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Devotional Series: Romans Chapter 12, Part.1 (UNCUT) | #SharpPodcast

• Jay & Frank

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Welcome to our Uncut Devotional Series on the book of Romans! In this episode, we dive deep into Romans chapter 12, exploring what Paul teaches about the power of the Gospel, faith, and living for Christ. No edits, no filters—just raw conversation and Scripture study. Perfect for anyone wanting to grow deeper in their understanding of God’s Word.

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Welcome And What We Do

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Sharp Podcast. I'm your co-host Jay. And I'm Frank. And we are back. Grab your Bibles. Today is for devotional, and we're going to be covering the entire chapter of Romans 12. We're going to be reading out of the NIV version. If you don't know what we do here, we basically explain, talk about, meditate, evaluate, discern, investigate the scriptures. And how the scriptures are supposed to lead our lives practically. How we should interact with people. How we should love our parents. How we should honor our friends, our co-workers, our bodies, our minds. And I promise you, Romans 12 has a lot to say about all that.

Prayer Before The Word

SPEAKER_01

So let's pray before we get into it. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We honor you. We know you've given us another day of life and breath, and we don't take it for granted. We know that you have plenty to say to us, plenty to give us wisdom and insight into what you have given in your word. I pray that you share that with us today. If you don't speak to us, what is life? We cannot live without with bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's get it. How many verses are there in Romans 12?

SPEAKER_00

Take a look here. 21. So okay. You like to read the first 10? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Perfect. First. I'll do yeah, first 10.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

You know, if you could do me a favor, we don't even have to read through it quickly. Yeah. If you stop somewhere. Alright, we'll just read and stop. You want to stop somewhere and you just want to go ahead, go ahead. We'll do it a little different today.

SPEAKER_00

Alright, let's grab your Bible. NIV, Romans 12.

Romans 12:1 Word By Word

SPEAKER_00

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. So that's where we're gonna have to stop. That's a that's a loaded verse. We're gonna have to stop.

SPEAKER_01

That's a loaded verse. I mean, and I and I just want everybody listening, like I know everybody who talks to me about the Bible, they say, I just don't read that often because I don't understand. I just don't read that often because I don't get it. Well, just take it word by word. Therefore. Anytime you see a therefore, find out what it's there for. Okay. It is therefore. What's the first few words? I urge you. Urge meaning I'm pleading, I'm begging. I want you to have a sense of urgency. It means it should gravitate your immediate attention. It's an emergency. I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the view of God's mercy, what's God's mercy in a simple definition? My personal, if I had to explain it to a child, I would say God's mercy is time. So I urge you, it's an emergency that in the light of God's mercy, in the amount of time God's given you on the earth, to what? Offer. To offer. Give. Now, let's just stop there, right? Because so many of us are so used to receiving. We want to get, get, get. God is saying, stop. With a sense of urgency, it's time for you, with the time you have left on the earth, give. Yeah. What does God want you to give? Your body.

SPEAKER_00

Your body. But you I like the offer, is it's something you gotta do. He's not gonna do it for you. And I remember, no, I remember in Bible college, one of our professors said the one that God created everything, he is creator, but there's one thing he does not have, and it's your heart. That's right. And so that's what I see when I read this. It's he's saying in light and in view of God's mercy, I urge you to offer your bodies. You you need to give it to him. I think too many times we uh live our lives, just how you said, receiving and not wanting to give anything. You know, we cannot come to the acceptance of what Christ did for us on the cross until we get rid of ourselves, right? And realize we need a savior. We need a savior, right? So, right there is a killing and a dying to yourself, and realizing, man, I I need I need some help. Right. And so that is um an opportunity where you offer, right? You're you're trying to you're accepting Christ. But in this verse, I like how he's telling them you we need to live as a living sacrifice, and so you have to offer your body, and it's got to be a living sacrifice. So that means that what we're offering God is gonna be continual. So it's not a living sacrifice. It's not it's not the culture we live in where we go to a church service every week, and then every week we go to that altar and we ask for prayer and we ask for uh to accept Christ again every Sunday, every Sunday. That's not what it is. This is a continual offering

Your Body As The Hardest Offering

SPEAKER_00

of your life. Day after day, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. And it's gotta be what sounds exhausting, no? Well, in your strength, yes. But when you give it to him, say that again.

SPEAKER_01

You say what?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's exhausting when you gotta strive on your own when you do it in your strength. But look, living sacrifice that's holy and pleasing to God. Right. Holy is a word we don't even dare you say it in this world. Right. Right? Because holiness is what? Being set apart. Being set apart. And we developed this new condition called FOMO where it's the fear of missing out. So you can't be holy and worry about missing out.

SPEAKER_01

So it's foreign to set apart, is by definition, missing out. Yeah. So you should be missing out on that. To be holy. You ever like I'm I'm scared I'm gonna miss out. God's like, you should be missing out. You should. You can miss out on that. Whatever they're doing over there, you you definitely want to miss out on that. No, I mean, I agree. It's a it's a consistent daily living sacrifice. It's so I mean, I I want to talk about the word urge, but before I do that, I just think it's so hilarious that there's an oxymoron living and sacrifice. Yeah, usually people see a sacrifice of something dead or going to be killed. But he says it's living,

Holiness Means Missing Out

SPEAKER_01

it's hard to understand, yeah, probably for some people, because if you look at the Old Testament or anybody who did anything in the Bible back in the day, sacrifices were normal. And I'm talking about sacrificing animals, goats, sheep, birds. They would put them on an altar, they would kill them, they would smoke them, they would sprinkle their blood. And so, but God wants us apparently to do that while we're living. In other words, it's a metaphor. Don't go put yourself on an altar and say, here I go. You know, no, don't do that. Don't do that, don't do that. Living sacrifice, He wants you to live and sacrifice yourself. How do you do that? It's obvious that there's a lot of things we, you and I, want to do with our bodies that God does not approve of. As a matter of fact, He doesn't approve of it so much. I'm curious as to why Paul has to use the word I urge you. Yeah. Anytime somebody uses the word, this is a sense of urgency. People email me that kind of word all the time. ASAP, as soon as possible. Urgent, all caps. That means you better look at this real quick. Okay, this is important. Your butt is on the line, your job is on the line. Look at this email. We see that in the Bible. That should stick out like a sore thumb. I urge you. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. It should be going off in your head. Whoa. Why is it that our bodies, God is gravitating his attention with a sense of urgency?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know the complete reasoning why, but I'll give you one reason. It's probably one of the most difficult things you're gonna offer God in your entire life. Is your body. He didn't say your mind, he didn't say your words, he didn't say, you know, your money, but your body, I think, is one of the biggest things to overcome. Why? Because it's always with you. Yeah. You can't outrun this, baby. You go to work, you gotta take it with you. Imagine you had a friend that was detrimental to your mental health. I mean, they complained, they brought up your traumas, they told you how bad of a person you were, they followed you and reminded you all the time how dumb and incompetent you are. They made fun of you. And that friend had to follow you everywhere you went. You guys were handcuffed together. Jeez. How miserable would life be? Very. That's your body.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's good. Handcuffed to you. Gonna try to bring you down every chance it gets. That's good. Therefore, Paul says that second person you got, Frank, that Frank number two that you got, handcuffed to you, George, that George number two, you know, that George that wants to curse people out and fight and sleep around and drink and use all these different vices and pleasures that displease God, that George is gonna be handcuffed to you, and you have got to sacrifice him every day. Sacrifice meaning I gotta tell him no, shut up, sit your butt down, you're not in charge. Yeah. No? Yeah. Is that making sense? I hope it makes

Freedom From Sin Is A Choice

SPEAKER_01

sense to y'all.

SPEAKER_00

It is because we might not even read anything else. I know. Well, let me say let me say this though. Because I think people listening to that, they would say, Oh, well, um yeah, I have this body, right? And I'm not getting rid of this body until the day I die and I'm with Christ. But then they know that our bodies are flesh and cause us to sin. And so people, I think, well, because of this is what I've noticed being in the faith, no matter if they're Christian and how long they've been a Christian, they think that, well, I'm human, I'm gonna sin.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

But you know, in in Romans, I think we already read it because it's Romans 6, 7, and 8. He talks about no, you are living life in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has filled you, and this is how you live life now. So you're no longer a slave to your sin, but you're a slave to Christ. Okay. Meaning you are gonna live in this body, and how you said, you're gonna have to sacrifice it, you're gonna have to die to it, you're gonna have to tell it no, you're not gonna let it lead you. But yes, there are gonna be times where you slip up and you make a mistake and you sin because we are not perfect.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But Paul's very clear you should not be living your life in sin, habitual sin, because you are no longer a slave to sin.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

So you cannot continue to sin and sin and sin and sin and even sin in the same thing and say, Oh, I'm free in Christ. No, you're not, you're a slave to your sin. Right. And the truth is you can live life free from that. But it's it's by this living as a whole, living, being a living sacrifice. That means your flesh is no longer in charge, but the spirit is leading you, and you gotta submit to the spirit daily. I think that's important to mention. Can I go to also as you're thinking, look at what he says at the end. He says, This is your true and proper worship. So speaking in tongues is not a true and proper worship. No, I'm just saying, like sometimes, yeah, we think that everything else is proper worship, right? Playing the guitar, yeah, proper singing, all that. But the proper worship is what? Living your bodies are living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That's proper worship. He doesn't want your your nasty little offering that you gave him that was left over or sinful. You think he wants you back in the Old Testament? Did the scriptures say, oh, go grab your goat that's uh missing a leg and lost his eye, malnutrition, and sacrifice him. No, he wants the best. That's proper worship.

SPEAKER_01

That is proper worship, giving our best. So before someone is born again, they are what the Bible would call slaves to sin and death. Slaves, mean I mean, just think of any movie with slaves in it. Yeah, they are enslaved, they are ruled over by, commanded by, by a master. By a master. That master tells them when to sleep, how to sleep, where to sleep, when to eat, how to eat, where to eat. And that slave has no choice but to obey. So now when someone gets born again, they've been set free from that master. So imagine taking the slave out of that environment. And now the only difference between the free man and the slave man is that it's not that they can't do what the slave does, it's that they have a choice now whether they want to do it or not. I see what you're saying. This is the freedom. So now that we're no longer slaves to sin, it doesn't mean we're not capable of sinning. I'm capable of sinning. The only difference is now I have this choice, this freedom. Yeah, I'm not captivated by sin anymore. It used to be something I enjoyed, it used to be something I pursued. Yeah, it used to be something I felt obligated to do. It came like second nature, but now Christ has changed who I am, and now it's like, do I want to do that? I don't think so. I got an option. Yeah. And back in the day, I'm not gonna lie, when I read about the Israelites being let out of Egypt, it doesn't seem like they had an option, they were just prone. Yeah. Just imagine seeing the stuff they saw, the sea split open. Just imagine seeing darkness fall over an entire nation except where you lived. Imagine everybody's firstborn dying except in your house. Yeah, imagine frogs by the millions entering every house except for your house. And you're still not committed. They're slaves to sin. It don't matter what happens, you're a slave to sin. And so I just think that's fascinating that God is truly knows that the miracles he does on the outside of us is nowhere near as amazing as the miracle he has done on the inside of us, which is to make us free from sin. It's fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_00

It is. That's good. That is juicy.

Romans 12:2 Resist The World

SPEAKER_00

Let's go to verse two. Let's do it. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Okay, number one, Paul's saying, give.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, do this. And then number two, he's saying, do not do this. You do this, give your body, and then here's number two, you do not do this. Give your body, do not conform to the pattern of this world. He's giving you a to-do and a to not to do. Yeah. In other words, they're sent they are opposites, polar opposites. It's heat and freezing. Yeah. And this cold temperature is apparently when you conform to the pattern of this world. What does that mean? What does that look like? Yeah. I mean, conform to the pattern of this world. I don't know if you guys realize, but conform is not a word people use to describe a quick, easy, simply understood process. Conform. If you have to conform, if you have to mold, if you have to grab a piece of clay and form that piece of clay into something you want. I've been to a pottery class. It takes the class is two and a half hours long. It takes a while to conform something that is already ready to be mushed around. And so I don't think people realize that the power of secret sin.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Conform.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

In other words, meaning we don't notice the change happening in us while we're sinning habitually. There is a change, there is a transformation happening that you're not going to notice. Yeah. Only people who see it are people who live in the spirit realm, like the devil. The devil wants to transform us, by the way, the same way God wants to transform us.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And conform is just it's it's intentionally trying to relate to us that what you're not going to be able to see the effect sin is having on you. It's changing us without us ever being aware of it. It's it's hardening our heart, as the Bible would put it. Yeah. Which makes it difficult to reverse that change. Um and I think we have to be aware of that, that this is no simple thing to play with.

SPEAKER_00

I like too how it says of this world. Because that should be an indicator for us to be like, man, what this world has to offer and the way the world is moving and leading is corrupt. It's wrong. Right. And you see it, I mean, in scripture, we have this whole these these words are all life. Every part of it is life, and it's instructions for from God on how to live. Right. But it's it's the kingdom way. Right. And then we live in a world where there's a lot of bad, there's a lot of lying, there's a lot of cheating and stealing and pride and wanting power, and that's how the world operates. And so when we are living in and what does it say right here, following the patterns of the world, it's usually gonna be wrong. Right. According to what God has to say about it. And I just, you know, like that that I think that's another important part. It's what Paul is saying is don't follow the world. And I was talking to someone recently how it's almost elementary. You know, just don't follow the world. In a sense, it's elementary because okay, the way they're doing it is wrong, and this way is right. So choose which way you want to live. But it's I think the problem, because I was talking to people about like having faith in the word, and I think we were talking too earlier this week. It's what are you gonna choose, right? Life or death? And when we see what God says and the instructions He gives us, do we want to live and believe it that this is truth? Or do we choose to follow the wrong voice, and then we know no good comes from it, and then we wonder why we're in the position we're in? Right. That's good. So just you know, the importance of like really staying close to the word. Knowing knowing the word is not, you know, because how do you not live according to the pattern of this world, right? Well, you gotta understand that there's the world's pattern and then there's God's pattern. Right. And the only way you do that is by knowing Him. Got it. Simple enough. But we can't go to the Bible and read something and be, okay, I know that intellectually, and I'm gonna run with it. And I'm gonna debate people on it, and I'm gonna use it as a sword. But if if it does not become real to you, if it's not personal, I mean you're always gonna fall short.

SPEAKER_01

Correct. Do not conform to the pattern of this world. In other words, we do not conform to where we are. We should

Start Today With Concrete Changes

SPEAKER_01

be conforming to where we are from.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. That's true.

SPEAKER_01

And we're no longer once you're born again, you're not from here. The Bible strictly says your citizenship is now in heaven. You're conforming, alright, but not to this world, to another world. A world we cannot currently see. You will be able to see it, but you can't see it right now. You really don't know it, but you living as holy, sanctified, pleasing to God life, offering your body, is preparing you, it's practicing you for the world you're going to. Yeah. And I don't I I mean it makes perfect sense to me because why would God not accept anybody who wants to go to heaven? Well, it's clear we do it in this world. We don't accept anybody that doesn't look like they've been practicing for the team.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Therefore, I just felt something on that. You ain't been practicing coming on the team, you not go make it. Yeah. You know? And this is what it takes to be a citizen of heaven. We gotta see. Well, let me let me see this brother's record real quick. You know, and let's see how much conformity has happened. You know, and it's so crazy how God can dictate and know the heart change. Some of us need an entire lifetime to get the correct amount of heart change we need. But some of us, like that man on the cross, Jesus apparently saw a heart change within a few seconds. And he said, Since you're starting to conform, you're gonna make it. Yeah. I'm gonna see you, I'm gonna see you later today. You know, which is fascinating to me. Some people, it's gonna take two weeks, some people it's gonna take two years to get over something about their body. But I like Paul says, I'm urging you. He's not urging you to make the same progress everybody else is making, he's just urging you to do what you can to not conform. Yeah, start in other words, start today, right now. Yeah, whatever offering your body looks like to you, you know what? I'm throwing out my PS5. That thing has been taking so much of my time, energy, mental space. You know what? I'm gonna stop listening to Beyonce. Yeah, Beyonce is driving me nuts. Yeah, whatever that looks, whatever the Holy Spirit's speaking to you, you gotta start today. It's a sense of urgency. Yeah, and I think we we're all gonna have a process that looks different because we all have different bodily vices. But he's urging us to start today, start now, and go at it head on. Don't leave anything behind. And I I just love that he doesn't add context. Like I urge you, he just says, your bodies offer your bodies, yeah, your feet, your eyes, what you look at, your tongue, what you say, yeah, where you go, your your body language. You know, I just think it's fascinating that Paul leaves room for understanding, but he leaves context for us not to get it mixed up. What's the end goal?

SPEAKER_02

That's true.

SPEAKER_01

And the end goal is so that you live a life that's pleasing, acceptable, acceptable, and perfect in the will of God.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's good. I just I I just can't, you know, I can't help myself sometimes. I just get excited.

SPEAKER_00

Damn, I think uh I don't know. I think for Romans 12, these two verses are a good starting. I think Romans 12. How long have we been here?

SPEAKER_01

We've been we've been here for a minute.

SPEAKER_00

So okay. I think we should just do parts of Romans 12.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we're gonna have to divide it in four parts or something.

SPEAKER_00

I think so, because I'm looking at the rest of the chapter, and there's some things that humble service in the body of Christ, love in action. There's no this is gonna be uh it'd be a three-hour podcast if we go through all of Romans

Renewing Your Mind Versus Brain

SPEAKER_00

12.

SPEAKER_01

Well, before we finish, I gotta say this because verse 2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Transformation, number one, that word, obviously it's the in its original language. The biggest analogy you could use is when a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. That is a cocoon, isolated, lonely, dark environment where change is gonna begin to take place. It's a very definition of you being set apart to be changed for the work and the pleasing of God's perfected love in your heart. Okay, that's number one. Then it tells you how that transformation is gonna take place. It gives you the what, then it gives you the how. The Bible doesn't leave anything open for misinterpretation. The what is a transformation, the how is by the renewing of your mind. Now, here's the obvious question I think everybody should ask when they read that. What's the difference between the mind and the brain? The brain is an organ, the mind is something completely different.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Which no scientist can dictate or read what you're thinking in your mind. Your mind has an effect on your brain which sends signals to a scientist to see where it's going off at and what could be the possibility. But they'll never be able to read thoughts. Never. Why? Because that's in the spirit of your mind. Yeah. When it says be transformed by the renewing of your mind, notice it didn't say brain. Yeah. The brain is a part of the flesh, it's almost never gonna change, it's always gonna be stuck to this deceitful, wicked, dark flesh that's against us. But your mind is here's the biggest part what is in charge of your brain. Yeah, it's your mind that tells your brain, no, I'm not going into that club I used to go. It's your mind that speaks to your brain and says, no, I'm not gonna bring up that memory anymore because it's no longer relevant to my walk. It's your mind that has the ability to speak to your brain. And this is the compass of what Paul is trying to get at. He says, wait a second, your brain is gonna tell you, it's gonna send you signals to do stuff you used to do, but now that your mind is being renewed, in other words, this compass you got, this gauge, the steering wheel of your mind, tells your brain what to do. It takes thoughts captive and it says, No, I'm not gonna think on these things. I'm gonna think of whatever is lovely, just, pure, righteous, and joyful. Uh, whatever's truthful and honest, I'm gonna think on that. So I want you guys to think of your mind as the new steering wheel. It used to be your brain, and your brain is crazy, by the way. But now your mind is being transformed, and it is the new person in charge, and you can tell your mind to tell your brain, we don't do that anymore. That's good. And if you read later on in Romans, it says, set your mind on the things of the spirit, so you can tell your mind, like you do Siri, to set an alarm, you need to be set on what we're doing today for God. Exactly. And it'll plan it out for you. But I just want to make sure that uh That's good.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. I think we needed that. That was good. I needed that. We're gonna um no, I'm we'll get into this whole chapter, but I want to move slow because I think the scripture is so full of life and we need to sit and just meditate and man.

Slow Down And Meditate

SPEAKER_01

Busy Gramps, they said, What would you do more before he died? It was like his last interview. Did you see that? I think he said, Well, I wouldn't take that many speaking engagements. Yeah, I would meditate in the word more alone. I would go to libraries with my Bible, I would just talk to the Lord and tell him how much I admire him and I would learn more about him. That's his biggest regret. Fascinating to me. It is.

Closing And Subscribe

SPEAKER_00

Well, thanks for watching. We got through two verses. I hope you can um read the rest of the chapter and just meditate on Romans 12, 1 and 2. Let's just start there. Yep. Like, comment, subscribe. The support is awesome. We'll see you guys in the next episode. Deuces. Peace.