YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Romans 12 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams

Romans 12 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

by Heritage Press · 3,112 words · 561 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00Romans chapter 12.
0:02Well, we've been discussing [music]
0:03the four chapters that
0:07encompass Paul's [music] burden for the
0:09Jewish people.
0:10We started in nine, then 10, then 11,
0:14and now the final one is 12. [music]
0:17And to track where we've been, we would
0:20say
0:21he describes that they're lost. He shows
0:23their natural election, the priority God
0:26put on them before the Holy Spirit came.
0:28He shows that it was to bring a blessing
0:30to all the families of the [music]
0:31earth.
0:32He shows that they're cut off,
0:35but he demonstrates [music] that they
0:37can be grafted back in.
0:40In chapter 11, he tells us that he is
0:43magnifying his ministry in the Gentiles
0:48so that the Jews can be saved.
0:51So, the Gentiles are saved because of
0:53[music] the Jews
0:54when they rejected, but then the Jews
0:56are going to be saved because of the
0:57Gentiles
0:58>> [music]
0:58>> because they bear a fruit
1:00that provokes the Jewish community to
1:03jealousy.
1:05The Gentile community has got to become
1:10better
1:12at the promises of Abraham than the
1:14Jewish community.
1:16The Gentile community has got to have
1:18more unity, more love.
1:21This is how they will know that the
1:22Father sent Jesus
1:25by our love for one another, by our
1:27unity.
1:28Amen?
1:29And so, this is what Paul is now going
1:33to pivot into.
1:35Now, what has Paul been calling
1:39the salvation of the Gentiles
1:42>> [music]
1:42>> this whole time? He's been calling it
1:44mercy to the Gentiles, mercy to the
1:47Gentiles. [music] The cutting off of the
1:49Jews brought mercy to the Gentiles.
1:52So, listen to his line of thought as he
1:55then launches into Romans 12. Romans 12
1:59is where he describes the church that
2:02can provoke the Jewish people to
2:05jealousy. This is the church that makes
2:08the Jews say, "Oh God, I want that. We
2:11need that.
2:13How did you get that?"
2:17So he starts it with a word, therefore.
2:21That means that he is connecting what
2:24he's about to say to everything he's
2:26already said. Therefore, in light of
2:28this, because of this,
2:31that's what that means.
2:34Romans 12
2:36verse 1. Therefore,
2:39I urge you, brethren,
2:41by the mercies of God,
2:44to present your bodies
2:48a living and holy sacrifice,
2:52acceptable to God, which is your
2:56spiritual service of worship.
3:00So he's saying, "I want to contrast
3:03something, guys.
3:04They know what a what a stone house
3:06looks like, with doves being killed and
3:09lambs being sacrificed. But I want them
3:12to see what it looks like when people
3:15give themselves in love for one another
3:18and for Jesus.
3:20So let's make sacrifice the ethic of the
3:23church that can provoke the Jews to
3:26jealousy.
3:28Let's show that all the animal sacrifice
3:30were pointing toward the sacrifice of
3:32Jesus, but let's show that this is how
3:35we know what love is.
3:37Jesus laid down his life, so ought we to
3:40lay down our lives. His sacrifice did
3:43not
3:45remove our obligation to lay down our
3:48lives, it created our obligation out of
3:52love service, out of debt.
3:55Owe no man anything except to love.
3:59Since he laid down his life for us, so
4:00ought we to lay down our lives for one
4:02another. What is the ethic
4:05of the end time church that can provoke
4:08the Jews to jealousy and faith and
4:11salvation? What is it? The ethic of
4:14sacrifice.
4:16Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice,
4:19acceptable to God, which is your
4:21spiritual service of worship. He's
4:24contrasting spiritual to fleshly, as in
4:28the temple of stone.
4:31And here's the second thing that he
4:33needs the Gentile church to get in order
4:35to provoke the Jews to jealousy.
4:38And do not be conformed
4:43to this world.
4:46But be changed. Be transformed
4:52by the renewing of your mind.
4:55So that you
4:58may prove.
5:00Prove to who?
5:02Prove to the Jews, God's people.
5:05You can prove with your life
5:08what the will of God is.
5:11That which is good
5:14and acceptable
5:16and perfect.
5:18Amen.
5:19The word perfect there means complete or
5:21whole. It doesn't mean you individually
5:24are perfect. I can't be perfect. Paul
5:26wasn't perfect.
5:28Okay? But he's saying
5:31if you'll offer yourself as a living
5:33sacrifice and you'll stop taking the
5:35world as your measure, if you'll stop
5:39being conformed to the world
5:41and you'll allow yourselves, your lives
5:44to be completely transformed, you're
5:47going to prove something.
5:49You're going to prove that the way God
5:51changes people, the way he transforms
5:53people, is not by rules, but by grace.
5:58You're going to prove we don't need the
6:01Levitical system. We don't need the
6:02turtle doves and lambs. We need to be
6:05transformed in the way this church is
6:07being transformed. You're going to prove
6:11the power of grace.
6:13The Jews don't need to hear a message,
6:15they need to see a transformed life.
6:17When your life is transformed by a
6:20completely renewed mind, you are proving
6:24something.
6:26That God's way, God's will,
6:28God's salvation
6:30is good, and acceptable, and whole,
6:34complete, perfect.
6:38Amen.
6:39Now, when he starts preaching this to
6:41the Romans,
6:43something comes up.
6:46He thinks about what's going to stop
6:47this.
6:50He's thinking about how much we do
6:55outside of grace.
6:57Outside of God's gift. Outside of the
7:00Holy Spirit. I'm saying the same thing
7:03three different ways.
7:05All right? So, what the Gentiles are
7:07doing is they're living
7:10outside of grace.
7:11And that's what Paul wants to change. He
7:13wants them to live in grace. He wants
7:16them to prove what grace can do.
7:18An utterly transformed life.
7:20So, now he's going to start ministering
7:22to them about the little rivalries
7:25that are [snorts] in the church. The
7:27competition, the envy, the grasping for
7:30gifts, the thinking of ourself more
7:33highly than we ought to think.
7:35All the ways that we subvert grace.
7:39And
7:41smear and besmirch the witness that we
7:44should be giving to a world that needs
7:46proof.
7:47>> [snorts]
7:49>> For
7:50through the grace given to me,
7:54I say to everyone who is among you
7:57not to think of himself more highly than
8:01he ought to think.
8:04But to think
8:05so as to have sound judgment
8:09as God has allotted to each
8:13a measure of faith.
8:17For just as we have many members in one
8:20body
8:21and all the members do not have the same
8:23function,
8:25>> [clears throat]
8:25>> so we who are many are one body
8:30in Christ and individually members of
8:33one another.
8:35We belong to each other.
8:37Let me Let me explain what Paul is is
8:39saying here.
8:41Okay?
8:42Paul is saying
8:44I want you to prove how powerful grace
8:46is.
8:47But you guys are all competing.
8:50You're thinking you all have the same
8:51function.
8:53Pastors are acting like teachers and
8:55teachers are acting like evangelists.
8:57We're acting like we all have exactly
8:59the same function and we're competing
9:01with each other.
9:03That envy, that rivalry is the
9:05foundation of the world. It's not the
9:07foundation of the kingdom. Sacrifice is
9:09the foundation of the kingdom.
9:12When Cain killed his brother, he was
9:15envious of his brother and Jesus called
9:17that the foundation of the world.
9:20So this rivalry, this tension, it's
9:22living outside of grace. It's living
9:25outside the allotted measure of Christ's
9:29gift in our life.
9:31When I pretend to be a singer and cannot
9:33sing,
9:34I'm not living in the allotted measure.
9:37I'm living as if I'm the body of Christ
9:39instead of one member in the body of
9:42Christ.
9:44And what I'm proving is just the same
9:46thing that the world is proving.
9:48I'm proving division. I'm proving fear.
9:51I'm proving suspicion. I'm proving
9:54fracturing. I'm proving that the world
9:57has dominion over the church also
9:59because I'm still being conformed to the
10:01patterns of the world in my mind. I
10:04haven't been transformed by the renewing
10:06of my mind to prove what grace can do.
10:09So, Paul starts off what he's about to
10:12minister. He says, "I'm going to say
10:14this to you, but I'm going to say it
10:16only through
10:17the actual grace God's given me."
10:20So, he's saying, "I'm not I'm not
10:21excepted from what I'm teaching here.
10:24I God called me to be an apostle. God
10:27called me to give you these patterns.
10:29And when I say you should do this and
10:31shouldn't do that, I want to acknowledge
10:33I'm staying in the limits of my grace.
10:36But some of you are not staying in the
10:37limits of your grace."
10:39So, Paul starts it off. "I say through
10:41the grace given to me to everyone who is
10:43among you not to think of himself more
10:46gifted than he actually is."
10:48That's what it means to think of
10:50yourself more highly than you ought.
10:53Why? For God has allotted
10:57allotted. That means he's given a piece
10:59and a portion, a measured small piece
11:03and portion. He has allotted to each a
11:06measure of faith.
11:09This is not all the tea that is in the
11:10world. This is a measure of tea. And
11:13that's what God's given us.
11:15And your measure's not enough.
11:18Your measure
11:20needs the rest. So, the smallness of
11:23your portion invites you into a
11:26community where we can be
11:29proving what is whole and complete and
11:32perfect.
11:33And he says, "For just as many members
11:35in one human body
11:37do not all have the same function." Does
11:39your knee have the same function as your
11:41thumb?
11:42Does your ear have pretty much the same
11:44function as your chin?
11:47What about your nose? Could you pop off
11:49your ear and say, "You know, my ear's
11:51gotten tired of being an ear, so I'm
11:54just going to put my nose over there so
11:55that they could trade places a little
11:57bit
11:58cuz my nose wants to do some hearing and
12:00my ear wants to do some smelling,
12:02just to get a little freedom from its
12:04place."
12:07That's how the world
12:08is run,
12:09>> [clears throat]
12:09>> through a an envy
12:12that begs us to be something besides
12:14what God called us to be.
12:16And this is the church that fails in its
12:19witness to the Jews.
12:23So we, who are many,
12:25are one body in Christ and individually
12:30members of one another.
12:33I
12:34am your member.
12:37When you want to touch someone, you may
12:38have to touch them through me.
12:40You are my member.
12:43When I want to see something, I may have
12:44to see it through you.
12:46We are members of one another.
12:50Do you think of the people in your life
12:53as members of you?
12:57Since we have gifts that differ,
13:01they are not the same.
13:03Since we have gifts that differ
13:07according to the grace given to us,
13:11each of us is to exercise them
13:13accordingly.
13:16If prophecy,
13:17according to the proportion
13:20>> [clears throat]
13:20>> of his faith.
13:22So he's going to say, "You don't have
13:24the same gifts.
13:25We have gifts that differ.
13:27And stay in the limits of what God gave
13:31you.
13:33You want to be the church that provokes
13:34the end-time revival?
13:36Stay in the limits that God gave you.
13:41You want to know what
13:43subterfuge and sabotage of the end-time
13:46church looks like? It looks like people
13:48bulging out of their place.
13:51It looks like people propagating a
13:53heresy that we all have the same
13:55function.
13:56It looks like people saying, "We have
13:58gifts that don't differ. They're all the
14:00same."
14:01That's what the heresy is that will
14:04fracture the mosaic image of Christ that
14:07needs to shine forth to a world that is
14:09sick of its own patterns and needs to
14:12see something good and acceptable and
14:14whole.
14:18Since we have gifts that differ
14:20according to the grace given to us, each
14:22of us is to exercise them accordingly.
14:25If prophecy, according to the proportion
14:28of his faith. Service in serving.
14:31Or he who teaches in teaching.
14:34Basically saying, "Just do what you're
14:35gifted at."
14:37If you're a teacher, do teaching.
14:39If you're a prophet, do prophesying.
14:41Stop trying to cross lines.
14:44God can move through all of us in
14:47situational ways where we all do a
14:49little bit of everything. That's fine.
14:52But our place of service, our regular
14:55altar, needs to be the one thing God
14:58allotted and gifted us to do. Not for
15:02ourselves,
15:03but for the whole.
15:05Or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he
15:07who gives with liberality, he who leads
15:09with diligence, he who shows mercy with
15:12cheerfulness. Let love be without
15:14hypocrisy.
15:16So, he's saying all of this giving, all
15:18of this serving in the church,
15:20it's supposed to be love.
15:23But it's a hypocritical love. It's a
15:26hypocrisy
15:28if it's really just grasping for your
15:30role, for your significance through your
15:32role.
15:33Your love is with hypocrisy
15:36if you're going beyond the allotted gift
15:38and grace that God has given you.
15:41Let your love be without hypocrisy.
15:44Abhor what is evil and cling to what is
15:47good.
15:48What is evil?
15:50Evil is hypocrisy.
15:53Evil is Cain. Evil is envy.
15:57Evil is not keeping our proper abode as
16:00Jude said the angels, the fallen angels
16:03failed to do. That's evil. It's
16:05transgression.
16:07Transgression means to go beyond the
16:09boundary.
16:11Abhor what is evil. Cling
16:15to what is good. Cling to your place and
16:17prove what is good and acceptable and
16:19whole. Cling to the part that God gave
16:22you that is good. Cling to what fits.
16:26Be devoted to one another
16:31in brotherly affection, brotherly love.
16:34Give preference to one another
16:37in honor.
16:40Let somebody else feel more important
16:42than you
16:43and show honor.
16:45This
16:46is having your mind transformed
16:49so that you don't keep mirroring the
16:51patterns of the world.
16:55Not lagging behind in diligence.
16:58Paul's like, "I want you to give
16:59preference to each other. I do not want
17:02that to be an excuse for apathy.
17:04I do not want you to pretend that you
17:07were deferring to your brother so you
17:08failed to make a sacrifice altogether.
17:11Not lagging behind in diligence.
17:14Fervent in spirit, serving
17:17the Lord, not yourself. Serve the Lord.
17:21Do this for God. Do this because you
17:23hate evil and want to get it out of the
17:24church. Do it because you love Jesus and
17:27want to honor his sacrifice.
17:30Fervent in spirit. The word fervent
17:33it means
17:35it comes from the the root where when a
17:37pot is boiling so much that it
17:40froths and bubbles, that's what you're
17:43supposed to have. Zeal for God's house.
17:47Activation, excitement, passion, pathos.
17:51Fervent in spirit,
17:53serving the Lord.
17:55Rejoicing in hope,
17:58persevering in tribulation,
18:01devoted to prayer.
18:06Contributing to the needs of the saints,
18:09practicing hospitality.
18:11Serving the Lord, but contributing to
18:14what the body really needs. This is how
18:16you're supposed to serve. Don't serve
18:18because you want that place. Serve
18:20because this is what the saints need.
18:24Practice hospitality. Have people over
18:27for dinner. Put them up in your in your
18:29guest room.
18:31On your couch, or better yet, give them
18:33your bed while you sleep on the couch.
18:35Show hospitality. Give a coat to someone
18:38who's cold. Give a drink to someone
18:40who's thirsty.
18:41Stop living for me.
18:45Stop living for number one and start
18:48living the sacrifice.
18:51That's what he's describing. It's what
18:52he introduced in the first sentence.
18:55Offer yourself as a living sacrifice.
18:57This is what that looks like.
18:59And Paul can almost already feel his
19:02brethren getting jealous.
19:03And say, "Wait a minute. I never could
19:05overcome my selfishness.
19:07I never could teach my children how to
19:09be servants. What's going on in that
19:12church? I want to understand that.
19:14Paul, how do you guys love one another
19:16like that?
19:17Paul's saying, Romans, come on, guys, be
19:19this family for me. And my preaching to
19:22the Jews will have much greater effect.
19:25I'll magnify my ministry through you.
19:29Practice hospitality. Bless those who
19:32persecute you.
19:33Bless
19:35and do not curse.
19:38He's He's inverting all the patterns of
19:40the world. Serve them, not you. Bless,
19:42don't curse. Rejoice with those who
19:45rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be
19:48of the same mind toward one another. Do
19:50not be haughty in mind, but associate
19:53with the lowly. Do not be wise in your
19:56own estimation.
19:59Paul's like,
20:00conform a little bit more to the body.
20:04Is somebody's crying? Feel the Feel the
20:07emotion of grief. If somebody's
20:09laughing, laugh with them. Stop being
20:11yourself so much.
20:13Stop being your stuck-up own little idol
20:16on a pedestal.
20:18Be of the same mind.
20:22Conform
20:24not to the patterns of the world,
20:26but to the body of Christ.
20:29Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep
20:31with those who weep. Be of the same mind
20:32toward one another. Do not be haughty.
20:36Never pay back evil
20:39for evil to anyone. Someone does you
20:42wrong and you want to put them in their
20:43place. That's the pattern of this world.
20:46That's a mind that hasn't been renewed.
20:49That's a a life that's not being
20:51transformed. When you have to get back
20:54at someone, that is the pattern of this
20:57world.
21:03Respect [music] what is right in the
21:05sight of all men. No matter who's
21:07looking,
21:08do and love and look again at what God
21:11thinks is right.
21:14If it is possible, so far as it depends
21:17on you,
21:18be at peace with all men.
21:21Never take your own revenge,
21:24beloved, but leave room for the wrath of
21:27God. For it is written, "Vengeance is
21:30mine, [music]
21:30I will repay," says the Lord.
21:33Never be the one
21:36to take vengeance on someone who hurt
21:38[music] you. Never. That's the pattern
21:40of this world.
21:42But if your enemy is hungry,
21:45feed him.
21:47Care for the guy who's hurting you,
21:50who's trying to kill you. Feed him.
21:52And if he's thirsty, give him a drink.
21:56For in so doing, you [music] will heap
21:58burning coals on his head.
22:02Do not be
22:05overcome by evil,
22:08but overcome evil
22:11with good.
22:13And that's the same [music] thing he
22:14started with. Do not be conformed to the
22:16patterns of this world, but be
22:18transformed.
22:20Parallel sandwich end. Do not be
22:22overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
22:26good.
22:27And in doing [music] that, you'll prove
22:31what nobody can fake. You'll prove a
22:33fruit of a life and a grace and a way
22:37that says to everyone who's [music]
22:39looking, "Only God could do that."
22:42You'll be a church that ends the
22:44argument. You'll be a family where love
22:47works.
22:48You'll live out a sacrificial kind of
22:51love
22:52that gives all the glory and honor to
22:54God.
22:56That's what will magnify his ministry.
23:00>> Ooh. [music]
23:11>> [music]
23:11>> Ooh.
23:18Ooh.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Romans 12 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams by Heritage Press, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,112 words across 561 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.