THE DIVINE AUTOGRAPH

0:04 I've only signed a few autographs in my life. Just a few. The first one is really embarrassing, but I'll share it with you. I don't know if you realize this or not, but I play major college basketball at Florida State. It was during March Madness, and we were facing the University of Kentucky back in the day. And the Wildcats had an All-American who ended up being an NBA player named Kyle Macy. We sort of resembled each other physically, but that's about it. Not on the court. Not on the court. I spent my career on the bench. He spent his career, you know, making all these shots and receiving all these awards. I was with some of my teammates and we were eating at a Waffle House.

1:03 And we had a game that night, again, Mideast Regional. So I'm just eating. and I see this car just like power slide into this waffle house and it almost hit the waffle house and these kids get out. They run up to me, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. And they thrust a pen in my face and they had some little notebook paper. Can I have your autograph? Man, you're my hero. You're amazing. I go, guys, I hate to rain on your parade, but I'm not Kyle Macy. I even told him, I said, I'm a bench warmer at Florida State. I'm not going to play in tonight's game. Oh, no, you're being humble. You're Kyle.

1:55 You're Kyle. Can I have your autograph? So I just signed. And then I awkwardly wrote Romans chapter 12, verses one and two, which is our text today. I call it the autograph section of scripture. These two verses are some of the most powerful verses in the Bible. And I think if we ever could ask God right now for his autograph, I really believe he would autograph these texts on our heart, soul, and mind and body. They're that powerful. You have to understand, we've been studying the book of Romans and the book of Romans was written to Romans and also was written to Jews and non-Jews. It's written to the church.

2:59 The first 11 chapters, when the apostle Paul writes, is about orthodoxy, about belief. The second part of the book of Romans, beginning in Romans chapter 12, is orthopraxy. That's the practice. That's the application of behavior. Does that make sense? So we've got belief in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. And then we have behavior beginning with Romans chapter 12. So think of Romans chapter 12 as a giant hinge. Whenever you see in the Bible, therefore, ask yourself the question, what is it there for? Because when Paul says, therefore, watch out, hold on to your theater seats because something is going to change. So the Bible says, the apostle Paul says, the Holy Spirit says through St. Paul, therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy, therefore, there are numerous therefores in the book of Romans. And if you want to know these, I would write them down rapidly because I'm going to go through them rapidly, but they mean something very, very significant. There is the sin, therefore.

4:24 That's in Romans chapter three, verse 20. Romans talks a lot about sin. We're natural born sinners. I am. So are you. We offer God nothing. Let me say it again. We offer God zero zip. Then there is the therefore of salvation, Romans chapter five, verse one. God saw our dilemma caused by sin. He did something we don't deserve. It's called the mercy of God, the mercies of God. Mercy is when I get what I don't deserve. God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins and rise again, thus autographing, if you wanna keep this word picture going, in blood paid in full. So the Son of God, Jesus Christ, has paid the price for all of your wrongdoings and mine. There's also the therefore of security. If you're wondering, once we're saved, we're in.

5:19 If we mean it to the best of our ability, we pray and ask Christ to come in, that's it. We're a part of the family. And the Bible tells us that we're adopted into the family of God. Back in biblical days, you could disown a biological child, but not a child who'd been adopted. Isn't that awesome? I can tell you think so.

5:43 And finally, we go to the service portion, the orthopraxy, Romans chapter 12, verse one, therefore. So remember, when I see therefore, I've got to ask myself, what in the world is it therefore? Therefore, I urge you. I love this. Paul's going, I urge you. I plead with you. Come on now in view of God's mercy. In view of God's mercy. Lisa and I were hiking up a mountain. I don't mean mountain climbing, hiking up a mountain in Colorado several years ago. We were in Snowmass. I've only been there one time. It's a beautiful place. And as we were hiking, you know, going back and forth, all the switchbacks and everything, we would just stop now and then and go, wow. look at this view. This is unbelievable. And we would stop for a while and look, and then we could see the top of the mountain, and then we would start on our way again.

6:48 So the view caused us to move. Does that make sense to you? So if I contemplate, if you contemplate the mercies of God just for a second, it should cause you and me to, to move. So the mercy of God is my motivation. Say it with me. The mercy of God is my motivation, my motivation to become a follower of Christ, to live the Christian life, to, to do orthopraxy. it is the mercies of God. Mercy is I don't get what I deserve. Here are some mercies listed in the book of Romans prior to Romans chapter 12. You ready for these? Write down quickly the pardon. That's the mercy of God. We're pardoned. That means we're justified by faith. We have the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. That's reconciliation.

7:44 reconciliation. We have the protection of God. There's no condemnation for those of us in Christ. We have the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us and giving us the ability to live the life and produce the fruit. The promise of God. We have a home in heaven that's locked. And the plan of God, God's faithfulness. So those are just a few of the mercies of God. And those mercies are mentioned again in chapters 1 through 11. Then Paul says, all you got to do is just think about chapters 1 11 and bam. Whoa. In view of that, if I just think about that, I am ready to move and climb the mountain. Did you see the new George Barna survey? Barna came out with a survey.

8:36 I saw it today. He said that Gen Xers and Gen Zers go to church an average of 1.9 times per month. And then it said boomers, and I'm a boomer, barely, Boomers attend church 1.4 times a month. you can't live this out with attendance like that. It's just not going to happen. And what's interesting about most of us is we think we go to church more than we actually do. But if you looked at your schedule, you would, you would be embarrassed. Now, how can I say that with such conviction? Because we keep track of everyone through our children's ministry and through attendance. Oh, I know.

9:28 We know. And we don't talk about it too much because it puts our staff in a complete state of depression. But I think we feel like we have about, I don't know, 50 or 60,000 people that come to our church in one, seven, six weeks. It's a lot of people. So maybe it's good they don't all show up at the same time. We wouldn't have room for them.

9:50 See this cloth right here? You probably wonder, what is that? A guy gave this to me, a pastor. I'm going totally off the subject. A pastor gave this to me and he said, you know what, I want you to know that we're always praying. the mercies of God my motivation the move of God this is my presentation before God so I want you to think about how how brilliant the apostle Paul is obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit of God he's saying therefore I urge you brothers and sisters he's talking to Christians right collectively in view of God's mercy wow okay the move he says offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Now, that is a radical statement. That's paradoxical. That's weird. How can you offer your body as a living sacrifice? I thought a sacrifice was something dead. Well, up until this point, it was. But God is telling me, the apostle Paul is telling me, Jesus is autographing this in my heart. He's going, Ed, I want you to be a living sacrifice. Let's talk about sacrifices, for example, because you know, the old Testament, the sacrificial system, they would take animals.

11:02 It's a little bit gross, cut them in pieces, put them on the altar. And, and after a while, then the fire would consume them during, during certain sacrifices. Well, because of all the blood, the, the, the sacrifices would slip and slide off of the altar. What the priests did, they, they put two flesh hooks in the altar and these flesh hooks held the sacrifice down. Here is my problem with this text. I present my body many, many times I presented my body as a living sacrifice, but I've crawled off the altar. In other words, if it's living, you can crawl off the altar and so can I. And I have crawled off the altar. Well, man, that's kind of dim, isn't it? Well, no, because there are two flesh hooks, dedication and discipline. We dedicate ourselves.

12:09 We die daily. Take up your cross and follow me. We die to self and live for God. Every day, we should become a living sacrifice, place ourselves on the altar and simply utter to God, God, I give you my mind. I give you my body. I give you my hands. I give you my feet. I give you everything as a sacrifice of worship and praise. Daily worship is daily surrender. sacrifice a living sacrifice and the bible tells me this this this this sacrifice this sacrifice is holy and pleasing to god this is your true and proper worship so worship yeah it's with our hands lifted up, but more so it's with our bodies being sacrificed as a living sacrifice each and every day. That's challenging, isn't it? To die to self and to live to God, but we see the mercies of God.

13:25 We see the move of God. We're to move. Also, the mind of God is in this text. Let me read it again. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, wow, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Okay, I'm tracking with you, Ed. Now, the mind, because everything is about the mind. The battleground is in the mind, because where the head goes, the body follows. Did you know that? I've known some divers in my life, and that's what they told me. He said, Ed, you know, when we do a dive, wherever our head goes, our body follows. And you're the same. So am I. Where are you? Where is your mind? Do not conform to the pattern of the world, the Bible says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the mind, the mind. Do not conform.

14:19 I love what the Phillips translation says here. It says, do not let the world squeeze you into its mold. back in the day a popular a popular toy was creepy crawlers some of you remember creepy crawlers they were super dangerous it was back when you know they they sold like dangerous toys so I had to get some creepy crawlers and creepy crawlers were simply molds and you had this stuff called goop and you and you squeeze the goop in the mold creepy crawlers came with an oven can you believe that this is oh man talking about dangerous so i'll remember putting those creepy crawlers in that goop in the oven and just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and then we'd pull it out have to have you know rags and stuff like that and then we would take the mold and put it in the water and watch the steam mold off and Then, after the goop dried and the creatures looked good, we would pry them out.

15:21 And there we had creepy crawlers. So you didn't know that until you came to church. That's why you need to come to church more than 1.4 or 1.9 times a month. Don't become a creepy crawler. That's what Paul is saying. Don't allow the world to squeeze you. into its mold. What's the mold of the world? Materialism. That's I am what I own. What's the mold of the world? Hedonism. Life is about pleasure. What's the mold of the world? Relativism. I mean, I kind of make up my own truth. You know, what's true to me is true to me, and that's truth. So we see the mercies in the move and in the mind do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. This word transformed is huge. Say transformed with me. We get the word metamorphosis from it. It's the word used in Matthew 17 during the transfiguration of Christ. You remember Christ went on the Mount of Transfiguration. And let me tell you something.

16:26 When you saw, if you could see Jesus back in the day, he looked like an ordinary person. He was not some, you know, GQ model looking person. He was a regular looking person. So when he went to the Mount of Transfiguration because the deity of God was inside of him, fully God, fully man, the deity began to move from the inside out and he had this glow, this Shekinah glory about it and it freaked people out. That is how we're changed. We receive Jesus Christ. He's inside your life, in my life. We're just average, ordinary people. Yet he changes us, doesn't he? From the inside out. It's that transformation, that metamorphosis. You remember studying in biology class, the old caterpillar crawls in the cocoon and all of a sudden, monarch butterfly. That is what we can become when we get involved in this.

17:23 So don't conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Well, you might be going, well, how do I how do I live this life in a sin stained world? It's not easy, is it? It's by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's also through dedication and devotion. It's by you and me crawling up on the altar each and every day and saying, Lord, I give you my all.

17:54 So it's not about isolation. That's the problem with the monks and that whole vibe. They're just totally isolated, examining their navels, singing kumbaya. That's not it. We're not to become a monk. It's not insulation. Then... it's not, it's not imitation. So it's not isolation. It's not imitation. Oh, I've just got to kind of imitate the world. No, because as you hear me say a million times, if we imitate the world, if we imitate the world as believers and we get too much in the world, we have to ask ourselves the question, who's converting who? so that's not the answer the answer is insulation so it's not isolation it's not imitation hope I got these words right it is insulation anybody like sea bass here I don't mean Jim Carrey sea bass no no I mean the real deal the fish thank you those who were 40 and over laughed at that. Was that a great sea bass? Yeah. Anyway. So I had some sea bass the other day. Now I love fish and I had a problem years ago with sea bass because it was right before one of the services. And we went out with some people who were visiting fellowship church right before the service. And I had some sea bass for some reason that it was so hot. The, the, the, The steam just permeated my clothes and my breath.

19:37 And when I got about five feet in front of Lisa, she goes, honey, what's wrong? Sea bass, that's what it was. Anyway, I was eating some sea bass, really, a couple weeks ago. So I ordered sea bass and, you know, again, I like fish. So I'm, okay, tasting it. and I said to myself, let's need some salt. I mean, I don't just dump salt on stuff, but the sea bass just needed salt. So I took the salt shaker.

20:12 Oh, yeah, it's good. then I began to think how incredible is it that a sea bass can spend his entire life in salt water yet God has arranged it to where he doesn't taste like salt have you ever thought about that before that's crazy that is the picture of not being conformed, but being transformed. That fish, that sea bass is insulated. So as you swim in salt water, yeah, yeah, you got the picture.

21:03 So the mercies of God, that's my motivation. If you're not motivated, just look at the mercies of God. The move of God, because the mercies of God, it should cause me to move towards God. That's the presentation. The mind of Jesus, that's renewed by God. That's my meditation. I meditate on the word of God. So my guidance does not come from the world, but the word of God. But the last thing we're going to talk about, we've got three minutes left, we can do it. the mission, the mission. That's the will of God. And that's my verification. The will of God. God's will happens and it will happen. God is sovereign. But Paul is talking about your moral will and my moral will. We have a choice in that matter. Okay. And Romans 12, two says, okay, do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the ruling of your mind. Here we go. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. I call it his GPP, good, perfect and pleasing will.

22:17 So God has a will, a plan for your life. That's tailor-made. First time I ever had a tailor-made suit made, my father made it for me. I was 21 years old, which I didn't, I mean, I still can't believe I had a tailor-made suit. There was a guy in our church, some big-time tailor, and he gave me some bro deal on it, and I just had this tailor-made suit. It was about the only suit I had, but it was tailor-made. And I remember thinking to myself, this thing just fits perfectly. It's just unbelievable. I mean, you go to a store and put on a coat, it fits, and they can tailor it, but not like a tailor-made suit. God's will for you is tailor-made. It is specific. It's specific. God's will is awesome. It's not less than. It's not, well, same old, same old. No, no, no. It's unique. It's one of a kind.

23:10 The Bible says, I'll say it again, it's good. It's good. Every other path you take is going to pale in comparison to the will of God. It's pleasing. You know what this means? It makes God smile. when we're walking in his tailor-made will. And it's perfect. It's perfect and will be obviously perfect in heaven. So it's specific. God's will is also prolific. You ever heard of Snoop Dogg? I'm gonna quote the great theologian. I want to be the best Snoop Dogg I can possibly be. I want to be the best Snoop Dogg I can possibly I want to be the best version of myself what in the heck does that mean I don't want to be the best version of myself because I am a sinner I'm fallen I'm fallible the best version of myself he just doesn't understand I'm not jamming him he just doesn't understand the gospel so living as a sacrifice living in the heart of God's will is going to be the best it's going to be prolific it's not being the best version of you the best version of you can only happen when you give the totality of who you are to Jesus let me say it again your best life the ultimate the version the best version of you and me is going to be when we give our hearts and lives to Jesus you know I've been I've been traveling a good bit over the last couple of weeks.

25:08 And sometimes people like to brag about their travel. Have you ever done that? How are you doing? Oh, man, I'm busy. I've been traveling all over the place. Wow, you're important. I'm not telling you this to tell you I'm important. I'm just telling you that Lisa and I were invited overseas to speak a bunch of times. and we only stayed in one place for two nights. Let me tell you where we went. You won't believe this. Dallas to St. Louis, St. Louis to Boston, Boston to Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., to Cape Town, South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Kruger, Kruger back to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Dubai. And now we're back in Dallas. We just landed a couple of days ago. So I still have some jet lag. our hosts, it was his will for us to travel to all of these destinations. It was his plan, his purpose. And here's what I do every time I fly, look at my boarding pass and make sure I'm on the right flight.

26:24 And because I was on the right flight and because I was doing the will of my host, the trip was amazing. close the Bible drop the mic that's what it means to walk in the will of God if you do anything else you're going to look back with regret because Jesus' way is the only way so Thank you. God, can I have your autograph? ask God. Don't ask someone else. Don't fall into the trap of mistaken identity. Ask God, because God has signed creation. He signed his name on the cross, on the empty tomb, and he signs his name on your life. Pay.