Adrian Rogers - Discovering Your Ministry
Would you take God's precious, holy, inerrant, infallible Word, the Bible, and turn to one of the great, great chapters in that book, Romans chapter 12. And look up here and let me ask you a question: Why do we exist? Have you ever wondered? "For the purpose of magnifying Jesus through worship and the Word, moving believers in Jesus toward maturity and ministry, and making Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations". That's why we exist. And right in the middle of that statement is a statement that says we are to be, "Moving believers in Jesus toward maturity and ministry".
Now that means you, brother. That means you, sister. You are to be being moved toward maturity. That is, you are to grow up! And then you're to find a place of service. Now sometimes we think that God divides people in a more artificial way than He does, between laity and clergy. Clergy refers to those of us who are the professionals and the laity refers to those who are in the pew, who, in the minds of some, don't do much. Somebody asked a little girl what is the difference between the laity and the clergy and the little girl said, "Well, the clergy are paid for being good, the laity are good for nothing".
Now, the problem is, I think a professional clergy and a good-for-nothing laity, both of them are an abomination to God. We're in the business of serving the Lord, and God has given to every one of us a ministry. As a matter of fact, we're going to read in Romans chapter 12, the first couple of verses, about what He calls your reasonable service. Do you know what that literally means in the Greek language? A literal interpretation is "your logical ministry," your logical ministry. That's literally what it refers to. It's logical that God would put you into the ministry.
Now, so many Christians are just floundering in their Christian life. I mean, they don't have any true fulfillment. And they're wanting to know, "What does God want me to do? If God has a ministry for me, what is my ministry? I don't want to just sit, soak, and sour. I want to serve. But frankly, Pastor, I don't have a ministry, I wouldn't know what I'm equipped to do, and if I found that out I wouldn't know how to do it or what to do". And may I tell you it's time we discovered our ministry, not only as a church, but as individuals. The hour, friend, in which we're living is desperate. This is a desperate day. Militant atheism is on the march. We need something, we need a revival that cannot be explained by philosophy or psychology or promotion or propaganda.
And I'll tell you something else. Moral standards have toppled; I've never seen anything like it. Today we have movie stars who have faces like angels and morals like alley cats. They're the ones that are setting the standard for our children. We have glamorized adultery; we have liquorized society and humanized God. And yet, in the churches, there're so many people who sit unconcerned and apathetic. I'm telling you, the hour is desperate and the hour is ripe.
Do you know what I'm seeing? I'm seeing today, in spite of all of the debauchery and sin, an awakening hunger. There is a turning to spiritual things. People have tried sin and found out that they've been feeding on husks and sawdust and it's all just a mouthful of ashes and they're asking one more time, "Is Jesus Christ the answer? Is this book true? Is there hope in the Lord Jesus Christ"? And there's a strange new hunger in the land. The hour is desperate, the hour is ripe, and the hour is late. We're living in the last days of this dispensation, I truly believe, and the sands of time are running low, and we're in a race against sin, against Satan, against self, and we need to find out what is the ministry that our Lord has for us.
Now I want to give you four principles, and these are four principles for discovering your ministry. I'm not talking about going to pastor a church somewhere, but your ministry in your neighborhood, in your business, in your club, in your family, whatever the ministry is. There are four principles we're going to find right here in Romans chapter 12, and they're very easy to remember. I may give you a test at the close of the service here to see if you got these four simple things down. There're four principles.
Principle number one is the principle of Lordship. All right, did you get that? Write it down, the principle of Lordship. Look if you will in Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," remember that literally means your logical ministry, "and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God". Now that's what you want to know, you want to know the will of God for your life.
Now look at this, let's break it down. First of all: the request. Notice how it begins in Romans 12:1, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren". Now it's almost as if Jesus Christ is on His knees, through the apostle Paul, praying to us. So many times we pray to Him, but here's God's request to us. "I beseech you". Now we're beseeching God to do something, but God is also beseeching us to do something. Have you ever wondered why God may not answer your prayer? I wonder if you've answered His request. Have you presented yourself? You see, if we don't hear God's Word, why should God hear our word? And so first of all, I want you to notice the request. And then I want you to notice the reasons. Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by," because of, "the mercies of God".
Now if you think that it's something unusual or something difficult for you to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, you've never seen the mercies of God. Listen to me, friend, when we were rebels, sin cursed and darkened, on our way to Hell, God in mercy sought us, He has saved us, He has secured us. That's what we've been talking about up, in the first eleven chapters, of God's saving ministry. But He calls that here "the mercies of God". Listen, folks, He came to save us, He died to save us, He rose to save us, He lives to save us, and soon He's coming to take us home. All of this is the mercy of God. We are His, we are not our own. We are bought with a price.
Let me tell you what consecration is. Listen carefully; if you don't hear anything else, I want you to hear this. Consecration is not giving God anything; it is taking your hands off of that which already belongs to Him. Did you hear that? You are not your own, the Bible tells us in First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 20, "You are bought with a price". Now the request, "I beseech you". The reason, "the mercies of God". The requirement, "that ye present your bodies," that is, you present yourself. He's not going to make you do it. There are no draftees in our Lord's army. Every one of them is a volunteer. You are to present yourself a living sacrifice, that's your requirement.
Now notice, notice this sacrifice. First of all, it is personal. You present yourself. I can't do it for you; you can't do it for me. You don't need to ask, "Lord, what would You have Adrian to do"? I don't need to ask Lord, "What would You have these to do out there"? But each one of us must say, "Lord, today, I present myself". It is personal. And let me say this: you present yourself a sacrifice. Do you know what a sacrifice was? That was an animal that was slain and put on an altar. Are you willing to present yourself a sacrifice today? The reason many of you don't have a ministry and the reason that many don't know the will of God and you don't know the power of God and you don't know the anointing of God, you're not willing to die. You're not willing to be a living sacrifice.
An altar is a place to die on. Do you know what that means? That means that when you die you have no more rights of yourself. Your wife, your husband, your children, your car, your home, your ambitions, your education, your business, it all belongs to Him. God doesn't want you take Him into your business as your partner. He's your boss. He owns it. I mean, it is His. And you're to do it "holy". H-O-L-Y is related to the word W-H-O-L-L-Y, which means completely, totally, completely. You can't just have a half a sacrifice. God will not accept half a sacrifice. You are to present yourself a living sacrifice, holy, and that means acceptable unto Him.
There was an evangelist of yesteryear whose name was Wilbur Chapman, who was talking to William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army. William Booth was mightily used of God. And Chapman asked William Booth, he said, "General Booth, God has used you in a great way. What is the secret of God's use of you"? And Old General Booth moved the hair out of his face and looked through those piercing eyes, and here's what he said, "God has had all there was of me. God has had all there was of me. There have been men of greater brains, greater opportunities than I, but from the day I had a vision of what God could do with poor old London, I made up my mind that God would have all there is of William Booth". Boy, when I read that, I had to ask, "God, do You have all there is of Adrian Rogers"?
Now, don't you ask, "God, do You have all there is of Adrian Rogers"? I'll take care of that. You ask, "Does God have all there is of me"? Ask it. Are you just playing church? You come as a Sunday morning bench warmer and think you've done God a wild service. Romans 12:1, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice". Personal, slain, whole, and bound. Did you know that this freshly slain animal would be covered with blood and would be very slippery?
So when they would put the animal on the sacrifice, they had two flesh hooks that would bind it to the altar, into that flesh, to keep it from sliding off the altar. Do you find that when you come to a service like this and somebody will preach, you'll say, "Yes, Lord, I want to present my body a living sacrifice," and that lasts until you get home and after Sunday dinner, and you've forgotten all about it? I'll tell you why. There are two flesh hooks. You know what they are? Devotion and discipline, devotion and discipline, that will keep you on the altar. You know what's wrong with most American Christians today? The reason they don't have a ministry, the reason they don't know the will of God, the reason that they're not used of God, I'll tell you one reason: self, self. They don't want to get bound down. They don't want to be a sacrifice.
Now they want the blessings, they come to the church and say, "Lord, bless me; Lord, entertain me; Lord, amuse me; Lord, inform me". But they don't want to be on that altar, bound down. There are some of you here today who ought to be members of this church or some church, but you're not. You know what you are? You're a drop in, drop out type of person. You say, "You know, if I come down there and go down there and put my name on the membership roll and get involved, man, I might want to be away for a few Sundays. I might want to do this. I don't want to be bound down. I don't want to be bound down".
That's the reason you don't join a church. That's the reason you won't make a commitment to the Love Offering, you don't want to be bound. That's the reason that some of you won't take a Sunday School class. Because if you want to go to the lake on Sunday, you want to go to the lake on Sunday, you don't want to be bound. Well I'll tell you one thing about a sacrifice, friend, it's bound to the altar; it's bound to the altar. We have a take it or leave it type of Christianity, and we wonder why we do not know the will of God in our lives. And I'll tell you something else, when that sacrifice is presented willingly, when it is a whole sacrifice, when it is put on the altar, when it is bound to the altar, do you know what happens? It's consumed, consumed.
Do you know what worship is? Worship is putting yourself on the altar and letting God consume you. Has He ever consumed you? I mean, till there's none of you and it's all of Him; that He has consumed you! That is worship! Letting Him consume the sacrifice, and there is an incense, a savor, that goes up as we're presented upon that altar. Now you want to find a ministry? You want to know God's will for your life? You want to know what is God's logical ministry, reasonable service? Well I can sum everything up I've said by one word. It is lordship. Let me tell you what's going to happen when you present yourself this way. What is going to be the result? I've talked to you about the reasons and the requirement.
What is the result? Well look at it here in Romans 12 verse 2, "And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed," the first result will be transformation, "by the renewing of your mind," the second will be information or revelation. Those two things are going to take place; there's going to be a change in you. Be transformed. This word "transformed" is the word we get our English word "metamorphosis" from. It comes from two words: "meta," which means a change, and "morphis," which means a form. It is a change of form. You will be transformed. You will be metamorphized when you do this. When you present yourself upon that altar and the fire consumes you, then you are transformed. You're transformed. You're not conformed, squeezed into the mold of this world. But you are transformed.
Now what is a metamorphosis? Well, when you took biology in junior high school, you learned that word; one of the bigger words you ever learned was metamorphosis. I can remember almost like it was yesterday, learning about that word, metamorphosis. It just intrigued me. You take a caterpillar who crawls up into a cocoon. And he goes through a what? A metamorphosis, and he comes out a beautiful monarch butterfly. Now, what is the nature of that caterpillar? It is a monarch butterfly. The inner nature comes to the surface. That's what a metamorphosis is. This same word metamorphosis or transformed, was used of Jesus when He was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Remember reading there in Matthew chapter 17 and verse 2 that Jesus took His disciples apart up into the exceeding high mountain, Peter, James, and John. And then the Bible says, "And there He was, He was transfigured". Friend, that word "transfigured" is the same word that is used "transformed" right here. Now what does it mean, transfigured? Well, Jesus, had you seen Jesus walking down the streets, you would not have recognized Him as unusual. I mean, you would've walked right past Him. Judas had to point Him out so they could take Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. There were, the Bible says in Isaiah 53 verse 2, "When we see Him there's no form nor comeliness nor beauty that we should desire Him".
As I've said before, don't let these people who paint pictures of Jesus fool you. They're just using imagination, especially to have one of these big round things behind his head like a dinner plate. No, that's not the way He was. No, I'm telling you, folks. He was a common, ordinary person. And if you saw Him, you would not have picked Him out of the crowd, that's very clear. There was nothing that distinct about Him. But on that Mount of Transfiguration, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 17 and verse 2 that, "He began to glow like the sun and His garments," His clothes, "became white as snow and there was a radiance about Him".
Now what was the inner nature of Jesus? Deity! And there He was metamorphized; the inner nature came to the surface. What is the inner nature of a Christian? Jesus. Now what the devil is trying to do is to stuff Jesus in. He doesn't want Jesus to come out. So he's trying to "conform" you so you won't be transformed, metamorphized, so your inner nature will not come to the surface. The inner nature of a Christian is Jesus! Jesus. And when you present yourself a living sacrifice, then you are transformed, metamorphized, the inner nature, which is Jesus, comes to the surface and people see Jesus. I want people to see Jesus in me. Don't you want people to see Jesus in you? Don't you want Jesus?
The little boy says to his Daddy, said, "Dad, is Jesus bigger than I am"? Dad said, "Well, yeah, son, I guess He is". He said, "Well then, if Jesus is in me, He'll stick out, won't He"? "He sure will," if you'll let Him. He will stick out! And people will see the Lord Jesus; the inner nature of a Christian is Jesus. Now, when there comes that transformation, then there comes that revelation. Romans 12 verses 2 and 3, "Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," now watch this, "that ye may prove," that is that you may know, "what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God".
And then look if you will as he continues to talk in this same train, verse 3, "For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly," underscore the word think, "more highly than he ought to think," underscore the word think again, "but to think soberly," underscore the word think for the third time, "according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith". Now, listen, when you're metamorphized, you have the mind of Christ. No longer your mind, it is the mind of Jesus, that's your inner nature.
Now why did God renew your mind? So you could think with it, so you could think with it. So after He talks about renewing of your mind He says, "Think, think, think! Don't be afraid to use your mind; be afraid not to use your mind. You have the mind of Christ". The will of God is found between your ears when you get right with God. You can think, not in sinful exaggeration, more highly than you ought to think. Not in false humiliation, saying, "I don't have a gift," because He says, "I say by the grace given unto me, to every man that the grace given to every man that is among you".
Not in sinful exaggeration, false humiliation, but in sober estimation. What are my gifts? We're going to talk more about that later on. But your ministry is going to be related to your gifts. God has dealt to every man a measure of faith. Now, folks, are you following me? Listen, the first thing, therefore, is lordship. When you present yourself to Him, a living sacrifice, you're transformed, you get the mind of Christ, you are able to use the mind of Christ, and you're able to make assessments that you could never make before, and you think, not with human rationality, not with human intellect, not with human intuition, but with divine guidance you are transformed, you have now the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Second principle now. First one, Lordship. Second principle is membership. Look if you will now, Romans 12 verses 4 and 5, "For as we have many members in one body," that is, your body sitting there has many members, eyes, ears, nose, feet, hands, lung, liver, and what else. All right? "As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office," that is my hand doesn't do what my eye does, my eye doesn't do what my ears do, my ears don't do what my feet do, and so forth, they, "have not the same office, so we, being many," all of us here, we being many, listen, "are one body".
The church is not an organization with Jesus Christ the president. The church is an organism with Jesus Christ the head. He is the head. "We are one body, in Christ, and everyone, members one of another". I belong to you and you belong to me because we both belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me, folks, you want to know why many of you don't know your ministry? Because you've tried to find it apart from the body of Christ. What arrogance, what conceit, what pride! Don't you understand? His Lordship and our membership, we need one another! To say that you don't need other Christians is sheer pride, consummate arrogance.
Now, God made us different. Like our bodies, we don't all have the same office. Why did God make us different? God made us different that He might make us one. God made it where I'm not supposed to be able to get along without you; you're not supposed to be able to get along without me, any more than my eyes could get along without the rest of my body, or my ears could get along without the rest of my body, or my hands could get along without the rest of my body, or my feet could get along without the rest of my body or all of this could get along without my liver or my lungs. And sometimes, parts of our body that seem more obvious and more needful are not the most valuable. Your right arm.
I hear people say, "I'd give my right arm for this, I'd give my right arm for that". Well, that'd be a big sacrifice, but friend I'll tell you what, I'd rather give up my right arm than my liver. Now how many times have you waked up in the morning and said, "Thank you, Lord, for my liver". I mean you don't think about it. You'd think about if it weren't there. A young man, Keith, came into my office as he comes every Sunday morning, and I love this young man. He's behind the scenes up there somewhere, you don't even know where he is, you can't see him right now. Keith's one of the most godly, dedicated, gifted young man in sound and electronics in the whole wide world. He serves Jesus by serving you.
Now you hear me, but you wouldn't hear me without Keith. You wouldn't hear me. But you don't think of Keith, you think of Adrian. I'll tell you, we've got thousands of people who are serving Jesus behind the scenes to make this the wonderful church that it is. And folks, we don't all have the same office. We're different, but God made us different that God might make us one, and God made us where we could not be independent one of another. And you want to find your ministry? Listen to me very carefully. You're never going to find your ministry outside the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Well, I don't believe in the organized church".
Friend, they ought to will your brain to the Smithsonian. What do you believe in? The disorganized church? The church is a body. Whoever heard of a body didn't have organs? Whoever heard of a body that wasn't organized? Of course there's an organized church! Thank God for it. God made us different that He might make us one, and God made us an organization in an organism. And He's the head, the Lord Jesus. And that's where you're going to find your ministry.
Now here's the third principle. Are you tracking with me? First one was what? Lordship. Second one was what? Membership. Now, here's the third one. The third one is stewardship. Lordship, membership, stewardship. Look if you will in Romans 12 verses 6 to 8, "Having then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us". And that word "grace" is charisma, the charisma, the "charis" that is given unto us, "whether prophesy, let us prophesy, according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation, or he that giveth let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, let". Or, let's just stop right there. Now right here He mentions seven basic Christian gifts.
Now every Christian is charismatic; that is, every Christian has grace gifts. That doesn't mean that he is going to do miracles or speak in tongues. That's not what the word charismatic means. It means simply that you have received a grace gift. Here are seven areas of stewardship right here. Let's see where you fit in, because, you see, God gives you a gift. Listen to me. Don't you, don't you dare, don't you dare insult God by saying God can't use you. What an insult, what an insult to the God who crafted you, formed you, saved you, and gave you a spiritual gift! God has given you a spiritual gift.
Now, if God has given you a gift, then you're a steward over it. You've got to use that gift. Now let's see where you might fit in. For example, he mentions in Romans 12 verse 6 prophecy. Well, what is, what is prophecy? That's the ability to speak for God. First Corinthians 14:3, "He that speaketh unto men unto prophecy speaketh unto edification, exhortation, and comfort". Very frankly, I believe that's the gift that God has given me, and it could be used in preaching, it could be used in jail services, it could be used in mission work, it could be used in Vacation Bible School. Maybe that is your gift. If it is, have at it.
Well, you say, "It's not mine". Then he mentions ministry. Look in Romans 12 verse 7. The word "ministry" means service; it's the word we get our word deacon from; it means to be a servant. You could work in general church work, you could work in the activities program here, you could do typing, you could do ushering, you could do coaching. And thank God for those in the nursery this morning, say "Amen". These are those who are serving. You say, "Well that's not glamorous like performing miracles". Thank God they're there doing it. And then there's the ministry of teaching in Romans 12:7.
Now you say, "Well, can I teach"? Yes, you could teach perhaps in Sunday School if that's your gift, in training and missionary organizations, neighborhood Bible studies, Vacation Bible School, backyard Bible studies. There're so many ways that you could use the gift of teaching. You say, "That's not my gift". All right, then he mentions another gift, exhortation. What is exhortation in Romans 12 verse 8? That is to encourage people in the Lord. That's the thing that makes you say, "Hallelujah for Jesus"! Thank God, that's getting people fired up. You can use that in the music ministry, and many of you ought to be up in the choir. You could use that in visitation. You could use that in soul winning. You could use that in counseling.
Most counselors have the gift of exhortation. You could use that in hospital ministry to encourage people. Then in Romans 12 verse 8 there's the gift of giving. Now all of us have the obligation to give, just as we all have the obligation to exhort people. But some of us have the gift of giving, that is, the ability to make money, to see needs and to give, and to give over and above and to give sacrificially. And this church is a testimony to those, thank God, who have the gift of giving, because we have many folks who don't even take the obligation of giving. "He put a dollar in the plate and sang with might and main: 'When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain.'"
There're so many who are just like that. They think that they just come and tip God. And it's these people who have the gift of giving that make up for the lack of so many others who don't even do what they're supposed to do. And then in Romans 12:8 there's the gift of ruling. That doesn't mean bossing; it has the idea of organization. It deals with leadership, it deals with church staff, it deals with committees. You could be a coach and have this gift. It deals with organizing. Then there's the gift of mercy in Romans 12 verse 8. Look at it. Thank God for those who have the gift of mercy, hospital visitation; benevolence, counseling. All of these people who are in this probably have the gift of mercy.
Bill Gothard illustrated all these gifts, I think, wonderfully. He just imagined a dinner party, and the dessert is being served and the dessert slips off the tray. Let me show you how all these different gifts would work together. The person who has the gift of prophecy might say, "You know, that's what happens when you're not careful". A person who has the gift of mercy says, "Hey, hey, don't feel bad. That could've happened to anybody". The person who has the gift of service says, "Hey, let me help you to clean it up". The person who has the gift of teaching says, "Well, you know it fell because it was too heavy on one side". The person who has the gift of exhortation says, "Hey, let's serve the dessert next time with the meal". The person who has the gift of giving says, "I'll buy a new dessert".
The gift, the person who has the gift of administration says, "Jim, you get a mop. Sue, please help to pick it up. Mary, you go fix some more dessert". Now, now look, all of that just happens in the church. You see, all of those are needful, all of those are necessary, all of those are valid. So, you're going to find your ministry. Look, first of all, Lordship, secondly, membership, thirdly, stewardship! Find out what your gift is. Well, you say, "How am I going to find out what your gift is"? Go back! Think! Think! Think! But that won't work unless everything's on the altar and you have the mind of Christ. That won't work unless everything's on the altar and you have the mind of Christ. All right, now here's the last thing. All right, are you tracking with me?
All right, and that's the principle of fellowship. Look if you will now in Romans 12 verses 9 through 13, look at it right here. "Let love be without dissimulation," that means without hypocrisy, "let love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good, be kindly, affectioned one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer". Notice that phrase, "serving the Lord".
Well, I had a lot to say about fellowship, but I think we said the most needful thing already. If you'll put those four things together, now listen to me very carefully. If you'll put those four things together: lordship, membership, stewardship; "Lord help me to find my gift and use it," and fellowship, in a spirit of love, friend, I'll tell you what, not only will God use you, God'll wear you out.. You have been called into the ministry. There is something that God wants you to do. Now the problem with many of us is we're in a rut. And then we've just kind of taken things for granted.
I went to England one time, went to London, and like some of you, I went to the Tower of London. I wanted to see the Crown Jewels. There was one jewel that I specially wanted to see. I asked the guide about it, and I made it my point to see that one jewel, because I'd read about it. It was the Kohi-Noor diamond. When the Koh-i-Noor diamond was found, it was 186 carats, incredible! As a matter of fact, they said the value of the Koh-i-Noor diamond was worth one half of the daily expenses of the whole world; the Koh-i-Noor diamond. This diamond was passed round about. Finally it ended up in India, under the aegis of a Punjab prince who was ten years old. He gave this diamond to Queen Victoria, the queen of England, as a ten-year-old boy.
Later on, this Punjab prince grew to be a man. He went to the Tower of London, or where the jewels were kept at that time, and asked to see the Koh-i-Noor diamond. They brought it out. He said, "Would you place it in my hand"? They thought, "Uh, oh, he now realizes as a grown man what that diamond was worth". But they could do nothing else. They took it and placed it in his hand. Then he turned to the queen and this is what he said, "When I was a lad, a boy, I gave you this diamond. I did not know what it was worth. Now as a man, fully realizing what it is worth, I want to give it to you, my queen, one more time". I read that, I thought, "Oh, oh, that's what I've been trying to say so often".
Many of us, many of us gave our hearts to Jesus, but friend when we grow in the grace and knowledge, when we see all that Jesus did, when we think of the mercies of God, I think some of us want to say, "Lord Jesus, I gave You my life as a child, I meant it. But now, my Lord, realizing more about You and more about me, here, Lord, I give You my life anew and afresh". That's what I want to do. In these desperate days we need to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Then we'll prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Would you say, "But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here Lord, I give myself away, 'tis all that I can do".
Father, I pray that there will be another level of commitment to You in our hearts and lives, Lord, in these desperate but opportunistic days in which we live.
Now while heads are bowed, if you've never asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, would you like to be saved? Would you pray:
Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me; I'm a sinner and my sin deserves judgment, but now I receive You this holy moment as my Lord and Savior. I give my life to You. Forgive my sin, save me, Lord Jesus.
And if you pray that prayer, pray this prayer.
Now, Lord Jesus, because You died for me, I'll live for You. And because You hung naked on a cross for me in public, I will make this public, I will not be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen.