Our Need For Renewal

OUR NEED FOR RENEWAL

Text: Galatians 6:9-10 - “And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we do not give out. As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all man, especially unto them that are of the household of faith (fellow Christians).

INTRODUCTION:

Sometime ago I was reading about the automobile races held at on TV of last year’s race. First, there was the start of the race. All of the hopeful drivers lined up and followed a lead car for two

laps around the track. The lead car then dropped out and the cars took off with a roar. Periodically the racers would leave the track for a pit stop. Before they came to a full stop, pit men would start cleaning the windshield, refueling, checking the tires and leaping out of the way as the driver

roared out to the race track again. Each driver had his own pit stop and pit men. Pit stops were places of renewal and were necessary to the success in the race.

There is a lesson here for us. In life’s race we need the spiritual pit stop where we may go for renewal, lest we grow weary in Christian activity and give out before the end of the course.

I. SPIRITUAL LET-DOWN IS NOT A NEW EXPERIENCE

Human strength gradually wears out. Spiritual strength also is in danger. This normal tendency makes productive ground for the

planting of ideas by the vitamin companies and health cults. Some years ago I answered an ad in a paper which promised to develop my muscles and make me a strong man in three months. With the course

came a gadget to help me. The lessons were easy at the beginning and became more difficult as they progressed, the sad part is that my strength gave out before I could become a strong man. My get up

and go, got up and went.

While it is necessary to take care of our health, get plenty of rest, eat the proper foods, exercise lest we wear out physically, we must take care of the spiritual man lest we wear our spiritually.

Spiritual weariness is as old as the human race beginning in the Garden of Eden and afflicting every generation since. It was

prevalent when Jesus came to earth. When our Lord saw the multitudes, he recognized the symptoms. It affected him so much that he cried out, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy

laden and I will give you rest.” When the future looked so uncertain to the disciples he said, “Don’t worry, your Heavenly Father knows about your needs.” Some years later Simon Peter writing to a persecuted congregation said, “Be constantly casting all your anxieties on Christ for He cares for you.”

Paul did not want his churches to show symptoms of spiritual weariness. So much depended upon their faithfulness. Writing to the Galatians he said, “Let us not grow weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap, if we do not give out.” Paul followed his own advice. He suffered for Christ. He was beaten but his persecutors couldn’t beat Christianity out of him. He was stoned,shipwrecked, endured hunger and thirst, suffered from the cold, was in sever pain but he did not back down or give out. He found the place of renewal. It was in Christ and instead of complaining he cried out “I can do all things through Christ giving me strength.”

II. SPIRITUAL ENERGY IS NEVER IN SHORT SUPPLY

A.J. Gordon tells of an American and an Englishman viewing the Niagara Falls rapids. Pointing to the rapids, the American said, “here is the greatest unused power in the world.” “Not so”, said the Englishman. “The greatest unused power in this world is the Holy Spirit of God”.

Before Jesus went back to Heaven, he called his disciples about him and gave them their commission, to carry his Gospel into all the

world. It must have looked to them like “Mission Impossible”. Had Jesus told them only to go, it would have been impossible, but he told them to return to Jerusalem and stay until they were endured with

power from him on high. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and he enabled them to carry out their “Great Commission”. The same divine enablement is a “must” for every Christian today, and is available as it was then.

God longs to meet us in the peace of renewal. The time spent there is not lost time. He wants us to make our requests known unto him. How pleased He must be when we come to Him for a time of

fellowship, when we just want to be near Him. S.D. Gordon says,“there are three keys that will unlock the innermost chambers of friendship with God. A key time, a key book, and a key word. The