I'm going to be reading both verses, verse 1 and 2. Our focus is going to be on verse 2. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, 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." Let's pray.

Gracious Father, we thank you so much for this morning. We pray that our minds may truly be renewed each time we are exposed to your word, both in corporate worship and in private. And day to day, Father God, as we are being renewed and transformed, that we may become more and more like the image of Christ in all that we are.

We pray that you would bless this morning, that our worship may be internal, expressed externally. We pray, Father God, that you would cause us to grow more and more to worship you in spirit and in truth. So we ask, Lord, your Holy Spirit would lead and guide in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Just as a quick review, last week we looked at verse 1 and Paul again is transitioning from justification to sanctification and how our response, considering the mercies of God, considering 11 chapters of exposition detailed about God's mercies and what he has done, what should that look like in the life of a believer other than just acknowledging that we believe in justification?

Sanctification is not part two of our salvation. Sanctification is the other side of the same thing. So you can't be justified and not be sanctified. You can't say, "I've been justified, but I'm not committed to sanctification." An individual who has been justified, it is only logical that they are moving on toward sanctification.

So last week we looked at four aspects of sanctification as an introduction. Sanctification requires our commitment where Paul urges them to offer their body as a living sacrifice. So the first thing that we talked about is, are we committed to sanctification or is that something that we're just allowing passively to happen in our life?

That's number one. Secondly, sanctification is motivated and empowered by God's grace. And even sanctification, even though it requires our commitment, we recognize the internal work that God is doing inside of us that is being expressed externally. So it is being motivated and empowered by the grace of God. Third, sanctification is ultimately an act of worship.

That our desire to be sanctified is not simply to be a better person, but that it is God's giving us an avenue for us to worship God. So not just Sunday worship, but whether we are cleaning up the trash can, giving, every aspect of our life, both private and publicly, ultimately it is an act of worship to God.

Fourthly, sanctification is a logical, reasonable response of worship to God for his mercies. Meaning that if you truly believe that you've been saved by the grace of God, that only logical response to that is to live in obedience to God's word. That you can't believe in justification and not have any application of sanctification.

So those are the four things that we've reviewed today. And then second, in verse 2, Paul is going to go dive a little bit deeper, a little bit more applicational. What does that look like in the life of a believer? So the first thing that he says in application, knowing that these are the basis of understanding of sanctification, he says, "Do not conform to this world." Or in the NIV it says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world." I shared with you last week, as we were wrapping up, and I think my voice did carry enough where I think most of you guys heard it, but when I got that email from the Indian pastors that persecution is being ramped up.

And the reason why the email that I got last week is different from the previous emails that I shared with you was that typically the persecution was just a reaction. Whether the pastors were preaching the gospel and then somebody in the neighborhood didn't like it and threw rocks at them and chased them out of the village.

But the persecution that they experienced this week was organized by the village leader. And so the village leader basically demanded all the village members to come and worship this idol. And so the Christians in that village who refused to go, the village leaders organized a mob to go and drag them out of their house and beat them outside and inside their home.

And that's why it was much more serious than the other ones that we reported to you. And so they've asked us to pray. The main leader, Pastor Matthew, some of you guys who've been to India with us, he is trying to talk to the village leaders to try to calm them down, to allow the Christians to be in the villages in a peaceful manner.

We haven't heard back from them, but I think it is, again, it is something that we need to actively pray for. And we'll, again, give you a heads up if I get more information about that. One of the benefits, if you want to call it a benefit, of being in a situation where persecution is clear is that the world and the church, there is a clear line where you stand.

And so you know who the Christians are because to be a Christian means that you're going to be shunned from the world. And you know exactly, if you're not going to follow Christ, you know exactly where you stand because you end up being forced to serve idols and participate in other things.

But the danger that you and I have living in the culture that you and I live in is that that line is not clear. Where does a Christian stand? Other than the fact that we attend church, and you know as well as I do, attending church doesn't make you a Christian.

You can be a church all your life and still not a Christian, and I think you know that. So the danger that you and I live in is growing up in a culture where Christianity is embedded, and I'm not talking about the general population. I'm talking about the church, within the church, that it is difficult to distinguish whether you are worldly or whether you are a follower of Christ because that line is not clear.

Even the people who say that they are followers of Christ, there is no clear distinction outside of verbally saying, "I am a Christian. I go to church. I confess Jesus Christ." If you didn't say that, would the people in your lives be able to discern that your values are different, that you believe in heaven and hell, you believe that the Son of God came and died for you, and so therefore your citizenship is not here?

Will the non-Christians in your life be able to discern that? So the challenge that you and I live in is that when the scripture says, "Do not conform to this world," what does that mean when even within the church it's hard for us to discern worldliness and non-worldliness? So it sounds good, but in application we don't know how to apply this because there is no distinction or it's very difficult to distinguish between worldliness and followers of Christ.

See, the first thing that he tells us in sanctification is to recognize not to live in the pattern of this world. The scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 4.4 that the God of this age is Satan, and he blinded the mind of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So it's clear that the world that you and I live in is not neutral. It is under the dominion and power of Satan himself. First John 5.19, "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." So when he's talking about, "Do not follow the pattern of this world," he's not simply talking about the way you dress, the way you think.

He's talking about everything that is within the world who is under the dominion of Satan, that the first act is that he delivered us from that. So now he calls us to come out. Colossians 1.13-14, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us from the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." So typically when we think of redemption, we only focus our attention on redemption on the aspect of our inner sin.

He redeemed us from our sins. He redeemed us from hell. And so now we are saved. But the idea of redemption in the scripture goes way beyond just your inner sin. The redemption focuses not just on the inner sin, but on the outer world. That the scripture says, "Not only are we condemned, but the world in itself is under condemnation." So when he calls us to not to be a part of the pattern of this world, that's also a part of redemption.

He's redeeming us from the very things that caused us to be corrupt. So the world that he is talking about here functions as an instrument of Satan to promote his goals. So when we think about what is right and wrong, or sin or not sin, we usually think of extremes, lying, killing, pornography.

And so those clearly are sinful. And then whatever is not labeled sin, clearly not labeled sin, we think, "Well, those things are neutral." The way that the Bible describes worldliness is anything that Satan uses to distract you or to even prevent you from passionately serving God is under Satanic rule.

Satan uses thoughts, ideas, trends, philosophies, religion, politics, culture, fashion, entertainment, hopes, economy, marketing, and so on. All that is under his dominion, all that is in our culture in this world is under his dominion. And so the first thing that he tells us is he saved us from the penalty of our sins, but he also saves us.

The process of sanctification is to now begin to slowly remove us from the things that ultimately corrupts us. There's a reason why the book of Hebrews says when Jesus was crucified, where was he crucified? On a tree outside the gate, right? Outside. And he says, "Therefore, since Christ was crucified outside, that we ought to go to him who went outside," meaning he's calling us away from the world to join him, to separate ourselves from the world.

He commands us not to conform. The word conform literally means to be stamped out, right? To be stamped out, to start to look like, act like, and sound like the world. Let me give you an example. I took this water out this morning from the fridge, and my guess is this is probably about 30 or 40 degrees when I took it out.

And it's been sitting out here, and now the temperature obviously isn't the same. Now how many of you want to guess what temperature this is now? Are you educated folks? Room temperature, yes, right? Room temperature. So I think the temperature in this room is probably about 70 degrees, so this is probably about 70 degrees.

So when the Bible talks about being lukewarm, lukewarm is basically adjusting to whatever temperature is around you. When we talk about not conforming to the world, your temptation, your peer pressure is not coming from Kenya. It's not happening from Middle East. Whatever is trendy over there, you may read about it, but that's not where the rubber meets the road.

Your temptation is not coming from ultimately Hollywood. You may watch TV and may have some temptation, but where the rubber meets the road is near you. Whatever room that you are a part of is where the temptation is coming from. So your temptation to conform is very unique to where you are.

So if you happen to be in whatever company that you're working, your coworkers, whatever culture is that you're a part of, if you happen to be a school teacher, whatever pressure that you are under as a school teacher and under the CTA or whatever it is that you're a part of, your temptation is coming from that area.

It's to adjust to room temperature and not to stand out. Now that could happen even within the church because this is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you feel the pressure to conform. So if you are in a habit of conforming, you can conform in a Christian culture and still just living worldly.

So if you happen to go to a church where the Bible is emphasized, you end up emphasizing the Bible. If you happen to go to a church where there's a lot of prayer, you end up praying more. Do more evangelizing, you end up evangelizing. And so your Christian life goes up and down based upon who you are surrounded by.

So if you happen to be surrounded by passionate Christians, you end up becoming passionate. So if you happen to be surrounded by people who are kind of living loosely, that's what you become. And so you're constantly looking for your surrounding to change so that you can be what? So you can conform.

So the danger of living that way is that your, whatever temperature you are, is dependent upon whatever room you're in. So when the scripture talks about not to conform, he's talking about an inner temperature inside of us that's being transformed. It's completely different. That it is not the outside temperature changing us, but it's the inside temperature that is affecting us in the way that we worship God.

So worldliness is going to look very different based upon who you are. Worldliness doesn't look the same way. Worldliness in some of us may not be expressed financially. It may not be expressed in the way that what you watch. A lot of times worldliness is happening within your own heart.

So when he says do not conform to the pattern of this world, it is a constant desire to fit in. It is a constant desire to be like what's around you. And the scripture makes it absolutely crystal clear that you cannot love God and love the world at the same time.

First of all, it says the love of the world and love of God cannot coexist in 1 John 2, 15-17. "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride and possession is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." If you love the world, you cannot love God. Now it seems like, well that's pretty extreme. You can't have both. But again in James 4, 4-5, James reiterates the same thing, maybe even stronger.

He says, "You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is no purpose that Scripture says that he yearns jealousy over the spirit that he made to dwell in us?" You know what those both passages assume before he even states that?

There is an assumption that you have made an allegiance to God already. There is an assumption that the friendship with God, your connection with God, is valuable to you. And so he speaks in saying, you can't say that you love God and love the world at the same time.

But if there's never been a commitment, you don't have any affection for God. And he says, if you have affection for the world, you can't have affection for God. If affection for God is not at the core of who you are, so what? What do you lose? There is no consequence for being worldly.

There's no consequence for chasing the world because you don't see any difference. If there is no distinction, if your life is constantly live on the border of the world and the church, being worldly is here and being godly is here. And there's not much difference. So if you're living your life constantly in the gray, you know what gray is?

And my point is not to get into controversy of what gray is. Gray is something that can't be clearly identified as wrong, but clearly it is not right. You can't say it's white because clearly it's not white. And you can't say it's black. And so because you can't say it's black, it's okay.

So you live constantly in a place in life where godliness is here and you're only a step away from the world. And so when the scripture warns that you can't love God and love the world at the same time, you may not say it, but in your mind, "Well, I'm doing it." Only way that you see the difference is if your life, if there is an affection for Christ, that being worldly, you can see the clear delineation.

You can't. And loving the world has direct effect in your affection and love for Christ. Where everything is evaluated based upon, "Is this drawing me closer to God or further from God?" And he clearly says you can't have both. Conformity, second, with the world is direct conflict to the nature of God.

First Peter 1, 14-15, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passion of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conducts, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" He said the second reason why God wants us to separate from the world is because God is holy.

And the word holy is not, it doesn't just mean that it's morally perfect, it also means to be separate. Separate from all that corrupts. So if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us and is actively working in us, there is a constant discomfort in a Christian who is constantly living in the pattern of this world.

Because the Holy Spirit will not be comfortable. I mean, think about how detestable sin is in God's eyes that the book of Revelation looks like the book of Revelation. Revelation basically is a picture of what God thinks of sin. And what he does to the world is, again, it is a painting, it is a picture of God making an impression on us, on Christians, on what will happen to all that is unclean in the sight of God at the end when his wrath is no longer withheld and he unleashes judgment that the world deserves.

So the book of Revelation basically is a picture of what God sees in the world. Because he is holy, we cannot exist in unholiness with the Holy God dwelling inside of us at the same time. It is not possible. Thirdly, those who are of God will not be accepted by those of the world.

If you really are of God, and because God is holy and the world is unholy, there's no way a Christian could be comfortable in the world and think that he is having both. In John 15, 19, "If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Think about the trouble that we have gotten ourselves into in our generation where we're trying so hard to make the world comfortable inside the church. Where Christians, whether inside or outside, are trying so hard to be accepted by the world.

Where the scripture clearly says, because they did not recognize him. And if we follow the pattern of Christ, they said they will reject us as they rejected Christ. Again in John 17, 14, he says, "I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." The world is not neutral to us.

And we are not neutral to the world. And there's a reason why the scripture tells us that we are in a spiritual battle. That we have an enemy who is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. We are not on friendly terms with the world. And it is when we try to make an effort that somehow we're going to be righteous and holy and we're going to be cool in the eyes of the world at the same time, is a direct contradiction to what the world warns us of.

Again in 1 John 4, 4-6, it says, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them." We are from God.

Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. That ultimately, those who will listen to God are those whom God is reaching. The Holy Spirit is already working in them.

But fourth and finally, our sanctification is God's will for us. Let me ask you a rhetorical question. How many of you recently have prayed for better health? It's rhetorical so don't raise your hand. How many of you have recently prayed to get into a certain school? How many of you have recently prayed so that you can get a particular job?

How many of you have prayed for your children so that they will be healthy and that certain paths will open up for them? How many of you prayed for your parents for better marriages? We have all kinds of things that we pray for seeking the Lord's will. The Lord never made those things clear.

The Lord never spelled out that he wants you to be healthy all the time. The Lord never spells out in the scripture that he wants you to be wealthy all the time. He didn't say that if you believe in Jesus that all of you are going to get the best jobs, all of you are going to go to the right school, that your marriage is going to be okay.

The Bible never promises that. And yet the content of our prayer is wanting my will be done on earth and in heaven. And we're reversing this order. But what the scripture makes absolutely crystal clear about his will, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3, 4, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

And he gives a list of things that we are to abstain from. The things, so much of the content of our prayer is so ambiguous because we're not even sure if that's what God desires for us. And so much of our frustration is coming because we're trying to bend him to our will.

And yet when the scripture says, no, God's will is that we are sanctified, that we separate from this world and we kind of ignore that. Yes, God wants this, but I want this. How much of our frustration is because not because God is not answering us, but because we are not praying according to his will.

Because the scripture clearly says, if you abide in me, my words abide in you, then ask whatever you wish it shall be done for you. Are you certain the things that you are crying out to God for is God's will? Maybe, maybe not. But what we know for a fact that this is universal truth in Christianity is that God's will is for us to be sanctified, to separate, to not be conformed to the pattern of this world.

Not only are we commanded not to be part of this world, he says, he gives us practical commands to not to be conformed, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Conformity doesn't require work. Conformity, all you have to do is take wherever you are, place it wherever you are, and adjust to wherever you are.

So if you happen to be one of those people, you're a certain way at church, you're a certain way at home, you're a certain way at work, you're a certain way when people watch you. So whatever expectations, whatever surrounding, you just adjust. So you may be godly at church and ungodly at work.

You're godly in public, but ungodly in private. So it doesn't take a lot of work to conform. You just need to let yourself be. But then he goes beyond that and he says, but to be transformed. The word for transform is metamorpho, and that's where we get the word for butterflies, you know, metamorphosis.

It completely becomes a completely different creature. And that's how the scripture describes us, 2 Corinthians 5.17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." He doesn't say he is a better creation. He doesn't say that he didn't read his Bible, now he's reading his Bible. He says he's completely new.

God and sin can never dwell together. And that's why he had to cover our sins by the blood of Christ in order for the Holy Spirit to make an indwelling in us. There will never be a time where the Holy Spirit would be okay with us living in sin.

And so he had to make us a new creation in order to make a dwelling in us. He said, "The old has passed away, behold, the new has come." So here's the difference. Here's what sanctification is. We have a lot of marriages at church, and so every ceremony we say what God has put together and no man separates.

So two becoming one. So any of you who've been married know exactly what I'm talking about. You become one legally and spiritually and socially you become one. But have you actually become one? No. Right? So the rest of our marriages, the rest of our lives, we are working to become one.

We're working to become one in finances. We're working to become one in sharing space. We're working to become one in even the food that we eat, right? Because you're not going to have two separate meals every day. Before you got married, whatever you wanted, you had. And then now you kind of have to think, like, what do we want?

And you have vacation, you're like, "Oh, I wanted to do this." And you gather a bunch of friends who wanted to do this, and you hung out with them. But once you get married, it's what do we want? So the rest of our marriage, basically you're working to become one.

What God has declared, you're actually beginning to live out. So the scripture, when it says, "Live up to the calling that you have received," basically calling us to sanctification is God says, "You have been united with Christ legally. Now live like it." Live to become one. Not only to say, "Oh, I've been united in justification," but now we're learning to think like Christ.

We're learning to be Christ in every situation. That's what sanctification is. Is that He calls us to be utterly transformed. You know what's interesting is the word for transformation is metamorpho. And He says, "Well, how do you metamorpho? How do you change?" He says, "By the renewing of your mind." By the changing of your mind.

You know what's interesting? The word for repentance is metanoia. So transformation, okay? Transformation is metamorpho, but repentance literally means to change your mind. So how did we become new creation? We repented. We heard the gospel, recognized our sin, and we repented. Our minds got changed. So it doesn't simply mean, "Oh, okay.

I heard it. Now I believe it. My mind is changed." But your mind changing basically means that basically because you repented, your life began to follow. That's what we mean by the biblical meaning of repentance. So when He says to metamorpho by metanoia, the changing of our mind by renewing of our mind.

So we are justified by metanoia and we are being sanctified by metanoia, meaning constant repentance. As we begin to recognize that there are certain patterns in me that is not according to Scripture, according to a person who is now a child of God, we continually repent. Not only of the external, but in particular the internal.

When was the last time did you repent about pride? If you struggle with purity, and I'm sure you feel the pressure of the purity of pornography, whatever it is that you may be struggling with, and we feel this urge to repent and we repent, we confess our sins, but how often do we repent of the inner sins?

And sometimes the inner sins is much uglier. Sin of pride, sin of coveting, sin of bitterness, sin of divisiveness, sin of slander, whatever it may be, that the sin that is dwelling within us, that sometimes manifests in our speech, is just as ugly or sometimes more ugly than oftentimes the external sins that we commit.

And again, we're not nullifying the external sins, but how often does that change happen within that nobody may know of, but you know it. See, what sanctification happens when we renew our mind is constant when we recognize it to repent. That's why the psalmist says, "Search me and know me, see if there's any hurtful ways in me." Not search them and know them, see if there's any hurtful ways in them, but search me.

What is happening inside of me? What is a pattern of the world that is in me that needs to be renewed? Ephesians 4, 22-24, "To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds." In other words, a call to repentance and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in the true righteousness and holiness.

Again Colossians 3, 9, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator." So as we begin to understand God, as we begin to know His holiness and how He thinks of sin and His mercy and grace, and when we think about the totality in view of His mercy, it brings us to repentance, transformation, and it makes us new creatures of worship.

Again, Philippians 2, 1-5, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy." All of these are descriptions of any Christian. This is not special Christians who have some sort of comfort of love that other Christians did not experience.

He's not describing participation in the Spirit where some have the Spirit and some don't. This is a description of every Christian. So in other words, if you've been justified in your sins, "Complete my joy by being of same mind." And which mind is he referring to? Verse 5, "Have the mind of Christ." Having the mind of Christ.

So sanctification begins by union with Christ, but an ongoing spiritual growth is learning to become like Christ in every way. Let me explain that, like how sanctification practically happens. Again, it's no secret that when I go to China, I don't get to eat much unless I go to Western food.

I just don't eat Chinese food. And the reason is because I don't like Chinese food, as I mentioned to you guys before. In fact, I love Chinese food. Chinese food was one of my favorite food before I went to China. And so the taste is very familiar. And it is not, I know some of you guys are already saying like, "Oh, that's not Chinese food.

That's Korean Chinese food." That's what I mean. Okay? So that's what I'm referring to, the Korean Chinese food to mean Korean in Chinese. So when I went to China, I've experienced so much dirt. Like I found roly-polies, pieces of sponges. I've gone to like fancy dumpling restaurants, and the guy was making dumpling with his hand, you know, did number two and didn't wash his hand and kept making dumpling.

And I just had so many of these stories of years coming in and out of China. And I'm not saying everywhere is like that. It's just I've experienced enough of it. So when I'm in China and I smell Chinese food, it doesn't make me hungry. And this is in particular in China, just because of some of those things that I've experienced.

So I just lose my appetite. I smell it here, and I'm hungry. I smell it over there, and immediately I don't want to eat that. Right? Nothing has changed except my perception. My perception. Now the reason why I share that with you is because if the world that you are living in after you became a Christian is still the same as it was before you became a Christian, it will be impossible for you to run from that.

Because the smell of the world, the flavor of the world, the attraction of the world is causing you to be consumed to want it, and you're covering it constantly. And so when you come to church and the church says, "Do not conform to the world," all you hear is, "You can't have fun and be a Christian at the same time." All the other people in the world can just live their life and do whatever they want, but you come to church and all you do is bring guilt trip.

That's what you would be hearing. And so how do we fight that? You're a legalist. That's not what God wants from us. God wants us to be free. And so we nullify holiness, and we nullify sanctification, because sanctification to us is preventing us from having fun. So why can't we love the church and love the world at the same time, even though the scripture clearly says you cannot?

And that's why he's saying not to be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. If we do not see sin the way God sees sin, the world will be constantly a place that we covet. Instead of coveting people who are in love with God and pursuing Him, we covet missionaries sharing the gospel, we covet the world.

We covet people who have better jobs than us. We covet people who live in nicer houses than us. We covet people who have a better income than us. And so as long as we are coveting that, transformation never takes place. It is a constant struggle that we wrestle with over and over again, because our appetite has never changed.

In order for us to overcome our temptation, that which is tempting us has to be renewed in our mind. And that's where the study of the Word of God – and again, you can study the Word of God and have all the knowledge, and your appetite never changed, because you never engaged in it.

That's the difference between somebody who's learning the language from a book versus somebody who's actually in the culture. It's night and day. So if you ever try to learn a language just from reading books, you can know the words, but all the words that you know is just a direct translation from what you know in English.

But if you really want to know the language, you have to be immersed in that culture, because there's a lot of cultural words. You kind of have to be there and smell and experience that culture in order to know what that means. So there's a night and day difference between somebody who learned the language within the culture versus somebody who learned the language from outside the culture.

You can still learn the language, but it's just not the same. So when the Bible talks about renewing our mind, He's not simply talking about, "Oh, you memorize Scripture, you know the Bible, and you did a lot of Bible study, a lot of theology, and you have never immersed yourself in the things of God." Lordship was just something that you talked about but never practiced.

So you can verbalize sanctification. You can verbalize how the world is, but it is not the pattern of your life. Our natural inclination is we run toward things that make us happy. And you can see when you are not under pressure, when there is no accountability and nobody's watching you, what you run to.

What you run to, what pleases you to do, is what is drawing you. That's what you covet. But what God desires in transformation is not just conformity and just doing the right thing because it just happens that the room that you are in is watching you and out of peer pressure, you're conforming.

But what God desires is transformation where real worship is happening from within, expressed outwardly. And so again, let me give you another example, a positive example. You know, every Thanksgiving, my father passed away eight years ago around Thanksgiving. So every Thanksgiving, what we do is we pack our bags and have lunch and we take it to the cemetery, Rose Hill.

And so some of you guys who have loved ones, like somebody really close to you who passed away, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Before my father passed away, whenever you talk about cemetery, I mean you think of dead bodies. It's not a place you're going to hang out.

Like, what are you doing Saturday? I'm going to go to the cemetery and hang out. That's weird, right? But after you have somebody, and I've had cousins and people that I knew from church who passed away before, but obviously this is the closest person that I know passed away is my father.

And so after he passed away, the cemetery completely became different. So I remember the very first Christmas that we went to go visit my dad's grave, it's probably one of the most festive places I've been to. It was weird because it transformed overnight. I went there and there was Christmas trees set up by the graves.

So families and children, grandparents, and you could tell who passed away because sometimes you'll see moms with small children around the grave and maybe the father passed away. And you could see all of that. And we thought, well, we're going to go Christmas. Who's going to be at the grave at the Christmas?

It was packed. And Thanksgiving is no different. Our family chose to take it another level because we actually have a picnic over there. We make kimbap and tteokbokki and all that. We just eat. It's a little bit weird, but we do that every Thanksgiving. And then we go and have the dinner at one of our homes.

What changed? The way that I view the cemetery now is different because now when I go there, I don't see this is where dead bodies are. I see these are someone's dads, somebody's moms, husband, children. These are loved ones who are buried here. So it doesn't seem as strange as it was before.

The only thing that changed was my perspective. My perspective changed. And so church was a place to me before I became a Christian, I hated. Because all I knew about the church was what I saw growing up. I saw the drama. I saw my parents talking in the front seat.

And I heard everything that they thought, all the stuff that was happening at church. And I said, why do these people attend church? If they hate each other, they can't stand each other. Why are they at church? And that's all I saw. And then now I'm here, I'm a third generation pastor doing things I hated.

I said, turn 18, I'm going to run from the church because I didn't see it. All I saw was from a non-Christian's perspective. And even after I became a Christian, it took a lot of sanctification for me to see the church through his eyes. For God said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

And I began to understand how much he loves his church. And when you talk about church, we're not talking about Berean community church. We're not talking about the organization. We're talking about you. We're talking about me. And there are some times when it's hard for me to be patient and my flesh comes out.

And then the word of God reminds me how much he loves you. How every single one of you was precious enough for God to send his only begotten son. Think about that. Not just the most precious thing, most precious thing that God the Father had, he sent to purchase you.

And so that changed my paradigm and it continues to change my paradigm. Every time I get impatient, it's like, well, these are not outsiders. These are not foreigners. These are my brothers that Jesus died to purchase. And so it changes my paradigm. It changes the way I look at you.

It changes the way I view the church. So when he says not to conform but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, it is our very minds that has conformed to the pattern of this world, our flesh, our thoughts, our ambitions, our hopes that needs to be challenged by the renewing of our mind through his scripture.

Why? So that we may be able to test and approve and accept the will of God. That his will is perfect. That the more we examine his will, the more we will agree with Paul that it is good, that it is acceptable, and it is perfect. That his will is perfect.

Philippians 1, 9 through 10, "It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent. That you may understand experientially what is excellent. Whatever it is that you are pursuing in light of God's will will become rubbish." Right?

Isn't that what Paul says in Philippians? In light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ that everything that he had became rubbish. If you compare that to anything else in the world, it's not rubbish. The world offers what it offers. It's not rubbish in comparison to other things.

Only in light of Christ it becomes rubbish. So an individual who is not being renewed in his mind, his thoughts, and his heart, the world will always be a temptation to you. Because your heart will always long for it. Why not? Because they seem to be happy. The world seems to, if they have more money, they seem to be happy.

You know, people say, "Oh, money doesn't make you happy." Rubbish. You know, they tell you that because it's hard to make money. But you ask people who have money, say, "You want to let it go?" Money, again, I'm not saying money itself will make you happy, but money will pay for your bills and take away some of your anxiety.

Right? If you're trying to overcome that temptation by your pure will, yeah, we're going to fail. That's why he says to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that our values, what we hope for, what we're longing for, to have an eternal perspective, that this is a place that we're just passing through, that this place is under judgment of God.

What we saw in the book of Revelation is what this world is headed to, so why invest so much here when we're just passing through? To be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Psalm 34, verse 8 says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Taste.

Embrace His will. Establish Him as Lord in your life, in time, in finance, in our youth, when we're older. Taste and see that the Lord is good, that you may be able to test and approve, which is acceptable and perfect will of God. Ephesians 5, 17, "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Understand what the will of the Lord.

Discern and prove His will. Matthew 11, 28-30, Jesus invites us, "Come to me, all who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls." How much of the turmoil inside of us is because we're between two worlds, where one is in direct contradiction with the other, and you live with this constant pressure of trying to satisfy both, and you just cannot, because God will not allow it.

He who is heavy laden and burdened, somehow you're going to find rest. The Sabbath that was broken at creation, that somehow you're going to find this Sabbath with money, you're going to find this Sabbath in marriage, somehow you're going to find this Sabbath in having children. He said, "That's a lie." Sabbath is found in Christ, in Christ alone.

Verse 30, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." You know that word for easy is literally, it means to fit well, to fit well. In other words, God created you to glorify Him. He made us in His image, and it is His glory that we fell short.

So salvation and redemption is to restore us back to what He intended for us. And so He says, "For my yoke is well fitting." His work is well fitting for us. So when we begin to function and begin to live, and the more we glorify God, the more we feel alive, if you find life in Christ, you will pursue Him.

If you find life in the world, you will pursue it. But the invitation and the promise that He gives is that if you take His yoke upon you, you will find rest. For His yoke is what you were created for, to glorify Christ. The more God is glorified in you, the more you feel alive.

That's what Jesus meant when He says He came to give life, to give this life abundantly. I'm going to read a final passage before I invite you to take some time to pray. Proverbs 3, 5-8, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." I'm going to invite the praise team to again come up, and I'm going to ask you guys again to take some time to pray.

And I want to be more specific in asking you to pray, like what to pray for. You're college students, and you're wrestling over what major, what path to take. Do you simply make decisions based upon how much money you're going to make, the brighter future? Does that have anything to do with Christ?

Those of you who are singles, you want to get married, you want to find a better job, and you have these pursuits. Are you following the pattern of this world? Are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind? Does that have anything to do with Christ and His kingdom?

Those of you who are married, now that you're married and you have somebody to run this race with, are you running? Are you just enjoying life together? But does your marriage have anything to do with pursuing Christ? Does it have anything to do with glorifying Christ? Those of you who have children, your perspective on raising kids, is it following the pattern of this world, provide what's best, give them what's best, keep them safe?

Is it the pattern of this world? Or even the ways you raise your children, even the way you value your children, is it kingdom-minded? Are we being renewed? Are we being transformed by the renewing of our mind where we have godly perspective? Let's take our time to really reflect where we are.

Are we conforming to room temperature? Are we just conforming to what's around us? Are we genuinely being transformed by the Word of God and His mind? Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us, and to be specific, to pray for ourselves, and pray the Psalmist's prayer.

Search me and know me, see if there's any hurtful ways in me, and to challenge me that I may be transformed and to live for His glory. So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.