The age-old adage “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future” may feel overused, but there is a significant truth. Our relationships with others are important markers of our identity. They don’t define us, but they influence our decisions, our habits, and our disciplines, and inform others about who we are.

At this age, having someone you can look up to and aim to be like is so important. We see leadership and adults around us in a new light - as people who have been where we’ve been and have gained some experience from it. We have new questions, and not one teacher to give us a 20-page PowerPoint for relationships, careers, and developing Godly character.

At this age, having someone you can look up to and aim to be like is so important. We see leadership and adults around us in a new light - as people who have been where we’ve been and have gained some experience from it. We have new questions, and not one teacher to give us a 20-page PowerPoint for relationships, careers, and developing Godly character.

In Psalms 137,  we find the Isrealites who are being taken away from Israel into captivity. We can picture them captured, maybe shackled to their neighbor. Leaving their home to be slaves in a foreign land. It’s a pretty depressing picture. And to add to it, their captors are insisting that they “sing those happy songs.” But the Isrealites have hung up their harps and musical instruments. Tonight, we’re going to consider that struggle: how do we worship when everything is going wrong?

Today is going to be a deep dive into Romans 12:1, really pulling apart some of the individual words of the passage. While this verse on its own is really powerful, it starts with a “therefore,” which suggests to us that it is in response to a previous thought. We’re going to use this prompt to look into the context of the verses before it, and if you have time, to also go back into the context of sacrifices in the Old Testament. Hopefully this conversation will help us as Chrsitians to reform our ideas about what Worship looks like in our lives - not just during a service.

Worship is our outward response to an internal revelation of who God is.

We believe a blessed life is a generous life. As followers of Christ, one of the distinctives of Christianity is charity, the most recognized verse in all of the Bible, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He GAVE. When you become a disciple of Jesus, generosity should be a byproduct of your intimacy with Christ. The Church needs to have a generosity that grabs the attention of the World. We must give generously, cheerfully, and faithfully.

Servanthood is the willingness to humble yourself and act for the benefit of someone else in the name of Christ. Serving is both action and attitude. It’s understanding I will act and live as a servant of others. We don’t serve because we have to, we’ve been set free. When you wake up to the reality of all you have been saved from and all you have been set free from or kept from, it is from that understanding that we jump at the opportunity to serve one another.

Offenses come in all shapes and sizes and whether it’s something that was said to you or about you or it was something that wasn’t said to you. Maybe it was something said to someone else that you wish was said to you. There may even be offenses taken not from something said to you, but done to you or done to a loved one. Whatever the offense is that we’ve taken up it can be a load to carry. We’ve all been there and you may even be there currently, and that’s ok, but it’s not ok to stay there. Offensives are unavoidable, but you don’t have to stay offended. You can choose to forgive.

Offenses come in all shapes and sizes and whether it’s something that was said to you or about you or it was something that wasn’t said to you. Maybe it was something said to someone else that you wish was said to you. There may even be offenses taken not from something said to you, but done to you or done to a loved one. Whatever the offense is that we’ve taken up it can be a load to carry. We’ve all been there and you may even be there currently, and that’s ok, but it’s not ok to stay there. Offensives are unavoidable, but you don’t have to stay offended. You can choose to forgive.

LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD, We don’t love with words, but with deeds. True, godly love is not a matter of talk, but of action. It is more than kind words, and loving feelings, true love is demonstrated through active compassion that meets real needs in tangible ways. Christians who truly want to reach others for Christ must realize that they might have to meet people’s physical needs before some will be open to receiving help for their spiritual needs.

LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD, We don’t love with words, but with deeds. True, godly love is not a matter of talk, but of action. It is more than kind words, and loving feelings, true love is demonstrated through active compassion that meets real needs in tangible ways. Christians who truly want to reach others for Christ must realize that they might have to meet people’s physical needs before some will be open to receiving help for their spiritual needs.