loved you

by this not by buildings not by external morality by this the world will know that the father has

sent me by how you love one another and this section of true spirituality from Romans 12 answers

the question that we all struggle with is how do I experience authentic community where there's

so many lonely people I don't mean just being in a group I don't mean just being a member of

something I mean how do I experience where there's someone or two or three in my life that I can

unzip my heart and I can risk putting it out there and I can tell them things and I won't be

condemned and they'll support me and love me and when I'm going through a horrendous time they'll

be there for me and they know I'd be there for them you ready having some friends who would literally

not figuratively not metaphorically friends who would die for you that's authentic community

and I'll tell you what when you get around people that love each other like that it's powerful

you know what's missing in most Christians lives it's not just power it's not just purpose

you know what's missing most Christians lives experiencing God's presence somehow it's like

we do these things and we hope God will do this and like he's out there somewhere somehow

some way do you know God's primary plan apart from when you read his word or you're talking to him

or meditating do you know his primary way to manifest his presence it's through other Christians

I mean if an angel comes at the middle of the night at the foot of your bed tonight

go for it tell me about it later and if he hugs you and fixes you a meal and says you know tell

me what's really going on inside because I really want to hear because I really care God bless you

but for 99.9% of all the rest of us you know how Jesus is going to show up in your life

he's going to show up in the body of another person a man or a woman or a fellow student where there's

kind of this chemistry and this safety and this love and you're devoted to one another in

brotherly love and you give preference to one another in honor and you do life together

the final portion of becoming a Romans 12 Christian isn't just your relationship with God or

your relationship with the world or yourself or believers but the evil in the world

relationships with non-believers that are hostile to the gospel and unfortunately sometimes

relationships with believers that are evil and hostile toward you but it's supernaturally

responding to evil with good here the apostle Paul you can hear him just reaching into the

sermon on the mount by the spirit of God bless those who persecute you bless and curse not

never take your own revenge beloved but leave room for the wrath of God vengeance is mine I will

repay if your enemies hungry what do you do feeding if your enemies thirsty what do you do

getting the drink do not be overcome with evil see we're humans evil is going to come into all

of our lives on your little journey on this earth some of you had more than others you're going to

get ripped off you're going to get betrayed you can have mates walk out on you you get kids say

terrible things to you you're going to tell people who've loan you've loaned the money and they

promised to pay it back and guess what they're not going to and there's evil that's sort of systemic

you can love God with all your heart guess what Christians that love God with all their heart

get cancer they get hit by drunk drivers they get swooped into down economies and lose their homes

and they've been faithful with their finances evil is coming your way so what's true spirituality what

I love about what God says true spirituality is how the spirit of God lives the life of Christ out in

relationship with my heavenly father with the world with myself with believers and then with

unbelievers when the raw deals are coming my way the question it answers is how do you overcome

the evil aimed at you and the thing that most Christians listen carefully most Christians

have missing in their life is perspective we all could probably take out a three by five card

or get out your mobile device and press the little app where it says notes and we could probably

all list four or five people that used to walk with God they don't walk with God now

after their mate walked out on them after the car wreck after they got ripped off at work right

see there's a reason that almost 25% of the book of Genesis is dedicated to the life of Joseph

because Joseph is a picture of true spirituality of how do you respond at the evil aimed at you

and it wasn't easy and I mean he was betrayed falsely accused forgotten sold

but that little phrase the Lord was with Joseph and you know what Joseph had perspective

Joseph kind of took even though they didn't have him in those days follow it

Joseph took the helicopter of spiritual perspective and in those days in prison or falsely

accused he just kept taking the helicopter up really really really high and looking at all of it

and saying you know something there's a sovereign God that these are decreed or allowed this and he

loves me and I don't know how it's going to work out but if I don't bail out and trust him he'll

work it for my good and he'll do in me and through me what could never happen and so I refuse to

be bitter I refuse to not forgive I refuse to become a victim I refuse to let the world shape me

I will trust my God because I have perspective and he would say to his brothers at the very end of

the book you meant it for evil but God meant it for good if all those difficult things wouldn't have

happened he would have not been the second most powerful person in all the world and he would have

saved the Jewish nation and God has a game plan and you have a Joseph story to live out it'll be

a big one for some a smaller one for others are you starting to catch what true spirituality is all

about it's about relationships it's measurable I mean you can measure am I surrendered am I separate

from the world's values do I have a sober self assessment am I serving in love am I super

naturally responding to evil with good then it helps you ask and answer those questions

and little by little as we walk through this together you will begin to experience as you trust

and obey by faith God's power God's peace God's purpose God's presence and God's perspective

and that's why I'm so excited and and you know what you know what I love about this

guess whose book we got this out of this text it's just the Bible it's true what Jesus said to

them he said to us if you abide in my word and that word just means if you take it in for the

purpose of apply it by faith then you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free as you turn

over the note I want to close with this one very important perspective there is a danger on our

journey like every journey there's dangers but there's a danger on our journey to begin to very

subtly begin to think that sort of the R 12 journey or the Romans 12 journey is like a moral code

and a set of bars to live up to okay I'm going to be surrendered I'm going to be separate

sober self assessment I think I got that down I'm going to serve in love and let's see I can't

remember the last one super naturally responding to something with something and you can turn it

into the very thing we're trying to avoid and so I want to remind you the true spirituality has

nothing to do with living a good life so that God will love you true spirituality has everything

to do with beginning to grasp the height and depth and length and breadth of how much God has

already loved you has demonstrated that love and you living out of the freedom of that love

and so I just put the little chart of the entire book of Romans what did he do?

chapters one through three all of us fall short of the glory of God we sugarcoat this this isn't

just being not a nice person we have sinned we betrayed God we're people that have committed

treason and he's holy and his just wrath is upon us for what we have done

and that's the problem in chapters four and five there's a solution the solution to sin is salvation

Jesus fully man fully God lived a perfect life died upon the cross to pay for your sin

and rose from the dead and offers a free gift to who so ever would believe and receive it

chapter six through eight goes on to talk about how this new life has lived and he didn't leave us

alone it wasn't a moral code try hard he said the spirit of the living God and the new covenant

will take up residence inside your mortal body after he takes you out of the kingdom of darkness

he places you in the kingdom of light and his spirit takes up residence and the living

presence of Christ and the power of Christ by the word of God and the community of God's people

births literally Paul talks about until Christ is formed in you that's called sanctification

and it's a journey and often it's two steps forward and three back and then four steps forward

but you grow and then finally he reminded them that God always keeps his promises so chapters nine

through eleven his promises to the Jews will be fulfilled but they've fumbled the ball in terms of

their responsibility as a as a bluster and an instrument of God and so he says I'm going to take

them out of the game and I will fulfill everything I made promises to Abraham and to David

but the church is going to be my age and blessing until I call time out and bring the very final

days of history to a close and after eleven chapters of regardless of where you've been

God loves you died for you puts his spirit inside of you and will keep every promise

therefore I urge you brothers to what offer your bodies a living sacrifice

have you ever placed your faith in Christ personally to forgive your sin because what I've

seen over and over is people just unconsciously think I'm trying hard to be this good person

and it's interesting and they begin to experience some change but what sometimes they never

realizes you need on a certain day at a certain time to be born from above or to be born again

and that's back in chapter three in the beginning chapter four and where you come to God on a day

like today and you just honestly admit God I need your help I've violated a holy God today I believe

your blood paid for my sin and your resurrection proved it's true and on this day I want to ask you

to come into my life forever to forgive me and to be my father and if you've never done that that's

the smartest wisest best thing you'll ever do this is living on the edge with chipping room friend

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channel when you're there well that wraps up today's episode don't miss the next Bible

teaching message coming up here on the chipping room sermon podcast today's program is produced

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