The Power Source: From Malfunction to Movement

ENGAGE: The Tragedy of the Silent Engine

The Recap (The Storage Cabinet):

Last week, we talked about the portable dishwasher we had in our old house.

We had big plans for it, but it was just too much work and effort to make it work the way it was supposed to....sooooo

There was an ice maker sitting on top of it—paper towels inside of it. Even the little tiny waffle maker.

A dishwasher isn't built to be a storage cabinet to store things;

it was built to wash dishes.

If it isn't washing, it’s failed to do what it was designed to do.

TRANSITION (Dishwasher to Car):

But as tragic as it is to see a dishwasher used as a storage cabinet, there is something even more heartbreaking.

It’s when you take a masterpiece of engineering—something built for speed, glory, and the open road—and you turn it into this.....

The Core Metaphor (The Chicken Coop):

Imagine a high-performance sports car sitting in a muddy field.

Instead of tearing up the asphalt, it’s being used as a chicken coop.

The engine is silent, the leather seats are covered in straw, and there are feathers and chicken poop everywhere.

The Wasted Potential:

It is tragically out of place.

It was built for 200 mph, but its potential is being wasted as a stationary box for poultry.

TENSION: The Mismatch and the "Unplugged Version"

TRANSITION (Into Tension):

When we look at that car, we don't just see a mess; we see a mismatch.

And that mismatch creates a specific kind of weight that many of us are carrying right now.

The Internal Realization:

You can have the rarest or most expensive car in West Virginia, and it still isn't doing what it was built to do.

Preacher R.C. Sproul has written this in his book Pleasing God.

"To please God is our highest calling. It is the very reason for our existence." (Pleasing God, Chapter 1, p. 11)

What happens when we as humans, don’t function like the way we were designed to?

Just like the mismatch between Design (the car) and Reality (the chicken coop) there is a functional breakdown.

For us, it creates a spiritual gravity.

It’s the "thud" you feel in your spirit when you realize you are a made to be one thing, but realize you are acting like another.

The "Unplugged" Version:

This is the Unplugged Version of ourselves.

You are exhausted because you are trying to fulfill a high-performance calling on your own steam, but your life is currently functioning as a chicken coop.

You are racing the race by pushing the car with flat tires, straw and chicken feathers all over it, trying to get it across the finish line.

TRUTH: The Clearing and the Connection

TRANSITION (The Maker's Bridge):

When an object is being misused like this, the one it hurts the most is the Maker.

The Engineer who designed the pistons and the frame didn't build it for straw; He built it to move.

Because He is the Maker, He is the only one who can reclaim it.

That is where we find the heartbeat of God's Word.....

When someone reaches out to the Maker to try to find their ultimate purpose, and we learned last week that that purpose was to please God.

Turn with me in your bibles, or open your bible app to Psalm 130.

1. Psalm 130: The Plentiful Redemption (Shoveling the Straw)

Psalm 130:1–2 ESV

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

The Cry (vv. 1–2): This is the driver in the mud realizing the engine has been silent too long.

Psalm 130:3 ESV

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

The Logbook of Misuse:

If the Maker keeps a record of every mile we didn't drive, every day we spent holding straw instead of tearing up asphalt, and every "feather" of iniquity we’ve collected, we are totaled.

If God just marks the "misuse," no masterpiece can stand.

We’d be condemned to the scrap heap.

Psalm 130:4 ESV

4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

The Demo Day (v. 4): This is the Maker shoveling the straw out of the seats. He clears the record so we can move again.

Psalm 130:5–6 ESV

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

The Expectant Driver: The car is clean now. The straw is gone, the "poop" is scrubbed away, and the record is clear. But a clean car in a field is still just a stationary box. The Psalmist is sitting in the silence, gripping the steering wheel, waiting for the "Morning Ignition." He isn't hoping for a jump-start; he’s waiting for the sun to rise on a new purpose.

Psalm 130:7–8 ESV

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

The Legal Buy-Back:

Redemption is the legal act of the Maker paying the "Mud" to get His property back.

Verse 7 says it is "plentiful"—meaning God didn't just pay for the engine; He paid for the whole car, tires and all.

He buys us back from the "iniquity" of being a chicken coop so we can return to His garage for our rightful use.

2. Romans 8: The Resident Power (Turning the Key)

Romans 8:6 ESV

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

The Mindset (v. 6):

To focus on the "Unplugged Version" (flesh) leads to rust and stagnation. Focusing on the Spirit is the beginning of movement (life).

Romans 8:7–8 ESV

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The Functional Breakdown:

This isn't just about "bad behavior."

It’s about capacity.

The "Unplugged Version" of us (the flesh) is physically, mechanically incapable of pleasing the Maker.

A chicken coop cannot win a race.

It doesn't matter how much it "wants" to;

it simply doesn't have the power to submit to the laws of the road.

Romans 8:9 ESV

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

The New Resident: Here is the shift. You aren't a coop anymore. The Spirit of God has moved into the cabin. He has taken the "Title" to your life. If the Spirit is there, the "Unplugged Version" is officially a thing of the past. You are a vehicle under new ownership.

Romans 8:10 ESV

10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The Internal Restoration:

Even if your "body" (the exterior) still shows the dents and scratches from the years in the field, the "Spirit is life."

The internal combustion has started.

The engine is being made right, even while the "chassis" is still being repaired.

Romans 8:11 ESV

11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

The Resident Ignition (v. 11):

The Definition:

"Mortal bodies" means the body you are sitting in right now.

* The Commute:

The Spirit doesn't just want to raise your body at the final resurrection and eternal life;

He wants to give power to your feet to walk into your workplace tomorrow morning.

The engine is running for the commute, not just the finish line.

APPLICATION: Discerning the Delight

TRANSITION (Into Application):

"So, if the engine is running and the car is redeemed, what does life look like tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM?"

The Motivation:

We don't run the race to earn the car; we run the race because the Maker got the engine running. We obey to delight a Father, not to pay a debt.

The Function:

You please God when you stop being a "nice storage cabinet" and start being a functional dishwasher. You please God when you stop being a coop and start being a car.

INSPIRATION/REFLECTION: The Roar of the Resurrection

TRANSITION (Into Inspiration):

"The engine is running, the straw is gone, and the Maker has reclaimed His masterpiece. But we have to look at what it cost Him to get us here."

The Cost of Restoration:

Jesus didn't just "wish" us out of the mud.

He climbed into the mud with us.

He took the "thud" of our wasted potential on the Cross so He could offer us the "Roar" of His life.

Easter Eyes:

As we look toward Easter, we see that the Empty Tomb was the sign that the engine can run again.

Death couldn't hold the Master Designer, and the mud doesn't have to hold you.

Looking Outward:

Your neighborhood is full of racecars acting as chicken coops.

People who are "rare and expensive" by the world's standards, but are tragically sitting silent in the field.

We need to be there to help them through restoration.

We need to be there for each other through our own restorations.

THE ACTION STEP: The Daily Activation Prayer

TRANSITION (Into Action):

The Power Source is already in the house.

The key is in the ignition.

All that’s left is for us to stop trying to provide the power and start trusting the Connection.

Lets Pray.

Lord, I thank you for your Design and for the price Jesus paid to reclaim me.

I thank you that the record of my sin is dead and that your Spirit now dwells in me.

Today, I'm just plugging in the machine.

Give life to my mortal body so that I can show the world what You built me to do.

In Jesus name, Amen.