SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

Over the last few years, I have asked quite a few people how their walk with the Lord was doing. Some rated their personal walk with God as great and some rated theirs as poor to non-existent. But most people answered with statements like; ‘It’s okay, I guess’

It seems to me that too many Christians are living bland spiritual lives. They are neither hot as fire nor cold as ashes. I think we can all relate to that to some degree, because we all go through times when our walk with God seems to either slow to a crawl or just seems to stop altogether.

But we must be careful, because there is great danger found in these times. The danger is that we can become what the Bible calls ‘lukewarm’. It is during these slumps that we end up just going through the motions, because we have let the world around us rob us of our passion for the Lord.

Of course, when we get into these spiritual lulls, it is very hard to just snap your fingers and get out of them, isn’t it? How many times have we skipped church because we had the Sunday morning blahs, or missed an opportunity to witness for Christ because we just didn’t feel like that was a good time for us? I think all of us have felt like this at one time or another.

But, if you are in one of those lulls now, I have some very good news for you! God has given us some basic principles to regain our passion for Him, and we are going to be discussing those this morning.

How many of you would like to be on fire for the Lord once again? Oh, come on! If we can’t even feel good enough to raise our hands for God, how in the world are we going to be able to renew our passion for Him? Again, how many would like to feel a new energy rise up in their souls for the Lord? That’s a more accurate representation, I think.

We have been saved to soar like eagles, not crawl like crickets. We have been won to win, and we have been converted to conquer.  As Christians, we choose whether to run in victory or roll over in defeat. 

Those are our choices. Which choices are you making this morning?

God has given us some basic principles to help us keep passionate for Him. Let’s talk about them.

1.   WE MUST KNOW WHO WE ARE

Not long ago, an elderly lady slowly walked into an insurance office. She told the agent that she was poor, and wanted to know if she could stop making the payments on her husband’s life insurance policy. She said he had been dead for several years now and she just didn’t have the money to keep paying the premiums. When the policy was checked, the agent told her it was worth half a million dollars.

The lady was rich, but it did her no good because she was not aware of what she owned. Christians also need to know about the riches of the kingdom that they posses so they can use them to benefit God’s kingdom here on earth. I think one reason people do not live passionately for God is because they do not know all of the benefits they posses.

We talk about the benefits that Christians have, but exactly what are they?

First, and perhaps most important; we are actually God’s children. You have heard the expression that children use; ‘My dad is bigger than your dad?' Well, Christians can say that and mean it.

In 1 JOHN 3:1, it says,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

We are related to the Creator of the world. And, our Father loves and cherishes us even though we continue to sin against Him.

A couple had adopted a baby boy after trying to have a baby for five years. To their surprise, a short time after the adoption, the mother discovered she was pregnant, and she later gave birth to a boy.

One day when the two boys were eight and nine years old, a neighbor came to visit. Observing the children at play, the neighbor asked, "Which boy is yours?"   "Both of them," the mother replied.

The neighbor persisted. "But I mean, which one is the adopted one?" her finest hour, the mother replied, "I’ve forgotten."

When we are adopted as God’s children, He chooses to forget our sins, to forget our wayward past, and to give us the full rights of sons or daughters. We must always remember that we are God’s children. Our value jumps off the scale when we are saved.

Secondly, as God’s children, we are free from condemnation.

ROMANS 8:1-2 says,

"Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has made me free from the law of sin and death."

In GALATIANS 3:10, the Bible tells us that before becoming Christians, we were not only dead in our sins, but we were under a curse. That curse of condemnation was removed the moment the blood of Christ cleansed us from all of our sins. The moment we were baptized and "in Christ" was the same moment we were placed "out of commission for condemnation."

When I was a boy of about 6 or 7 years of age, I was throwing small rocks at the house one day when I accidentally broke the living room window. My older brother was about 19 years old and he told my dad that he had seen me do it, but that it was plainly an accident. He told my dad that if any punishment had to be handed out, could he take it instead of me, since I was so young.

My father punished my brother by taking his car for a week. My dad later used that episode to explain to me that is what Jesus did for everyone; he stepped in and took our guilt away so we wouldn’t have to be punished, just like my brother did for me.

Years later, I asked my brother why he did that, and he said because he didn’t think dad would actually do anything. Boy, was he wrong! That probably explains why he never did anything like that again for me.

There is something else we need to know. In 1 JOHN 2:22-23, we are told that we must have Jesus Christ before we can have God. It clearly states that if we do not have Jesus, we do not have the Father, but if we do have Jesus, we have the Father also.

There are many people who claim to have a good relationship with God, but when asked, they deny the need for Jesus in their lives. These people are fooling nobody but themselves. The Bible calls these people ‘antichrists’.

But, if a person does have Jesus as their Savior, then they are considered a child of God. And all children of God are joint heirs to the throne of God along with Jesus Christ.

GALATIANS 4:7 informs us,

"You are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

I wonder how many Christians are living in absolute defeat because they do not realize that they are God’s kids? These are the people who have no real knowledge of all that Christians posses. These are the Christians who are barely getting by because they are lukewarm. It is no wonder they have no passion for Jesus, they don’t even know what He has given them!

We need to remind ourselves daily of who we are in Christ, and what all we posses in the kingdom of our Lord God.

The key to living passionate spiritual lives is for us to be aware of who we are and what we possess through Christ Jesus.

2.   TO BE PASSIONATE, WE MUST FIRST BE INVOLVED

To feel the passion for Christ; we must first be involved with others who are already passionate. That is Christian fellowship, by the way. But as we involve ourselves with the church and our fellow brothers and sisters, there is something else we must do - We must get involved with daily worship and praise.

There is no way we will ever feel the true joy of Godly passion without immersing ourselves in His word and without getting into the habit of praising Him for everything.  If we have no time to do this, we will certainly have no time to be a disciple for Christ.

The church in Jerusalem quickly grew to thousands of members in that one congregation. The early church flourished like wild flowers. What was the secret to their growth? They grew because they had a passion for the Lord.

In ACTS 2:46-47, it says,

‘They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the good will of all the people. And each day, the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.’

They grew because they had a passion for Jesus. But I think they had a passion for Jesus because they worshiped Him daily. If we want that kind of passion in our lives and in our church today, we must also be willing to involve ourselves in daily worship. We must also understand that satisfying ourselves to just go to church on Sundays is not worship.  It is only true worship when we try to enhance the whole body of Christ; when we support our local church in its endeavor to do His work; and when we go out of our way to act, think, and talk, like Christ would have us, instead of the way we so often do.

Most Christians will agree that we should worship God on a daily basis, and to praise Him in every chance we get, but statistics will prove that even though we say that, most Christians do not do that. Again, statistics show that most Christians only worship one day per week; the day they go to church. With so little of a commitment being shown to God, it is no wonder why we see so little of God’s power in Christians these days. And, there can be no doubt as to why so many Christians - and so many churches - are experiencing spiritual lulls today.

Our churches must start being actively involved in worship. I am not talking about going always being conservative during worship, which is fine, but it is also just as fine to feel the Holy Spirit as we worship.  When we sing praises to Jesus, we should be belting the tunes out with a heart full of praise, but what does the American church do? We stifle most true worship because we are too busy arguing about the type of worship songs we are going to be singing, or disagreeing on how many to sing.

And if the churches are not going to model active and praise-filled worship, you can bet those Christian that go to these churches are not going to have it in their private lives either.

Worship should never be an event we attend; it should always be a lifestyle we live.  It is not something we “do”; it is something we “are”. 

Literally, the word worship means; "to bow down to” and “show heartfelt reverence for."  Here is a quick definition explaining worship: ‘Worship is the special act done by us, to exalt, glorify, and honor our Holy God – to the fullest extent we are able.’ 

Studies have proven that a father’s involvement with his child drastically increases that child’s awareness level in all categories; raises that child’s interest in positive ways; and even draws that child closer to the father. 

God has been trying to get involved in your life since you were born.  We see the many benefits before us, so why is it so hard for us to let ourselves become totally involved with our heavenly Father?

3.   WHAT KIND OF WORSHIP SHOULD BE GIVEN?

We might be blessed beyond measure when we worship, but the act of worship is not primarily for us – it is for the most high God. Of course, God does not need us to worship Him, but He does desire for us to worship Him. His top desire is to receive praise and worship from our hearts and our mouths.

Worship is an attitude of your heart.  It is a desire to honor and love the most high God.  If you limit worship to where you are, when you leave that place, you will leave your attitude of love there, to disappear like a feather in the wind.

In JOHN 4:23, Jesus said,

"A time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

Only when we start worshiping Jesus with heartfelt praise, we will begin to be spiritually renewed.  

There was a man who had been away from home for several months on an overseas mission trip.  When his plane landed, he could hardly wait to see his wife and children, but he and the other passengers were detained in customs for two hours. Finally the customs officials allowed him to pass through customs and go to the lobby, where hundreds of people were anxiously waiting for family and friends.

He said there were literally hundreds of people in the crowd waiting to greet those coming off planes, but he still had to go past security before he could be with his family. He said his 4-year old daughter was standing near the front and when she saw him, she started yelling at the top of her voice, “Daddy! That’s my Daddy!” She did that four or five times and was so cute, and loud, people started looking at her.

Finally, not being able to wait another moment, she took off running towards him, and went by security so fast they couldn’t stop her. She practically flew into his arms, hugging him and kissing him.

This is how God feels when we acknowledge Him in worship. We worship and praise God because He seeks our worship. And we worship and praise God because He deserves it.

PSALM 29:1-2 tells us,

"Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.”

Notice that glory is due His name. God has given us so much and we need to give Him back what He deserves--our worship, for His glory.

Joy Davidman in ‘Smoke on the Mountain’ writes:

’Once there was a frail old man whose body could not let him take care of himself, so his son and daughter-in-law took him in. In return, his very ample retirement check was given to them for taking care of him.

’The nerves started to wear rather quickly. When he ate, he clattered the silverware and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, and his son’s wife didn’t like the arrangement.

"I can’t have this," she loudly proclaimed. So they put the old father in a corner of the kitchen where they set him on a stool and gave him his food in an old wooden bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, glancing at the table with hopeful eyes, but staying in exile from the family.

’One day his hands trembled rather more than usual and the bowl fell. The son’s wife then said if he were going to eat like a pig, he would have to eat in the basement. Now, even though this old man gave generously of all the money he had, she tossed him aside, feeling no love at all for him.’

Now, I doubt if that story is true, but it works very well to illustrate a very important point. When we do not worship and praise God on a daily basis in all we do, we are treating Him like this woman treated her father-in-law.  Even though God gives generously of all He has, we toss Him aside without a care.

And instead of honoring Him in all we do, we end up dishonoring Him in all we do. But because we tend to care more about ourselves than we do God, we are willing to take all He will give us without any thought as to what we should do in return.  That is because most Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.

How has your life been going lately? Are you happy to have it always be this way, or do you desire for your life to be much more? We can all have much more, but not without feeling the passion in our hearts for Jesus Christ. Here is a synopsis of how you may get that passion.

• understand that you are the elect royalty; God’s chosen children; and you are Christians who are joint heirs to the kingdom of God

• develop a habit of praise and worship, not just in church on Sundays, but in your own private, daily devotions, which should last all day by the way

• don’t praise to get, we praise to give. And there’s nothing like God’s power and presence to help us live a consistently victorious life.

May I have the CrossRoads Singers come back up?

We are getting ready to go into an open invitation. By being open, we mean that if you need anything from God, whether it be a relationship with Jesus or prayer for your life, we ask that you slip out from where you are and come forward so we can pray with and for you.

INVITATION