Rut, Rot, or Revival: What It Takes

Does therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's. Mercy to offer your bodies as living as a Living Sacrifice? Holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and approve. What God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will

You know, last week, we talked about how Jesus is there to give you a hand up out of the rut, and it's because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross that we can get out of a rut whenever we're stuck in one. And today will continue with that of talking about, you know, how determined are you to stay out of the rut once Jesus helps you get out of it.

You know, the Bible says in that verse, we just read that number to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Holy and pleasing to God.

And you know, once you've taken that hand, once you've gotten lifted up out. It still takes some work on our own part to stay out of the rut.

Now, I was hoping to bring it today, but I could not find it in my house. I used to have this old t-shirt that I got. From football back. When I was in high school. Now some of you who played football might know what it means, but it used to say with on it w, i t w, it takes, does anyone else hear that played AC football? Remember that? Tony does coach Moser used to give those out. Now. How did I get one of those shirts? I didn't play. But what happened? I got the shirt because I saw that the old water trough, that used to be out there with you guys. Probably remember the old water trough. It was broke one year when we are getting ready to start today's, so I loaded it up. Took it home, fixed it and brought it back. And when I did Rod was like, Dave's doing what it takes. You know, that was a shirt that he would give out to people after games during the week. He do if they did something exceptional because they were doing what it takes to help the team win.

And, you know, this, I thought about today, you know, thinking about what it takes to keep ourselves out of the rut. I thought about the same thing, but you know, the good news is Jesus will give you a eternally better reward than a t-shirt if we do what it takes.

And you know what? I first said to Bryce that I was hoping to be able to wear that shirt today, but I couldn't find it at home. He said, does that mean you're going shirtless today? But no, it did not. So we stayed away from that danger, but

You know, the first thing we have to realize that it takes his surrender. You know, if you don't surrender, it will be totally impossible for the Lord to do anything for you. Or with you. You know, a beautiful biblical description of that is the story of the Potter and the clay. There's several scriptures about it. But I picked the one from Isaiah 64:8. That said, yet you Lord Our Father. We are the clay. You Are The Potter? We are all the work of your hand.

In order for a Potter to be able to accomplish anything of what they're doing with the clay. They have to have soft, yielding clay, clay that they can work with clay that they can easily shape and mold into whatever it is that they're trying to create at that time.

Because you know, if there are any hard places in the clay, any Unser rendered unyielding places within the clay, they can't properly shape it. They can't work with it.

It's just too hard to be shaped into anything other than it is and they can't make anything useful or beautiful out of it.

Cuz you know it is possible for something to be extremely useful without being beautiful. I think about a garbage can. There aren't too many garbage cans that I would rate as beautiful, but yet they are extremely useful.

You know, or what about all the little knick-knacks around your house. How useful are they? Except for being dust magnets. They really don't do anything else. Do they, they're meant just to look beautiful. They aren't meant to have a specific use for anything. But yet, we still have them. But you know, the difference is the vessels that God is trying to make out of each and everyone of us. He wants to make something that is both beautiful and useful. But he can only do that if we have surrendered to him in such a way that he has all of us available to him.

The second thing that it takes is dedication. You know, the secret of every successful person is an unwavering dedication. 2. Something.

Think about an athlete. We most of us might like to think for athletes, but let's be honest. The only time we get any physical activity is that, you know, the church picnic once or twice a year, right? Are we might occasionally go to a family gathering where someone might be playing a game outside, but that's not a true athlete. Your athletes are those people who strive to become better at their sport every day. Every day. They work on it. It doesn't matter if it's during the team's regular season or the offseason. They're doing something to try to make themselves a better athlete every day. That's the person who's a true athlete. So, you know, when the rest of us are sitting on the couch in the evening, that's when most of them are finishing their second workout for the day. You know, we could tell them hey, take a day off. It's not going to hurt you, but they wouldn't do that because they want to keep progressing everyday.

You know, it's the same with musicians. And how many of us in here, probably started to play an instrument at some time in our life. Yeah, who still plays their fifth grade recorder?

I have some people who try to play it on the bus, but it doesn't work too. Well. I mean, we started to play that instrument but we didn't stick with it. We weren't dedicated enough to that instrument to practice it everyday, to spend time. Learning more about it to keep working on it, until we perfected things. So eventually we gave up And you know, I often think okay. Was it a lack of skill? Or was it just a lack of dedication that we didn't continue with those things?

Most of us, see, no lack the amount of dedication that it takes. How long do you practice every week Janine?

A good hour and a half everyday. For how many years?

A while since since you're 12, so around 20, right?

So, it's been a little while now, that's dedication. Giving an hour and a half to something every day for that many years.

I started piano lessons. I used to go to Carol's house and take those that lasted about 3 years. I took guitar lessons in seminary. He had that lasted one semester. I needed the credit. So, you know, I didn't have a dedication to stick with those things. That's often what happens. But you know in our walk with God, that's not how it can be. If we are truly dedicated to God, we have to put the time and we have to keep doing it. Cuz I would guess that most of us probably watch more than an hour and a half, a TV a day. but we spend an equal amount of time and gods were something I know that we all probably could do better at Third thing is fascination. This one's a little bit harder to understand, but to be fascinated as it says, in the dictionary, to be fascinated is to be held Spellbound by some irresistible charm.

I mean, think about it. If something doesn't Fascinate us, you know, we kind of have that attitude towards Ativan, I could take it or leave it. Doesn't really matter to me, you know, I don't think it's all that special. I mean, it's kind of like, When you're watching the Olympics and you come across the sport of curling.

I mean, if I watch the sport of curling, I sat there and looked at that and thought How board did you have to be that? This is the game that you came up with? Let's slide rocks across the ice and see who can get. and then who's the guy that figured out to use a broom to steer The Rock's, you know, I mean, That's what fascinates me about this sport is. I think

That order. It was on a Friday night after a little bit too much Kool-Aid, you know, but I'm like, how did this become an Olympic sport? It just amazes me, you know, I like sports but I don't really understand the whole idea behind curling. I mean, I understand football. I like that. But you know, how can something like curling being Olympic sport and football is not. Yeah, I just don't get that, you know, so when you're flipping through the channels in your option to watch his curling.

No, I'd rather watch the commercials almost than that.

But you know, when it comes to our Christian Life, can we say that we are fascinated with God?

He'll do we spend time thinking about the things of God that simply amazes.

We Marvel at his Reckless. Love for each of us that God can love broken in Perfect. People Like Us the way that he does.

What we read is Holy scriptures and go, wow.

That's pretty incredible. I sure hope we do. But often I think after years and years of coming to church and hearing things sung and said we begin to lose some of our Fascination there. In the problem, is that when we begin to lose that fascination with God, that is when we are headed towards falling into a rut. Do we know what happens is if you stay in that rut long enough, that's when The Rock begins to set in.

So that's the beauty of us being able to gather together here every week like this and worship together. Is that it gives us a chance to bring back a little bit of that fascination.

You know, Church isn't meant just to be a social Gathering or truth is he? No church isn't even meant to be all that entertaining. Churches Where We Gather to worship God, Where We Gather to show our love and admiration for him and all that. He's given us all the blessings. He gives us. But you know, it's also a place where we gather and on those weeks when we've lost a little bit of that Fascination. We have a family of other believers around us. To help encourages. To help us see the great things. He still doing when maybe we're in a place that we can't see it right now. That's why we gather together. That's why we come get Emily to help us see that and we gather together to hear God Scripture so that we can hear those things and fall in love with Jesus all over again.

Do you mean what happens when? We become fascinated with things other than God. You know, all too often being fascinated by something evil. Or unworthy can be a terrible tragedy.

For example, you know, a lot of us, when we were younger. We want to be famous, right? And unfortunately in the world of digital technology that we live in now, you know, being famous being well-liked. Means that, you know, when you post something, it needs to get a bunch of likes. Cuz he know there is a set criteria if you post something and it doesn't get this number of likes in this amount of time. You need to take it down cuz that's just embarrassing. That you know, you only got 49 likes on something which I know half of you don't even know what I'm talking about, but trust me. That's how it is. At least. That's what my kids have told me, I could care less.

But you know the problem is that when you're so obsessed over that one, thick or so fascinated. At one thing that that's what has to be. You know, people can get themselves into dangerous traps.

Cuz I know a lot of young girls, you know, I see them post things out there that I think. Why did they post that? But the thing is, they just want to know that people care about what's going on with them. They want to hear people say to them that they are beautiful or that they're sorry, that they're having to go through that. And the problem is that, if they don't get the number of responses, they want, they keep upping the ante and what they post until they get the response that they want.

And the problem is that, you know, they can often get themselves into situations that they don't want to be in. But, you know this, I thought about those things. I really think that, you know, if that is why they are posting these sorts of things. We've failed them as a church family. Be my hope that there will be no young lady within our church. That would ever think that she's not beautiful that, she's not love that. She's forgotten and not appreciate it. They should never think that. Not if they're part of our church family. Not if we know them, we should be telling them those things. We should be teaching them. The lessons that, you know, your beauty does not come from what you wear on the outside. Your beauty comes from the inside.

Cuz the truth is, it doesn't matter how beautiful you are on the outside because if your heart is dark and cold. It's never going to change, you're never going to feel that you're enough. You're never going to think that you fit the mold of whatever it is society calls, beautiful? At that time.

But you know, those important lessons of self-worth and finding it in Jesus start right here. They start with us as a church family, reassuring them encouraging them and what they do, it starts by the example that they see from the other women in this church. In the women who make it an intentional effort to build relationships with them, so they have that right to speak into their life.

But, you know, men, we fall into the same trap. as young men, all of us want to be Famous athletes, right? I always tease my son James cuz when he was from age 10 to 12, but she's not here. So I can say this today. He wanted to be a famous black quarterback when he grew up.

I had a hard time explaining that to him for a while. Love. That probably wasn't going to happen.

But that was his dream.

You know, why do we have those dreams? We have those dreams, because that's what we see on television writer. That's what was that guy's rich. So we begin to get that image in our head of. Well, that's what it takes to really be successful. You have to have all those things. When some of them are quite impossible, but yet we think that's what we have to have. And if we can't, we always feel like we fall short of those things.

You know, so how do we teach these young men? What really matters, what it means to be successful successful in the eyes of God. How do we do that? The first thing we have to remember his men of this church is that it starts with each of us in our own personal walk with God. If we aren't fascinated with God, how can we help? Hope to teach others to be fascinated with God? It's not going to happen. But if we are, and if we're walk that, you know, as we serve the church, as we do things within the church, we need to be bringing our young men with us. To serve alongside Us in to see what we do and how we serve God and what it truly means. To be successful in the eyes of God.

You know, then hopefully we can show them that you know, the only true reason to seek being wealthy is so that you can be more generous. You know, John Wesley used to say, make all you can, so you can give away all you can. You know, he would encourage his parishioners to do all that they could and business into work as hard as they could not for spoiling themselves, or living in luxury and comfort themselves. But the more they work, the more they could support the work of God and his church. And that was what he was encouraging them to do.

Because we all know stories of people, we might know personally, or people we've read about in the news who becomes. So obsessed with material wealth, that it just takes over everything in their life. Money Matters, more than anything, it matters more than relationships, that matters more than their own health. It overrides everything. Just to get more money.

You know, as I thought about that, I thought, you know. I sure hope that we can give the image within our family that the worth of no one is determined by how much they make. It's not determined even by how much they might put in the offering plate.

Worse in the family of God comes from God alone. And as a member of the family of God, we love everyone equally. Wealth doesn't matter there.

And you know what? All of these things, you know, the Lord kind of turns it around on us and Matthew chapter, 11 verses 28 and 29. It says Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for. I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

You don't affect Jesus is saying, stop worrying about all that other stuff in the world come and be fascinated by me. Focus. All that attention that you're giving all those other things. All that worry, come to me. Focus on me and find rest from all of that. You dedicate your life to him, surrender to him, so that he can truly shape you into what he wants you to be. But that's only going to happen when you truly surrender your whole entire life to him so that he can continue to shape you and mold you. When you're dedicated enough to allow. The time to be fascinated by God, you know, you have to keep that Fascination there. You have to put some effort into the relationship and that takes dedication.

Because if we can maintain that fascination with God, will always maintain our pursuit of him. And as long as we're doing that, we will stay out of the rut. It's when our Focus begins to shift somewhere else that we fall into that rut and can get trapped there. Please bow with me in prayer. Heavenly father as we come before you today, Lord. We thank you for the many blessings that you've given us and Lord. I pray that you will help each of us. To see where we're at in our walk with you.

Lord. Are we living fully surrendered lives? Are we dedicated to growing in our knowledge and love for you everyday? Lord. Are we truly fascinating? By the love of God. Lord help us, to be honest, with ourselves and honest with you. As we take a look at our lives and think about those things. And Lord, I pray that you will help each of us everyday to work hard at not falling into a rut in our spiritual life, but Lord also to encourage others in their walk with you. And we pray this all in your most. Holy name. Amen.

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