Renew Your Mind

Park Service from 8/23/2026

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Of all the books of the Bible, I believe you know, Romans is one of the best books for Americans to read. Because, you know, uh Paul is writing to the church in Rome, and Rome is very used to doing things the Roman way. You know, when he writes Hebrews, he is writing to the Jewish people who are very used to God's custom in the Old Testament and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, he when in the book of Romans, it's very much like Americans, because Americans are used to doing their things, the American way, and all that. So God comes along and he asks us to do things very, very differently. Okay. So in Romans chapter 12, I called this sermon, uh, Renew Your Mind. Okay. So in Romans chapter 12, starting in verse 1, it says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers. So, brothers, he's talking to Christians in Rome. This morning, hopefully, I'm talking to Christians in the United States. In view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind. 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. In view of God's mercy. Now let's think about just that a little bit. We're this is the reason we're even gonna follow through and even attempt this living and pleasing to him, be pleasing to him, and renewing our minds is because of his mercy that God himself left heaven, the splendor of heaven, everything that he had up there, and he said, you know what? Those people down there need me, they need salvation, they need, I will leave this very, very comfortable existence, and I will go down there and I will be born among men, and I will show them what God is like. I will let them spit on me, I will let them torture me, and I will let them put me on a cross. And the first thing I will say is forgive them, for they know not what they do. And I will take the sin of all mankind, anybody who ever chooses to believe, I will forgive them, I will heal them, I will give them eternity with me. That's the kind of mercy we're talking about. And you can look at all the other religions that you want because I've done it. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't a Christian just because I lived in the southern part of the United States and the belt buckle of the Bible belt. So I looked at them, and I'm gonna tell you if you look at them, you're gonna find the same thing. All those religions tell you, do this and you can earn this. Do this and you can earn this. Here's the steps to earn this. But this right here says, God just gives it to you, that he is gracious, that if you just believe in him and trust in him, he will forgive you. Past, present, and future. Just trust in him. That kind of mercy in view of God's mercy. Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, which is kind of a strange thing anyway, because the sacrifices that they were used to involved the death of a lamb, involved uh, you know, these altars and putting something of value on the altar, and God is saying, you know what I want you to do, Adam? Even though maybe going to work tomorrow is the last thing you might want to do. I want you to offer your body as a living sacrifice and holy and pleasing to me. And what is what does holy even mean? Holy, I used to think was just some unattainable words. Like, there's no way we can be holy. But all it means is to be separate, all it means is to be different, it means to be consecrated. You know, I know what it's like for 10 years to walk into a uh uh a school and teach and complain with all the other teachers about the same students and be just as miserable as they are. But I also have known this is my 20th year of doing it for him, and even though it should be the worst day, still going home with joy because I know what it's like to do it for him. And I can't believe he pays me to do what I do for him. I want to be holy, I want to be separate, I want to be pleasing to him, and that is your spiritual act of worship. I think so many churches think because I played a couple of songs that I just worshiped. No, I will worship tomorrow when I offer my body as a spiritual act and say, Lord, I am here to do your will. Help me do it for you. Don't help me, don't let me complain when I get on the bus and say, Well, I gotta drive another bus route here. You know, I can't. No, man, I get to drive this bus for him. That's God's bus. That's God's school. He's the one that that brought me here. So the least I can do is offer my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him. This is how you worship. And then you get in to the to the tough stuff. Do not conform to the pattern of this world. What is the pattern of this world? And here's what I think it is in general, especially in America. It may not be like this otherwise, but for us, I wrote this down. From zero to 20, we're young. Okay. And what do we do? We get away with as much as we can and get maximum reward for minimum effort. I mean, that's it. You know, if it's gonna get me out of trouble, I'll lie. If it'll keep me from taking responsibility, I'll just have a bad attitude about it. That is like what we do, it's what I did, okay? Even after I was saved for four years, that's still what I did. Get away with as much as I can and get maximum reward for minimum effort. And then from 20 to 50, I just wrote this. This is like your prime years, and what is it? What do we do? We we um it's it's moral and spiritual decay. Okay, like I I watch, I listened to this guy preach, and like I couldn't believe what he said. No, this is probably from a hundred years ago. He said his grandpa was like a cattle farmer, right? And he said he remembered his grand grandpa buying the first TV he ever owned, and so they brought it in there, they set it up, they got a channel, and they all sat down and were just amazed that they were watching a TV. And somebody on TV. And said the guy on the TV just said, Oh, what the heck? That was it. And then everybody was watching, but that grandpa said, What did he say? He said, Oh, grandpa said, What the heck? Turn it off, take that TV out to the barn. Nobody's talking like that in my house. What? It wasn't even that that bad. And guys, a hundred years ago, if that that uh a real Christian wouldn't tolerate that, look at how far we've come and what we tolerate. Okay, I even wrote down another one. Um, well, what what was it? Man, um, strong drink. Um, I I also heard a story from a person talking about their grandpa from a while ago. And like, they said they wouldn't even drink. I got actually I got this from a lady at um the the assisted living center. Said that her dad or her grandpa wouldn't even drink Coca-Cola. And you know, she was like, why? Well, the Bible says to stay away from strong drink, and that's that drink is strong. I don't even think twice about pulling in at the gas station and buying a 79 cent Coke and filling that thing all the way up. And I and I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying, look how far we've come in our moral decay. But what do we want to do? We want to accumulate for ourselves as much as possible. This is if you don't have the Lord in your life, okay? And then I look at the final years, 50 to 80 years old. Retire with as much and live, retire and live with as much ease as possible. Now I am not gonna pass judgment on these people, but the last time Tonya and I went on a cruise, we walked by a door of a couple that on the door said, This is our 275th cruise. And at first I was like, whoa, that's awesome. And then I couldn't quit thinking about it. I said, what if I spent my retirement years only wanting to cruise on a boat so that all I had to do was sleep, never had to clean up from clean up after myself, ever. I mean, don't get me wrong, that sounds great, but when I stand before the Lord, is he gonna be like, man, 275 cruises? You probably could have made it 370. I just don't think that he's he's gonna do that. I want to be holy and pleasing in the Lord, and I don't think there's anything wrong with ease over fall break. My wife and I is gonna be on another cruise, but I don't want to give my life to that kind of lifestyle. So I think that is the pattern of this world. Okay, now for kids, you guys, I mean, I feel so sorry for you guys because the pattern of this world is on steroids now. I mean, I thought I had stuff trying to drag me to hell, but the stuff trying to drag people to hell today is intense. Okay, so you know, right now, and I I wrote this down, I said, um, you know, for adults, you know, we we we get into this whole Fox News, CNN news, and I've got people in my own life, I mean, that's all they watch. And I've noticed this. The news programs want you mad about what they're mad about, and it creates this whole kind of division. And what does Jesus say? He said, I don't want you divided, I want my people unified. The entertainment wants you comfortable with seeing and uh hearing foul mouth words. They want you used to taking the Lord's name in vain, used to using F words, used to all that. I mean, that's all it is when you when you listen to the music that a lot of these these kids listen to. It is foul word after foul word, and it's violent act after after violent act. It is it is crazy what entertainment wants us to do. And you know, I used to spend maybe two or three hours playing video games, but you know, it was games like Mike Tyson's Punch Out Contra, you know, like you couldn't really play them for too long because it eventually got boring. But these games now, man, are designed to suck you in, make you pay $100 for the game, and then make you spend $1,000 inside the game to be better at the game. I mean, it is it is crazy. But I looked this, I looked this up, okay, because I've heard all these kids tell me today, oh, GTA 6 is coming out, GTA 6. And I don't know a whole lot about it, okay, but I did look it up. Right now, this game is coming out on um November 6th of this year, and I typed in most anticipated game that has ever been created, and the internet says millions upon millions of kids, people are are waiting for this game to come out, right? And it's rated mature, 17 plus is the ages, but I've heard middle schoolers say, oh, I can't wait for this to come out, okay? And all I did was type in why is it rated M? And this is what they say. It isn't even like the Bible or nothing. They say it's got uh explicit, um man, I wish I could read my handwriting, explicit themes, um, graphic violence, strong foul language, sexual content, and nudity, and to top it off, illegal drug use. Okay, so think about the pattern of this world. You know, if you can get used to doing all this illegal stuff in a virtual world where everybody else literally as people is logged on and in that game, how does that affect your mind in the real world? Okay, guys, I mean, like, the majority of my students do not really care about their education. One of the saddest things I see every year is I will leave school and I will see a kid that's been at the alternative school, that's had every opportunity in the world to get their education right, go back to their homeschool and graduate. They are now 17, 18, 19 years old, and they're walking into adult ed to because they're gonna go get their GED. Okay. They had they had time to do it. And then I asked the teachers, well, how is this person doing? The last kid they told me uh made it about 45 minutes, and then he just said he just walked out and said he couldn't do this, he wasn't doing this. And I'm like, man, what has what has happened? And it's just following the pattern of this world. Okay, I remember, guys, I think I made it up to a PlayStation 2. All right. I mean, I made it all the way up to there when I was a gamer, and PlayStation 3 was about to come out. It was gonna be like $399 or $499. I was ready to buy it, ready to get whatever, whatever I needed, but I was also trying to follow the Lord. And he let me know clearly, this is not what I want for you. And so I remember playing one day, playing, and I was at school, and I was just asking the kids what kind of game system they had, and we were making some sort of graph or something. And one girl went and tell me, one little girl, and it was almost like I embarrassed her by asking. And I just quickly, you know, got out of there and you know, didn't didn't embarrass her any further. But I found her later and I said, All right, girl, I said, tell me what was up with that with that question. She said, I just didn't know what to say. She said, My my brothers have been asking, begging mom, birthdays, Christmas, and for a game system, and and she just can't afford it. She's working, you know, two or three jobs, and she just she can barely pay the bill. She just can't get them one. And so, man, I hate to hear that. So I go home, I'm playing my games, enjoying it, and then I think about her. And I think about God. And I think about do I really want to be a grown man gamer? And I was probably 21, 22 years old. And um, I'm like, I can do this, I can do this. And so I boxed it up as nicely as I could. Every game, every controller, the whole system, the power source, everything associated with that went into a big old box. And I waited on her to drop her kids off. And I said, put it in the back seat. I said, Listen, this is my entire PlayStation 2, everything I got, I want you to give it to your uh your kids. And she immediately just started crying, like, thank you so much, and everything. And that felt good at the time, but now I feel kind of bad about it because I probably just made some more game addicts, you know. But uh, but still, it was nice to for that to to for me to be able to give that for the Lord. I'm gonna tell you, for about two weeks, I was like, man, what did I do? But after that, I'm so thankful. I am so thankful that I I did not conform anymore to the pattern of this world. Because I tell you what, I did, I started reading the Bible, I started renewing my mind. Don't be don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world, um, but be transformed by renewing your mind. How do you do it? You dig into this word, you read the whole thing from cover to cover, understanding that you're not gonna understand most of it. I bet the first time I went through the Bible, I understood maybe 5% of it. But that 5% changed my life. It taught me to be honest with myself. It taught me to, when I hear a sermon, to really ask myself, is that me? And if I'm doing it, say, thank you, God, I'm doing that. If I'm not, I say, Lord, help me to do this, help me to get on track. I've got a new mind. Because if you do that, look what it says. You will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Who doesn't want God's will for their life? But the only way you're gonna get it is if you renew your mind. Okay, I told, I'll give you, I'll give you a couple of examples. I told a kid, this was years ago when phones first came out and were doing all that they were doing, you know, like the internet and uh social media and all that. There was a girl that told me I went to church camp, felt the spirit of God. It was so wonderful. Okay. Well, months and months go by. She's like, Mr. Hawkins, I just don't know how to get that back. I felt God at church, church camp, and I really don't just feel him anymore. I want to. I said, Um, they don't let you have your phones out at uh church camp, do they? She's like, well, no, we have to put them up and they lock them up. I said, just one leap, girl. Turn your phone off and and uh start reading the word, you know. Remember the things that they taught you up there. And she looked at me and she said, There's no way I can do that. I said, There is, there is a way. I promise. You can give that up. And I I was telling a kid just the other day, I said, tell you what God did with me. You know, I I loved my music. I mean, I loved my Metallica and my ACDC and all the stuff that I used to love. But he said, God told me very clearly, listen to music that honors me. I didn't do it for months, but one day, for whatever reason, um, driving to work, I was like, okay, Lord, here we go. I started listening to some Christian music, and I didn't like most of it. But one song hit me so hard. The presence of God just flooded me. I had to pull over in a church parking lot and just cry and say, God, this is amazing feeling your presence, but I can't take this. You're gonna have to turn it off. And he did. And like I've spent the rest of my life chasing that feeling, and sometimes he he gives it to me, you know, sometimes, sometimes he don't. But I just love him for that. And I told a kid, I said, What if you turned off your music and just maybe started listening to a worship song? He said, I can't turn my music, can't give that up, can't give that up. I mean, just immediately. We're not giving that up for the presence of God, not giving that up for you, Mr. Hoffkins, not giving that up for my education. I just don't care. I'm gonna do what I want to do. That's the pattern of this world. Well, what's the consequences? You will not know God's will for your life. You will not know because it's the only way that it happens. It's the only way. Now, let me see if I kind of have time to uh to do this. Um, because listen, I gotta I gotta preach at uh 10:30. All right, I'm I'm gonna try to make time to do this right quick, okay? But I'll probably have to zip out of here, okay? But here's here's the here's the example I wanted to use for renewing your mind, okay? And you gotta go all the way back to Joshua chapter 2. I was just blown away when I when I really thought about this, okay, because I think it applies to Americans so much, okay? There's a lady named Rahab in the Bible. She was a prostitute. You know, she sold herself to the people of Jericho, okay? But she knew that God, that they were going to be destroyed. All right, here, let me just read it to you, okay? All right. It says, um, Joshua said, Go look over the land, especially Jericho. So they went out, entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, Look, some of the Israelites have come to spy out the land. So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab Bring the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out our land. But the woman Had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, Yes, men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them. But she had taken the stalks of flax, she had laid out on the roof. She had hidden them under the stalks of flax. She laid out on the roof. So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords in the Jordan. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. Okay, so she's hiding these spies, and just like in the cartoons, you know, like they're like, Where are they? Well, they went that way and they run off. I mean, she totally just kind of got away with this. Um, before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said, Look at this. I know that the Lord has given this land to you, and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. So, two things. She knew that the heart of the soldiers, the men, were failing because of her job. Those men were coming in there and being with her and being intimate with her, and not with just their physicalness, but their spirituality too. They were saying, How are we gonna compete against a God who can comp who can part the Red Sea? How are we gonna compete against a God who literally puts food on the ground for them and does not let them starve? How are we gonna compete with a God who their leader can tap on a rock and water will flow from it? They knew that they were going to be defeated. And Rahab knew that her way of life is coming to an end. We have to know in America that our way of life is coming to an end, whether it be through our own self-implosion because we are so morally decayed right now, or whether it be because God, in like in Revelation, fulfills everything and everything gets destroyed. Our whole way of life is going to be destroyed. Don't we want our hope in the Lord? Rahab knew her way of life was coming to an end. We know our way of life is coming to an end. So what do we do? We start focusing on Him. We've heard how the Lord dried the water of the Red Sea and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of Jordan, who y'all completely destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted, and everyone's courage failed because of you. For the Lord your God is the God in heaven above and uh above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, you'll show kindness to my family, because I've shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you'll spare the lives of my fat my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, that you will save us from death. Why don't we have the same attitude? Look, we know that this world's coming to an end. We know that life ends, Lord. Will you save me? Will you save my family? Will you please, Lord? We just we just ask you. And here's what the men say our lives for your lives. The men assured her, if you don't tell us what we are doing, if you don't tell what we're doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land. Okay? Now I'm gonna stop right there because I got two more places I want you to see. We're gonna go to Joshua chapter 6, verse 20. All right, and it says, When the trumpet sounded, the people shouted, and the at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed, the walls of Jericho. So every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it, men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkey. Now I love this line right here. Joshua said to the two men who spied out the land, go into the prostitute's house and bring her out, and all who belong to her in accordance with your oath to her. Now I wonder how Joshua said that. You know, like if he was thinking, like, what are you doing saving one of their people who's a prostitute and saying that they can come live with us? I think it was probably like this. Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out, and all who belong with her in accordance with the oath that you I that's that I kind of think that was his attitude. But I don't know, okay? I don't know. But here's what we know that woman and her family changed their whole way of life, they renewed their minds. And I want you to look at this. I get chills thinking about reading this right here. First, you got to go to Ruth chapter 4, verse 18. Joshua judges Ruth, okay. Ruth chapter 4, verse 18. Okay, now this one's not gonna seem exciting, but it says, This is the family line of Perez. Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amenadab, Amenadab the father of Nashan, Nashan the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David, the giant slayer. Okay? But one word I want you to recognize Salmon, the father of Boaz, Salmon, go to the New Testament, Matthew chapter one, very first verses. This gives me chills. Matthew chapter one. If I can just make it to the New Testament. There we go. Matthew chapter one. Listen to this. This is what I'm gonna conclude with. If I can ever get there. Okay, here it is. Um Ram, the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nashan, Nashan the father of Salmon, okay, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Man, this woman changed her whole mindset and gave her mind, her heart to the Lord, renewed her entire mind, forsake her complete former way of life, focused it on the Lord, said, I want to live with God and his people, and she became the great, great, whatever grandmother of David, and through the line of David came Jesus, our Savior. And Matthew specifically mentions, I want you to know that woman was part of changing everything. Guys, how much could we be a part of changing everything if we would just take this world that is passing away anyway? This way of life is going away one way or another. And just say, you know what, God, I want you to save me. I want you to help me live this way. I want to make a difference in this world. Who knows what could even be said about us in all of eternity. So, Lord, I want to thank you so much for this word. I want to thank you so much just for the way my spirit just burns as I talk about you, Lord. I mean, I'm gonna say amen, and it's almost like it just gets completely cut off. But Lord, I just pray that you'll help me to say at my next church what I just said right there, because I'm gonna try to preach the exact same thing to the next group of people. But most of all, Lord, will you help us to renew our minds and forsake the pattern of this world? But renew our minds and offer our body as a living sacrifice so that we can know what your good and pleasing and perfect will is for our lives. It's in your name we pray. Amen.