Renewal That Lasts: Spirit-Powered Transformation and Community

I think most of us, when when we hit that point, when we hit the point where like, God, it seems like the transformation isn't working. Lord, it seems like I'm still stuck in the same thing. Most of us when we hit that point, have one of two responses. The first one is to negotiate with the brokenness. It's to say, okay. Look. I know this is bad. I know what I'm dealing with is bad, but it's really okay. You know, it's not that big with a big of a deal. I'll move on, and and I'll move through. But that's not really transformation. That's just tolerance. [01:01:31] (34 seconds)  #StopToleratingBrokenness

And what we've been saying this entire series and really the crux that pastor Craig set up the first week is this, is that this effort, the rebuilding effort has never just been about walls of a city but it's always been about the work of god and renewing the lives of his people. That there's a spiritual renewal that can take place in our lives when we concede to the call and the promptings of god's spirit to work in the broken places of our heart. [00:40:44] (33 seconds)  #RebuildLivesNotWalls

Nehemiah writes that for six hours, for half the day, the entire city stood together, confessed their sins, wept, repented, had this humble humility and submission before God. And and then there's this beautiful prayer where they remember everything that God has done, that he called them out of Egypt, that he set them up as kings and a kingdom under him, that he punished their disobedience, and then he's brought them back from that. And and this is this revival moment, this revival service moment in this book is the people are God, we see you. We want you. We repent. [00:48:35] (37 seconds)  #RevivalAndRepentance

The second option, which is where I think maybe more of us live, is that we understand, okay. I wanna get free from this thing that's holding on to me. I want renewal that lasts. And so what I need to do is I need to grip my teeth and pull myself up by the bootstraps. And if I only have more discipline, or if I only try harder, or if I only read my bible more, if I only listen to Christian music, I can will myself into obeying God and being godly. [01:02:05] (30 seconds)  #NotByWillpower

It is not about a human effort cycle where I try really hard, and I fail, and I feel bad, and I deny that anything's wrong, and then I wanna try again at my hardest, and I fail. It's that the Holy Spirit's working this out inside of you. It's that he who began a good work, and you will carry it through to completion. Renewal that lasts, man. What more can we say than this? It's just the holy spirit's working in you. [01:10:39] (25 seconds)  #HolySpiritWorksInYou

Jesus, you die not just to get us into heaven one day, but to get heaven into us today through your spirit. Lord, there's real renewal available in you. There's real transformation available in you. Would you create in us, God, a heart that desires it, and not only desires it, but trusts that you are working it out in us by your blood and through your spirit. [01:15:56] (28 seconds)  #HeavenWithinUs

And last week, he's preaching on Romans 12, and he said that for most of us, when we hear this, don't conform, be transformed, what we conjure up in our mind is this idea is, okay, need to work really hard, get up the motivation, conjure up feelings of serving God, and if I just do that, we can will ourselves into transformation. And he has this line where he says, instead of being transformed by the renewing of our mind, most people are trying to be transformed by the effort of our will. [01:06:20] (30 seconds)  #EffortVsSpirit

Have you been running on your own? Have you been trying your hardest? Do you understand and recognize the goodness of the gift that God has given you? Are you in a community that's supporting you and building you up? The renewal that lasts is not bought by human effort. It's bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. [01:15:09] (30 seconds)  #RenewalByChristsBlood