Letting God Re-Create Us

Title: Letting God Re-Create Us.

Scripture:

Psalms 51:1 -12

“1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts : you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Let me read it the way I believe the Lord would have me read today.

“1 Have mercy on us, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out our transgressions. 2 Wash away all our iniquity and cleanse us from our sin. 3 For we know our transgressions, and our sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely we were sinful at birth, sinful from the time our mother conceived us. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts : you teach our wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Cleanse us with hyssop, and we will be clean; wash The Morgandale Church of the Nazarene, and we will be whiter than snow. 8 Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from our sins and blot out all our iniquity. 10 Create in us a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within The Morgandale People. 11 Do not cast us from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from us. 12 Restore to The Morgandale Church of the Nazarene the joy of your salvation and grant us a willing spirit, to sustain us.

Main verse: Psalm 51:10

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

David here means he was God to completely Re-create Him, Change him not just forgive him but completely change Him.

The message today is part of what I listen when the general Church of the Nazarene sent out a devotional that was given at the District Superintendent retreat. It touched everyone and even touched me listening to the message that this DS wife gave. It is challenging and I pray that this message will challenge you not just today but for the rest of your life.

I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene I am a second generation Nazarene. My mom got started as a young adult. The church has had an impact on my life. I remember Vacation Bibles that had impact on my life, I remember a VBS teacher saying to me, Jimmy if you learn these verses they will help you in life, Proverbs 3:5& 6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy way acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I remember in Jr. Church or children’s church some of the stories that the pastor wife told and about heaven and going there when we died if we are right with Jesus. It was the church that gave me my education, when we went to Nazarene Bible College and online classes. And it was through the COTN that I was to fulfill God’s call on my life. You see at the age of six is when I first felt the call to preach at a boys and girls camp on the Pittsburgh District. I know the call was as real then as it is today. In my Twenty –five years in the church as a pastor it is exciting to see what God is doing and through the Church of the Nazarene around the world.

I have seen the church change over the years, my wife loves changes. She will change the living room around if she could, she loves to change the kitchen around every so often that when you go to look for something you may look for a long period of time and finally give up and say where is such and such and you hear Bonnie say O I move that. She does that often and sometime we think it is to confess us just for her fun.