Vision 2026

Awakened: Coming Alive in Christ

Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 3:1–4

January 18, 2026

Last week, we prayed a simple but dangerous prayer.

“Lord, awaken my heart.”

And for some of you, you felt it. You maybe prayed it again during the week when you felt yourself drifting.

Maybe there was a stirring. Maybe a hunger you hadn’t felt in a while. But here’s what we can often discover - - - -

Change is difficult. It’s not easy to simply say I’m going to stop doing this, or I’m going to do this. We have lots of distractions.

Our day to day living can lead us to live life in such an undisciplined way, that what we hope and want to do

. . . . . we just don’t do. You know what I mean?

One of the things I’ve learned is this — We can wake up spiritually … but still think the same old thoughts. Have you ever been there? You’re making changes, but the same old thoughts seem to creep back in, even though they’re totally unwanted.

You can feel close to God on Sunday, and still wake up Monday trapped in fear, anxiety, negativity, shame, or exhaustion.

You see when our spirits are being moved, it doesn’t stop the heart and the mind from doing what they do. Solomon told us in Proverbs 4:23 - - - -

23 Guard your hearts, for all of life flows through it. - Proverbs 4:23

It’s a pretty simple passage which can get lost in the midst of so many other amazing proverbs. For me, it’s the most powerful proverb. Guard your heart! Protect it! That’s not always easy to do. Too often we continue to let so much junk, so much of our past history . . . filter in.

On top of that, the world is throwing all kinds of stuff at us, and if we’re not careful, even in the midst of waking up our spirits, and gaining passion, we will constantly be brought back to those same old destructive heart longings and thoughts.

I’ve been there. Been there for 66 solid years. And even though they might come back, I’ve worked with God so that they will not come back and rule me.

But that takes work and it takes trust in God that I’m good in His eyes and frankly what anyone else says, doesn’t matter.

So guard your heart! The voices from around the world will beat you up. It’s a vicious world. It can come from your family, your friends, from outsiders.

Imagine if we listen to all of the noise and let it filter into our heart. It can easily destroy. So, as Solomon said, guard your heart, because all of life gets filtered through your heart.

And then Paul tells us in Romans 12 - - - -

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

If God doesn’t renew the mind, the heart will drift back to sleep.

Notice what Paul assumes. He assumes there’s a pattern shaping you. The question is not whether you’re being formed — the question is — what’s forming you?

Your mind is being shaped every day by:

What you consume

What you replay

What you believe about yourself

What you fear

Consider what you consume? Consider your time on social media? Your time watching programs that are not edifying to God. I would say many of us watch programs which bash God, and we keep watching.

Last year Debbie and I stopped watching a program exactly because of that. We didn’t need to keep filling our minds with their junk.

How much doom scrolling do you do in a day? What are you reading? Don’t expect Sunday’s to suffice for your Bible reading. Are you reading the Word, listening to the Word, trying to learn and understand who Jesus is and who He is calling you to be.

And, if we’re honest, many of us let the world do more discipling of our minds than Scripture.

We ask God to awaken our hearts … but we let our thoughts and our minds run unchecked.

It’s easy to day dream and get stuck on totally unhealthy day dreams and then dismiss them when we’re done. They just don’t disappear that easily.

As I stated last week, my vision for us this year is, we will - - - -

Awaken to a deeper faith and stronger unity, coming alive together in Christ to accomplish His mission.