Regeneration // Restoration // Apr 19 2026

What counts is whether we run right, are our hearts right? Are we kind and generous, forgiving and loving? Can folks depend upon us? Will we go the distance? Have we been restored, renewed, regenerate? Have we asked Jesus, the master mechanic to put us right? Friends, as long as we are breathing, we are unfinished. We're not done. We are always trying to become the holy and God loving and neighbor loving people that we were designed and built to be. Are we perfect? Nope. But we're going on toward perfection. Amen. [00:17:54] (46 seconds)  #OnwardToPerfection

You know what I have come to realize in life? Life is unfinished. God isn't done with you and me yet. We look forward to Christ's return and the new creation and until then the whole world is God's unfinished project and God has made us stewards of creation, so we're part of that unfinished project. We have work to do in serving God and helping to restore the world. Now, long as Swamako church is here, it's an unfinished project too. [00:16:09] (35 seconds)  #GodsUnfinishedWork

Now, again, churchy words, but, there's an old fashioned Methodist term that we don't use very often anymore, but I like it better, backsliding. We may be doing pretty good in our Christian walk, but sometimes we backslide. Right? Sometimes we go the wrong way. We make mistakes, we get lazy about our faith, we accumulate some dents and scratches, sometimes life waxes hard with something we don't expect, a death or something in our family, then we fall back into our old sinful ways. But even then, by God's grace, we can get right again. [00:12:47] (40 seconds)  #BackslidingToGrace

But again, churchy words, but what they basically mean is regeneration is when Jesus restores us to our original from the factory as built configuration, a reflection of the image of God. Now that's great. Right? But, you've all had cars you've owned for years and years. Do they stay shiny and factory new throughout their whole time? Nope. Same is true for us. We sometimes screw up. And so article nine concludes that we believe although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and fall into sin. [00:11:57] (45 seconds)  #RegeneratedYetFallible

Just like those folks on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago. They put their faith in Christ and they were justified. In other words, when we repent of our sins, Jesus the master restorer goes to work. Now, regeneration, the book of discipline says, the regeneration is renewal in righteousness through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth, the believer becomes reconciled to God is able and able to serve him with the will and the affection. [00:11:12] (38 seconds)  #NewBirthNewLife

As long as we're alive, we are making plans for tomorrow. Right? We are making plans for the year to come. Plans that are as unfinished as the projects in my garage. Our bodies might be dinged up and a little bit out of shape. Our upholstery might be worn a little bit thin and faded, but you know, in the car hobby they call that patina. That's cool. It's a mark of character. What counts is whether we run right, are our hearts right? Are we kind and generous, forgiving and loving? Can folks depend upon us? [00:17:29] (37 seconds)  #PatinaAndCharacter

It's just that it's not it doesn't work that way. There's always something to do. But it also reminds me that as a human, I'm not done either. As humans from cradle to grave, we are always changing. We are growing. At first we're growing taller and then some of us wider. We're always learning, sometimes on purpose and sometimes in the school of hard knocks. Sometimes we take a wrong turn and find ourselves on a road to nowhere. Sometimes life crashes into us and leaves a dent. If we're living and breathing, we are changing. [00:07:37] (39 seconds)  #AlwaysBecoming

That'll buff out is another way of saying as as Methodist do that we are going on toward perfection. It is an intentional journey toward being more Christ like and more loving. There will be some setbacks. Right? There'll be some backsliding, but always an opportunity to repent and be renewed. Just like old cars. Some of which have been restored multiple times like my old car out there, or this car that my son Eric bought, it's a Rambler. He got it when he was in high school, [00:13:32] (36 seconds)  #JourneyToChristlikeness