Restart // Second Chances | Ps. Matthew Francey

But, we're going to jump into our

message, Second Chances. This is the

last of the series. So, if you've missed

the entire series, you can go on

YouTube, you can go on Spotify, Apple

Podcast, anywhere, and you can listen or

watch back our previous three messages.

But, the reason we created this series

is this is a series that reveals and

reminds us of the heart of God. We

wanted to let you know that God is a God

of second chances. So, you're not too

far gone, you haven't messed up enough,

you haven't done anything

that you won't get a second chance with.

That's how good God is. And we're going

to do a short recap. If you've missed

the entirety of this series, I'm going

to catch you up to speed so you don't

feel like you've missed out. So, in week

one,

we looked at redemption, week two,

reconciliation, and week three,

restoration.

Maybe you're here and you've never been

to church, and you're like, "What

even is that?"

Like, what are these big words? Like, I

knew Christians used big words. So, I'm

like, "Oh, of course I did." But, I want

to break it down and help you understand

them. Here are some definitions so that

you can understand them more easily. So,

redemption is the act of being rescued.

So, in week one, we looked at the fact

that we are in need of help, and only

God can rescue us. In week two, we

looked at reconciliation, and it's the

restoring of a broken relationship. When

we sin, we see that we're separated from

God, and Pastor Randy brought a message

of how God reconciles himself with us,

that we are brought together or brought

back

to Jesus. And then, last week, we looked

at this idea of restoration. It's the

act of bringing something back to its

original or intended condition. God has

great plans for each and every one of

us, and we veer away from that

sometimes. We go in an opposite

direction, but God brings us back

together. He takes the broken mess of

our life, the broken pieces, and pieces

us back together. Now, I don't know if,

because these are big words, they

thought, "Matthew can't handle big words

like that. So, week four, they give me

restart.

I don't know if that is because of my

spelling ability. They were like, "He'll

He'll handle that. That's okay."

Um or maybe it was just luck. But, today

I'm looking at this idea of restart. And

it's funny because have you ever noticed

how the first instinct when something

doesn't work is to restart it?

That's what we do. When we were setting

up for church today, I was talking to

our AV team, and I was trying to send

them over my slides, and they were like,

"Oh, the AirDrop's not working." So, she

she said, "I'll restart it." And how

often do we do that with the Wi-Fi?

Anyone connected to the Has anyone's

working? Like And it's not working.

Okay, we'll restart it. Phone, why is my

phone being glitchy? I'll restart it.

Laptop, it's not playing ball, I'll

restart it. And so often in life, if

something doesn't work, we turn it off,

and we turn it on again.

And sometimes it works. When it works,

you're like, "I'm a genius. I get

working the Apple genius bar. Like, just

hire me now. I am brilliant." But, then

sometimes

it doesn't.

And it's these times where you need it

to work.

It's those times where you're in a

pickle.

You've got no time. You need it to work.

And it's the times where you need it

most, these things decide not to work.

But, wouldn't life be easier if that

worked for everything? Just imagine if

everything that we were able to go

through if we were going through a rough

patch, if we were weren't able to work

something out, we could just restart it.

What about marriage? You're going

through a rough patch. Your Your

marriage is on the rocks. You're

arguing. She didn't make you your

favorite dinner. He didn't pull up his

socks, and he didn't throw them in the

right place. Restart.

Imagine if there's a restart button, and

then it was it was all great again. You

don't have to go through all the

arguments you have to go through, and

then you don't have to be told off for

not listening to your wife again. And we

could just restart. What about anxiety?

Wouldn't it be great if when we were

anxious, when we had these thoughts in

our mind, when life felt like it was

just suffocating us, we could just press

restart and it would all just disappear.

Wouldn't have to think about those

things ever again. Imagine we were able

to get into debt, spend all the money,

put on our credit cards, buy holidays,

get whatever we needed, and then just go

and it all disappear. I think this is

probably the favorite one. If we could

just do this every day, that would be a

delight.

But how amazing would it be but then our

regrets. We go through life and we build

up some regrets. Imagine if it was just

as simple as going

boom.

Restart. We wouldn't have to deal with

it, think about it, have that on our

heart and in our life. It'd be so much

easier sometimes if life just came with

a reset button. But if only it were that

easy. If only life we had a button and

we were able to press it and everything

just reset and everything was good

again, everything was healthy again.

But it's not that easy. Whenever I

become dissatisfied with my life, and

maybe you're the same, my instinct is to

change something external.

Maybe you get a new routine. Maybe it's

a new holiday. Maybe it's a new

purchase. Maybe it's a new spice.

There was one laugh there. That was a

dangerous laugh.

Do not replace your spice.

Well, that's not what we're working to

on.

We don't change something externally. We

try and it's like, if I get a routine,

if I wake up early, if I make my

breakfast the night before, if I get all

my clothes ready. And we can try and

make routines and holidays, they help,

and purchases help.

But we think that that's going to change

it. And we secretly believe, this is

what we all believe, that if I change

what's around me,

well, then maybe I'll become someone

different. Maybe if I change those

routines, maybe if I buy something, I'll

become something different. But the

reality is wherever I go,

I am there.

It just always happens. Anywhere I go, I

find myself there.

And this is true for each and every one

of us. The moment that things begin to

feel stale, we try and move on to the

next. We try and just forget about it,

try and just move on, and just

what's next?

And if changing our circumstances isn't

enough, well then, what actually changes

a person?

If changing the external, if a holiday

doesn't work, and a routine doesn't

work, and trying to find a new job

doesn't work, how do we change as a

person? It's not what is on the outside

that needs to change, but actually it's

something on the inside

that needs to change. So, the question I

want to answer today is, how do we

experience

real change?

Not just a routine, and then we fall out

of routine, and then we're back to who

we were. It's not just a holiday, and

then when we come back from holiday,

we're still in the same funk. How do we

experience

real change? How do we create a reset, a

restart in our lives?

Going to look at a passage in the book

of Luke. We're going to look at Luke,

Luke 10:25–28

chapter 10, verse 25 to 28. And the

author of this book, his name is Dr.

Luke, and Luke

also wrote the book of Acts. So, the

reason why he wrote this book, the book

of Acts, or the book of Luke, in the New

Testament, is to write an orderly and

historically grounded account of Jesus'

life.

So, he wasn't a first time witness, but

he wanted to get this account together

so that it was historically accurate. He

wanted to make sure it was orderly, it

was put in the right order, so that

people could read it for centuries to

come and understand

Jesus' life and Jesus' ministry. And he

did a great job, and Luke has

sent out this letter and sent out it to

all of us, and we get to read it today.

So, Luke has given us this letter to

read.

And in this, we read chapter 10. And in

chapter 10, there's a popular passage,

and we if you're a Christ follower, you

probably know it. It's the Good

Samaritan, and we've heard the story of

the Good Samaritan. But I'm going to

look at the few verses before that. And

this is what it says, "On one occasion,

an expert in the law stood up to test

Jesus." So, Jesus is around, and he's

teaching. So, he's going across the

nation, and he's teaching. He's teaching

this message that he has, this good

news. So, the expert of the law, so

obviously he's incredibly intelligent.

He's an expert in the law, and he stood

up and said, "Teacher," he asked, "what

must I do

to inherit eternal life?

How can I Jesus, you're preaching this

message. How can I Here's another way to

put it. Experience the life of

redemption, reconciliation, and

restoration? This message that you're

preaching to me,

how can I experience it? What do I have

to do? What hoops do I need to jump

through? What degrees do I need to have?

How do I experience this sort of life?

And Jesus, being an expert in replying

to questions, he replies with another

question.

He says, "What is written in the law?

How do you read it?"

So, the expert of the law stands up, and

he says this. He says, "Well, love the

Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your

strength, and with all your mind, and

love your neighbor as yourself." And we

know the passage, "Who is my neighbor?"

and goes on

to tell that parable.

But as we see in this passage, "How am I

supposed to experience this life that

you're trying to tell us?

The redemption, the reconciliation, like

how am I supposed to experience that for

myself?" And the answer that this guy

gave was to love the Lord your God with

your heart, soul, strength, and mind,

and to love your neighbors.

So, to summarize the answer, it's love

helps us to restart.

It's love that in these various ways

helps us to restart and to recalibrate

and change our lives. And science backs

this up. Science reveals that love is

the ultimate reset biologically.

So, when we experience love, when we go

through love, it's a great reset

in our lives. And here's some of the

effects of love scientifically and

biologically in our life. Love quiets

the brain. So, if we've got loads of

stuff going on, quiets the brain. It

lowers our stresses. It releases the

happy hormone oxytocin. And it shifts

from survival mode to safety.

This is what happens in our lives, in

our bodies, in our minds, in our hearts

when we experience and we show love.

We forget about the stress for a while.

It lowers it.

It releases a happy hormone. You You

know that feeling, those butterflies in

your stomach. We feel that. And then,

instead of just surviving, going from

time to time, to this, to that,

we actually enter in this state where we

can breathe, we can relax, and we can

actually restart. So, if love helps us

to restart, well, then in this passage,

it's offering us an emotional, a

spiritual, a mental, and a physical

restart. If we take this on board and

love with all our heart, soul, mind, and

strength, well, then, if we take this on

board, then it's an offer to restart.

And God gives us And Jesus gives us

these four ways to restart. The first

way is to love God with all your heart.

And what is the heart? We know it's a

muscle in our body, but the heart in

this context is the center of our

affections, our emotions, and our will.

That's what he means when we're talking

about our heart, not just the muscle

pumping around blood, but the heart is

the center of our affections, our

emotions, and our will. Another word for

will is our plan, the plan for our life,

what our heart longs for.

Question I want to ask you is what has

your heart?

What is drawing you today?

Is it a person?

That heart is your plans,

your dreams, your desires. What has your

heart?

>> [snorts]

>> If you got a 10-year plan, if you got a

retirement plan, well, if I do X, Y,

and Z, well, then that's my life, that's

where I want to lead.

Is it the desire for money? Is it the

desire for safety? Is it the desire for

a certain job? Is it the desire for

people recognizing you? What has

your heart?

Because the direction of your life is

determined by the affection of your

heart.

Whatever has your heart determines the

direction of your life. If you're

determined, if your heart is after

success,

well, then that's what you're going to

focus on. And you're not going to care

about relationships, you're not going to

care about who you hurt along the way.

You just want to get to the top.

And today, if we want to restart, well,

then we'll need to change our focus.

What is it that we're focused on? Is it

our personal gain, our personal glory?

Or can we refocus

our heart?

Here's a camera lens, and if you're into

photography

>> [snorts]

>> or you know nothing about photography,

when you're taking a photo, the main

subject, the thing that you want to take

a photo of, should be in focus.

Doesn't matter if the things around them

are in focus, as long as the main

subject is in focus, that is what is a

good That's what makes a good photo.

So, just like this, this is in focus,

and this isn't.

Yes, this may be important. Yes, that's

that might be nice, but this is the main

thing that's in focus.

And that's what directs our life. When

we look at your eyes are drawn to what

is in focus. So, whatever you focus on

becomes the clearest part of your life,

and that's what sets the direction of

your life.

So, whatever you're focusing on,

whatever you're thinking on, that is

where your life leads to.

And if you're a Christ follower, one way

we can do that is to choose him.

To choose him above everything. Above

wealth, above fame, above comfort, and

even people.

We can choose like, uh, come this way. I

know what's best for you. And sometimes

we need to cut ties, and that's the most

difficult part.

When it's people, because we love people

so much, but I know in my life that

there's people who have tried to take me

in a different direction.

But, my focus is on God.

And yes, the background may look nice,

and the other things around it may seem

good, but my focus is on God.

So, if you're a Christ follower, can you

say with full certainty that your focus

is on God?

That yes, I want nice things in life.

Yes, I want some security. Yes, I've got

dreams and plans for my life.

But, that's not the focus.

The focus is him

and him alone.

Maybe you're here and you're not a

Christ follower, and you're thinking, I

don't want to love God with anything.

I don't want to give him my heart. I

don't want to get like, I've got good

plans for my life, and they're good

plans.

And I want to succeed in life.

And they're for my family.

And I get that, and we can have good

plans for our life.

But, that's going to burn you out.

It's going to cause you pain. It's going

to lead you to destruction.

Whereas, I want to offer you this chance

today to give God a chance.

Give God a chance that if he directs

your life, if he cuz he's got good plans

for you.

And the Bible tells us they're actually

better than our plans because he knows

us and he created us.

So if we let him take control of our

lives,

what I've discovered and maybe if you're

a Christ follower you've discovered that

God does a better job than we ever

could.

So today, if you're not a Christ

follower, why not give him a chance?

Just say, "God,

I give you direction of my life.

Instead of following my own plans, I'm

going to follow your plans."

And just see what God can do when you

give him your heart.

So if any of you are in here and you

need an emotional restart,

today you can give God your heart.

I don't know what you're going through

emotionally

today.

Maybe it's hurt.

Maybe it's pain.

If you need a restart, you can give that

to God. God says, "Cast it. Give it over

to me

because he cares for you."

So if you're carrying something,

I want you to know that God cares. God

wants to help you lift that from you. So

you won't forget about it. It won't just

be like, "Oh,

magic restart button. I don't remember

the pain and the turmoil and the hurt

that I've been going through."

But God will come alongside you and help

you lift whatever you're carrying today.

So if you need an emotional restart,

give God your heart

today. Second restart that we can have

is loving God with all our soul. So what

is the soul? It's the immortal spiritual

part of a human that survives the

physical body after death. It's our

like

Okay, I understand the heart. I've got

emotions, but what is like what is the

soul? The Greek word for soul is psyche.

Um and it translates as breath of life.

Our soul is our very being.

It's who we are.

Because we're trying in this modern age

to create robots and to create AI, but

they can't understand this. They can't

understand the soul, the actual who we

are.

It's our identity.

And each and every one of us are

spiritual people.

And Ireland is quite a spiritual nation

as well. Everybody loves the

spirituality.

Because I believe we're all searching

for something bigger

than ourselves. And people try and find

these things

in astrology and their star signs and

Reiki healing and crystals and nature

and sport. People are looking for

something bigger than themselves.

And what spiritual things actually are

is spirituality is basically a quest for

meaning, purpose,

and connection.

That's what people are looking for. And

each and every one of us are spiritual

because we want meaning and purpose and

connection in our life.

But where are you looking for your

purpose?

Are you looking for it in sport because

I'm part of a team and even though I'm

not I'm a supporter and everyone we're

in this together and Manchester United

are going to win the Champions League

next year. It's going to be beautiful.

And that's our connection. We get to

connect with people. Maybe we put our

purpose into our job.

Maybe we find meaning in our skills and

in our abilities. We try and find

something to attach ourselves to.

And as Christ followers, we want to put

that into God. We want to find our

meaning, our purpose

in him.

Cuz he's the creator of all things.

And maybe you're here and you're lost.

You're just like, I have tried so many

things. I've read star signs for so long

and yet they're not helping me in my

life.

I've tried to join club after club and

yes, it's good for a while, but yet

there's still something missing.

I'm struggling to find my purpose and

all of this is leaving me feeling lost.

I want to encourage you today if you

feel that way.

Jesus says this in the same book in in

Luke. He says, "For the Son of Man,

which is Jesus, came to seek and to save

the lost."

It's why Jesus came to Earth to seek and

to save

the lost. So, if you're here and you're

looking for something bigger than

yourself,

I want you to know that Jesus is already

looking for you.

Jesus is seeking after you. So, before

he was even an option in your life,

before you even considered him, he was

searching

for you.

And when you discover Jesus, your soul

comes alive.

And we can't explain it.

We get a peace. We get a hope. We find a

purpose that we can't find anywhere

else. A satisfaction that can only come

from him.

Pascal, who's a 17th century French

mathematician and physicist, says this,

"There is a God-shaped hole vacuum in

the heart of each man, which cannot be

satisfied by any created thing, but only

by God

the creator."

Only through him. We've got something

missing in our lives, and we try and

fill it with different things,

and yet only God can fill it. And if

you're a Christ follower, you will know

this. Maybe on your journey, you tried

to find things to plug this gap,

but then you discover Jesus, and

everything changed.

But that that gap in your life, that

lack of purpose, that lack of meaning

was found in the person of Jesus.

So, if you're here and you're a Christ

follower, how do we practically do that?

To give God your soul

means to give your all, your everything,

your total surrender?

So, what is it you need to surrender

today?

What is it that you're holding on to?

What is it that you gave God in the

beginning when you started your

relationship with him? You said, "Take

it all."

I'll I'll take that back. I'll I'll I'll

figure that part out. I I did give him

my finances, but times are tough, so

I'll take control back of that. And I

used to trust you with my kids, but you

know what the world is like in a minute

on social media. I'll like a I'm going

to take back control slowly from God.

So, Christ follower, what do you need to

surrender

today? What do you need to give up?

Is it control?

Is it hurt?

Is it a an area of your life that you

need to give God over?

And maybe you're here and you've never

give your life to Jesus. Today is an

incredible day to do so. Cuz at the end

of our service, we're going to have

baptisms and we're going to see

uh over eight people today being

baptized showing how God has given them

life and life to the full, that they

were once dead and now they're alive.

And they're in that moment because they

give God their everything.

So, maybe you're here today and you're

sitting on the fence. You're not really

sure. How do I give

my all to him?

How can I give my life to Jesus?

Surrender. To say, "God, what do you

want? What do you want to do in my

life?" And be willing to follow the

direction that God gives you. So, if

you're here and you need a spiritual

restart, give God your soul

today. This is for those who are Christ

followers

and not.

Because I need spiritual restarts. I

need to give God my everything again.

And sometimes we get into a funk, and

sometimes we get off on the wrong track.

And today, Christ follower, could be the

day

that you're sitting in a funk

and you can get out of it by giving God

your soul and loving him with all your

soul today.

Third thing we can do is love God with

all our mind.

So, what is our mind? The mind

represents our thoughts, our reasoning,

and our decision. But, did you know

around one in eight people in Ireland

suffer with ill mental health?

Such a subject today because our minds

are bombarded with information and fake

news and everything is trying to bombard

us in our lives and it can become a

little bit crazy.

So, we see that ill mental health is on

the rise.

And maybe you've experienced that. Maybe

you've been through that. Maybe you are

going through that. You know how all

consuming it can be.

But, the thing with our mind and our

direction, if you don't like the

direction of your life, you can change

your [clears throat] mind.

Because where our mind is, that's where

we go.

If you're thinking bad things about

yourself,

well, then you become that.

If you start thinking bad things about

others,

well, then they morph into that person

in your mind.

>> [snorts]

>> But, it doesn't always have to be that

way. How do we change our mind? How can

we learn to change our mind?

There's a man in the New Testament

called Paul and he was originally called

Saul, but he had this transformation

with Jesus.

He had this moment. He was supporting

others killing Christians. He was going

around making sure that Christianity

would not survive.

Trying to take people out

who followed Jesus.

And then

he had this moment that changed his life

forever.

So, he's went through this

transformation and he wrote this letter

to the book to the people of Rome and he

says this, he says, "Do not conform to

the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing

of your mind." How we transform our

life, how we start our life is to renew

our minds.

How do we renew our minds? It's our It's

not just saying, "Okay, I'm not going to

think about this." Because our mind is

amazing. It's like, "Don't think about

this." What do we think about?

This.

Like, we just draw ourselves to there.

So, we can't just restart easily. If

only we had a button, but actually we

need to transform

our mind. Allow God to restart and

reframe and change how we see

the world. Change our thoughts. And how

we do that is by hearing from God. The

people around us are speaking life into

us. Because if you're surrounded by

people being discouraging and being

hurtful, what are you going to be

thinking about? Those same sad things.

And this is one thing that I'm

constantly thinking about. Whatever I

watch, whatever I listen to, determines

how I think.

If I watch a certain series and there's

loads of cuss words in it and there's

certain words,

I'm like stubbing my toe and thinking

the same words that I'm hearing in this

show.

So, I'm like, "I haven't said it yet. I

haven't said it out loud, but my

thoughts, because that's what I'm

listening to, that's what I'm

surrounding myself with." I'm like, "I

can't I can't watch that because if I'm

thinking it now, means I'm going to say

it another day."

So, then I need to transform my mind.

It's like, "I'm not listen I'm not

watching that. I'm going to watch this."

So, then me and my son just watch Lion

King all the time.

Oh, that's wonderful.

But that's how whatever we consume

will start changing our mind and then

what is in our mind will eventually

come out.

Maybe you're here and pushback against

Christianity is it doesn't require the

mind.

Just requires faith. It's like you don't

actually just think about your like

Christianity. It's just a faith thing.

You just believe it and everything will

be good and you don't have any answers.

But I want you to know today that

Christianity isn't blind faith. It's an

informed faith.

But I'd say we don't just walk into this

and be like, "I don't understand it, so

I'll just say it's faith." But actually

our faith that we have is informed. One

of the stats that I love around the

Bible and Christianity

>> [snorts]

>> is that there has never been an

archaeological find

that has contradicted the Bible.

It's like surely at some point if this

thing doesn't make sense, if this thing

is a lie, surely they're going to

discover something at some point that's

going to go against the Bible.

But yet they still have not find

anything. And so much of the Bible and

so much of Jesus' life and ministry was

in public. It's not like we're saying

Jesus told us to do this and Jesus said

he did miracles, but he only did

miracles behind the curtain.

He only said these great things when he

was in a house and no one seen him.

Most of Jesus' ministry was in public.

So everything he said and did could be

attested for but not just those that

followed him

but those that hated him. So it's not

just a blind faith to be like, "Ah." But

I'd say we use our mind. You might just

think Christians don't. Maybe they're

just a stupid Christian that you met. I

apologize and you bumped into them. But

I'd say the faith that we have is

informed and we can learn

and we can study. A great way to view

this idea of thinking and our mind is

looking at algorithms.

Such a word that is in our vernacular

the minute. If you're on social media,

whatever you're watching, there is an

algorithm.

When I was younger, an algorithm was

like a series of repeated patterns that

I remember I learned I can do a Rubik's

Cube. That's my flex. I can do a Rubik's

Cube. But a Rubik's Cube is just a set

of algorithms. And again, social media

is the same thing. It's just an

algorithm. So if I start listening to

The Lion King soundtrack,

do you know what they're going to let me

listen to?

More Disney soundtracks.

If I'm watching how to do my makeup on

YouTube, do you know what they're going

to recommend me?

To do my makeup. If I'm on Instagram and

I'm watching football, and I'm watching

the World Cup, what are they going to

give me more of?

Football and the World Cup. If I'm on

TikTok, I've got too much time on my

hands. I don't use it.

But whatever you're on, there's an

algorithm for what you receive, they'll

give you more. So if you love this

video, if you like it, if you comment,

if you watch it, they'll just give you

more

and more of it. The algorithm keeps

feeding what you've already chosen.

So the thoughts that you have repeatedly

dwell,

the thoughts you repeatedly dwell on

become easier to think again. So if

we're thinking about certain things,

they're easier to think about again,

because if we think about fear,

well then that fear feeds more fear.

If we are grateful in our thoughts, if

we are full of gratitude, that's going

to feed more gratitude. If in our

thoughts and in our minds, we think

through our faith lens,

that's going to feed more into our

faith. So what we think about, just like

the algorithm, we're just going to have

more and more of it. But the good news

is God can interrupt that algorithm. So

if you feel like you're on a downward

spiral, if you feel like I just can't

get this out of my head,

today you can be transformed by the

renewing of your mind.

By loving God with all your soul.

Loving God with all your mind means

meditating on his word,

seek his wisdom, and align your thoughts

with his truth.

Christ followers, this is what we should

be doing. This is how we should be

loving God with our mind, meditating on

his word.

Are you reading your Bible?

If you're not a Christ follower in here,

you might assume that Christians read

your Bible every day,

and they hear from God.

But, I want to pop that bubble. So many

Christians don't.

And it's like, why do we not read the

certain the only thing that God has

given us that we can connect with? Like,

like

we see people

who don't have Bibles in their country,

and then when they receive one, it's

like

it's like gold to them.

It's like life has been just placed into

their life, and yet

we have it so easily. We have apps.

I probably have 30 Bibles in the house,

all different, and gifts, and all these

things, and for us to be so blasé.

But yet, if we want to reset our mind,

if we want to love God with all our

mind, we need to meditate

on his word.

I had a moment with God

that when I was a teenager, I was a

Christian.

And Christians should read their Bible,

but I wasn't doing that.

I was

using my Bible as a medicine cabinet.

When things were going wrong,

I'll get my Bible out.

When I need help, I'll get my Bible out.

>> [snorts]

>> And maybe you treat God like the Bible

and God like a medicine cabinet. I'll

only take from it when I need.

I want to change that perspective. I

want us to be a people of God, a church

that meditate on God's word.

And I had a moment with God

um years ago,

and I was just about to go to bed, and

God spoke into my life at this meeting I

was at when the bed. And just before I

went to sleep,

I felt in my spirit God say, "You need

to mark this moment."

So, I'm like, "Okay, how do I mark this

moment? Like in in the Bible in the Old

Testament, they build an altar. Do I

have to like get stones from outside and

build something? Like what How do I mark

this moment?" And I felt him say, "Read

your Bible and get serious about it."

So, from that moment to today, I've read

my Bible every single day.

And in 2 weeks' time it'll be 3,000

days.

And I'm like, "That should be so normal.

Why did it take me to have a moment with

God for me to get into his word?" So, if

you're a Christ follower here and you've

been neglecting getting into the word, I

want to challenge you and encourage you

read your Bible. It's so easy cuz

there's apps, there's people you can do

it with, there's Bible plans. If you

need a Bible, let our next steps team

know, we will get one to you. We want to

be a church that read our Bible. We seek

his wisdom. We ask him instead of trying

to figure things out for ourselves. Ask

God for his wisdom and align our

thoughts with the truth. When we have a

thought, did you know you can take it

captive and say, "That's not true"?

It's actually normal to talk to

yourself. If you're talking out loud,

that's where it gets a little bit weird.

But in your mind, you can say, "That's

not true" and you can rewire your

thinking cuz if it doesn't align with

God's truth, you can tell yourself,

"That's not true. That's not who I am. I

don't believe that. That's not what God

says about me." And we can start

rewiring our minds. So, if you heard

today and you need a mental restart,

give God your mind. Fourth way we can do

it is love God with all our strength.

What is our strength?

It represents our physical capacity, our

energy, and our practical resources, our

money, our time, our talents, and our

influence.

And you know this to be true. Where we

place our strength reveals our

priorities.

So, I had a a wee look through chat GPT

and I said, "Write me create me a

calendar

that makes it look like I prioritize

sport." So, here is

if you seen my calendar like this,

I know it's soccer. I did this because

we've got our American friends here

today, but we know it's football.

But if you looked at that, if you didn't

know anything about me, you would say

this guy loves sport.

So, without knowing me, if I'm putting

my energy, if I'm putting my time, if

I'm putting my resources into this,

you're going to know I prioritize sport

in my life. Here's another image I

cooked up as well. If you read this bank

statement knowing nothing about the

person,

what would you think they prioritize?

So, they're going to a concert, they're

buying a guitar, they've got lessons,

they're buying finals, they're on iTunes

store. I didn't think that was still a

thing.

Um they're on another um

film and they're buying Spotify, they're

doing piano lessons. If you see where

they're spending their money, what can

we tell about this person?

They love music. They prioritize music.

So, where we place our strength,

which is our time, our energy, our

influence, our money, all these things,

it reveals our priorities.

And this is where it could become a

little bit difficult for us as Christ

followers.

Because if I seen where you spent your

time,

and your strength,

your influence, your money, would I be

able to say,

"Yeah, they're Christ follower."

"Yeah, they're generous."

"Yeah, they love God."

Or would there be no evidence for it?

If you were in

court and there was a jury in front of

you and you had to prove that you were a

Christ follower, would there be enough

evidence against you?

I remember being told that as a young

person, and I'm like,

probably not.

I've got the title. Like, I give myself

the title Christian, and I go to church

on a Sunday, so like that's that's the

main things, right? Like the title and

going to church on Sunday.

But what about me during the week? What

about my strength? What about my

finances? Does it communicate that I

follow Jesus?

And we sometimes compute our strength in

the good things.

We can put it into serving our family,

helping our community,

building a life for those around us, and

they can be good things that we can put

our strength to,

but you're building your own kingdom.

But what I love about

this next passage we're going to read

that Jesus says, is that we can get that

if we reorder it in the right way. Jesus

says this in Matthew who wrote another

gospel, just like Luke, and he said,

"But seek first the kingdom of God and

his righteousness,

and all these things will be added to

you."

So, yes, we can add we can build our

lives with our strength or

we can build his kingdom,

and we'll get it anyway.

It'll be added to you. So, instead of

doing something in our own strength, I'd

say I'll build God's kingdom first, and

out of his strength, he will add it to

me anyway. He is that good. He is that

gracious. He is that kind that anything

I want to do for my life, he can do it

so much better.

So, what am I building with my strength?

Am I building my own kingdom?

Or am I building his kingdom?

Maybe you're here, and you don't want to

build his kingdom. You've no faith, and

you're just like, I'll prioritize my

life. I want you to know your life can

go so much better. Your life will end up

so much greater

if you give it to him first.

Cuz then he will give you more strength.

He will add whatever you need to your

life

>> [snorts]

>> if you give him a chance.

Want to ask you today, is church a

priority for you?

>> [snorts]

>> Not just coming on a Sunday.

Not just

being part of Lighthouse Church and

having a title as a Christian.

But are you a Christ follower? We're

very intentional with our language. Yes,

you might have noticed we say Christ

follower instead of Christian.

Because what I find is Christian is a

title.

Christians can come to church on a

Sunday, but it's a Christ follower who

follows him every single day.

It's a Christ follower who's living out

their faith.

It's a Christian who talks about their

faith, but a Christ follower, they live

it out.

So, [music] is church a priority for

you? Are you a Sunday Christian?

Or are you a Christ follower?

Maybe you're here and you've called

Lighthouse home for years.

And maybe you're not serving.

Would someone look at you and be like,

"Um not that Well, they go to church on

a Sunday, but outside of that, they

don't do anything with their faith."

I want to encourage you today if you're

a Christ follower, let us shake you that

you can restart today. You can use this

as your moment to say, "Hey, from now on

I'm going to read my Bible every day.

From now on, I'm going to serve on a

team."

Because we wouldn't be able to reach our

community. We wouldn't be able to do

Kids Fun Week next week. We wouldn't be

able to put on a service if people

didn't say

"I'm going to serve."

And that's how they're putting their

strength. That's how they're loving God

with all their strength

by serving.

And again with our finances as well,

would the world be able to tell you love

God by looking at your bank statement?

Or would they think, "This guy loves

spending money on himself. This guy

loves music. This guy loves sport." But

could they tell, "This person loves

Jesus."

Do you have a Revolut pot

called generosity that all you do with

that pot is give it away?

Do you take 10% of your income and give

it back to God through your tithe?

When we have offerings coming up and we

have fundraisers coming up, do you give

out of that?

Or do you just keep it to yourself?

Cuz giving God your strength helps us

build his kingdom

and not our own.

It helps us make sure that we get our

priorities right as Christ followers.

And if you're here and you don't want to

be involved in church and you're just

happy to be here, and we're happy for

you to be here, I want to encourage you.

Why not serve others?

What I love about Ireland is even though

they're not Christ followers, even

though they don't want anything to do

with Jesus, per capita, Ireland give the

most money to charities in the world.

So, we are a generous people. We are

kind and we are able to serve. So, if

you are not a Christ follower, put your

energy into something good. Make Ireland

great and help other people.

But Christ followers, this is our

mandate. This is what we're called to

do.

So, if you're here and you need a

physical restart today, give God

your strength.

And in all these four areas, Jesus isn't

giving us four separate commandments.

Love with all your heart, soul, mind,

and strength.

But what he is describing,

he's describing one completely

surrendered life.

Not four separate areas, but one

totally, completely surrendered life. A

restart happens when every part of us

begins revolving around him.

So, church, do you want to experience a

new start today?

Whether you've got the title Christian

and you need to start realigning things

and revolving your life around him.

Or maybe you're here and you've never

given your life to Jesus and today could

be the day that you decide I want to

follow Jesus.

Each and every one of us can restart our

lives today.

We can take our heart, maybe our soul,

our mind and strength and apply these

principles.

Now, once again, no matter who we are,

whether it's the pastor, whether it's

the person of no faith, wherever you

find yourself,

we all can get misaligned. We can all

start revolving around all our things,

but I want to encourage us today to pull

that in and start revolving our life

around Jesus.

Because Jesus doesn't offer

self-improvement,

he offers transformation.

He wants to transform your life today.

And I want to invite you to stand as we

finish.

And as we close, transformation is for

all of us.

Wherever we find ourself on this faith

spectrum,

this is for all of us.

And in a moment, we're going to have a

song and then we're going to have

baptisms. We're going to celebrate life

change.

Another word for restart could be

resurrection,

a complete change.

And in a moment, we're going to see that

physically.

We're going to see what God has done

internally

and they're going to represent it

through baptism

and show you all what God has done in

their life.

But I want to leave us with this that as

God offers us transformation,

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians,

"Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ, the new creation

has come.

The old is gone and the new is here.

You can leave this place new today. You

can leave this place leaving whatever

you're going through

right here. We've a prayer team who are

going to meet right here in their yellow

lanyards after service that love to pray

for you. We've a next steps team who are

going to watch baptisms. If you feel

today that you're carrying something,

that you're burdened by something, that

you've got a pattern going on in your

life, the old is gone.

The new is here. Jesus offers you

transformation for each and every one of

us

today.