The Reset Button For The Spiritual Life Series

As a minister, I can see the good in everyone here, but I don’t know your heart. Only God knows that. This morning I want to tell you this simple truth. For those that are partially committed or have never made a commitment to follow Christ, I want to tell you before its too late. You need to get serious with the LORD. You are not promised a tomorrow. You need to know today where you’ll be tomorrow. If today was your last day, do you know for certain that heaven awaits you?

There is a way you can know. The Bible tells us to repent. That means that we know we’ve done wrong, confess it to Christ, and stop living the wrong way. Secondly, confess Jesus as the Lord of your life.

The Second Reset

The second reset is for those of us who have been a lifelong follower of Jesus, but somewhere along the way, we’ve gotten complacent. Our zeal for God and for the things of God has diminished. We don’t pray as much as we used to, don’t fellowship as we once did, don’t love or share Christ as we used to, or are just not as close to God as we want or should be. Maybe the LORD doesn’t move us like He used to. It is like we’ve lost our passion for God or the things of God! If this is you…you need a reset!

Not many of us in this room can say we are like Steven. Acts 6 tells us that this man of God was on fire for the LORD. He preached to anybody and everybody. Even when he was questioned about why he was continually telling people about Jesus, He stood before the Sanhedrin and preached a sermon to them. Even as they took up stones to kill him, he was praying for them. That’s what I call strong faith in the LORD that he was so passionate about the LORD that he would lay down his life before he would recant.

Illustration—All parents, do you remember when you children got sick? Do you remember how pitiful they were? And I bet there is not one single parent in this room today that didn’t say, “I wished I could take it from them.” We’d do anything for the one’s we love. How long has it been since you’ve done something for the God who loves you unconditionally?

At the age of 16, I was a fat little boy. I had a few friends, but I was really shy. There was nothing special about me, I was just the typical quiet boy who stayed to himself. I would not have dared told any of my classmates about Jesus, much less invite them to church. I was too afraid they’d laugh at me.

When I finally got right with the LORD, I lost my shyness. I lost my fear to stand before a crowd and tell others about Him. Every Friday morning, 50-75 students gathered with me and I got to preach and teach them the Bible for nearly 30 minutes before the first class. I saw dozens of my school mates, come to accept Jesus because one little fat boy was on fire for God. The LORD allowed me to even baptize 7 of them at school.

The cold Christians used to scold me at times because I always wanted to sing or play a song to God. I always wanted to testify about Jesus even if I wasn’t the pastor of the church. After a revival service once, I was confronted by the pastor of the church. He told me, “You know I used to get excited like you when I preach. The longer you stay in the ministry, you’ll start to lose that excited preaching style.” I replied as honestly as I could. I replied, “When I’m no longer excited to tell people about the love of God, I need to stop preaching!”