In this text, the Apostle Paul begins exhorting the Roman church to offer themselves as living sacrifices, renewed in their minds by the word of God, so that they may properly function as a local church – as parts of Christ’s visible body. We too, must understand the mercy of God that has been extended to us whereby we may be continually changed and renewed so we may properly and humbly assemble and function as a visible representation of the body of Christ – the local church.