MADE NEW - Victory Weekend 2026 - Ephesians 2:1-5,10

Can you hear me?

>> All right. Good morning, Grove family.

It is good to be with you this morning.

And you you pronounced it perfectly. You

did great, man. That was good.

>> Well, it is it is good to be with you.

Uh like what Pastor Eric said, my name

is Jared and I had the honor of spending

the weekend with your awesome students.

And so it was a joy to be with you

today. Uh we had a whole lot of fun and

hopefully we connected with Jesus in a

in a really real way. And so a couple of

thank yous. Thank you, Pastor Eric, for

just running an awesome ministry and an

awesome event this uh for this whole

weekend.

Then I also I got another thank you. I

was trying to I was thinking where you

were at, Pastor Roland. You're the man.

You're a legend. And so I'm thankful

thankful to be uh preaching from your

pull pit this morning. It is it's an

honor as well. Uh a little little bit

about me. I actually have a picture

I think. There we go. That so that's our

little family right there. Uh actually

my wife Sam is here this morning. She's

right there. Hi, Miss Sam. Uh, and then

we have our two kiddos. We have Ellie

right there, our six-year-old, and then

we have Ethan, our 2-year-old. Ellie is

the rule follower, brilliant, shy, and

then Ethan is the complete opposite. He

is the crazy maniac rule breaker. Um,

and so, as you can imagine, we have a

whole lot of fun. Uh, we do live in

Round Rock, Texas. Sam and I both serve

um at the same church together. So,

we're both on staff. And you know how it

goes when you go away from for a

weekend. Uh things at home fall apart.

So, phones have been blowing up this

morning about people not showing up to

serve and all the things. And so, but

we're here and we're so thankful to be

here. We're excited to be with you this

morning. This this V victory weekend's

theme was made new. it was made new. Uh

our our theme verse comes out of 2

2 Corinthians 5:17

Corinthians 5:17 which says, "Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ, he is a new

creation. The old has passed away, and

behold, the new has come." And we we

tackled several questions throughout the

whole weekend. The main one was this.

What does it even mean? What does it

mean to be made new? What should my life

look like now since the Lord has made me

new? And honestly, a more honest

question is, well,

I've been made new, but why do I not

feel new? Or even like, why do I look

like my old self and still struggle with

the same old sins?

I thought I was made new. And so

throughout the whole weekend, I shared a

little bit about how the Lord made me

new. So, I shared that with your

students. I'll share a little bit this

morning. But most importantly, whenever

we have questions like these questions,

what should we ought to do? We should

turn to God's word. And so that's what

we're going to do this morning is we're

going to turn to God's word. We did it

all weekend. So if you have your Bible

or copy of the scriptures, we'll have

the verses on screen, but we're going to

be in Ephesians. We've been in Ephesians

all weekend long. It's where we're going

to be this morning as well. And so

you can flip there. That would be

awesome. We're going to we're going to

begin in in chapter 2.

And what I want to do this morning is is

answer those questions that I just

posed. What does it mean to be made new?

Why do I still struggle? And what should

my life look like

now?

So, we'll tackle those questions and

we're going to do a little bit of a

recap

of what happened this weekend and what

we learned. And so, the first thing, if

you're taking notes, I'm a notetaker. I

love taking notes. If you're a

notetaker, the the first point this

morning is this, and this is the first

thing of what it means to be made new,

is there's a new you.

There's a new you.

You see, as a kid, uh, I loved baseball

and I loved Marvel superheroes. Does

anybody love those things, too? Raise

your hand if you love baseball or Marvel

superheroes. Either one. Okay. You're so

shy. Come on. Let's go. We're family

here. Um it's it's I love those things.

I still do. And and and honestly, like

those were my world. But here's like an

honest confession is like I I didn't

like church growing up. I didn't like

church growing up. Um I didn't I didn't

like getting up early or getting dressed

up or being in kids church and they're

trying to get me to sing and dance. Like

that was my vibe. It's really funny

being married to a kids director now and

so just reflecting on that. But growing

up like I just I just didn't like it. Um

until

one day everything changed for me. One

day I was, you know, doing my typical

thing like I didn't go to kids church. I

would sit in big church and kind of just

like doodle on the bulletin drawing

Spider-Man or something. But there was

one day everything changed. You see,

this particular Sunday, I was doing my

thing and our pastor, who I normally I

wouldn't necessarily listen to, but for

whatever reason, which now I know what

it was, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy

Spirit just grabbed my attention. And I

started listening to our pastor, and he

was talking about the consequences of

our sins. And and at that point as a

kid, like the only consequences that I

cared about was the consequences for my

parents if they found out what I was

doing. Like that's all I cared about at

that time in my life. But in that

moment, for the first time in my life,

I realized that my sin had eternal

consequences.

In that moment, I felt the weight of my

sin and my need for Jesus.

And so I I didn't make a decision in the

service like it just stuck with me

throughout the whole day. The Holy

Spirit would not let me go. Okay? I was

in my bed that night all by myself in a

very honest prayer.

Jesus, save me.

Jesus, save me. And that's what

I did and that's what I said. And in

that moment, without really

understanding or knowing what it meant,

I was made new.

I didn't understand what it meant to be

made new.

Didn't understand everything. But when

we look at Ephesians chapter 2, we can

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

understand what it means to be made new.

So in Ephesians 2: 1-3 it says this,

"And you were dead in the trespasses and

sins in which you once walked, following

the course of this world, following the

prince of the power of the air, the

spirit that is now at the work and the

sons of disobedience, among whom we all

once lived in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the of the

flesh and the mind, and were by nature

children of wrath

like the rest of mankind."

What what Paul explains here is that

before Jesus, people are like the

walking dead. They're like zombies. Like

they appear alive on the outside, but on

the inside they are spiritually dead. We

walk around consuming and searching for

the thing that's going to make us feel

good. And so we we go wandering around

following the ways of this world that

are controlled and ran by demons is what

he talks about. And it leads many many

people away from God which is their

agenda.

They lead people away from God and into

sin, sins and trespasses. And he says

the walking dead are dead in their

trespasses and sins.

Sins is like a like a general term like

it's an archery kind of imagery where if

you you shoot an arrow and you miss the

target. That's what sin is. And so God

in his word shows us what the target is.

What is sin? What is not sin? What is

righteousness and what is

unrighteousness. And when we sin, we sin

against him. We miss the mark that he

has set for us. And for many of us, we

we sin all the time. We honestly sin

more than we even know. You may even sin

without even knowing it at all. So

that's what sin is. But trespass is a

little bit more specific. You see, a

trespass is willful

willful disobedience. Like if you've

ever seen a a no trespassing sign or

maybe at your own property you have a no

trespassing sign. You might have that.

And so it's you see the sign and then

you see the sign and you know you're not

supposed to trespass. But what do you

do?

You do it anyways. And so many of the

things that God has told us, we we know

what is right. We know what is wrong.

And a trespass is doing what you're not

supposed to do anyways. You cross a

boundary you were never meant to cross.

Not because God is trying to withhold

something good from you. It's because he

loves you and wants what's best for you.

But here's the thing. Trespasses and

sins have consequences.

and trespass uh the who you trespass

against determines the severity of the

consequence. For example, the there's a

major difference between trespassing

against my home versus the White House.

Okay? If you trespass against me and my

home, I'm going to chase you with a

baseball bat. I don't have a gun yet.

Okay? That's very anti- Texan of me. I'm

working on it. But I would chase you

with the baseball bat. Okay?

But if you were to trespass against the

White House, you're shot dead,

right? Who you trespass against

determines the severity of the

consequence. How much more severe is the

consequence when we sin against a holy

and righteous God?

Right? And it is severe.

The consequence of our sin and

trespassing against God is an eternal

hell, separated from him forever.

God takes sin seriously.

And that that seems so heavy and so

hopeless until you read verse four. It

says, "But God,

you were the walking dead."

But God, but God being rich in mercy,

because of the great love with which he

loved us, even when we were dead in our

trespasses, made us alive together with

Christ. By grace, you have been saved.

You were the walking dead. You were dead

in your trespasses and sins. But God,

those are the two greatest words in all

of scripture. But God. Because anytime

that but God shows up in scripture, it

means God steps into a hopeless

situation and he changes somebody's

life. But instead of somebody else's

life, he's talking about your life.

Your life. How does he change our life?

By being rich in mercy toward us.

By being rich in mercy towards us. Mercy

is not receiving what you deserve. And

the perfect example of this that we see

in scripture is found in the Gospels

with a man named Barabus.

You see, at Jesus's trial,

Pilate, who was the leader at the time,

was going to let Jesus go free. He was

on trial. The people wanted him dead,

but he's like, there's he's innocent.

I'm not going to do that. And so, he was

going to let him go. And Barabus was a

man who was guilty. He was guilty. He

was on literally death row. He was

scheduled to die that morning on a cross

with two other thieves. And so he

thinks, let me do this. Custom of the

day is let a prisoner free during

Sabbath or during the Passover. Let me

just give the crowd an option. Surely

they're going to pick the innocent Jesus

instead of the guilty Barabus. Ain't

wrong.

We want Barabus.

We want Barabus. Crucify him. crucify

Jesus.

And that's exactly what happened.

Barabus, guilty murderer. Barabbus

walks free.

Innocent righteous Jesus dies on

Barabus's cross

next to the two other thieves.

Barabus was shown mercy.

But Barabus wasn't the only one shown

mercy that day.

You see,

you and I

were Barabus.

We're Barabbus. Barabus represents every

guilty sinner and trespassor who

deserves to die for our sin. But God

being rich in mercy sent Jesus not only

to die in Barabus's place but ours,

our place

willingly

because of his love for us. Even when we

didn't love God, he loved us. He sent

Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so

that we could be free. And by placing

your faith in Jesus and his work on your

behalf, you could be made new.

That you can walk free just like

Barabus.

Debt paid. You are free. New life

made new. And because of that, because

of that, you're given a new identity.

You are no longer the walking dead.

You're no longer a child of wrath, but

you're a child of God.

You're no longer defined by your sin.

You are divine by the Son.

You belong to him. And nothing nothing

on this planet can change that.

You're his.

Not only are you giving a new identity,

you're giving a new purpose. For we were

his. In verse 10, it says, "For we are

his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

for good works, which God prepared

beforehand that we should walk in them."

You see, when you were the walking dead,

your purpose was just to serve yourself,

serve me.

But now that you're made new, your

purpose is to serve God.

And this the key that I shared with the

students was this is that yes, God has a

plan for your life. And that's kind of

today it seems like a cliche, but it is

truth. God does have a plan for your

life, but more importantly, your life is

a part of God's plan to redeem a lost

world back to himself.

You have a part to play. No longer do

you live like the walking dead, but you

walk in your new purpose,

full of life and joy,

things that matter, eternal things,

things that are not going to waste away.

And the beautiful and humbling thing

about this whole thing is that it's all

by grace.

It's all by grace. None of it is earned.

No merit.

Mercy and grace. Receiving what you

don't deserve, which is new life, being

made new. It is a literally a gift that

you receive from God. He has done all

the work on your behalf.

You were the walking dead.

But God,

the question you need to consider this

morning is this. Have you have you

received

that gift from the Lord Jesus?

Or are you still today

the walking dead?

Well, it doesn't it doesn't end here.

Says, not only are you a new you, but

you are you are brought into a new we.

That's the second point this morning is

there's a new we.

There's a new we.

See, right after I gave my life to

Jesus,

I was I was bullied in church pretty

pretty bad. The students can give you

details on that. I'm not going to get I

don't have time for that this morning.

But so basically from my sixth grade to

10th grade year, I I was not involved in

church. I didn't go to youth group.

Wednesday nights, I barely came on

Sunday mornings. Um, and so all of my

middle school years and into high

school, I was not involved in church.

And so I I believe that I could be a

Christian without being involved in

church. But when I was in high school, I

was extremely anxious and angry and

depressed. And I was planning one day

after school to hurt myself.

And in that rock bottom moment in my

life, I prayed, which is something I

hadn't done in a really long time. And

it was a simple prayer that I cried out

to God and said,"Lord, I need you. God,

I need you.

I need you." And in that moment, I felt

his presence and his peace

in my life. The ve literally guys the

very next day two girls come up to me in

the hallway at school and they say hey

you should come to our youth group and

you know how I feel about youth group

because I got bullied at church so at

first I'm reluctant but because of the

experience that I had with the Lord the

previous day and also when two girls

come up to you and they invite you to

something

you go. So, um, and I did. And I did.

And, uh, and let me, let me just tell

you,

Jesus used that church, which was a

different church than the church that I

got bullied at. Jesus used this church

to change my life. They they that that

those people loved me and helped me heal

the the brokenness and bitterness in my

heart. And they they even in my later

years helped me wrestle with a a call to

ministry. Like complete life change

stuff.

I told God I needed him. And he sent me

his people.

You see, when you're made new,

you need the church and the church needs

you. You need the church and the church

needs you. And Paul in Ephesians, he he

gives three reasons why that is. And he

uses three analogies. The first is this

church. The church is the new family of

God. It's the new family of God.

Ephesians 2:19 says, "Then so then you

Ephesians 2:19

are no longer strangers and aliens, but

you are fellow citizens with the saints

and members of the household of God.

Because of Jesus, we are no longer

strangers and aliens to God, but we are

citizens of heaven and members of God's

household.

That's church.

Church is not a plenist. Church is not a

place that we attend that we come to.

That's not what church is. Church is a a

family, a new family that you belong to.

Citizens of the kingdom of God and and

and children of the king.

That's who we are. That's who you are.

That's what we are. And in in the New

Testament, this is the reason why uh the

writers refer to one another as brothers

and sisters. Okay? Referring to the

church, we're brothers and sisters

because of this reality. And like any

family, there are different ages and

roles and and responsibilities. For

example, you have older siblings in the

church. These are people who are maybe

older in age, but they're definitely

more mature in the faith. They may be

for parents or leaders or pastors or

elderly, whoever it may be. People who

have been walking with Jesus longer than

you.

And those people not only teach us how

to follow Jesus, but man, they show us

how to follow Jesus because they've do

been doing it for a long time. But also,

you have other siblings. So, you have

like peers who are in similar age and

similar maturity. And we are to

encourage one another and love one

another and help one another follow

Jesus. It's not it's not just enough to

have friends. We have to have fellow

brothers and sisters in Christ. That's

what we need. And then we also have

younger siblings. So we have people who

are younger in age but definitely

younger in their faith as well. And we

have to set the example for them to show

them how to follow Jesus as well.

Because guess what?

They're watching you.

They're watching you. Disclaimer, if you

don't take your faith seriously, they

won't either. But if you take your faith

seriously, they will, too. And so, we

have to set the example for them. That's

the church. It's a family.

It's a family. It's not by flesh and

blood, but it's by Jesus's blood that we

are. You need the church and the church

needs you. Secondly, the church is a new

temple of God.

In Ephesians 2 20-22, it says this, "The

church is built on the foundation of the

apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus

himself being the cornerstone in whom

the whole structure being joined

together grows into a holy temple in the

Lord. In him, you also are being built

together into a dwelling place for God

by the spirit.

From the from the very beginning, from

page one of the Bible, God has always

desired to dwell with his people.

Because of sin, that caused some issues

with that. And so, uh, he had to deal

with sin

to dwell with his people. And so, in the

Old Testament, the way that that that

happened was the temple. The temple was

where they dealt with sin, but is also

where he dwelt. But because of Jesus,

because of Jesus's work on the cross,

his sacrifice, his blood, which is what

we just sang, there is no need for a

physical temple anymore. There's no more

need for sacrifices. His blood is

sufficient.

But where does if that if sin has been

taken care of? Well, where does God

dwell? Here's the cool thing

is is that he doesn't dwell in a place

anymore, he dwells in his people.

He dwells in his people. That means

every time like you and I, if you're a

follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the

very spirit that would be in the temple

for centuries before us is in you,

living in you. And then in the way that

he says it in Ephesians is listen, when

we gather as the as the as the church,

when we gather, we become like the new

temple.

God's spirit is here. And if he's here,

if God's spirit's here, that means he

will speak. He will heal. He would

convict. He will change lives.

Every time, listen, every time you come

to church, you ought to be expectant to

have an encounter with the living God.

And as God's temple, the new temple, the

Bible is the foundation for everything

that we do. And Jesus is our

cornerstone.

A a cornerstone was the corner,

literally the cornerstone. And that's

how they built in the ancient times. And

so make sure that all the blocks are in

line with this cornerstone. So it

doesn't go over here or go over here.

Stays in line and then goes up too. We

stay in alignment with the cornerstone.

And Jesus is our cornerstone. He's our

standard in which we build the church

but build our lives. If you listen, if

you drift from church, you will drift

from Jesus

because he is the cornerstone.

If you want to stay in alignment with

Jesus and walk closely with him, you

need to make church a priority so that

you're with other living stones

walking through life together

so you don't get led astray.

It matters. The last thing real quick,

church is the new family of God. It's

the new temple, but it's also the body

of Christ. It's the body of Christ in

Ephesians 4. So if you flip a page,

Ephesians 4:15, it says, "Speaking the

Ephesians 4:15

truth in love, we are growing up in

every way into him who is the head, into

Christ from whom the whole body joined

and held together in every joint with

which it is equipped. When each part is

working properly, makes the body grow so

it builds itself up in love."

So now he goes from a family to a

building project which is the temple and

now he's talking about a body

that the church is a body and and like a

body is made up of different parts and

functions but yet is one body. So so is

the church. The church is made up of

people all sorts of different people

that have different skill sets and

giftings and strengths and even

weaknesses. But we all work together as

one to accomplish the the the uh

purposes of God. Together we listen to

the head who is Christ and we do what he

tells us to do to go make disciples

which is our mission and we go serve the

church. We're volunteer here. You serve

the body of Christ but also you go serve

with the body of Christ. Your students

literally did that this weekend.

They exercised literally what we taught

this weekend. They went and go went and

served that elementary school and

impacted them in the name of Jesus.

They were the body of Christ. And let me

just say,

students right now are a part of the

body of Christ.

They're it's not JV, okay? They're in

the game now.

They are part. They are not less than

because of their age or skills or

knowledge.

And it's our responsibility as the

church to continue to help them, develop

them, discover their giftings and and

deploy them and serving in the church,

but also in the world, in the community.

They're part of the body of Christ

today. They belong. And everybody

belongs who is a follower of Jesus. You

need the church and the church needs

you.

But not only

are we a part of a new we,

but Jesus also gives us the new way,

which is our last point this morning.

There's a new you. There's a new wei,

but there's also a new way. You see,

after after high school, I was on fire

for the Lord and contemplating going

into ministry and and a lot of things

were going really really well for me.

And I and to be genuinely, you know, uh

honest with you, genuinely honest. Um

I felt new, like I felt my life had

changed. But then when I went to

college,

I didn't feel that way anymore. I

slipped back into old p sin patterns. I

stopped going to church.

And my relationship with Jesus started

to drift significantly.

And so I was wrestling with this at that

time.

I thought I was made new.

Why do I look and act like my old self?

like I thought I was past some of these

things.

Why do I struggle with the same old

sins?

Have you ever

wondered that too?

Do you want to know the quick answer to

that?

Here's the reality for every believer in

Jesus.

Your old self's identity is dead, but

its nature is still alive.

Your old self identity is dead, but its

nature is still alive. You are no longer

a child of wrath. You are a child of

God, and nothing can change that. But

your old walking dead zombie heart is

very much still alive. And so, you have

to deal with that. The way that

Ephesians says it is this in Ephesians

Ephesians 4:22–24

4:22- 24. says, "You were taught with

regard to your former way of life, to

put off your old self, which is being

corrupted by its deceitful desires, to

be made new in the attitude of your

minds, and to put on the new self,

created to be like God in true

righteousness and holiness."

What what Paul says is, "Listen, we need

to put off our old self and we need to

put on our new self." And if you're a

Bible student or you're just a just

reading the scriptures like me, I'm

like, "Well, how do I do that?" You

know, it sounds really easy. You're

making it real simple, but it seems

really hard.

How am I supposed to do that?

Well, here's the beautiful thing is that

Jesus not only makes us new, he gives us

a new spirit and he gives us a new way.

a way where we walk by the spirit and

not like the walking dead.

Jesus taught the new way through an

illustration, one illustration in the

gospels. And really, it comes down to

one word and what we do with this one

word. Okay? If you want to, you can flip

to John 15 really, really quick. If not,

I'll have it on the screen. But Jesus

literally teaches us the new way. This

is how you become your new self. You are

made new, but listen, God is making you

new. And this is how this is this is how

it happens in John 15 verse four and

five he says using the illustration of a

vineyard. He says this abide in me and I

in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit

by itself unless it abides in the vine

neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine. You are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it

is that bears much fruit. For apart from

me, you can do nothing.

Jesus uses a word abide to talk about

the connection in which we're supposed

to have with him. Like a vine in a

branch type of connection. We don't use

the word abide very often today in our

own language. And so what what is he

talking about? What is he what is he

talking about? And the best way the best

way that that I have learned the concept

of what it means to abide in the Lord is

this. Um there's a reason why there's a

reason why this is here. You probably

been looking at it like where is he

going with this? When is this going to

come up? Here it is. Okay. This is what

this is what I want you to do. Can y'all

see it? Do I need to move this back? I'm

going to move it back so everybody can

see it and then I'll move it up if I

need to.

I want you to imagine that your life is

a dresser and every drawer represents a

different part of your life. And so we

have the family drawer. So that's your

spouse or your kids, your your parents,

grandparents, like your whole family.

Everybody's there. That's your family

drawer. Here you have your school

drawer. If you're older, maybe you're

not in school anymore. You maybe this is

work, okay? Where you go to work, where

you go to school. Um down here is

activities, things that you're involved

in, things that you are personally

involved in with sports or activities

what or clubs or whatever it is or your

kids stuff or maybe you're still

involved with stuff. Slow pitch

softball. Let's go. Um there's uh

there's also your relationships. So that

could be your friendships, boyfriend,

girlfriend. You could throw a spouse in

there too if you're married. Like those

are your relationships. Then

entertainment.

Entertainment is what we scroll on our

phone, the the shows that we watch, all

the streaming services that end with a

plus. Like that's that's that that's

entertainment. What are we consuming all

the time? And then down here we have

Jesus.

And Jesus is is your personal

relationship with Jesus, your faith in

him. It's coming to church Wednesday

nights, Bible studies, reading your

Bible, praying. Like that's a part. Now,

now here here's the honest truth

for most of us. All believers, not just

y'all, but every everyone. All

believers, for most of us, for most of

us, Jesus is a part of our life. He's a

part of our life. And honestly, we're

okay with that. We're okay with Jesus.

Like, as long as we have a Jesus drawer,

we're good. Okay?

But here's the thing. That's not

abiding.

It's not abiding.

See, if we are to abide in Jesus, Jesus

Jesus isn't isn't a drawer.

He's the dresser.

When you abide in Jesus, Jesus isn't

just a part of your life. He's your

whole life. He's your whole in which

every party of your life is in. He's in

He's your whole life. You're a new

creation. You're in him.

But not only that,

he's in you. Which means if he's in you,

that means he's in every part of your

life. You open up this drawer, you

should find Jesus in it.

He should be in all of these things. He

ought to be the standard in which of we

have these things. The priorities we

have in these things ought to be Jesus.

Jesus ought to be central to everything

in our life.

That's what it means to abide. Jesus

isn't a part of your life. He's your

whole life. And my question that you

have to consider this morning is what is

Jesus not in?

What is what is Jesus not in?

If you want to walk in the new way and

the new life and the new person that

Christ wants you to be, he has to be in

all of these things.

He can't just be a part of your life. He

has to be your whole life.

And and you know, it sounds hard.

Genuinely, it sounds hard. Like what

what what does that look like? It sounds

hard.

Jesus isn't calling you to just be

obedient. He's calling you to be

dependent.

like a vine and a branch. A branch is

completely dependent on the vine. And

that's what he's calling us to be. That

we would rely on him in every part of

our lives.

That he is the Lord of every drawer.

That's what he's calling us to do. And

rely on him. And listen, you can't

produce the fruit on your own. You can't

you can't be your own vine because

you're not a vine. You're a branch.

You're a branch. We're called to bear

the fruit. All we our responsibility is

to stay close to Jesus. Cling to Jesus.

Don't try to be your own vine and don't

try to create your own vines over here

with the world. Because listen, you will

bear the fruit

of the plant that you're connected to.

And if we're connected to Jesus, we will

bear his fruit. And we read about in

Galatians. Galatians, it says, "You will

have love and joy and peace and

patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and

self-control." Listen, that's the new

you.

That's the new you.

That's who the Lord wants you to be to

bear his character. But you have to

abide in him. You have to walk by his

spirit. The spirit is our connection to

our Lord today.

He has to be the Lord.

Now, here's the honest truth. Here's the

honest truth. It's not an it's not this

doesn't happen overnight.

It doesn't happen overnight.

See, you're not just made new. God is

making you new in process right now.

He's making you new and he's helping you

grow into your new self. And and here's

the truth. It's painful.

It's painful.

Throughout your life, the father has to

prune us. He has to prune us. Pruning is

is cutting off the dead parts in our

hearts that does not look like Jesus. He

has to cut off those dead parts so that

we would look more like Jesus. and he

uses suffering and trials and tests to

do so.

But when you go through a suffering

season, you're likely in a pruning

season. But he's not doing that to

punish you. He's not punishing you.

He's pruning you. He's pruning you

because whenever he's pruning, that

means fruit is coming. And he wants you

to bear more fruit. He wants you to be

more like Jesus. to remove the things

that doesn't look like Jesus so that you

would bear more fruit that does look

like Jesus which is the new you that you

would be made new. We are all on a

journey. We are all in process and he's

working in our life

to look like the sun.

Which brings me to this this question

right here. This is how we're finishing

up.

What's the point?

Why Why does it matter? Why did Why does

God want us to bear fruit and and bear

the character of Christ and look like

Jesus?

Why?

I want you to think about it. Why does a

vine dresser or a gardener have a

vineyard?

just so that the vineyard or the the

vineyard could just look good, you know,

see it on the hill like, "Oh, that's

really pretty." Like, no. For the

gardener or the vine dresser, it's a

business.

They want people to come and taste and

desire and to purchase and just enjoy

the the gardener's work.

That's what a vine dresser wants. And in

the same way,

the father wants his people to bear

fruit and look like the son so that

people would not just see Jesus through

you but experience Jesus through you.

the kindness that you show, the love

that you give, the way that you serve,

the joy that you radiate, that it

influences people and impacts people,

and they taste and see that the Lord is

good, and they want to be made new, too.

You see, God is in the business of

making people new. He's made you new,

and he wants to make more people new.

not to just make you look pretty,

but that you would spend eternity with

him forever

and bring as many people with you as

well. I said it before, but God has a

plan for your life. But more

importantly, your life is a part of

God's plan to redeem a lost world back

to himself. You have a part to play in

that.

we're going to have a time to respond.

And so I would love for the the band to

join me. We'll get this behemoth out of

the way. Um,

I want to ask some questions for you to

consider this morning.

Has

Jesus made you new?

Has Jesus made you new

today? As you walked in this morning, do

you sense in your spirit that maybe,

just maybe, you are the walking dead?

Have you yet to fully place your trust

and faith in Jesus this morning? If

that's you sitting in that chair and

you're wrestling with that this morning,

please do not leave this building

without talking to somebody, one of the

pastors up here, whoever it may be.

Please have a conversation

because listen, you can be made new

now. Your eternity can change now.

It's just a free gift that he offers to

you.

How are you abiding? What in your life

is Jesus not in?

There's going to be people that will

pray for you and walk with you. You're

not supposed to do this thing alone,

right? We're a family.

So, let me pray for you real quick.

Lord Jesus, we're thankful that you make

us new,

that we're not

left to our own effort and power to try

to fix our lives. But Lord, you are the

one that made us new. You changed our

identity. You've changed our destiny,

but you've also are in process day by

day wanting to make us new for our own

good, but also for your glory.

>> Lord Jesus, I pray that if there is

anything that we are just clinging on to

that is not of you, Lord, I pray that

you would break it. Lord, that we would

let go, Lord, that people in this room

that are that have just been enslaved to

sin or or anything that have been

walking through of kind of suffering,

Lord, that they would come come

and just talk to somebody and just turn

to you,

Lord Jesus. You are our mediator. We can

sit and and we could we could have a

conversation with you and confess to you

and call out to you like what I did when

I was a teenager.

Lord, we need you

and we ask for your Holy Spirit to move

in this place. Lord, I pray that

whatever you have laid on our heart

that we would take that step.

And I pray that in Jesus name. Amen.