Awakening the Soul: The Journey of Personal Renewal

Summary: This theme emphasizes the journey of personal renewal as an ongoing process shaped by daily choices, spiritual discipline, and God’s grace, enabling believers to live out their faith more fully.

Application: This sermon encourages Christians to actively engage in spiritual practices such as prayer, fasting, and meditation, as pathways to renewal. By implementing these disciplines, individuals can reconnect with their faith, experience God's presence more profoundly, and cultivate a lifestyle of holiness that impacts their relationships and community.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that personal renewal is a continual journey rather than a one-time event; it requires dedication, intentionality, and reliance on God’s grace for sustained spiritual growth.

How this passage could point to Christ: Christ embodies the theme of personal renewal through His ministry on earth, modeling a life of dependence on prayer, scripture, and the Father. Jesus invites us into this journey of renewal, assuring us that He is the source of our strength and transformation as He empowers us to live according to God’s will.

Big Idea: The ongoing journey of personal renewal invites believers to cultivate intentional spiritual disciplines that deepen their relationship with God and empower their lives for service and purpose.

Recommended Study: Consider diving into the gospels, especially the prayer life of Jesus in passages like Luke 5:16, to illustrate His commitment to renewal through solitude and prayer. Utilizing Logos, explore spiritual disciplines found in Richard Foster's writings to enrich your understanding of how these practices play a role in personal transformation. It's also beneficial to examine the historical context of biblical renewal events, such as the revivals in Israel, to see the communal aspect of renewal.

Renewal Should be Sought Out

Psalm 51:10–12 ESV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

all the way back in the book of Psalms

we see David requesting a clean heart

David is recognizing his wrongdoings

in this Psalm David has been with Bathsheba and committed a sinful act

David is requesting a clean heart

David is requesting repentance

David is seeking to be better in the eyes of the Lord

David is seeking the Holy Spirit

David is seeking salvation

David is mourning his wrongdoings before the Lord

From this passage we can learn a lot about personal renewal!

Here we can see the need for repentance

the need to be self aware

the weight of the burden of the sin we carry

how heavy the burden should be

brought to remorse

brought to mourning in our wrongdoing

all of this mourning brings us to repentance

The individual needs to seek the Lord

for personal renewal in God

we must first seek His face

we need to let Him know we need Him

we need to approach His throne

we need to yearn for his grace!

All of this striving for God will start a process of renewal

which starts with...

Renew Your Mind

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

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.

Here we see a call to renewal of the mind

Paul is pleading to the Romans

the constitution of the Christian Faith if you will

In this pleading Paul calls for a commitment

Paul calls for a commitment to God

but he does not call lightly

in these verses Paul calls for us to submit ourselves as a living sacrifice

Let God use us in any way He needs us

in fact Paul attributes this to true spiritual worship!

this is a point of worship

full submission!

Paul follows this full submission with the renewed mind

We know that God is working in us

we know that God has a plan for life on earth

We know that God holds up to all promises

God is divine!

The world calls us to be like them

but God calls us to be like Him

Paul pleads with the Romans

This one that you have submitted to!

Let Him change you!

Let Him do a mighty work in you

often times we fight this work in our head

based off of worldly pressures

we will fight the concepts in our mind

we will try to create rationale between Worldliness and Godliness

Scripture is clear this is no rationale between worldliness and Godliness

It is either in the light or our of the light

Our nature is to be of the world

that is why our minds must be transformed to the ways of the Lord

Transformed because He is taking us from the natural to the supernatural

In all of this the renewal of the mind shows us what is good and perfect in the will of God!

this is where we should strive to be!

You could explore how renewal starts with the transformation of the mind, as encouraged in Romans 12:1-2. This transformation requires surrender to God's will and the intentionality of spiritual practices. Highlight Jesus’ example of seeking God’s will, and encourage believers to present themselves as living sacrifices so they can discern God's perfect plan.

Revive Your Spirit

Ephesians 4:22–24 ESV

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Paul then calls for a renewal of Spirit in Ephesians

putting off of the old

[Verse 1]

Pick a side, pick a fight

Throw a stone, draw the lines

Heroes, villains, black and white

You're always wrong, I'm always right

We just disagree to disagree

But where's the place in-between

Where it's okay to wash your feet

Where no bridges need to burn

Where I just listen and I learn?

That sounds like a place I'd like to be

[Chorus]

If there's a kingdom that should fall, let it be mine

If there's a heart that needs to die to self

Maybe it's my time

If my life leaves a legacy behind

Let it be the humble kind

[Verse 2]

Seems to me most folks think

Being humble makes you weak

Like you've lost the strength to stand

You're less a woman, less a man

You're no use when pushing comes to shove

But the strongest ones I know

Take the harder narrow road

You may never know their names

No awards or accolades

But the world is better for the way they love

putting on of the new

Romans was a surrender of mind

this is a surrender of Spirit

We are to lay aside the sin that entangles us as Hebrews 12 says

we are to focus on spiritual formation

a spiritual transition in our lives

We need to allow the Holy Spirit to change our souls

to change us at our core

this process will change us in our minds

and in how we take day to day life

In fact this spiritual transformation process will change how we perceive everything in the world around us!

God calls us to increase Spiritually in Him

We should be striving to increase in our understanding of God

our spiritual connection with God

In this we can find aid in the renewal of our minds that Paul calls for in Romans

In all of this Paul desires for us to recognize something

that we live in a spiritual self now

not in a physical one

we focus on the eternal over the temporary

We have a God who has changed us and is doing a might work in us

a hope that at the end of it all we will be able to be made fully righteous before the through through the blood of Christ

Perhaps examine how personal renewal involves putting off the old self and embracing the new, as described in Ephesians 4:22-24. Discuss the significance of daily renewal through the disciplines of prayer and scripture reading, mirroring Christ’s dependence on the Father. Encourage the congregation to actively discard sinful habits and cultivate righteousness.

Run the Race

Philippians 3:12–14 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

But a spiritual journey is not a sprint

it is a marathon

It is a long journey through life

it is a difficult uphill climb at times

it is a struggle to endure at times

But God calls us to endurance

even the apostle Paul starts with I am not perfect

But

he presses on

Paul’s focus is sanctification

Paul wants God to continue to work in Him

so Paul seeks that sanctifying process

Paul is hungry for righteousness

but humble in his seeking

Paul does all of this because of the Promise that Jesus has given Him

the same promise He has given us

He pressed on towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus

Paul has one aim

and it is because He is living in alignment with God’s plan to the best of his ability

He is seeking God with all he can

not allowing the world to over come

Paul knows he is nowhere near perfect

thus he strives to be changed daily in Christ

Are you in need of Spiritual Renewal this morning?

Nobody hear can give it to you

It is something that needs to be sought out

the Holy Spirit can change you

but it will be so much better if you are seeking that change yourself as well

we should be hungry for the Lord

Salvation Message