Let us pray.
O gracious and eternal God, we give you thanks on this, your day.
A day to recognize you as our Lord and Savior.
A day to celebrate the goodness of the Lord that all of us have found through your Son, Jesus Christ.
A day, God, to invite others in to share in this wonderful life we have discovered in you.
I pray this morning that you will use me, thy servant, to manifest your will and your way in your people.
Remove anything in me that might hinder me for being used in a way that will bring you glory.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Grace and peace, Trinity Baptist Church.
I thank Pastor Greg for that warm introduction.
I am so delighted to be here.
And as Pastor Greg indicated, we are not only co-laborers, but friends in the body of Christ.
So thank you again, and I share your sentiments of it's just good to have friends in Christ.
I also want to acknowledge his lovely wife, Jane, who has welcomed me and my family into their home.
And in these very divisive times, we are so excited to share with the world what God can do.
And bringing people who share the faith together, no matter what our backgrounds are, no matter where we came from.
We are one in Jesus Christ.
And I'm just so grateful to have both of them and call them friends.
Also, I'm glad to see the Dunlops here.
I know they are members here, but we call them our associate members as well.
They fellowship with us quite often, and they too are just real special to the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church family.
So good to have the two of you here.
And I know you're praying for me as you do, even when I'm in my own pulpit.
I also want to thank, once again, as Pastor Greg mentioned, many of you who have helped serve in our summer enrichment camp as teachers and leading our free lunch program.
We really try to plant the seeds of the kingdom of God over the 10 weeks that we have all of the children.
And I just thank all of you for sharing in that effort.
I really do appreciate it.
And we really couldn't do it without you.
I would be remiss.
I know Pastor Greg mentioned my wife, but I just want her to wave her hand.
Of 26 years, we have been on this journey together.
And I just love her so.
And my youngest daughter, Camille, is here, the youngest of three.
And I just love being a father.
And on Friday, she received her driver's permit.
And as she was taking the picture, it brought tears to my eyes to just know that my last little one will be soon out of the house.
How many of you know it's a great privilege to be a parent?
And I just want you to know, what many of you already know, that I don't know a better way to live or to die than the way that God has instructed us in his word.
And so I am just so grateful that God has given me three children and a wonderful wife to journey life with who also loves the Lord.
I do want to thank also Pastor Nick, who has helped me get here today in so many ways administratively.
I don't know where you are, but thank you for your help as well.
I want to read into your hearing the text this morning coming from the 12th chapter of the Book of Romans.
And I'll be reading verses 1 and 2.
Romans 12, verses 1 and 2.
And I'll be reading from the New King James Version.
And it reads as follows.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may approve what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I want to talk just for a moment.
And I won't be long,
and I will try not to go into my American Baptist mode of getting too excited,
but I want to talk for a moment from the subject of being unplugged.
Being unplugged.
I love going to the movies.
And in particular, I love going to feel-good movies.
Movies where the good guys win and the bad guys lose.
But in addition to feel-good movies,
my second genre, if you will,
is movies involving action.
And one of my favorite action movies is called The Matrix.
And The Matrix, like many series,
the boast of The Matrix series is the original one that was produced in 1999.
And in The Matrix,
the movie is about humans creating artificial intelligence,
what is known as AI to survive.
And however,
and they don't explain how the computer,
the AI machines flip the script.
They learned that they could live independently from humans,
but they needed a power source,
a source of energy.
And so the machines in The Matrix,
they determined that the human body
contained within itself the energy,
the power source that they needed to survive.
And so the machines began to harvest human bodies.
While waiting to be consumed,
this field of human bodies,
they were plugged into The Matrix.
You have to follow the story.
And so the automated artificial intelligence machines
had become independent from humans,
and they needed humans for energy,
and they began to harvest human bodies.
And it was a field of human bodies from babies to adults,
and they were plugged into The Matrix.
It was a construct, if you will.
It was a virtual world.
It was a simulation.
So while they're waiting to be consumed by the machines,
the machine, The Matrix,
is creating a dream world for them.
It's like they were dreaming,
but yet it was appearing to them
in their own consciousness
as if they were alive.
But the actor, actor Reeves,
somehow became unplugged from The Matrix.
He was unplugged with the help of others,
and he came to see life,
not as it was,
but most importantly, how it should be.
He became unplugged from The Matrix.
You need to understand that
because in the text this morning,
Paul is pleading to you and I
to become unplugged from the world.
In some version,
the world is called this evil age.
Unplugged from The Matrix of sin,
all of us need to be unplugged
from the world of sin.
Too many of us, like the prodigal son,
we believe that life in its fullest
is leaving the Father's care
and going off into the far country of the world
and living in the flesh.
Many of you have heard the saying
that I have found in life to be true,
that sin will always take us
farther than we want to go,
keep us longer than we ever intended to stay,
and cost us more than we're willing to pay.
We need to unplug ourselves
as children of God from this worldly system.
We need to understand God's way is perfect.
In my daily devotion since the beginning of this year,
I've been praying through the Psalms.
And basically, one or two days,
I will get through a Psalms through prayer.
But I came upon, a couple of weeks ago, Psalm 51.
And I've been in Psalms 51, which is David's prayer,
and I realized through that Psalms,
God was telling me,
maybe I have not murdered anyone like David.
Maybe I have not committed adultery against my wife.
Praise the Lord.
But God was still telling me
that I still needed him to create in me a clean heart.
I still needed him to renew in me a right spirit.
Because in so many ways, no matter how much we try,
it is hard to get unplugged from the world.
It's hard for us to live according to God's values
and not according to the world's values.
Not only am I saying this morning
that we need to get unplugged from the world of sin,
we also need to get unplugged from this sense of self-sufficiency,
this sense that we can live life without God,
this sense that we don't need God for the very air that we breathe,
this sense that we don't need God to clothe us in our right minds.
We don't need God to live life to the fullest.
We believe somehow in the matrix of life
that somehow when we get up in the morning,
it's about us and not God allowing us to rise.
We need to get unplugged from a sense
that we can do anything without God.
I don't know how many of you are in this season that I am in,
but not long ago, I buried my mother,
and it was after 10 years of her experiencing dementia.
And I used to think that it was an old cliche
by people who were up in years when they would pray in church,
thank God that I'm clothed in my right mind.
But I came to realize that's a prayer that is one we need.
The older you get, the more that becomes a very relevant prayer.
We need to be unplugged from a sense of self-sufficiency.
We need to be unplugged from a world of sin.
And then also, God wants us to be unplugged
from a sense of, from the matrix of self-importance.
I don't know, the older I get,
I don't understand so much about why the church
has not turned this world upside down.
I don't understand why we, like we are today,
can't come together and worship no matter what class,
no matter what ethnicity, no matter what background.
If we are one body in Christ,
we ought to reflect that in the world and make God visible.
But somehow we just have not gotten there
because we still are plugged into this matrix,
plugged into this sense of our own self-importance.
I have found that only in death,
when we realize that our worth is not much,
when we return to the dust of the air,
we realize what really matters is our relationship with God.
What really matters is loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Paul says in this text,
I beseech you, therefore.
To which, as you know, we should ask,
what is the therefore, therefore?
Many scholars believe the therefore is there
to remind us as Christians then and now
of the biblical narrative
in which we are to live out of.
To remind us that we've been saved from sin.
To remind us we've been saved
from ourselves being our own God.
To remind us we've been saved
from our own self-importance.
And to get unplugged, to see the truth,
to see the finished work of Jesus Christ's life,
death, and resurrection.
It's time, Trinity Baptist Church,
that the church gets unplugged from this world,
this matrix, and begin to love God
with all of our heart, with all of our minds,
with all of our souls.
It's time that we begin to love our neighbors
as ourselves.
What is the therefore, therefore?
Scholars believe the therefore are there
so we can see that before Paul gets to chapter 12,
all of the mercies of God
that has been extended to us as his children.
And so Paul says, I beseech you, I beg you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
these mercies of God should motivate us
to become the people that God has called us to become.
And so if I can take a moment
to really reflect on the biblical narrative
that outlines the mercies of God
in the text this morning,
that you may begin to live out of this narrative
and begin to turn this world upside down,
I believe that if we just take a moment on this Sunday
to reflect on the biblical narrative
of the bountiful mercies of God,
all of us will leave this space forever changed.
What are those mercies that Paul reflected on
in Romans 1 through 11?
In Romans 1, 16 and 17,
Paul reminds us that we are justified by faith alone.
In Romans 3, 23, it says that all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God.
In Romans 6, 23, it says that the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8, 12 through 17, it says,
we have been adopted into the family of God
by the blood of Jesus Christ
and are now called to live according,
not according to the flesh,
but according to the spirit of God.
We are his children and we can now cry out to him,
Abba, Father.
I'm talking about the mercies of God
that ought to motivate us to become the people of God
that God has called us to become.
In Romans 8, 17 through 18, it explains to us
we are joint heirs with him.
Romans 8, 28, which is one of my favorite verses,
says that all things work together
for the good of those who love the Lord,
who are called according to his purpose.
In Romans 8, 37 through 39,
we find these high and enriching words.
We are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.
Paul says that I am persuaded
that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come,
nor height, nor death,
nor any other created thing
shall be able to separate us
from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 and 1 says,
there is now no condemnation
in those who are in Christ Jesus.
I'm talking about the mercies of God
that ought to motivate us
to live this life that God has blessed us with,
not because we deserve it,
but all because of God's unmerited favor.
It is those mercies that Paul says
that as we go into thanksgiving on Thursday,
that we ought to receive with great gratitude
and a spirit of thanksgiving.
And because of those mercies,
we ought to manifest the love of God
in three distinct ways
as we turn this world upside down.
The first thing as we consider the mercies of God
that are, I just hit a bit of them,
but if you go through Romans,
they are filled with the mercy of God
that he has bestowed upon us.
And with that backdrop,
Paul says,
I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God,
he wants us to do three things in this world.
First, we ought to present our bodies.
As a federal prosecutor,
when a defendant was incarcerated,
in order to bring him to court,
I had to file with the marshals
a writ of habeas corpus.
And that writ really indicated to the marshals,
you have the body.
And before any business can be done,
you need to present the body to court.
What Paul is saying to us,
irrespective of all of the mercies of God,
irrespective of how he has blessed us richly,
we still have free will.
We still have to bring our bodies
as instruments to be used of God.
We still have to present our bodies to God
that he might work out his will
in our lives and in the world
that he's left us, church,
to make him visible upon the earth.
And Paul says,
we are to present our bodies.
As the Old Testament came
and presented an offering to God,
we are to come with that same spirit
and present our bodies to him
in three ways.
One, as living sacrifices.
We are new creations in Christ.
He has made us new,
and we are to present our bodies
and present to the world
that we are not the same.
Something has happened in my soul.
God has changed my life.
He has turned me around.
And the world ought to see
that we are new creations in Christ.
All things have passed away.
I am now learning Christ.
We are living sacrifices.
Not only are we to present our bodies
as living sacrifices,
as a new creation,
we are present our bodies as holy.
That means that we are to show the world
that the Holy Spirit
is influencing our lives.
We ought to show the world
that we are operating
in the fruits of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace.
The world ought to see in all of us
that we're not the same.
You may be mean-spirited.
You may be an unforgiving so-and-so.
You may be racist.
You may be self-centered.
But I have been changed.
I am presenting my body
as an influence,
one who has been influenced
by the Holy Spirit.
We represent our bodies
as living sacrifices.
We represent our bodies as holy.
We represent our bodies
as acceptable to God.
That term means we represent our bodies
as pleasing to God.
As you look at the Old Testament structure
of sacrifice,
it did a number of things.
But mainly,
it said to the one,
the priest,
that there was a way
to approach God.
It said to the one,
the priest,
that they had to humble themselves
and approach God
in a way that he has determined
that we should approach him.
When we present our bodies
as a living sacrifice
that is holy
in an acceptable way,
we are saying to God
that it is your way
that I'm accepting
and not my own.
It's only by doing things
God's way
are we pleasing to him.
So as we unplug from the world,
remember that part of being unplugged
is that we have to present our bodies
as living sacrifices
that is holy and acceptable to him.
As we unplug from the world,
secondly, Paul tells us in verse 2,
not to be conformed to this world.
Not to be conformed to this world.
One version says,
don't let the world squeeze you
into its mold.
Don't let the world squeeze you
into its mold.
We are not to conform like the world.
I set off my remarks
by saying I love movies.
Now, I also like Westerners.
And so there's an old Western movie
called Shane.
And Shane is about a stranger
coming into town
and forming a relationship
with one of the families there
in a time in the 1800s
where people were coming in
with guns and taking territory
and cattles.
And Shane befriends this family
and he fights that the outlaws
won't take their land.
And at the end of the movie,
Shane is lined up
with six other gunmen
and it's just him.
And there's a young boy,
a part of the family
that he's defending.
And this young boy
is looking at Shane
and these six gunmen
and he looks at Shane
and he looks at the six gunmen
and he yells out to Shane,
Shane, there's just too many, Shane.
There's just too many.
As we stand with Christ
in a world that seems
to be rapidly changing
and nobody but us
seems to believe
that God's word is the word,
it seems like it's too many.
It seems like the world is winning.
It seems like we're all alone.
But I came to remind you, church,
my brothers and sisters in Christ,
that you are not alone.
But God has called us
to buck against the current.
God has called us
to stand alone on his word.
God has called us
not to be ashamed
of the gospel of Jesus Christ
because it is the power
of God unto salvation.
I am so,
I love the Lord
and I don't care
if everybody determines
that this stuff is not true,
it will always be true to me
because God has made
a difference in my life.
God is saying,
don't be conformed.
Don't let the world
squeeze you into its mold.
I not only like movies,
I actually read as well.
And one of the stories
that I like is C.S. Lewis' book
called Screwtape Letters.
And Screwtape Letters,
C.S. Lewis says
that while we are trying
to make our way in the world,
as we get older,
we find that the world
has made its way in us.
That's where I am.
I've experienced a lot of success,
but I realize
the more I got out there
in the world
trying to make my way
in the world,
the more of my Christian self,
the more of my Christian values,
actually I began to lose
because the world
began to make its way in me.
God is saying to us,
Trinity Baptist Church,
don't be conformed.
Lastly, as we think about
the mercies of God,
the bountiful mercies of God
laid out in Romans
chapters 1 through 12
as Paul starts his summation
of the book of Romans,
he's saying present our bodies.
That's all that we have.
Present our bodies
as living sacrifices,
new creations to the Lord,
holy and acceptable to Him.
He's saying,
I know that sometimes
like Shane,
you're standing alone,
but stand therefore.
Don't be conformed.
And lastly,
he says to us,
be transformed.
Be transformed.
Verse Romans 12, 2 says,
and do not be conformed
to this world,
but be transformed
by the renewing
of your mind
that you may prove
what is that good
and acceptable
and perfect
will of God.
God doesn't want us
just to resist the world.
He wants us
to change the world.
In the Greek,
that word transform
also means transfigured.
And we think about
Christ being transfigured
and his face
was shining
and God wants us
to shine
in the midst
of the darkness
like the early church.
And I just want
to highlight
a couple of things
about being transformed.
The early church
did not just listen
to the word of God.
They obeyed
the word of God
and they transformed
the world.
They transformed
the world
in many ways,
but one,
they were transformative
in the love
they showed
to the poor.
In the early church,
the historians
have found letters
of some of the early church's work.
And some of those letters
came from people
in the Roman Empire
and it showed
the early church
compassion
for the poor.
One historian
has noted
in this regard,
they discovered
a letter
from a Roman emperor
named Julian
in A.D. 360
complaining
about the charity
or love
of the Christians
to the pagans.
Listen to
what the emperor
writes.
The impious Galileans,
which they meant
Christians,
support not only
their own poor,
but ours
as well.
They transformed
the world,
not just listening
to the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
but being transfigured,
being transformative
by their compassion
to the poor.
They took care
of the poor
and the impoverished
and people took note.
I wonder how,
what in your life
that you are doing
where the world
is taking note
that you've been transformed.
Not only did
the early church
show that they
had been transfigured
by the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
by their love
for the poor,
but they also
showed that they
had been transformed
by their love
for the discarded.
Again,
in the Roman Empire,
and we're reading
in the Book of Rome,
it was often
characterized
this world,
this Roman Empire
by infanticide,
infanticide,
I'm sorry,
infanticide.
And that is,
as you know,
the killing of infants.
Primarily,
it was the discarding
of female infants
that was characteristic
of the Roman Empire.
Females were not
as valued as males.
And so it was not
uncommon for a Roman family
that if a wife
gave birth to a little girl,
that little girl
was taken out
to the dung heap,
the edge of town,
and left to die there
by exposure.
In this regard,
a letter was discovered,
written in 1 B.C.,
by a Roman name,
Hilarion.
And he wrote this letter
to his pregnant wife.
These poignant
and disturbing words.
He wrote,
If you are delivered
of a child
before I return home,
if it is a boy,
keep it.
But if it is a girl,
discard it.
You see,
the early Christians
lived out their faith,
this transformed faith,
in practical
and tangible ways.
because the Christian community
would climb through
the refuge,
climb through the garbage,
and rescue
these discarded
little girls,
and sometimes
deformed little boys.
And they would raise them
like they were
their own.
they had been renewed.
They had been renewed,
not just the outward
renewal,
not just
outwardly
worshiping God,
but they had been
changed and
transformed
in a way
that was tangible
and practical,
and that,
in a way that
changed the world.
What am I saying
to you about
being transformed?
transformed.
Every time
you forgive
someone who has
hurt you,
you are being
transformed.
Every time
you deny yourself
for the glory
of God,
you are being
transformed.
Every time
you love
your neighbor,
those who look
like you,
and those who don't,
those from different
classes,
those in different
tribes,
we have become
so tribal these days,
everybody has their
tribe,
their circle,
and the church
is no different,
but every time
we break that cycle,
every time we
unplug from the
world system,
we glorify God,
we show ourselves
to be transformed
and not conformed
to the world.
We are
unplugging
ourselves
by the
gospel of
Jesus Christ.
The world,
the word says
that thy
word
thy word
have I
had in
my heart
that I
might not
sin against
you.
Psalm 119.
Every time
we love God
with all of
our heart,
all of
our mind,
and all of
our souls,
we show
ourselves to be
a transformed
people.
This word,
be transformed,
is continuous.
We'll never
get it perfectly
right until
Christ comes
back,
but God
is daring
us to be
different.
God is
pleading with
us like,
Paul,
I beseech
you,
I beg
you to
present your
bodies as
living sacrifices
that is holy
and acceptable
unto the
Lord.
And be
not
conformed.
Don't let
the world
squeeze you
into its
mode.
Speak to
your brothers
and sisters
who you are
passing on
the street.
Assume,
since America
says that it's
80% Christian,
that every time
you're passing
someone,
he is a
Christian.
So why do
we walk
past each
other?
We can,
maybe God's
not calling
us to go
through the
refuse and
rescue babies,
but at least
we can show
the glory of
God by
saying,
hello,
how are
you?
And embracing
people with
the Christian
kiss and
a hug.
And be
transformed
by the
renewing of
your mind.
As I come
to the
close,
there's a
story of
a young
man who
goes to
visit a
hermit in
the desert.
And he
finds this
monk sitting
outside his
cave,
enjoying the
sun,
his dog
lying lazily
at his
side.
The
seeker
asks,
why is it,
Abba,
that some
seek God
and come
to the
desert
seeking
God.
And they're
zealous in
prayer for
a season,
but they
leave after
a year or
so,
while others
like you
remain
faithful to
the quest
for a
lifetime.
The old
man responds,
one day
my dog
and I
were sitting
here quietly
in the sun
as we
are now,
and suddenly
a large
white rabbit
ran across
in front
of us.
And well,
my dog
jumped up,
barked,
barking loudly,
and he took
off after
that old
rabbit.
He chased
that rabbit
over the
hills with
a passion.
Soon,
other dogs
joined in
and attracted,
they were
attracted by
his barking.
What a
sight it
was.
As the
pack of
dogs ran
barking
across the
creek,
up a
stony
embankment,
through
thickets and
thorns,
and gradually,
however,
one by
one,
the other
dogs dropped
out of
pursuit.
discouraged
by the
course,
and frustrated
by the
chase,
only my
dog
continued
hotly to
pursue the
white rabbit.
The
confused
young man
asked what
many of you
may be
thinking,
what is the
connection
between the
white rabbit
and the
quest for
God?
The
hermit
replied,
why didn't
the others
continue the
chase?
The answer
is,
only his
dog had
seen the
white rabbit.
They were
only attracted
by the
barking of
the dog.
what is my
point?
That once
you see the
rabbit,
you will
never give
up chase.
Many of
us are in
church just
following the
commotion.
Many of
us in
church because
others come
to church.
Once you
have a
real
encounter
with the
living God,
there's no
turning back.
I was a
JAG officer
in the
Marine Corps,
and I ran
from the
calling of
going into
ministry.
I always
wanted to be
a lawyer,
never wanted
to be a
preacher,
never wanted
to be a
pastor,
and I'm
sitting in
my barracks
room,
and the
presence of
God just
consumed me,
and I heard
God say to
me,
I am
here.
And from
that point
on,
I set out
to pursue
him with
all of my
heart,
with all of
my souls,
because once
you have
seen God
with your
heart's eye,
God,
if only
for a
moment.
As
Ephesians
1.18
says,
your eyes
of your
heart will
be enlightened,
and you
will seek
him forever.
Even in
the midst
of divine
silence,
you will
seek him,
because you
know that
he is
real.
God
will
be
to be
God.
So I
encourage you,
Trinity
Baptist
Church,
I encourage
you to
follow me
and follow
other believers
in the pursuit
of this
awesome God,
and I
encourage you
the next
time the
world tries
to squeeze
you into
its mold,
you're called
to be
different.
Get
comfortable
in being
peculiar.
get
comfortable
not being
like the
world.
We are
on this
narrow way,
but it
is a
glorious
way.
And I
don't know
after 54
years of
living,
a better
way to
live
or to
die
than in
accordance
with the
word of
God.
Come on,
let's give
God some
praise this
morning.
Thank you,
Lord.
Thank you.