Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:00:00]:
And yeah, my name is Pastor Jeff Pagay and it is more than meets the eye. How many of you know where that's from if you know. Yes, Transformers. Right, right, right, right, right, right. So anyway, Transformers, you know, one of their slogans is more than meets the eye. And when we read the Bible, sometimes we'll read it and we won't catch some stuff at the first glance. But as we look at it, we'll see, whoa, I didn't really see that at the first, first glance. So I hope everybody's doing okay tonight and I just want to thank you all for joining us in the house and also online.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:00:35]:
Hey everybody, online, what's happening? Hope you're doing well too. You know, there's, there's a storm brewing down south, Southern part of the Hawaiian chain. And yeah, we just want to pray that away. So we're going to pray a little bit of that, that everybody stay safe. But there's also storms going on in people's lives. It's strange because you look at different people and everybody's going through a different thing. I know some people getting married today, you know, there's a happy wedding. Some people are starting off their new lives and new situations, you know, and other people, you know, is not as easy in going through stuff.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:01:13]:
So we know that God is the God of everybody in all seasons. You know, he's still the Lord, he's still on the throne in the good times, the bad times, the in between times. So hey, I just wanted to talk about a little bit of pastimes. Anybody I know earlier we had one person had a pastime and she said playing the drums and you might have seen her up here. Is she the nine year old drummer or the ten year old drummer? She's a ten year old drummer. You guys, how about a hand for our 10 year old drummer? So pastimes, right? Hobbies. I like to ride my bicycle. Sometimes I'll skateboard and I know we have some skateboarders in here.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:01:54]:
We're not going to give it up. We're going to keep skateboarding. And now they have good helmets and stuff and ride bicycles. Some people like to garden. We know people have the green thumb. Gardening. Some people are crafters. Nice, you know, making those nice cards, those famous puck cards that pop up.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:02:09]:
So incredible. Some is into some healthy stuff, right? As pastimes and hobbies. There's a new. Well, there's the new. It's been around for a while. It's called doom scrolling. You ever hear of this? Doom scrolling? It's it's on our, it's on our phones. And you know, when you're on social media or something, you'll see people locked in and there's this light on their face and they're just going like this.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:02:32]:
Yeah, it's called doom scrolling. You just do it for hours. Oh my gosh. I'm not. I just hate to admit, I hate to admit that I do a little bit of that. But yeah, it's called doom scrolling. That's one of the hobbies. I confess.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:02:45]:
Sometimes doing it, you know, just one more cat video and then I'll stop, you know, after two hours. Like one more. Oh, look at a cute. Look at the puppy. You know, whatever it is, it's like, oh my gosh, there's another term, you know, it's called brain rot. You guys hear this? The young people are talking about brain rot or bedrot. You just stay in the bed and you're actually. It goes together.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:03]:
You got brain rot because of the doom scrolling. It's terrible. We got to pray for everybody. But anyway, it's. It's because we are turning into a consumer mentality instead of a contributor mentality. We just consume information. Consuming, consuming and you know, we got to be a consumer, you know, contributors of the society too. Oh my gosh, it feels so good when I get up and out of my doom scrolling.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:30]:
I turn it off or the battery die. That's how bad I go till the battery die. Okay, I guess I'm pow. I guess I'll go sleep now. But anyway, watch out for that now. It'll get you. But how many of us are enrolled in Y2U? Anybody in Y2U, if you know what I'm talking about. Y2U is YouTube University.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:48]:
Okay? So again, you sit in front of the TV. Oh, what is this? YouTube? You know, World War II planes, I gotta watch this. What kind of World War II planes? You know how to make. How to make guacamole better? It's like, ah, just like. You don't know how to make guacamole. Come on. But how to fry an egg, bro. And I still watch them, you know, but I know how to fry an egg.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:09]:
Come on. But YouTube University, they'll take you. You look up something. How to fix. I actually did fix my car a couple times from YouTube University. I had a bad headlight. I looked at it. Not so bad.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:21]:
Is that it? I looked at it. You lift up the hood, there's a plug. You unplug the headlight and then take off the headlight and put a new one and plug it in. Thank you, YouTube University. I fixed my key tumbler. You know when you put in your key for your car, it was stuck. I looked it up. The guy said, all you need is a flathead screwdriver.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:40]:
I'm like, really? Yes. He answered me. He said, yes, you need a flathead screwdriver. I opened it. He said, it's going to click. Then you move this and you pull it out. You go to the store, get a new part for eight bucks or whatever it was. Maybe not eight, maybe 18.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:55]:
Hey, I put a new tumbler in, and I found out when The War of 1812 started, it was 1812. I had to check because maybe it could have been a trick question. But anyway, I found out B.C. and A.D. right before Christ. And after that, right, B.C. and A. D.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:12]:
I don't know. You got to check your sources sometimes. You got to don't believe Wikipedia all the time, but could be something else. But anyway, I'm going to get to the real Bible stuff now. In our notes, we hear that knowledge is power. Everybody knows knowledge is power. We hear it sometimes, and sometimes it's correct. But applied knowledge is really power if you apply the knowledge that you have.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:35]:
So watching all those videos, I hope I learned something from those things and hope you guys all learn something productive and practical and not just be entertained by the kiddies. But anyway, when we take what we learned and actually use it right, we move out, we live it out. Then we can see the power at work. And that's what we're going to talk about in Paul's letter to the Romans. We will read it through, we'll break it down. And today we're looking at being transformed by what we know and how we can live a transformed life, not only not by our power, but what what Jesus has done. I was so inspired. Romans 12 was one of my favorite.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:06:18]:
Is still one of my favorite verses. It was such a favorite that I made a T shirt design and it had Jesus as the Transformer. I don't know if you ever can imagine a Transformer logo with Jesus face on it. Yeah, that's what it looks like. And that's one of my T shirts that I designed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I was a fan of Transformers and I like to doodle around with art. And one of my friends does a T shirt, has a T shirt company.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:06:43]:
He just printed it up. Look at this. Look what I did. I'm like, oh, awesome. So I have a Couple left. Let me know after if you need one. But anyway, yeah, that's cool. So I was just.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:06:53]:
Pastor Glenn was gonna go to do a wedding. He said, you know, Jeff, can you. Can you do this this weekend? Whatever you. Whatever you feel like. And I'm like, I'm thinking Romans 12. Romans 12 is my favorite. We're gonna get into it, we're gonna read it through. You're going to have it in your notes, and I encourage you to look at it and just make the connection.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:07:14]:
Make that connection that I made also. It's great. So before we continue on, let's pray together and open in prayer. Thank you, Lord, for being the way of to freedom, Lord God. Being the way, the truth and the life, Lord God, for us, Lord, so all people can know you and be more like you. Live to live a life fully surrendered to you, Lord God. And we just love you so much. And we know in our church family, Lord, some people are walking especially hard roads right now.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:07:46]:
So we ask that you comfort them and bless them and keep them close to your. Close to your heart, Lord God, comfort them. Because you are the God of all comfort, Lord God. And those who are rejoicing, we rejoice. Those who mourning, we mourn with you. And we just thank you for your word. Lord God, open our hearts and our minds that we may receive in Jesus name. And everybody say amen.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:08:07]:
Amen. So a short overview from the book of Romans. Last time. One of the times I spoke, we talked about the book of Thessalonians, right? The first Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians. And this is the same Apostle Paul. Talk about a transformation. This guy had a mean transformation. He was a Jewish rabbi and he, you know, really was into his Jewish roots and stuff, but man, you know, and he was actually didn't like the new way, the new Christian action that was coming up.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:08:40]:
So he took it upon himself to have actually get involved with radical, you know, the radical side of Jewish faith and had some actually killed some Christians back in the day. And. But then, well, as he was on the road to Emmaus. Was it the road to Emmaus? Damascus. Damascus. Thank you so much. See, that's why you should study your Bibles. You should.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:02]:
People know the road to Damascus, he fell off his high horse. That's where we get that term. He fell off his high horse. And God, you know, just put scales on his eyes. He said, saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul was like, before Apostle Paul was named Saul. And he was like, what? Who Are you Lord? And he just got transformed and he just got zapped off his horse. Then after that, and it's usually the case after we've been saved, you know, radically changed from one direction to another. We do all we can to bring people to the light now because we know how good it is.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:37]:
We've tasted and seen how good the Lord is. So we want to bring people. He was like, hey, I'm done with this man. I'm done with killing Christians. I want to be of the way. Now, Jewish things were good, but then since Jesus Christ came, he redeemed it. And that's who was living in Rome. We're going to get to that.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:54]:
But in Rome you had this mixture of Jewish tradition, Jewish people, and then the, you know, the pantheistic side of things, the many gods and stuff like that. So we'll get into that. But yeah, a short overview. Like I said, Paul was writing from Corinth and he was wondering if looking over in. To Spain. He wanted to travel to Spain from Corinth and he wanted to stop in Rome. But before he traveled, actually he. This is like at the end of his travels, he wanted to, you know, write a letter to the Romans, the Roman Church.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:27]:
And this was happening in AD 57, about so later on, right, because the earlier ones was ad-40s and stuff. So Rome was made up mostly of Jewish believers and some Gentiles, but. But they were at odds on how to live this new way, you know, in Rome. So it's already a Roman. Roman city, Roman occupied. And then the Jewish people are like, no, you got to do circumcision and you got to do the. Do the handle, you know, the candelabra, what is that called? The menorah. You got to do all of these things and you think that there's somebody by me, but just pay no attention to the guy adjusting my microphone.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:04]:
Thank you so much. You know, what was that? But anyway, so you had the Jews on one side, you know, arguing with the Gentiles. And then the emperor, I think his name was Claudius, he says, enough already. Jewish people, you got to get out. And then later on they came back and it was just a thing, right, between the Jewish Jews and the Gentiles. So Paul wants to try to straighten this thing out. He says, look, you guys got to live together in harmony. We're all one body.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:31]:
We can have Jews and Gentiles at the same table, right? Doesn't have to be kosher and all this. So he starts, so we read one scripture already. Right. Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Did we read that yet? Okay, let's read it. Ready? Go. 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.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:12:00]:
What is God's will is good, pleasing and perfect will. Now, does that sound attractive or what? Good, pleasing and perfect will. I'm all about that. I would like some of that. So it says we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The way we think, and not only the way we think. What follows that is the way we act, right? Our actions. So Paul knows the importance of being set apart from this world, this world system, okay? The old Jewish way, you got to leave that behind already.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:12:30]:
There's something new that has come. And in your notes it says, the legalist says something like, do these things and you will live. But Paul says, live and you'll be able to do these things. So living comes first. You got to come to Christ. Then you'll be able to change. So later on, when we read Romans 12, there's this list, all these nice attributes, you know, being nice to everybody. Think highly, think more highly of others, practice hospitality, don't be proud.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:13:02]:
And all of these things on our own. When we look at that, you're like, how? How can I do that? I don't know if I got that strength to. I try it on my own, but then the first stub of my toe or smash of my finger, I'm like, you know, I'm saying stuff I'm not supposed to be saying or feeling angry in the car or whatever it is, but it's because of God and his mercy. I'm able to do it from the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm able not in my own strength. And we'll find that in this book as we go on. So like I said, the legalist says, do these things and you'll live. But Paul says, live and you'll do these things.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:13:39]:
Living, when he lived, it means live means to be a sacrifice. And we're going to look into that later. Also, I want to share this part. It says only when the power of sin is broken by what God did in Christ can ethical admonitions be effective. That's just more of a hybolic way of saying what I just said. So anyway, if you don't know hybolics, it's in there with hydraulics and the Egyptian epistemology and all that stuff. But anyway, I digress. Sorry, Pastor Glenn.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:14:13]:
Anyway, having a little fun here. I got the fancy paper too. Nice. Remember this too? The Bible is not a self help group. A book, you know, it's not a self help book. You know, five easy steps to a better you. You know, that's not what we're looking at. I cannot do the five easy steps.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:14:32]:
I cannot even do the first one, you know, on my own. I'm that bad. So now we're talking. Okay. We're living for Christ. He gives us strength. We're living a transformed life, you know, like the Autobots, like the Megatron. But anyway, I digress.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:14:46]:
So like I said, it's a short overview. We know that Paul wrote the book. And then he says in Romans 12, 1, 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 was actually verse number one. And you notice the word he said there is therefore, right. 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.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:15:27]:
We cannot go up and live or give ourselves as a sacrifice on our own right. I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Anytime you see therefore, and it starts off Romans 12, we have to always remember to when we read the Bible to keep things in context. So when we see therefore, we always got to ask what is there for right? So read a little backward. We read 11 Romans, chapter 11. And we'll see that. We'll see one through 11. I should say Paul just, he gives his testimony.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:05]:
So Paul can identify with these Jewish believers. You know what? I was a Jew too. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees of the Jews. And he's sharing this from chapter 1 through 11. The fact that, hey, I was once a Jew, but now I'm a Gentile. Now I'm actually not a gentile, but he's of the way now he's a Christian, but they're not using the term Christian. But he's saying that because Jesus did this and he gives the gospel message throughout Romans. And actually there's a cool road, it's called the Romans road, meaning that if you look at certain scriptures, it talks about how we can get salvation or get to coming to Christ through the book of Romans.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:48]:
It's really a good book. But, but he Talks all about this stuff. Because Christ is our Savior. He's going to save us. He's going to redeem us and give us a new way. Let us be transformed, therefore. So because of all this, in 1 11, we should be able to give our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is our true and proper worship.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:13]:
We think worship sometimes is just music, but it's not. It's every day we live, we're worshiping. We're worshiping the Lord. And sacrificing means, you know, all of the. Everybody here could have been doing something different on a Saturday night. You guys came to church to hear the Word. Maybe if you came here to hear Pastor Glenn. So sorry.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:34]:
But anyway, he'll be back, I think next week. But anyway, we wanted to hear God's Word in any case. And, you know, putting off the desires of the flesh or acting out like, the flesh and acting like some of us were in our old nature, like, just like the Apostle Paul, some of the pastors, you'll hear testimony. I have a testimony myself, that I wasn't the greatest guy when I was younger, you know, I had to have a transformation of my mind, my heart, my spirit, my body, my thoughts, my actions. And I had to have a transformation, really did. And I'm grateful for that transformation, you know, because I can still go ride skateboard, I can still go ride my BMX bike, do some sweet jumps. But anyway, I get my kicks different way now, right? Different way than back in the day. But God is good.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:18:25]:
He still allows us the desires of our heart, right? So just wanted to say a commentary of Paul being. Making it clear that in view of God's wonderful sacrifice, what he did, you know, writing believers, we must respond with wholehearted commitment. Being the servants of a God who loves like that means that the world, that the word of life is to be lived in service to God. Now, don't think like, oh, okay, now I got to be one servant of the Lord and sweep the floors all the time. Not really. Keep listening now. But we are a servant to the king, right? Servant of the Lord. And as we live our lives in our own way, in our own different ways, therefore it's important.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:19:11]:
Therefore is an important word, right? So we establish that we look at what it's there for, right? Because Christ lived his amazing life. He taught, he preached, he healed, you know, ultimately offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross, right? And he wants all to come to him. Jews, Greeks, Gentiles, Romans, everybody. He wanted to come. So he didn't like this bickering. Oh, we're of God because we're Jewish. We learned the way from the apostles. So he didn't like that bickering.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:19:42]:
He said, everybody comes, everybody can come. Dying to our old nature and our desires, wanting to do good and live a good life. It's because of the Holy Spirit power. Not by might, not by might, not by strength, but by my power, says the Lord. By Holy Spirit power. All right, laying aside everything, having the mind of Christ, living in honor, living to honor and obey him because he wants only what is best for us. Is that in your notes? Yeah. Let me see.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:20:16]:
Number two. Is that in there in the notes? Living to honor, obey him because he wants only what is best for us. And because he gave His Son to make a new life possible, we should joyfully give ourselves as a living sacrifice. Amen. So in verse number three, it says, for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith that God has distributed each of you. For each of us has one body with many members, right? We have arms, legs, right? As these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. So this is where you hear in the church, when one part of the body hurts, every part hurt. The other day, me and my friend Keith were loading the truck up with some.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:21:21]:
We're clearing out the warehouse, and we have this big giant cross that brother Dick made. And, man, I smashed my finger with that big old cross. I was like, what? I was like, it was so sore, you know, but my whole body was sore because I smashed my little finger. So when one part of the body hurt, the whole body hurt, you know, I was like, whoa, I could feel that thing all over my body. And just as when one body, one part of the body is going through stuff, right? We rally around, and that's how the body works. The blood flows there and tries to protect and heal and take off the old, take out the old, you know, blood and transfer some blood around to make it. Make it healthy again, right? And so that's how the body works. Don't neglect, you know, the meeting and the importance of being in the body, okay? And when one part rejoices, we all go party, you know, we all go celebrate somebody's wedding or whatever, happy occasion, having baby or something like that.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:17]:
We celebrate the good times, walking with each other, giving some tips hey, you guys got extra cat food? Oh, yeah, we got plenty of cat food, you know, but anyway, some stuff like this, right? Hey, we're making a potluck, so everybody brings a different dish. The body of Christ, right? So this is part of Romans 12 right here. That was number three. That was grace. And it talks about, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Yeah, we all know what that is. In Hawaii we call it hai maka maka or big headed. Don't walk around with a big head.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:46]:
Think of the sober judgment. Hey, take it easy. You're not that special. I've heard that before. But anyway, in accordance with the faith, just be humble, no grumble. That's what we say also in Hawaii. Be humble, no grumble. Life in a community, that's where it's at.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:03]:
And I see this in New Hope Kapolei. People pray, praying for each other, you know, all the time. All the time. We're a praying church here. I love it. In verse number six, it says we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. So it's going to go down this list.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:22]:
Basically, do it with all you got. And some people will say, well, I don't know my gift. If you're leaning towards this, you know, singing, if you can sing, okay, then sing. You, you sing with all your heart. If you prophesy. And all that means is like telling the word, tell the word, you know, and if you serve, then serve. Well, you know, it says if it's teaching, then teach. If it's to encourage, then give encouragement.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:48]:
If it's giving, then give generously. Right? There's some people have that gift. They just, I want to give, I want to bless this, I want to bless these people. I want to give the encouragement. You can tell the encourager, like if you're at a baseball team, baseball game or whatever, it's the guy, come on, you can do it and whatever. And they're just always doing this. They're encourager. And if it's to lead, lead diligently, okay? If it's to show mercy, then do it cheerfully, right? Show mercy cheerfully.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:24:19]:
So this is a, like I said, it's not a, you know, seven ways to be a better person. This is, how can we do this? We do it because of therefore, right? What we talked about earlier, because God has given us the spirit of God and we see that, we see that as our lives change, right? This is what I see here on New Hope aaa, the dream team. We set up, we get things done. Not to have church, but to be the church. That's what I love. In verse number nine, it says, love must be sincere. You know, every now and then my wife will ask me, you know, you gotta say sorry. And I go, sorry.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:24:58]:
It's like she knows that's not sincere. Sorry, babe. Yeah. She says, look, I. She's like, Mr. Miyagi. Look, I always look, I Jeff san. And I go, sorry, I gotta look at her.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:10]:
Sorry. Not often, but just a couple times a day. Nah, just kidding. I love you, babe. But love must be sincere, okay? Love must be sincere. Don't fake it, you know, don't, don't act. Don't be two faced now. Don't be two faced, like, oh, how you doing? Oh, and then, you know, you give the hug and kiss and you go, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:30]:
Here, I believe this is yours. You pull out the knife, you know, don't be that kind. Two faced like that. Oh, my goodness, what just happened? You know, and I know it doesn't happen here. Thank God. Praise the Lord. And you know what? I exaggerate and I kid, but it happens in the smallest way. So let's be careful of our words and our actions and our deeds.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:51]:
Oh, you know, and I said this last time, blah, blah, blah. Let's not let our words get ahead of us. Honor one another above yourself, okay? That's number 10. Be devoted to one another. Honor one another above yourself. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord, okay? And of course, we need a time of rest. We cannot always be the guy. Hey, how's it going, everybody? You know, coming in like this, it says in a commentary, Paul warned his readers about the debilitating results of lethargy.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:27]:
Or, you know, when you just lethargic. Right. And never be lacking in zeal, okay? In whatever they do, put their whole heart and soul into it. That's from Colossians 3:2, if you want to take notes. Colossians 3:2. Put your whole heart into it. Okay? Believers are to be aglow with the spirit. The life giving presence of the Holy Spirit radically alters the way a person lives.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:52]:
The term. On fire with the spirit. Right? Or spirit filled. That's another term. Believer, by definition, cannot be dull and boring. That would be a contradiction in terms of. And I get it, everybody has their own personality types. But we should be happy.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:08]:
We should. Honestly, I've heard it before. We should Be the happiest people in the world. We have this. We have that. Oh, yeah, I blew it. I made mistake. Fine, go repent.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:17]:
Go. Go keep a short account with God and take care of it and then move on and then see who else we can help out or, you know, bring along or pray for. Can I get amen for that? That's what I believe. So. So sometimes, you know, I will get the reputation of being that guy, that happy. Go, lucky guy. And if I'm not, then, you know, something's really wrong. But I try, you know, I mean, and it's because I'm just happy with, you know, happy being in the house of the Lord, I guess.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:46]:
And then we have number 12, verse number 12. Be joyful in hope. That's in your notes. Be patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. Man, if we just put that on a coffee mug, I would buy that coffee mug or a T shirt, you know, Be joyful in hope. Right? Patient in affliction. Be patient and faithful in prayer. Be diligent, you know, Take it to prayer.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:28:09]:
Take it to prayer. Somebody just thanked us the other day at a wedding where you, you know, you were there with the bride's new husband. Thank you for prayer. She said, thank you for prayer. Oh, man, that was so great, you know, because we prayed and God answered and brought this union of this couple, and we were glad to be a part of it. Thank you for prayer. And it's like, yeah, we were praying and a whole bunch of other people were praying. Be faithful in prayer and be patient in affliction.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:28:37]:
You know, it will come, but this too shall pass. You know, just be patient when we have affliction. And I've had my share of life's ups and downs. Nah, just kidding. That's the song. But, you know, when I crashed my BMX bike or whatever it may be, and I had to rehab my body, I was patient as it heals, you know, sharing with the Lord's people who are in need. Right? Let's just be sharing. I had to work on that, being an only child.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:08]:
I was like mine, you know, But I had to learn how to share with Lord's people. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Here's the hard ones now. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Whoa. You know, asking if that's hard.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:23]:
Bless and do not curse. Right? It's what the Lord commands. And then you're going to love this next one if you like that one. You're going to Love the next one. Don't repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. Now, we know, you know, Abraham Lincoln told us, you can't please all the people all of the time, right? But in our own eyes, here it is in 18, if it is possible, as far as it depends on who you live at peace with everyone. We cannot change other people's lifestyles or their words or their deeds or their attitudes.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:59]:
We can only change the way we respond, right? Amen. And we do it with the help of calling on Jesus name. Sometimes out loud, you know, you got to say Lord Jesus, and then don't mention the person's name, really read out loud, but just call on Jesus. Help me with so and so this action. But here's the one that I skipped, actually. It says, rejoice. It says, practice hospitality, those who persecute you and do not curse. Number 15 says, Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:30:31]:
Live in harmony with one another. And we know in harmony you have the ups and the downs, right? You have the. In Ecclesiastes, right? A time for happiness, a time for sadness, right? A time to grow, a time to reap the harvest. And, you know, in our lives, that's how it is too. We have, you know, people coming into this world, you know, and people going home. And sometimes God answers our prayers for healing in this world, but sometimes he answers our prayers of healing with the ultimate healing, you know, going to heaven. And we stand with those who mourn. And just as they've stood with us, we stand with others who mourn.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:14]:
And then, of course, rejoice with those who rejoice. Like I said, and this next one is, don't be proud. Be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. And the good news is, for a long time, I was a people with low position. So I would be happy with people who would associate with me. You know, back in the day, I was living the artist lifestyle, which is sort of not. Not conforming to the world, but not conforming to anything.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:44]:
Just making my own kind of rules and stuff. So I was of the. What did it say? Of the low. Low position, you know, do not be conceited. Let us always remember, right? Doesn't matter what you're wearing or your education or your money, your bank account, right? We're all equal at the cross, right? At the cross, everybody's the same, okay, no more low position or high position. We respect Authority. We respect the position of, you know, a leadership role, but just because somebody doesn't have that, and they are. I know my friend Clean Klum, Jim for years.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:21]:
He's going to retire now. Sweeping, mopping, taking care of the bathrooms and stuff. Not a superstar, but he's happy with his job. And I love that guy. Knew him for a long time. And some people would say maybe low position because he's not a sports star like that. But he's my friend. He's a good guy.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:39]:
And, you know, he loved the Lord too, so he's at the equal. So this is why I love Romans 12, because it just hits, boom, boom, boom. If I ever have to get a snapshot of the gospel in a nutshell, this is where I Look. Romans 12. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate people. Low position. Do not be conceited. You know, you ever see on a TV show or read a book, man, did you see that guy? Really admire him.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:33:08]:
See how conceited he is? You never hear that too much. You see how full of it he is, how much pride this guy has. What a guy. It's always the opposite, right? It's always, we vote for the underdog. We root for those who are not. Oh, look how humble this guy is. You know, some of the greatest artists I associate with, I knew real humble, humble people willing to share. Oh, this is the type of brush I use and whatnot.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:33:33]:
And they're humble. Even musicians, the greatest, greatest musicians, partly what makes them great, it's not their skill sometimes on their music, it's how humble they are, how. And then opposite, the ones that say, you know, you step aside, step aside. A cartoonist is walking through. Now, there was a cartoon like that before, before, you know, superstars coming through. Oh, my head cannot fit through the door. Hang on. You know, your head's so big.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:33:58]:
Can I fit through the door? Don't be that guy. Don't. People don't like that guy. Be humble, man. You know, you go first. You know, you go first, right? I love going to 711 because, you know, they always holding the door for me. Somebody's always, when they see me walking, and sometimes I get out of the car, I'm a little stiff, right? And I'm walking slow. Uncle, I hold the door for you.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:20]:
Just close the door. I'm good. I get a little embarrassed sometimes. And then the lady asked me, you want to, like senior citizen discount? No, I like, pay full price. I still ride skateboard, you know. Just kidding, just kidding. But if it's Possible. Here's the one I love, too.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:38]:
If. Yeah, I read 18. If it's possible. As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. We have the choice. We have the choice. We can make the decision to go, you know, take the. Take this road or that road.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:52]:
Take the good road. Okay? And number 19. Do not take revenge, my dear brothers, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. And that's a good word right there. Just let God have it. I remember hearing my wife saying, we're talking about this or that, a certain situation. She says, you know, they're gonna have to stand before God one day. And whoo.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:35:19]:
When she says that, it kind of carries some weight on it. I'm like, oh, Lord, they're gonna have to stand before the Lord. You know, I hope they're ready, you know, and then that makes me check myself, too. How am I ready to stand before the Lord? Come on. Maybe I got to clean up a little bit of my act here. You know, Like I said, we were joking, you know, When God comes back, I don't want to be on the couch eating Cheetos, you know, watching YouTube all the time. I'm like, oh, Jesus is here. I'll be like this.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:35:47]:
Oh, Jesus. And he'll be like, hey, hey, you gotta wash your hands first because you got the Cheetos anyway. Just joking. Small kind joke, but we don't want to be. I lost my train of thought now. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. What, I gotta feed this guy? On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if he's thirsty, give him something to drink.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:13]:
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Now, this is a controversial thing. I think it comes from an Egyptian thing where putting burning coals on somebody's head was a provision. You guys got to go look it up, do some research and get back to me. It wasn't like a bad thing, though. But putting the burning coals on somebody's head, it's like giving them provision like that. And then number 21. Okay, we're at the.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:37]:
We're heading down the. Down the. What you call. We're gonna land the plane soon. Aiming for the Runway. Now, don't be overcome by evil, okay? Don't be overcome by evil. How many times I can confess I was overcome by evil or, you know, just like, you know, this thought or this feeling. But overcome evil with good, okay? And God gives Us, that power, okay? We have the power to build.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:03]:
We have the we as men, and not even men, even ladies. We have the power to create and to build things, you know, which takes long. Or we have the power to destroy. God gives us the same power. We got to decide how we use it. Remember, Spider man, with great strength comes great responsibility. Amen. And that was Romans 12 from 1 to 12.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:29]:
You know, the things. And then there's a last scripture from Philippians. It's similar to that. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do. And the God of peace will be with you. Amen. So right there it says, when you heard this, these. These messages.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:49]:
And I have a collection of these little notes. And every now and then I'll find one and I'll look it up. Oh, yeah, this was. It's called when you've blown it. I got to keep this one. You know, it's handy. And then there's a little reading thing. Keep these.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:04]:
These are. These are treasures. These are. These will pop up when you need them. Okay? Romans 12 is good. Amen. That was our last scripture verse. These things which you learned and received and heard saw in me do.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:19]:
And the God of peace will be with you. And that's my prayer for you tonight, that you. That you go in peace. And last week, Pastor Glenn talked about, when we come to Jesus, we can go into the world differently. Say that again. When we come to Jesus, we can go into the world differently. Go into the world and preach. Make fishes of men, right? So it's about changed lives.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:43]:
It's about transformation. There's a story, last story that I heard I wanted to share with you folks. It's a man driving home from work one day. He's not a spiritual guy at all, but he hates his life. He hates it. He said, look, God, if you're out there, if you're a real God, he's driving, he's all fuming. He hates his life. He doesn't like it.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:02]:
He prays to God anyway. And then he hears God talking to him. He hears a voice. He says, God, I need a new life. I hate my life. God says, you want a new life? Yeah, I want a new life. You know, God says, I have a new life for you, but it's going to cost you. And then the guy says, how much will it cost, Lord? And God says, how much you have? You know, smart.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:27]:
Smart as God. He says, I got 20 bucks. Oh, okay. God says, give me your 20 bucks. I'll give you a new life. And then he says, oh, Lord, I would give you my 20, but I gotta put gas in my car. And the Lord said, you got a car? Oh, okay, I'll take that too. Give me the 20 bucks and your car.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:47]:
I give you a new life. And the guy said, oh, yeah, buddy, if I give you my car, I'm going to get to work. And then God said, you got a job. I'll take that too. And I said, what if I give you my job? How am I going to get. How am I going to pay for my house? God said, you got a house. I'll take that too. What about my wife and my family? God said, you know what? You got a wife and a family.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:12]:
I'll take that too. At this point, the man decided, you know, I better just be quiet already. I'm not going to say nothing anymore. So. So he's quiet. And God says, are you ready for your new life? And the guy goes, mm. God says, okay, here, I gave you my $20, but you gotta spend it the way I want you to spend it. Spend it wisely, Spend it good.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:35]:
The guy says, okay, you know, and then he goes, God says, I give you my car, but you gotta go where I want you to go, do the good things that I want you to do, go where I want you to go. The guy said, okay. He gives him his car. He says, I give you my house. God says, I give you my house. I want you to live in it the way I want you to live. Do the right thing. Open your house to guests, okay? God said, I'll give you my daughter as your wife.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:41:04]:
I want you to treat her with love, the way I would take care of her. And then I give you also my children. Love them and teach them them. Can you do that? The guy said, yeah. So at the end of it, he got a new life. The guy got new life. And my prayer for you is, you will all be good stewards of what God gives. Because it's all his anyway, isn't it? It's all his.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:41:27]:
It's all from God. So that's it. I just want to close in a prayer now. Lord, we're just so grateful and thankful for everything you've given us that let us remember that it's all yours, Lord. And we want to live our lives as sacrifice, pleasing, holy and pleasing and unto youo. That's our reasonable sacrifice, Lord. And we just want to say we love youe so much, Lord, and we just want to thank youk and just ask that we go away from this message differently, if any. We have any prayer requests, allow us to just stop at the prayer corner and just get it prayed for.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:42:01]:
And we just love youe so much, Lord, and we thank youk for this. The Word in Romans, Lord, in Jesus name, amen.