day.

· LIKE … MARRIAGE … “once-and-for-all” … our marriage vows … “till death do you part” … BUT … with CONTINUING RESULTS … we are living it out every day. Our wedding Day was just the beginning.

· LIKE … ENLISTING in the Army … “present body” … a 1- time event … YET … with CONTINUED RESULTS … we lived it out every day.

· LIKE … SALVATION … “once-and-for-all” … BUT … we are to CONTINUE growing more & more as a Christian … with CONTINUING RESULTS. SALVATION was just the BEGINNING … BUT … are to live it out every day.

THE PROBLEM: Some Christians haven’t left the “Starting Gate” … still at the BEGINNING! Jesus told us "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Lk. 9:23) We are to present our bodies as a LIVING SACRIFICE.

We did it BEFORE … WHEN … we were LOST … Romans 6:19, 13. But now, we’ve been redeemed … ransomed … BLOOD-BOUGHT. We’re GOD’S CHILD now … we belong to HIM. 1 Cor. 6:20 – “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

It’s only “reasonable” that we present our bodies to Him … AMEN?

Paul also gives us a very GOOD REASON for this sacrifice … “by the mercies of God”. LOOK at how “merciful” God has been to you! “Mercy” is not getting what you DESERVE.

· It’s by His “mercy” that you’re on TOP of the ground … AND … NOT under it!
· It’s by His “mercy” that God SAVED you.
· It’s by His “mercy” that you live in America … not homeless … job … decent retirement …

Lam. 3:22 – “Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.”

You were SAVED by His “grace”. WHILE … “mercy” is ‘not getting what you do deserve’ … “grace” is … ‘getting what you don’t deserve’. BECAUSE of His “mercy” to you … God deserves NO LESS THAN the SURRENDER of your bodies to Him.
HOW WILL GOD VIEW YOUR SACRIFICE? “holy” - NOW … ISN’T that “mercy”?

It DOESN’T MEAN that you have to be “holy” … BEFORE … you can “present your bodies a living sacrifice”. IF you waited until you were “holy” enough … you would never do it. BUT … God will ACCEPT your sacrifice … as “holy”. You don’t take a BATH … BEFORE … to get clean enough to take a SHOWER … DO YOU? NO! … You just climb into the SHOWER … dirt & all!

WHEN you … in your “unholy” condition … “present” yourself to God … it will be “acceptable to God”.
You don’t have to “clean yourself up first” … LIKE … the Prodigal Son. JUST … come to Him.

ONCE we have offered ourselves to God … our lives should look different.

NOW … Paul goes from a REQUEST (“beseech”) … to a COMMAND … 12:2

WHAT ARE WE TO SURRENDER TO GOD?

1.- Our Bodies
2.- OUR MIND – 12:2

· 12:1 is a DECISIVE COMMITMENT.
· 12:2 shows us HOW to MAINTAIN that commitment.

“conformed to this world” – i.e. … don’t allow the world to shape you into it’s mold. We are to be SEPARATE from the world. 2 Cor. 6:17 – “Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

IN OTHER WORDS … DON’T be a “conformist” … a chameleon …. INSTEAD of being a “conformer” … he says to be a “transformer” … “be transformed”. “transformed” – ‘metamorphoo’ = “metamorphosis”