Revitalize Your Faith

Renewed Strength for the Journey (Full Sermon Transcript)

Jun 26, 2025

These sermons are recorded and transcribed in their raw form with minimal editing to preserve authenticity. You may encounter informal language, natural speech patterns, and occasional variations in spelling or formatting. We maintain this approach to share God's Word promptly while preserving the genuine spirit of the message.

© Portsmouth First Friends Church

2025-06-22 11:05:31

All right, good morning, everyone, again. How you doing? I am Pastor Erik, the pastor of this beautiful church here in Portsmouth. For the people online, welcome. For the new people in the church, welcome. We're glad you're here. And if you are new and you've never been here before, I do ask that on the way out today at some point, you just fill out a Connect card so we can continue to pray for you and love on you throughout the weeks.

If you're online and this is your first time here, we ask you to put your name in the comments so we can pray for you and love on you as well. I have some announcements today before we jump into service. First and foremost, this Friday on the 27th, we have a family gathering at the Hampton Pilots game. So if you want to come on out and hang out with us, we're going to the Pilots game out in Hampton at 7 p.m. It's a college baseball league in case you didn't know that tickets are $8 for active duty members people over the age of 65.

And $11 for everybody else so it'll be a good time for everybody just kind of come together and just spend time and fellowship with one another, To continue to fellowship over the weekend on the 29th of June. We are having a, Family fellowship cookout if you would we're gonna have hot dogs hamburgers here We're doing a little potluck style We'll have some games and everything else with the kids for the ones that want to come on out And we're just after service which is going to hang out for an hour or two We're just going to enjoy one another as well for the 29th of June, So those are the two big things that are happening this week for everybody and to continue with the announcements.

I want to just share some some God blessings over the last week. Okay on Monday this week We had the USS John C Stennis mess come on a chief's mess come out with some sailors and what they did was a power wash in front of the church They cut down some trees in the back the edge of some, Of the property as well for us, And they also help us set up for this past Saturday's Spring Fling Cleanout, which we made just about $1,000. So I would give it up for that. All three of you, thank you for giving it up for that.

That's all I got. That's it. I like it. All right. I also want to share a couple other things. I spoke with Tom and Teresa from Toddler Time. They're currently on vacation, but they will start moving in furniture next week. They're going to start moving in furniture next week. They're going to start with doing some other additional things. They've got some desks coming in. They've got some more computers coming in. They've got a desk that's going to be down at the end of the hall coming in. They are just moving along, and our partnership with them is going to be absolutely amazing.

As of right now, they've already started taking applications, if you would, reservations for students for next year. The day that they were actually putting the sign out in front, someone drove it. to the parking lot, like, when can I sign my children up? And listen, I believe in a move of God is going to happen with those young minds that come into this building, so continue to pray for that for us, and continue moving that forward with us. A couple other big changes coming through. In the month of July, we're going to pivot some of our service. Our service is going to look like this.

Two songs, kids are going to get released, and they're going to go down to children's ministry because we're actually officially relaunching our children's ministry starting in July. So that's an awesome thing as well. So if you've got kids, if you're out there right now, and you've got some kids you want to bring them on through, listen, we're going to start really driving our mission set for what we have here at Portsmouth First Friends Home by being a community outlet for young minds, for young people to come on out and get to know who Jesus is. In addition to that, we're also going to look at, we are going to be out of town for a couple weeks. Myself is going to be out of town,

and some of the leadership is going to be out of town, so we will have a special guest speaker if you would, on the 20th of July. It's a local school. Reserve chaplain, he's going to be coming on out and speaking for us. So just be prepared for that. So I'm going to ask you to come on out and just be ready to get a good word from him as well. And when more information comes in with that, I'll let y'all know. Okay? We now will transfer. Oh, last thing. Operation Christmas Child. As of right now, Operation Christmas Child, we have 147 boxes that we will be packing for Operation Christmas Child this year.

If you don't know what that is, that is when basically we partner with Samaritan's Purse. We fill up a whole bunch of shoe boxes with stuff that has been donated throughout the entire year. And then in November, we pack them all up. And by December, they're out the door and they're getting sent to the people that need them. I've already spoken with Y360, Tom and Teresa, and they are going to partner with us as well with that, with the students and the parents. And we're going to have a move of just hands of God in this place doing great.

Great things for the mission of what Jesus. this has called us to do, and that is to be the light to the world for everybody who encounters Him. And that's all my announcements. Next. We'll do time to go for you again, because I know you're all excited about hearing the Word today. So who's excited about hearing the Word today? Alright. Now listen, I'm excited about preaching this Word today, because last week, I was an emotional, wreck. Last week. Alright? I had someone over here throwing boxes of tissues at me, which was an actual really.

good throw from her. I saw a spiral come out of a square box, which was pretty amazing. And I'm going to tell you right now, this Word is no different today. This Word today is no different. If you don't know, and this is your first time here, we are currently in a series called Get Real, where we need to dissect what it means to get real in faith, and what God is doing in our lives, and to not be superficial in what God is doing, but rather true, authentic, genuine. Cutting deep to the soul type of stuff.

And that's what we're talking about. That's what we've discussed over the last couple weeks. Week one was about getting real. The power of God's transformation in our life. Last week was talking about specifically, on Father's Day, we talked about men breaking the chains off of their life and building a legacy for their family. I still get that. But this week, this week, we're going to talk about revitalizing our faith and renewing our strength for the journey that God has already placed in front of us.

And I got some illustrations today. I brought them back because someone said last week's illustration was pretty good. I had a few people call me and say, man, just something as small as physically breaking something while in service makes people feel good. I'm like, weird. I don't want to break nothing in my church, but we break some chains. We break off of people and that's what we're talking about. we're going to do today too. We're not going to change, but I do have an illustration. This, this is a phone charger. That's what this is. All right. Now I'm an iPhone guy and I know that my.

iPhone only charges to about 95%, but it'll last me all day long. Okay. But this is a phone charger and I want to show y'all something real quick. If I were to take this phone charger, this is my phone, right? The screen's kind of dark, screen dark. Okay. If I would take my phone charger, I plug in, what happens? It's not connected then. So you won't get any power out of this charger when it's not connected. And that's what we're going to focus on today. It's a service. See.

your phone and your battery on your phone is only going to last so long. How often do you need to recharge your phone? Daily, every 28 hours or so? Sure. How many of you have, I've been there before where you've taken your phone, you put it on the charger at night, put it in your pocket in the morning, walked out, and next thing you know, the phone is dead when you get to your car. Who's ever done that? See, I've done that before. I got one of them phone chargers that it sticks to, and there have been times where I've taken my phone and I stuck it to it, and next thing you know, I wake up in the morning, my alarm barely goes off with 2% left.

And next thing you know, I'm running out the door, and I'm like, I need my phone charger. I've got to plug it in the car. I've done that before. So today, I want to share with you that your spiritual walk is almost exactly the same, with the exception of you don't plug anything into your body physically. You might. I don't know. You feel a little weird, right? But I don't think that you would plug this into your eye or your ear to get recharged, but rather, there's a spiritual plug that you need to connect to each and every day, and if you're not, I suggest you start.

Your spiritual walk. works exactly the same. You can go from fully charged when you're plugged in, but by the end of the day, completely depleted. You can go each and every day running this thing to 2% and barely hang on because that phone call that you needed to make was very, very important. That is your spiritual walk. Sometimes you may ignore the warning sign of what your spiritual.

walk is going through when you're so depleted and you're like, you know what? I'm fine. I'm fine. We talked about that last week. Remember that guys? We said, oh yeah, you're fine. You're fine because you have everything in order. No, you may say you're fine, but when was the last time you plugged in? But let me tell you, you don't have to be that way. You don't have to stay stuck in what some of us call spiritual dryness, where you're.

Basically just going day in and day out through the motions of what you say is, you know, what people, what you think people want to hear. Like, you know, just go, you know, who's ever heard, who's ever heard this line where it says, hey, how are you? Well, I'm good. I'm sure you've heard that line, but I'm blessed. Anybody ever hear that before? How are you doing today? Now I'm blessed. Blessed by what? When was the last time you opened the Bible? Are you blessed by his word, by his, by his truth? Are you blessed by, what are you blessed by?

Well, that doesn't make, it does make sense because you can say I'm blessed, but do you mean it? Because if you don't mean it, you're stuck in the spiritual dryness. And just like your phone will need to be plugged in and powered up, your soul also needs connection. Your soul also needs to understand that, that God is with you and you need to be connected to God through his word, through prayer. And through the community.

Now I'm a big fan of community. You all know that. I talk about it. I talk about it all the time. And we do it. And we do it okay. But we can do it better. And we're going to do it better. We're going to do it better as more people start coming in. We're going to do it better as the daycare coming in. We're going to do it better. Like just yesterday alone, I think we had a hundred and something people walk in and out of these doors. Just coming in and out. And walking out with people and praying for them when they leave.

Right? Sometimes that's just all they need to build community. So we're going to continue to do this. Let me share this with you. Faith was never meant to run on yesterday's charge. What you read today is not what's going to carry you tomorrow. What you read today is for now. For today. What God wants. I want you to hear today, but what you read tomorrow is when you wake up and you connect back to him.

That's what you'll start to see. So when you open up your Bible and you see things like come to me, all who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest in Matthew 11, 28. What God is saying is that you need to come to him. You need to connect to him and you need to come to him to remove the weariness and the tiredness, right? Your battery gets tired, but come to me or you're weary and burdened. I will give you rest. I will recharge. We also know that in John 15, 4 and 5, it tells us to abide in me and I in you for apart.

from me, you can do nothing. Listen, apart from a dead battery, this will not work. It doesn't matter how long you walk around with this thing connected to the bottom of your phone. It will never charge. And that's a sermon. Look, this is not a suggestion. This is not a suggestion to the things that you need to do. This will eventually be your lifeline.

But if it's disconnected, what's your life really become? So when we do this today and we talk about what the Word really is, I want to share with you that this is intentional. You have to intentionally seek God out, and He will revitalize your faith with the renewing and the strength of a recharging battle. So let's do this today, and let's plug back in, so we can recharge again. And if you don't know, I want you to open up to Matthew 24-12,

where He tells us this. He says to us, He says, Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. And I want to break this down for you briefly. It should be a long... there if you don't have it in front of you, right? It says, because of the increase of wickedness. What does our world look like right now? Would you say when you walk out these doors, there's some wickedness that's just following you around for no reason? Like, you didn't even put it there. It just showed up. So it tells us, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow.

cold. How many times have you been hurt by something wicked that your heart goes hard? How many relationships have you been in that have gone sour, that all of a sudden you can no longer forgive people? That will happen to you when you disconnect. This will happen to you because you allowed wickedness to get in. Even the disciples experienced things like spiritual exhaustion. And then we want to turn to things like.

Things like Mark 14, 37 and 38. And I'll turn to that with you as well. And here's what it tells us. It says this. I'm going to read it. Then he, Jesus, is who we're talking about, returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

Temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So what we see here, right? If you were to look at Matthew, but the increase of wickedness and the love of most would grow cold. This doesn't tie to Mark. But what we see here is that if we have wickedness and things grow cold, but then we also find ourselves falling asleep. We also find ourselves that we can't stand watch for one hour.

We also find ourselves weak in the flesh. So if we find ourselves weak in the flesh, what will eventually happen is that we will face exhaustion and we will fall into temptation because of the problems that wear us down over. So now let's put these two together. The increase of weakness, which pushes us down, starts to push us down. When we're disconnected, it pushes us down. We then grow cold, which in turn,

we allow our flesh to take over. We get weary and tired, and we can no longer do what God is calling us to do because we can no longer stand watch for Jesus. That's what will happen when we disconnect and unplug. So what does this exhaustion look like? It will look like this. People that you once loved will start to irritate you. I know there's some married people in here, right?

People that you once loved will get, man, you are irritating the bejesus out of me. What? You're irritating, get away from me. You will start to face burden of the unfinished tasks and loss of things, and a lack of obvious things that you need to complete. Like, you're going to get tired. Like, I work off of a task list all day, every day, and there are going to be times where I'm like, I don't want to do that today. Even though it's due today, I don't want to do it today.

And you're going to deal with things like, you have to cope with people who help you, but they're always going to let you down, and that's what's going to irritate you as well. People who let you down, and you're not going to be able to have grace, you won't have mercy upon them, you're just going to be mad all the time. And it's in times when you get... stressed out when you're most vulnerable for temptation. There's times when you get stressed out where your heart is so.

stressed and you're like, and next thing you know, when you get angry, the tongue becomes sharp. You may start, dare I say, cursing at people in public. You may use four-letter words that you don't normally use. And I'm not talking about the word love. Because we should all be using that. Because that's what Jesus did. But I'm talking about words like, I'm not going to say them in public. I would get thrown right out of this building.

But it's when we do these things and we resist what God is doing, what Jesus is doing, is when we get weak and we fall into this temptation. So how do we resist? The ability to fall into this temptation. Jesus shows us in this exact same scripture. He tells us in Mark 14, 34, right?

When you go back one page, he tells us, our souls are overwhelmed with sorrow at a different point, right? Stay here and keep watch. Jesus is telling us to keep watch. We need to stay awake and be more vigilant in what we're doing each and every day to avoid the temptation. In 14, 35, he tells us, going a little further, further, he fell to the ground and he prayed. Pray. Why are you not praying?

Praying is the exact same extension cord to God. It is your extension cord to who God is. At the individual level, pray. In 14, 33, 37, 40, 41. 21, he tells us that we need to seek support from friends and loved ones. This is how you build up your resistance when you come alongside loved ones who walk with the Lord. Hello, community. Where are you?

That's fellowship. So for the ones that are like, I don't want to go to the baseball game on the 27th, don't come. But you better be in these seats on the 29th one with fellowship because it's the community, that will help you resist temptation. And then lastly, we need to focus on the purpose God has given you. And that's in 1436. Here it tells us, right? It tells us in 1436 right here, Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup for me, yet not what I will, but what you will.

You need to focus your purpose on God. It's not what you want in the flesh. wants. Take this cup from me. It's not my will, but your will. That's what we're seeing here. So look, we need to look at all of this today and put our phones down, put them on the charger, and pick the Word up and plug in. That's what we need to do today. And how are we going to do this? How are we today going to renew our faith in everything that we're doing? How are we going to revitalize our faith.

so that we can walk in what God is doing in our lives? Here's how. We're going to open up. Mind you, that was just the introduction. You're welcome. We're going to open up with, renewing our faith through waiting. Be patient. Don't pray for patience, people. Just wait. Just wait. Don't pray for the patience. Just wait. So we're going to go into the Old Testament. We're going to go to Isaiah.

Villains don't get hurt. I'll wait for y'all to get there. Sky Bob, are you up? Here's what it tells us in Isaiah 40, 28 through 31. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord, emphasized, is the everlasting God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. He, God, will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power to the weak. Even youths grow weary and tired. Who in here is on the age of 35? Not me, okay? I'm just raising my hand for the example. All right, I'm 44, and yes, I know. All right, I don't look it. I get it. All right? Even the youth grow weary and tired, and young men stumble and fall. But those who, ready, hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. We will grow tired and weary. Even the youth will. We've turned waiting on the Lord into this, like, Christian cliche of, like, I'm just going to wait on the Lord. Or, no, it's an action.

Waiting is an action. It's a verb in the tense of what we're seeing here. This is an action. You cannot sit still when you're waiting on the Lord. You need to take action. You need to open up your Bible. You need to take action. You need to pray. You need to take action. action. You can't just sit still. To wait on the Lord is an action. To wait in the dictionary is a verb. Stay where one is or delayed action until a particular time or occurrence. To wait.

on the Lord is to wait until action. You need to act when it's time. How many people in here have sat in the red light and turned green and you get honked at? That's not the waiting we're talking about. That was somebody else deliberately telling you to move. You have to wait on the Lord to tell you to move. So when you're out and when you're in here and you're walking out or yesterday for example when when people were carrying stuff out and as we were walking out.

people and the Lord tells you pray for that person and you go silent you're not waiting. to the Lord to tell you to move. You grew silent. No, this is an action. It can be delayed. It is deferred. It is informal. But guess what? It is an action. So tip your waiters and waitresses because they're waiting on you. That's an action.

The Hebrew word for wait is chava. To look forward to the occurrence of an arrival. You're waiting for an arrival. We're talking white horse sword flaming. Let's roll. We gone. One who waits or hopes for. It means to bind together,

to twist together, to make a roll. together with what the Lord is doing biblically in your life. It is not just killing time. It is an action actively intertwining with your life and His strength. This gets reinforced in Psalms 27. Where in the Psalms it tells us to wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.

Wait. Waiting on the Lord is not easy. It could seem like it's taking a lifetime. It is not as easy as picking up your telephone and hitting yes. Because we know that somebody is calling you. When was the last time you picked up the phone for God? When was the last time you picked up the phone for Jesus? When was the last time He called you and you actually turned the car around to help the person fix the platform? You're quick to pick.

up for everybody else. I don't care your age. You could be, 21. You could be 91. Right, Tom? You may think that your best days are behind you. You may look at your energy level and maybe little. You may look at your circumstances and your limitations.

but your spiritual life is fully functioning.

and active. God doesn't look at the age of the person and say that you're no longer spiritually, allowed. God says that your wisdom and your knowledge will provide for the ones who follow you. Remember last week? Legacy. What is your legacy? Spiritual, biological, doesn't matter. Your legacy is what will carry. And when we look at things like the youth will grow faint and weary.

When we look at that, how many people under the age of 35 are like, man, I'm tired, I need a nap. How many? Listen, my daughter, who's coming home today, which I'm really excited about, she's been gone for a week. Even she doesn't have the energy to teach and understand what she's talking about. She's 17.

But when you learn to take your life and intertwine it with who God is, guess what you'll do? You'll be like, I'm tired, Lord. And he will tell you, read this, son. He will tell you, pray this, son. And you will be re-energized. You will have the strength. And in doing that, what happens? You will never run out. Because guess what he also tells you to do? He also tells you to fast and pray. He will tell you to rest when it's time to rest. If you put God in your life and your obedience to him, he will tell you what to do.

Last week, I had a nice little prayer moment with a man in here. And it was a conversation that was had. And I was like, man, I'm tired. Now, some of you know, some of you don't know. This is a full-time job. You know what it's all about. Full-time. I also have a full-time job. On top of this full-time job. This never shuts off. Ever. And there are times where I'm like, I am just tired.

And people look at me and they go, how do you keep doing this? And I'm like, I don't know. The Lord does. He does. He told me, hey, do this. Okay. And I'm doing it. Do I get tired? Yes. Do I turn to God and do I pray and say, Lord, give me the strength to continue moving here? has to happen. Lord, continue to move this place. Lord, continue to pray for young families. Lord, continue to pray for young minds. Lord, just keep going. And He will give you the strength to keep it moving.

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him. To the one who seeks Him. It is good to wait, quietly for the salvation of the Lord. That's Lamentations 3, 25, and 26. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him. You need to hope. You have to have hope in Him. You have to have faith in Him. It is good to wait quietly. Listen, some of y'all just need to keep your mouths. Don't talk about it. Some of y'all do.

Some of you just have to wait quietly. And it's hard. One of the greatest things I've ever learned in my entire educational life is that, Chaplains are really good listeners. What we're told is that we are meant to do nothing but listen. Sit there and be a listening ear. Okay. No matter what religion, what faith background, whatever. I just have to sit and be quiet. Now, at home, I can't do that. You know what I mean? Like, at home, I'm like, babe, you know.

No. No, she's like, and then she cuts me off, and it's like, shh, right? And, like, we're both saying something at the same time, and eventually it's like, I need to go outside and make a move. But we need to just sit and wait quietly. And what this would look like, when we wait quietly, you stop trying to manufacture a spiritual energy through busyness. You don't have to be busy all the time. I am 100% guilty of this.

I am always busy. But it's not like I'm trying to manufacture spiritual busyness out of it. of this. I'm not saying like, oh, I'm building. No, I'm just busy. And sometimes I need to get hit in the face with rest. We could also wait by starting each day, acknowledging that he is our strength, that he is not just, it's not just his blessing, but it's him through the work.

It's not just waking up and be like, I'm blessed. No, it's not just that. We need to acknowledge that we need his strength, not just his blessing. And when you feel depleted, you don't push harder. You plug in deep. You root yourself deeper. You dig deeper into the word. You dig deeper into what God is doing in your life. You dig deeper by looking at your past, not staring.

at your past all the time, but looking in the rear view to see what you've come from. knowing that you've overcome, and take a little deeper, knowing that you can keep going. And his promise is very, very clear in all of this. Those who wait on the Lord renew their. strength. They don't maintain it. They don't just manage it. They renew it. It is fresh power. It is new energy.

And it is a revitalized faith. But that's not all. But wait. That's not all. Keep waiting, right? No, but wait. Once you learn that God is is, once you learn that God's strength happens when you wait for him, you start to discover a little bit more. And we're going to go to Matthew now, again. Why do we keep going back to Matthew? Matthew's awesome.

Right? He's awesome.

We go back to Matthew, and we go to 11, 28 through 30. Come to me. all who are weary and burdened. Remember we mentioned that at the beginning? Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Are you kidding me? I already have a lot on me. Why do you want to yoke me? You're putting.

more weight on my shoulders.

You know what's coming in favor for some of us isn't it? Some of us.

The fact that you carry burdens that Jesus.

has already put upon you. He puts that yoke on you. Because he doesn't ask you to carry the burden. He does this instead. He carries it with him. Because you're not doing it alone.

He cinches up alongside. Now some of you know what a yoke looks like, right? It's kind of shaped like, right? It's got a little underneath it. And two heads go inside of it. And as you go, right? It's usually used for oxen in the Old Testament. And what they would do is they would yoke two oxen together. Because when they pull, they have to walk at the same speed for them to plow the yoke. For them to plow the ground. They have to go at the same speed. Because if one goes before the other, what happens? One gets choked out.

So they have to go at the same speed. So when they're going at the same speed and the plow is plowing the ground, they're doing it together. They're carrying the load, exact same load. When we talk about things like burdens, we look at 1 Peter 5 and 7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. To cast. Now, anybody fish in here?

I for sure fish. Right? What does it mean to cast? Everybody go like this. To cast means to throw your burdens. Get rid of them. Just don't reel them back in. Right? Because when you fish, you want to reel that thing back in. Don't reel it back in. Throw the burden. Let it cast off of you. And let it stay off of you. You don't need to bring that back. Because the truth is, Jesus doesn't want to add to your load.

He wants to exchange the loads with you. He wants to cast your burdens. And he wants to take that load on him as well. So you can walk this out together. Take my yoke upon you. A yoke that connects two animals, pulls together. 1 Peter, cast all your anxieties, throw it away. Psalm 55, 22, cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you.

Two different books, right? Or two different sections of the book. Old Testament, New Testament. It's everlasting. It never changes. Never dulls. For us in this room, I understand that. For us in this room, when it comes to the faith that we walk in, Christ lives within us through the Holy Spirit. God reveals things in our life like truth and love.

Every individual who believes in him has these gifts. But I'll tell you right now, we don't need a high priest in our lives if we call it an idol. But Jesus is a high priest. So if you are saying, nope, I've got to believe in this, or I have to follow this, or I've got to do this, and I've got these burdens over here, and I'm carrying all of this. That is not your high priest.

Put it down. Pick him up. Put him on your shoulders. Carry the burden that he's carrying. Because guess what? He's carrying it for you already. You have to stop trying to control the outcome of your life, because you were never meant to control it, ever. The outcome of your life has already been ordained through what Jesus is doing. From every hair on your head when you were conceived, right? We all know this.

You need to bring your anxieties, your cares. Your worries, all of that, to prayer. You know, I know a lot of people that would pray before they go to bed. Like, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for allowing me to get through the day. Lord, the blessings I've ever received when I wake up tomorrow morning. Right? You don't just pray once a day. You've got to stay plugged in. There are times where I'm randomly walking around and I just start praying.

Thank you, Lord. And you have to accept that his gentle leadership is better than your crazy life management. And as we do all of this, we look in Philippians 4, 6, and 7. And as we open this up, it tells us this. It says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation.

by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Cast it. Like, why are we not? Do not be anxious about anything. Every situation, prayer and petition, the peace of God will transcend all understanding, will guard your hearts.

Imagine your entire life you never had to worry again. My gosh, that's insane. I don't have to worry about it. God's got it. Cool. God's peace is totally different. True peace is not found in positive thinking, the absence of good feelings or absence of conflict, but knowing that God is in complete control. That, that right there is true peace. that it's not you, it's Him. He's God.

When you find rest in your souls, it's not just physical rest, but it's also spiritual, soul rest. that will revitalize you from the inside out. And the rest isn't just about the relief of your burdens, it's the actual foundation, of what God is doing in your life. So we're going to get ready to wrap up. And this is the last point I really want to drive home,

and it's you have to revitalize your life through transformation. Transformation. And we talked about this a few months back when we talked about 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. We also looked at Romans 12.2 where we need to be transformed, right? We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to revitalize our faith. We need to be renewed in faith. So if you've been saved for the last 20, 30, 40 years, if you've been saved for five minutes,

let me tell you something. You've got to constantly renew that thing. You have to constantly renew your life to God. Every single day that you wake up, your salvation is new. When you focus on Him, when you find who God is in your life and you are converted from the old way into the new way, this conversion is not merely turning over a new leaf. You're not just being like, I'm a better person. No. It's the beginning of a new life.

under a new master because you become servants of who Jesus is. And though this newness is 100% individual, everybody has a different experience with this. Paul lets us know that, Not only are believers changed from within, but a whole new order of creative energy begins with Christ. There is a new covenant, a new perspective, a new body, and a new church.

All of creation is being renewed. So take notice. This is not superficial. It is internal and soul. The old has passed away. Your failures, your limitations, your spiritual dryness is gone. Behold, the new has come. Fresh mercy, new strength, revitalized purpose.

You have to stop defining yourself from your past spiritual deficiencies and failures. But you need to start each day expecting that God is going to do something new in you. And when you feel stuck, remember that God has already transformed you. The birthright is in him. And finally, he tells us in Ephesians 4, 22 through 24. You were taught with regard to your former way of life.

to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on a new sun. You have been re-skinned in Christ. Now, some of us, right, have new cars and we want to keep them all nice and pretty. So we put a new, you know, vinyl. We wrap our cars now with vinyl. Now, that's like, you know, that's pretty much what Jesus does. He wraps us up with new life.

Wraps us up with new skin. It's easy, right? And then it's supposed to stick to us, right? We're supposed to be sticky with it, you know? So let me tell you, for those who feel like you're plateaued, with your spirituality, God's not done with you yet. The same power that raised up Christ from the dead is actively working to make you new. Not just better, new. So, how dead is your home?

How much strength and power do you have left? How many batteries do you need to continue to recharge until you realize that the recharging happens is the word? How often? Today you have a choice. Today you can leave here continuing to run on the old depleted battery that you have, or the spiritual fumes, if you will, and wonder why your faith feels flat, dry, broken,

or, you decide to wait on the Lord. Rest in the exchange of what he's doing in your life, removing the burdens and carrying the yoke. And embrace transformation of the new creation that you've become. You can do those things. Your faith doesn't have to stay where it was when you got saved. Your faith has to move forward with you as you continue your salvation walk. You are not just running on 2%.

Because here, anybody know what this is? It's a battery pack. That's your Bible. When you plug it in, your phone will light up. And you can continue to walk in faith, knowing that you can be recharged each and every day when God is walking with you. That is how that works. Stay connected to God. Stay connected to what God is doing. Stay connected to God. Stay connected to what God is doing. Through prayer, the word, community, fellowship.

Stay connected. And as we close and the worship band comes back up, maybe today you were the one walking in spiritual dryness. You were feeling drained. You were realizing that you needed to go deeper in God. If that's you in this room, or if that's you online, you are not alone. It doesn't matter how long you've been walking with God. It could be the last 35 years. Listen, I've been walking with Him for eight years. I still call myself a novice in spiritual faith.

Because it's not a long time to some. Some people have been in here and been walking with God for 40 plus years. Those are the ones that you want to connect with. So what I want to do in this room is you can just close your eyes and bow your heads. And if you feel like that's you, that you've been disconnected, that your battery is low and you want to be reconnected to the source, if that's you in this room, no eyes looking around, no hands moving, I just want you to know that if that's you, and you want to come forward later on today and come talk to me,

you're more than welcome. If you want to witness that right now, you can slip your hand up. If you want to believe that your way is drifting and wandering and you're pretending that you're okay with your soul, do me a favor. Know that you are not alone. God has given you life in Christ, the good shepherd. God has given you the opportunity to light and show mercy. God has given you the grace to live out your life. Today, you can confess those sins and you can walk a life new in Christ.

Don't be too proud to accept what we're giving you here. So if this message stirred in your heart today, and we're not going to ask you to raise your hand, but we're just going to ask everybody to pray this out with us. So you know that you're not alone in this. You're in a community of people who've already gone through this. If that's you today, all of us together will say, Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner in need of your grace.

I believe you died on the cross for me and rose again. Today I turn from my old ways, surrender my life to you, recharge my soul, renew my heart, and walk with me all the days, forever and ever. Amen. Now if that was you today, I want to just clap up in this room for everybody to be a witness to that. If that was you online,

you can put information in the comments block or you can email us directly and we will pray for you. And listen, I thank each and every one of you today. For hearing the word of God, but also taking a moment to look at yourself and look at your faith and to be replugged in and start to walk your faith out, in a new, revitalized. Lord God, we thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for what you're doing in our lives, Lord. We thank you for the opportunity. speak the word of Christ over each and every person here.

I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be able to directly communicate with people that are not physically in this room, but Lord, what we can do just by planting seeds with the people. Father, I thank you for the new people that are coming in. I thank you for the new lives that are being changed and I thank you for the new souls that are being saved. Lord, as we go into worship, just continue to build.

Sermon Transcript Note

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