A ROADMAP FOR CHANGE
JEFF SEAMAN
When was the last time you have asked yourself the question of why you come to church? Have you really articulated this lately? Some of you were invited here today, you’re visiting with us, you’ve thought about that today: “What am I doing here? Why am I going?” But when was the last time you’ve really thought through, why do you come? Free coffee? You like crowds? You’re still waiting for us to bust out the Nintendo and do the world’s largest Nintendo deal? Some of you feel like, if you check in with God every once in a while then at the end of time you’ll love familiar and He’ll let you in.
I think one of the things is we come here with some needs. I think we come with the need to be different, with the need to grow, with the need to change. That’s one of the things all of us have in common, it’s the need to change.
I had an interesting conversation with my wife this week as we were talking through this message. She said, “Maybe it’s not a universal need. Maybe it’s just your need. You’re kind of a go-go-go, driven, do-a-lot-of-stuff person. Maybe you feel like it’s a need for you, but I’m not wired like you. I don’t have your personality. I don’t know if that really is a need.”
That set me back for a second. The more I thought about it – it is a need. I’m not right very often very often in my marriage so I went for it right there. I said, “Let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel like you wish you could be more patient with the kids?” Yes, I need some more patience. “Do you ever wish you would worry less about some of the circumstances in our life?” I need to change some of my worry patterns. I do need help there “Wouldn’t you like to get a better control of the lust that you have for me?” She said she wasn’t really struggling in that area.
But the more we talked we saw that it’s not really a personality thing. It’s a need thing. We have the need to change. And in this series we’ve been doing, we’ve been talking about some of the deepest needs that we have and how God meets those needs. One of the ways we’ve been showing how God meets these needs is by looking at some of the names of God in the Bible. He gives Himself a name that responds to the needs that we have. What a God!
This week we’re looking at the name Jehovah-M’Kiddish – Í am the God who sanctifies you.” “ Sanctify” or “sanctification” means “to change”.
This weekend we’ll have over 12,000 people coming through the doors so as I think about a message I think you’ve got people’s spiritual journey all over the place. You’ve got people who are genuine, sincere seekers who are checking out this God-thing and you’ve got people who have been walking with the Lord for fifty-plus years that have a genuine, deep relationship with Him and everybody else in between. It doesn’t matter where you are today because this term still applies to you. God wants to change you. If you’re already a Christian, God is changing you. God is at work. That’s the good news – that He’s not done with you yet. And if you’re not a Christian – if you’re checking this whole thing out – here’s the good news for you: You don’t have to change and get your act together before God begins to change you.
A lot of people think they’re not good enough to be a Christian. None of us are. You don’t have to get your act together first. You come to God just like you are and He begins the change process. The promise is in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” Circle “old life” and “new life”. This old life is gone. The old life is referring to life without relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s our old spiritual nature. This new life has begun, this new nature. It’s a new life, a new supernatural relationship with God. It’s when we go from God’s creation to God’s child. It’s when you might go from being a seeker to somebody who is now saved – a new life has begun. In this new life we are in the process of being sanctified, in the process of being changed.
The Apostle Paul summarizes this very well. Listen to what he says about this process of change. “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! [If he hadn’t arrived, that’s beautiful news for us.] But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
The big idea here is with this new life we’re in a new race. And in this new race or journey or process, God wants to change us. He wants to take your discontent and change it to joy. He wants to take your insecurity and change it to peace. He wants to change our bitterness to goodness. He wants to take our lust and change it to a genuine love. He wants to take our mean streak and transform it to goodness. He wants to take our edgy personalities and transform it to patience. God is in the change business. He wants to take our anger and our rage and change it to gentleness. He wants to take that which is out of control and transform it to self-control. God doesn’t want to just fine-tune our manners and make us quiet little Christians. That’s not what He’s about. He wants to transform our character.
Some of you are thinking, “That might sound nice for you because you don’t have much changing to do but you don’t know about me. You don’t know about my past and what’s going on.” You’re right I don’t. And I don’t understand. But I do know me and I do know what the Bible says and I do know the experience I’ve had in my life and seen in the life of others. There are some things in my life, my struggles, that I thought I would live with these forever. There’s no way it’s going to change. Yet God has transformed those. He’s changed my character. I haven’t arrived. I’m not there. But I can see what He does. I used to say this: “That’s just the way that I am.” God doesn’t take that as an answer. He doesn’t say, “Oh, that’s the way you are? Let me back up and move and work on other areas of your life.” It doesn’t work that way.
How does God change us? How does the change process happen? Some of you are visiting today because you have seen a change in your neighbor or friend or boss or son or daughter that’s been so radical you’re thinking, “There’s something up!” Have you ever thought about how the change takes place?
There are two extreme thoughts, neither of which are Biblical.
One extreme is this that the change that takes place is all God. God does everything. All we have to do is kind of kick back on the couch and with this theory, if I don’t change, if I don’t transform, then it’s God’s fault. He messed up and He doesn’t have to hold me accountable at all. God blew it.
Another extreme says that God saves me but then it’s all up to me to change. I’ve got to work and I’ve got to do and I’ve got to transform my behavior and my personality. It’s work, work, work, do, do, do!
What the Bible teaches about change – the biblical position of sanctification – is that there is a God part and there is an “our” part. God’s part is His power. Our part is our cooperation. We cooperate in this process of change but God’s power through His Holy Spirit controls the process. We cooperate, God controls it. It’s God’s Spirit in us that does the changing and we do the cooperating. If you miss this you miss some big stuff. Because God wants to change us and if you miss out on this process you miss out on everything God intended you to be.
Five things to think about – action steps, ideas, ways in which we might better cooperate with this process.
1. RECOGNIZE THAT YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE IS A JOURNEY.
God changing us is a process. It’s not an event. It’s a journey, not an overnight sensation. Philippians 1:6I “And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” Circle “began”. That is salvation. If you have a relationship with God, you’ve said yes to Jesus Christ, you’ve said, “Come into my life, forgive me of my sins,” Boom! It began. That relationship began.
Circle “continue”. That is sanctification. That is the process, the journey.
Have you ever been on a road trip with children? It always starts with everybody excited, packing the car, doing stuff, getting ready. Then you get on the road and before you hit Riverside what are the kids saying? “Are we there yet?” (In our car the kids are saying, “Couldn’t we leave Cody at the gas station?”) But most of the time they’re saying, “Are we there yet?”
A couple of summers ago we rented a tent trailer – a mutation of a tent and trailer. We about killed each other. Five people sleeping in something little more than an aspirin box! It was unbelievable – the trip from hell! The whole time on this trip, both in the tent trailer and driving, I could not get my mom’s voice out of my head. For years she would say, “I hope you have kids that act just like you!” It’s driving me crazy! Here are my great three kids in the backseat. I had these flashbacks to when I was a kid. I did the same thing except I would set behind my dad because then he couldn’t reach you. My sister was dead meat! How many of your parents said this: “If I have to pull this car over, you’re in big trouble!” That’s a lie. They never pull the car over. But we believe it. “Are we there yet?”
That question is a sign of immaturity. The reason that some of you walked away from the church for so many years, the reason that some of your friends and family have walked away from God, turned their back on God, is because of spiritual immaturity. They said, “Are we there yet?” “Come on God! I’m not changing the way I should. You must not work.” And they just take off.
I see one of the big problems with many Christians is that they walk away from the church or God because of that immature question, “Are we there yet?.. Are You done yet?… I’ve had this problem and been working on it for a week!”
One of the reasons we have so much of a problem is we’re an instant gratification society. We want stuff right now! Watch the vending machines. Some of you will hit the machine, kick it, if that coke does not drop in 2.2 seconds. We’re out of control. How many of you push the elevator button fifteen times! Like the elevator is down on the bottom floor saying, “That guy on the eighth floor must really be in a hurry. Let me skip the other seven and get up there.” Yesterday I’m at Juice it Up. They sell you a little shot glass of grass! It has two weeks of vitamins, four pounds of vegetables in grass! Who thought of this? Some kid mowing the lawn is making coin on this idea and we’re shelling out money because we want more of it now!
The reason that we have a problem changing is because we don’t understand God’s economy of time. It’s very different than ours. God’s not in a hurry to change us. He knows His part. He’s got His part. Our part is cooperating. Are we there yet?
The good news of the point of it being a journey is this: No, we’re not there yet. You are a work in progress. God’s not done with you yet. If you’re married that’s even better news. Some of you look at your spouse and think, “If this is as good as it gets, we’re in trouble.” But I tell you it’s not as good as it gets. We’re changing all the time. Some of you say, “It seems that the pastors of Saddleback when they teach they’re so transparent, they’re so real, they’re so normal.” You know why we can be that way up front? Because we understand sanctification. We understand God’s change process. He’s not done with us yet either. I’ve been a Christian for 25 years. I haven’t arrived. What I tell people is, I’m one week ahead of you. That’s it! I’ve read to the end of the book and know who wins and I know God’s plan for me. I’m one week ahead of you. We’re all part of this journey, this roadmap to change that we’re talking about here starts with the understanding that it’s a journey.
2. SET OUR SIGHTS ON THE FINAL DESTINATION.
If you want to cooperate with God’s change, you set your sights on the final destination. This is basic travel etiquette.
Last summer we took a road trip to Idaho. We had pictures of where we were going. We had the cabin, we saw the lake that it was on, the boat, the fact that it was free – a very nice equation. For our whole journey, we kept that picture in front of us. It made the journey exciting. It wasn’t the easiest of journeys but we had this picture of where we were going.
If you’re a Christian, the picture of your final destination is Jesus Christ. Another way of saying it is this: the final destination is wholeness. Hebrews 10:10 “And what God wants is for us to be made holy.” Leviticus 20 says “So set yourselves apart to be holy for I the Lord am your God who makes you holy.” Be set apart – that’s what holiness is. It’s not set above everybody else, it’s set apart from the world’s way. The final destination is Jesus Christ. Holy.
People flip out on this holiness word. Some of you when I say that’s the final destination, you feel uncomfortable, intimidated. “What if I mess up?” You will. That’s part of the process. If you’re anything like me, you’ll mess up a lot. That’s consistent with scripture. The final destination of holiness is our internal world. God is an inside God. He’s changing our inner world. We are typically outer world people, concerned with how we look, where we will live, what we look like. God’s internal. He’s a great investor. God says, “I’m going to focus on the part of humanity that will last forever. Our bodies are decaying, but God is an inside God. He’s changing our insides.
That’s why I have a little bit of problem with this WWJD thing. Everybody has them, everybody’s selling them. WWJD stands for “What would Jesus do?” It’s a good question and I find it motivating at times. But I can’t even imitate you let alone Jesus. (Every once in a while I try to imitate Muchow.) I like the question, not “What would He do?” but “How would He be?” (My ten-year-old daughter opened the refrigerator the other day and it was empty. She said, “WWJE?”) As we talk about change, we’re not talking about doing. We’re talking about being. Inside of you is the Spirit of God, a new nature. God is in the process of working in will until He transforms your character. It’s being.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” There is a common misunderstanding with many people in our church. It’s this: They want to become more religious. That’s not it. You want to become more like Jesus. Don’t confuse religion and Biblical knowledge with the transformation of your heart. It’s an easy thing to do if you have.
When I was a new Christian, people impressed me by what they did. If a guy could quote scripture from memory I was impressed. I would hold these people up like they were incredible. I went to graduate school and seminary and guys would be talking about these incredible theologians like Aquinas and Luther and Calvin and Warren like they had just had breakfast with them that day. I was impressed. I equated knowledge with depth. And then I went to work in the churches and I started interacting with people. I met a lot of people who would cram their cranium full of all this knowledge but they never allowed it to influence their decisions or impact their life. They had the Bibles all marked up and went to all the appropriate events, but they lived their life as if they were saying, “You expect me to apply this? You expect me to be humble? You expect me to forgive that person? You expect me to work on my own issues?”
I love you and I love this church. Hear me as clearly as you can. Biblical knowledge, doctrinal awareness, theological understanding are all very important. They’re essential. They’re essential for you and I to have so we’re not blown back and forth by the winds of every belief. But that knowledge has to go hand in hand with the desire to submit your life to the Author of this book, not just to know about Him. You want a picture of a changed life, don’t just always look at the Bible-answer person, or the person who shows up to a lot of events. If you want a picture of a changed life, you look for the person who has humbly rearranged their life and their marriage and their parenting around what’s taught. If you want a picture of a changed life you show me someone who, when no one is watching their life, choose God’s way instead of the way of sinful pleasures when no one’s watching. If you want a picture of a changed life, show me someone who manages their money and their resources the way God teaches, somebody who hungers and thirsts after knowing God so he will be translated into a genuine love for other people. That’s a picture and it takes a while to complete. Are we there yet?
3. ASK GOD TO HELP WITH YOUR ROADBLOCKS.
Roadblocks are areas of life that slow down movement. They slam on the breaks of change. I’ve found out about many people’s roadblocks is sometimes their hidden and they’re silent but they’re very, very real.
When you ask God to help you with them you’re going about three steps deeper than what we normally do. Normally we identify it –“I have a problem!” Then we determine to take action – “I must do something about this problem.” It’s like if a tarantula was to come out of a bush and begin crawling up my leg, I would identify it. Tarantula! (“Tar” meaning “nasty”. “rantuala” meaning “I’m about to die.”) Then I would take action. As a mature adult I would probably scream and them I would kick it into the front row! But just like all of our problems, what’s that tarantula going to do? He’s going to turn around, smile at me, he’s got a toothpick in his fangs going, “I’m back!” He’s going to keep coming back as all of our problems do.
Some of us, when it comes to our roadblocks, we pluck them away. We deal with them and think we can take care of it in a day or an hour or a week – “I don’t deal with that anymore. I took care of it. I went to a seminar!”
2 Corinthians 7 “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence or awe for God.” Look at the word “everything.” – “everything that contaminates”. What are the everythings that contaminate your character? Have you ever made a list of “everything” – all the roadblocks in your life? Have you ever made that list? I have. It is not a pretty sight. As a matter of fact, it’s an ugly list. I encourage you to do it. Think of one thing, one roadblock that immediately comes to mind that stunts your spiritual growth. You name it – pride, gluttony, lust, overspending, anger, too controlling, stealing, having an affair. What is that roadblock in your life? Do you want to get well? Do you want to get past that roadblock?
Before you answer too quickly, think about it. Wouldn’t some of us in here miss the powerful feeling that comes from controlling other people? We say we don’t want to be controlling but it feels so good when we do. Wouldn’t some of us miss the adrenaline rush when we rage and explode all over other people? Wouldn’t some of us miss the excitement of sexual fantasizing if we were to really deal with our lust problem? Do you really want to get well?
“Throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life. [We’ve heard that a lot. Now look at this part I think we can identify with] which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.” Anytime I talk to somebody about problems they go, “I know! It’s killing me! It’s rotten through and through!” And if you’re like me you probably discover that the problem is so serious that there is no way in the world that you can handle that problem on your own. It’s become so enmeshed into your life it’s going to take a miracle.
That’s the asking God part. The tarantula keeps coming back and now I need a miracle. I’ve got to ask for a supernatural intervention by the hand of the sovereign God to take that and remove it from my life because I can’t do it on my own. Some of us are going to go to the grave constantly parked at that roadblock unless you’re willing to humble yourself and take a time out and say, “God, I can’t do it on my own. I can’t remove this on my own strength. You are my only hope.”
How do you do that? I wrote this: “God I’m ready to get past this roadblock that’s causing so much damage to me and to other people in my life and keeping me from growing with You. God, I humbly ask You to remove this because I can’t do it on my own.”
Some of you are saying, “That’s too bad that you can’t do it on your own, but I can. That’s where we’re different.”
Go for it! Have at it! Keep going. Try harder! Crank up the self-improvement program. Read more books. Sit at the feet of another guru. But I’ve read and studied this enough to know that you can’t do it on your own. This change process is summarized pretty well in Proverbs 28 “People who cover over their sins will not prosper but if they confess and forsake them they will receive mercy.” Do you want God’s mercy for an area of your life that you can’t control? Humble yourself and ask for it. That’s a big point!
4. LEARN HOW TO REFUEL.
This is good for a journey motif. You’ve been driving your car in the middle of nowhere and you pass that exit that last gas station thinking you can make it and you’re on “E” because you were too busy, you wanted to keep on track, your kids are talking. And all of a sudden you’re living with this stress and fear and your body tightens up because you know you might really run out. (For me I’m thinking, “My wife’s going to kill me if this happens!”) That’s not living. But yet that’s what so many of us do. We don’t refuel. We don’t take time to get connected with God.
I need to be refueled everyday. I’ve got to be “topped off” by the creator. I think in the Psalms David understood the importance of being filled when he said “He [God] renews my strength. He guides me along the right path.” I need to be refueled. I need to be connected. Things work best when they’re connected with God. We talk about this a lot. My friend Jim who spoke last week did the thing on “Daily”, spending time daily with God. I met a man this week at Taco Bell who came up to me and said, “I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years and I’ve never spent daily time with God for more than three days in a row. I’ve not developed the habits. I’ve not developed the discipline.” If you haven’t, I encourage you to be refueled.
How do you do it? Is it coming here and getting a little thirty-minute message and that’s it for the week. That doesn’t last me. I’ve got to learn to get refueled on my own. It’s great to come and corporately be refueled. One of the things we teach in class 201 is how to refuel daily. If you haven’t taken 201 yet, would you take it? You need to take 101 first. People say, “I’m so busy. My schedule is out of control. You wouldn’t believe how busy I am.” Yes I would. But your schedule isn’t going to slow down until you’re dead. You’d be surprised. It slows way down. There’s a real good chance it’s not going to slow down until then.
2 Peter 1. Here is the result of being refueled. “As we know Jesus better His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. So make every effort to apply these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.”
Don’t get the idea that this change that’s going on in your life is so you can stand back and say, “Look how spiritual I am and bring attention to yourself and play your spiritual harp and do everything like that.” The Bible says this change process is always expressed in the context of community – love for others, genuine love for others. That’s why God is changing us so we might love others. You are never more like Christ than when you express love.
5. PAUSE ALONG THE WAY TO CELEBRATE THE PROGRESS.
If you’re a Christian, God has worked in your life whether you think so or not. You may be slamming on the breaks, buried under a pile of roadblocks but God is working in your life. I love what Pastor Rick says, “We don’t look ahead and see how far we have to go. We look back and see how far we’ve come.” When you look into the window of your soul, the mirror of your soul, can you see that God’s doing some changing. He is. Some of the reasons that you don’t think He is is because you’re not looking. You haven’t paused. You’re not reflecting. You haven’t stopped and looked at your life.
I remember the first time this ever happened to me. I was in 9th grade. I had just said yes to Jesus Christ. I’d grown up in church all my life. I thought I was a Christian but I’d never said yes to Him. I remember the message. 2 Corinthian 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold the new is come.” The guy said, “When you wake up tomorrow you’re going to be a new person.
Think 9th grade – age appropriate – I woke up the next morning and went right to the mirror. I thought I was going to look different. I had terminal acne in 9th grade and Stridex pads weren’t
working so I thought maybe God would. I’d tried Stridex pads, I ate two a day for years and it never did anything! I did not have bulging muscles … like I do now. I looked the same! And I’m thinking, “This doesn’t work. I’m not a new creation.”
Then a couple of weeks later at school this kid came up to me. His name was Clarky and everybody at my school beat up Clarky. It was a varsity sport. You could letter in beating up Clarky. I was part of that as well. He came up to me one day and said, “Fields! How come you never pick on me any more?” I had a great theological answer, “Cause it’s stupid!” Then I went back to my small group of 9th grade guys and the leader said something to me when I told them the story, “And now you’re praying for Clarky! Doug! Do you see what’s going on? God’s changing you. He’s giving you a soft heart, different eyes. You’re hearing needs in a different way.” I was ready to dance! There are six billion people on this playground we call earth and God is doing something in my life, transforming me and changing me because He loves me. That was awesome!
Psalm 40 “O Lord, my God, You have done many miracles for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.” I think many of us in here could say that if we paused, if we reflected, if we took a little bit of time out of our day or week, get a journal and begin to see. As I look back over my journals, I can see God’s work in my life.
Let me get very practical with you, you say, “How do I know that God’s working in my life?” When I’m out there in the courtyard talking to people and somebody says, “You spoke right to me,” God’s working in your life. I didn’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know everybody in here. God’s getting hold of you, rattling you up a little bit.
Today, Memorial Day weekend, crowds are everywhere. When you’re driving and somebody cuts you off and you smile and you hold up two fingers, celebrate! A year ago there’d only be one finger! That’s God changing your life. He’s transforming your character.
When you go two weeks without doing greedy things, if that was your roadblock then you’d throw a party. You celebrate.
If you’re an over spender and you go a month and live within your budget, throw a party! A cheap, inexpensive party.
When you didn’t make yourself look better at the expense of another person like you normally do, celebrate. God’s doing something in your life.
When you come back from a business trip and you didn’t flip on the five-minute free nudie channel because God’s doing something in your life, you celebrate. You thank Him for that.
When you take cash out of your business and you record it as income instead of making up some miscellaneous, fictitious expense you smile that you’re taking steps toward integrity.
Those are actions of God working in your life. You celebrate the goodness and greatness of God helping you turn your life around.
That’s why I love the title of our Friday night program – Celebrate Recovery. Every one of us in here is recovering from something. I’m a recovering sinner. We celebrate that. Every single time you see a little positive change in your behavior, how you relate to other people, in your thinking celebrate it.
Homework: When you’re in a difficult situation this week, pause in the midst of that. It might be with your family, at work, anywhere. God works in difficult situations. I find that’s when He does most of the changing in my life.
Let’s say tomorrow everybody’s picnicking and you go to Lucky’s and crowds are out of control. You only have seven things so you march to the ten and under line. Then you look at the guy in front of you and he’s mathematically challenged. You’re looking in his cart and counting. He’s got way more than ten. You’re wondering where is the grocery store cop to boot him out! At that point, would you pause? Stop and say, “God, how can You use this moment to train me in patience, to change me?”
A test that I use all the time, my measuring stick, is Galatians 5 “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
I think we have a need and the need is to change. There are times where you will act kinder in that situation than you did three months ago. Celebrate that!
Let’s personalize this as we leave. Where are you in this journey? Put your name somewhere next to one of those points. Star it!
For some of you in here, you need just to walk out of here with a big smile on your face. You are the poster child for change. God has done some incredible things in your life. If we looked up in the theological dictionary under sanctification, your picture would be there. You have been changed. Great! Smile!
For some of you, you need to realize that you’re just part of this journey. That’s been helpful for you because every time you mess up you’re dying in a pile! Right there you’re filled with so much guilt, if you think about your spiritual life as a journey you see God along the way with buckets of grace and forgiveness to splash on you as you go through that journey so you can survive.
Some of you have got your foot slammed on the breaks, parked in front of a roadblock and you need to say, “God, would You help me with this?”
And for some of you here, you haven’t even started the journey yet. The old life is still there. You’re a seeker. You’re checking this whole thing out. You’re walking around the Christian faith, kicking the tires. You’re questioning its reliability. You’re comparing its price to other religions. I want to encourage you today, would you jump into relationship with Jesus Christ? Say, “God I want that kind of change. I want You to do a work in my life.” You don’t have to go to any special class for that or wear anything, just talk to God. Say, “God I want a relationship with You. Would You come into my life and forgive me and give me that new life? As much as I understand that.” You can say that right now in the silence of your heart or when we pray or during the song or in your car. But if you’ve never committed to have a relationship with God, would you commit your life to Christ?
At LAKE POINTE we want to partner with you in this journey and help you along the way. And I want you to partner with me. I want you to help me along the way. I want you to love on my kids when you see them running around you. That’s what the church family is all about. We partner together in this journey. I hope if you came as a seeker, you would leave as a believer, that you could say this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “… they are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” May the journey begin.
Ezekiel 36 “And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart.” That’s God’s desire for us today.
Prayer:
God, thanks that You work in our lives, that we can be different people because of You. God, we have a need to change, to grow and to be different. Break in our hard hearts “that’s just the way that I am,” that we might humbly submit to Your standards, Your way, Your truth and that Your will for us is to change us to reflect the likeness of Jesus Christ. Do Your work in us that we might be different people as we leave here today. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
