It's Not Too Late: Choosing Life and Renewal

Devotional

Day 1: It is never too late to turn back to God.

The season of Lent is a profound reminder that no matter where we find ourselves, the opportunity to return to God is always available. Our choices, both big and small, are chances to say yes to a life more connected to divine grace. This path leads not to restriction, but to a freedom that allows us to thrive individually and within our communities. Each moment presents a new chance to choose what gives life. [06:01]

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20a NIV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you feel a sense of distance or struggle, and what would it look like to consciously turn that area over to God today?

Day 2: Spiritual practices reconnect us to God's presence.

When we feel disconnected or unable to hear God's guidance, established spiritual practices provide a pathway back. These are not one-size-fits-all tasks but varied ways to open our hearts and quiet the noise of the world. Through them, we can recenter ourselves on gratitude and God's faithfulness. They help ground us so we can feel God’s comforting presence anew. [17:40]

“Turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 30:10b NIV)

Reflection: Which spiritual practice—such as prayer, worship, or reading scripture—feels most life-giving to you right now, and how can you intentionally incorporate it into your routine this week?

Day 3: God's call is for our whole heart and soul.

The primary invitation from God is not to a list of rules, but to an intimate, whole-life relationship. We are asked to bring our full selves—our feelings, experiences, and questions—and offer them openly. This very act of turning back and being willing is what allows the Spirit to work within us. It opens us up to discover the grounding and guidance God desires to give. [28:00]

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV)

Reflection: Where might you be holding a part of your heart back from God, and what would it feel like to offer that part to Him with trust and openness?

Day 4: Obedience to God leads to a thriving life.

Choosing God's way brings a settledness and peace that permeates our daily existence. This obedience is not about harsh duty but about trusting guidance that leads to a more full and compassionate life. We find ourselves more graceful in relationships and more trusting in difficult circumstances. It is the experience of God’s ease and reassurance even in the midst of life's challenges. [29:11]

“Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV)

Reflection: Can you identify a recent choice where following God’s way brought you a sense of peace or where going your own way led to unrest?

Day 5: We are God's beloved children.

God views us not with a spirit of punishment, but with the compassionate heart of a parent for a beloved child. When we struggle or make mistakes, God’s response is to draw us back with help and love. This perspective invites us to release our need to control and to accept the gracious help that is always offered. We are seen, loved, and valued exactly as we are. [32:01]

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)

Reflection: How might embracing your identity as God’s beloved child change the way you approach a current challenge or relationship?

Sermon Summary

The Lenten series "It's Not Too Late" invites a renewed turning toward God and a reclaiming of life now, not merely in some distant future. Drawing on Deuteronomy's covenant language, the text calls for wholehearted obedience—turning with all heart and soul—as the simple, repeated way back into God's life-giving presence. Regular spiritual practices anchor that return: worship centers attention outward in gratitude; varied prayer forms create space to name fears and hopes; scripture reading reconnects present struggles to a long story of God's faithfulness; fasting sharpens dependence on God; and intentional self-grace restores a truer identity as beloved image-bearers. Repentance and confession function as honest reorientation, softening hardened hearts so the Spirit can breathe new life and freedom.

Choices never exist in isolation. Individual decisions ripple through families, communities, and creation, so faithfulness carries communal consequences and opportunities for shared flourishing. Obedience to God does not appear as punishment but as a path to greater ease—deeper peace, steadiness in grief, more patience in frustration, and relationships shaped by mercy. The portrayal of God repeatedly shows a compassionate companion: a caregiver who reaches in, wipes tears, and offers help rather than condemnation, urging people to stop holding their breath and accept renewed breath and guidance.

Practical invitations accompany theological claims. The congregation is urged to participate in public witness and advocacy, to engage in shared prayer practices during Lent (including an art installation of written petitions), and to gather around the Lord’s Table as a communal reminder of forgiveness, unity, and commissioning. Communion, read as both remembrance and empowerment, seals the call to leave repentance and enter mission—living more fully, loving more freely, and choosing life in daily decisions.

Key Takeaways

1. Choose life in every decision Each moment holds a moral and spiritual horizon; choosing life reframes ordinary choices as invitations to flourishing rather than burdensome duty. This perspective insists that salvation begins now, reshaping work, speech, and relationships into practices that reflect God’s sustaining care. Making small choices for life scaffolds larger communal and systemic change over time. [14:19]
2. Turn fully to God daily Wholehearted turning asks for more than occasional ritual—it demands consistent offering of mind, heart, and soul to receive guidance. Such turning loosens the grip of despair and replaces performative religiosity with realignment of desires toward God's life for the world. Repeated returns cultivate discernment and habituate trust amid uncertainty. [27:08]
3. Cultivate regular spiritual practices Worship, diverse prayer forms, scripture reading, fasting, and self-grace act as tools for hearing and responding to God. These practices create a rhythm that exposes false narratives, grounds identity in belovedness, and opens channels for the Spirit to work. Experimentation and honesty about what helps are part of faithful discipleship. [17:40]
4. Obedience opens life and peace Obedience is not a list of burdens but a posture that produces steadiness, compassion, and communal flourishing. Choosing faithfulness yields comfort in grief, restraint in anger, and collective resilience in crises. This obedience flows from trusting God’s care rather than proving worthiness. [28:50]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[04:11] - Announcements: Advocacy and Events
[05:45] - Call to Worship and Hymn
[13:13] - Series Introduction: It's Not Too Late
[14:19] - Theme: Choose Life Now
[17:40] - Spiritual Practices Overview
[18:59] - Worship and Prayer Explained
[21:26] - Scripture, Psalms, and Fasting
[24:07] - Repentance and Confession
[27:08] - Turn with All Heart and Soul
[30:30] - God's Compassionate Care
[33:31] - Lenten Art Installation Invitation
[49:23] - Communion: Body and Blood
[51:14] - Sending Prayer and Blessing

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading: Deuteronomy 30:6, 9-10, 19-20 (ESV)
And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live...Then the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul...I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days.

Observation questions

What does it mean to "turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" as stated in Deuteronomy 30:10?
According to the passage, what are the specific outcomes or blessings promised for obedience and choosing life?
The sermon mentioned that our choices are not isolated but affect those around us and all of creation [15:52]. How does the language in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 about "you and your offspring" support this idea?
What spiritual practices were highlighted as tools to help us reconnect and hear God more fully? [17:40]

Interpretation questions

The text says God "will circumcise your heart" so that you can love Him. How does this divine action work together with the human action of "turning" to God?
Why might someone view obedience to God as a list of burdensome duties rather than a path that "produces steadiness, compassion, and communal flourishing" [28:50]?
The passage connects loving God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him with choosing life. How are these three actions—loving, obeying, holding fast—interconnected?
The sermon described God as a "compassionate companion: a caregiver who reaches in, wipes tears, and offers help rather than condemnation" [32:01]. How does this portrayal of God change how one might interpret the commands and promises in this Deuteronomy passage?

Application questions

"Each moment holds a moral and spiritual horizon; choosing life reframes ordinary choices as invitations to flourishing rather than burdensome duty" [14:19]. What is one ordinary choice you will face this week that you can consciously reframe as an opportunity to choose life and God's way?
Wholehearted turning asks for consistent offering of mind, heart, and soul. What is one area of your inner life (mind, heart, or soul) that you find most difficult to fully offer to God, and what is one small step you can take this week to turn that area over?
Spiritual practices like worship, prayer, scripture reading, fasting, and self-grace were described as tools. Which of these practices feels most foreign or challenging to you, and what would it look like to experiment with it honestly during this season? [17:40]
The choices we make ripple through our families and communities. Is there a current relationship or situation in your life where you can see that your choices have had a negative or positive ripple effect? How might choosing life in that area this week look different? [15:52]
Obedience flows from trusting God’s care rather than proving worthiness. When you find yourself striving to prove your worthiness to God or others, what practical reminder can you use to recenter yourself on God's compassionate care for you as a beloved child? [29:37]
Repentance and confession function as honest reorientation, softening hardened hearts. What is one thing you need to stop "holding your breath" about and finally offer to God in honest confession, trusting that God's response will be help and love, not condemnation? [25:06] [31:21]

Sermon Clips

35s

#FullLifeInGod

“In the scriptures, we are reminded that when we are on God's path, when we are obedient to God, when we are living and making choices to choose life, to choose God, we experience life in its fullness, more full. But we also experience peace. We experience a settledness. We experience reassurance. We experience feeling a little bit more grounded, a little bit more able to be slow to anger, a little bit less need to control everything around us because we are more trusting, a little bit more compassionate and merciful towards one another.”

33s

#BelovedChildOfGod

“But I like that image because it reminds me of how god sees us as children, not as adults that are meant to be held accountable, punished in the ways we sometimes think adults are. But God sees us as beloved children that just can't seem to get it together and is constantly coming to us to say, just just let me help you. Don't worry. I'll help you clean that up. You go wash your hands. It's okay. Wiping away our tears, hugging and cuddling us. That is how god sees us and comes alongside us.”

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It's Not Too Late: Choosing Life and Renewal

Devotional

Day 1: It is never too late to turn back to God.

Day 2: Spiritual practices reconnect us to God's presence.

Day 3: God's call is for our whole heart and soul.

Day 4: Obedience to God leads to a thriving life.

Day 5: We are God's beloved children.

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

It's Not Too Late: Choosing Life and Renewal

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