When God Restarts Your Heart
Message Moments & Highlights
Your heart is changed
You hear God’s voice
You become heroic
You help transform lives
When God Restarts Your Heart
When God intervenes to restart our hearts, He initiates a profound transformation that goes far beyond surface-level changes. Through the example of Saul in 1 Samuel, we see how God can completely revolutionize someone's life by giving them a new heart and purpose. This divine transformation manifests in four significant ways: a genuinely changed heart, increased ability to hear God's voice, supernatural boldness, and the power to transform other lives.This spiritual renewal process requires maintaining humility and regularly returning to God for continued transformation. Unlike Saul, who eventually became proud and stopped listening to God, believers must regularly seek God's guidance through prayer and Bible study. The key is understanding that the Christian life isn't about striving in our own strength, but rather surrendering daily to God's transformative power. Through this surrender, we become vessels through which God can work to impact others and bring positive change to our communities.
Related Bible Verses
1 Samuel 10:6-11:
URL (ESV): https://bible.com/bible/59/1sa.10.6-11.ESV
“Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.” When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?””
Ezekiel 36:25-27:
URL (ESV): https://bible.com/bible/59/ezk.36.25-27.ESV
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
Luke 4:18-19:
URL (ESV): https://bible.com/bible/59/luk.4.18-19.ESV
““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.””
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When God Restarts Your Heart: Finding New Purpose Through Faith
Life can feel directionless until God intervenes and gives us new purpose. Through the story of Saul in 1 Samuel, we learn how God can completely transform someone's life by changing their heart and giving them a fresh start.
What Happens When God Changes Your Heart?
When God restarts your heart, four key transformations take place:
1. Your Heart is Truly Changed
God promises in Ezekiel 36:25-27 to give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. He takes our stubborn heart and replaces it with a tender, responsive one. This isn't about behavior modification - it's about genuine inner transformation that leads to natural outward change.
2. You Begin to Hear God's Voice
Like Saul who began prophesying after his encounter with God, we develop spiritual sensitivity to hear God's voice. This doesn't require special training or status - it comes from having an open heart and being filled with the Holy Spirit. God speaks to guide us and to help us encourage others.
3. You Become Heroic
The Holy Spirit gives us supernatural boldness we didn't have before. Like Peter at Pentecost, we receive courage to step out in faith despite our natural tendencies toward fear or timidity. This isn't about personality - it's about Holy Spirit-empowered confidence.
4. You Help Transform Lives
God uses changed hearts to impact others. Just as Saul united Israel and led them to victory, God wants to use your transformed life to bring positive change to those around you. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in believers today.
Life Application
The key is maintaining humility and continually returning to God for renewal. Unlike Saul who eventually became proud and stopped listening to God, we must:
Regularly ask God to examine our hearts and reveal areas needing transformation
Stay sensitive to His voice through prayer and Bible study
Step out in Spirit-led boldness to serve others
Remember that any impact we have comes from His power, not our own ability
Questions to consider:
Where has my heart become hardened and needs God's renewal?
Am I staying humble and dependent on God's Spirit?
How is God calling me to courageously serve others this week?
What lives could God transform through my obedience to His leading?
The Christian life isn't about trying harder in our own strength - it's about surrendering daily to let God restart our hearts and work through us to impact others.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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Right, who's ready for the Word right now? We're ready to go. All right. 1 Samuel, we're going to the Old Testament today. Let's just believe God that my voice is going to hold out and it'll be fine.
It's always fine, except afterwards when I've just got to recover. 1 Samuel 10. 1 Samuel 10, verse 6. 1 Samuel 10, verse 6.
Here we go. Now, give you a bit of a setup for this. We're going to talk about Saul, not the New Testament, Saul. So for those who are new to the Bible or just haven't ever read their Bible, even if you've grown up in church, don't tell us that. But there are two souls in the Bible.
There's one in the New Testament, Saul, who became the apostle Paul. And then there is Saul in the Old Testament, thousands of years before the New Testament, who became king, Saul the first king of Israel. And we're going to talk about Saul, this Saul, the Old Testament, Saul, before he ever became king. And before Saul ever became king, he was part of a rich family. His dad was rich and he was a good looking man.
It tells us in the Bible he was very good looking. And so he was, he says his son Saul was the most handsome man in Israel. That's a big call. I don't know. I mean, apparently, apparently the Israelites had like beauty contests for men because he was the most handsome in all of Israel.
So I mean, I don't know what the Bible's going on about sometimes with that, but. But it's a big call, but we're just going to go with it. We don't have photos to back us up, but Saul was the most handsome. It's a very subjective thing, but the writer here believes that he was. Anyway, that's a.
That's beside the point. Saul was just a part of a rich family and one day his dad's donkeys went missing. It says his dad's donkeys strayed away and Saul got asked to go find the donkeys. And so this is his job. I don't know what else he was doing, but it's like, hey, you don't have anything else to do.
We're rich, we're fine. Go find some donkeys and go find some donkeys, pretty boy. And off he goes. I'm gonna get myself into trouble and I'm just gonna blame having been sick. So, alright, so off he goes to find the donkeys.
And while he's going to find the donkeys, they go to a village where they meet. They say, we don't know, sorry, they lose. They don't know where to find the donkeys. And they say, hey, there's a man of God that might be able to tell us where to find them. And so they discover this village where this man of God, who's Samuel, the prophet Samuel, we've heard that he might be there.
And so they head towards this village and they do bump into Samuel. And so they bump into Samuel. And what happens there? Saul, who's minding his own business, going to find donkeys. God gets a hold of him through the prophet Samuel.
And Samuel prophesies over Saul and says, you're going to be the first king of Israel. Israel didn't have a king, it was asking for help, it had enemies. And suddenly Saul's there and he gets this prophecy that this will happen. And so we're going to come into this prophetic word that Samuel the prophet, sudden bumps into Saul looking for donkeys. And it says this in 1 Samuel 10, verse 6.
This is part of the prophecy that he gets at that time, the spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you and you will prophesy with them. You'll be changed into a different person. After these signs take place. Do what must be done, for God is with you. Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me.
I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. This is Samuel speaking. You must wait seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions. And it says this in verse 9. As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart.
And all Samuel's signs were fulfilled that day. When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw a group of prophets coming towards them. Then the spirit of the of God came powerfully upon Saul and he too began to prophesy. And when those who knew Saul heard about it, they exclaimed, what is even Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet?
I want to talk to you today about this topic. When God restarts your heart. When God restarts your heart. So all of that prayers. Here we have Saul, who was from a rich family looking for donkeys.
Who's ever been around donkeys? This is not a prestigious job. It is not a nice job. Donkeys are a pain in the neck. Donkeys.
Some people have been on donkeys. Jesus rode on a donkey. Narelle, you ride on a donkey. And I didn't ride on a donkey. I had to walk among the donkeys.
I told you about this a while ago, some of you. I had to walk up Some steps in 40 degree heat in Greece with a bunch of donkeys walking around me. And those donkeys didn't care that I was there. And donkeys don't care where they go to the toilet. And these donkeys were just stopping randomly on the steps and just dumping stuff at your feet.
And then it just sits there in 40 degree heat and just. And I walked among that and it was disgusting. And it was like donkeys looking after donkeys and being with donkeys is not the most prestigious thing. And here's Saul going looking for donkeys, and then God gets a hold of him, and God gets a hold of him and he wasn't looking for this. But when God has your name, when he decides to encounter you and speak over your life, something happens.
Have you encountered that before where you're just going about life and then you encounter God and God speaks over your life and tells you you're going to be someone different from who you are right then and there you're going to be. So. And I want to tell you this, every person that has ever been born and everyone in this room, everyone listening online, everyone in all of our churches, God wants to speak to you and probably already has, if you're listening and said, I have called you to be someone different from the life you used to lead or that you're currently leading, I have a different plan for you. It's a greater plan. I want to change your life.
I want to give you a new life. I want to turn you into a different person. I want to come and fill your life. This is why we're fasting and praying. Because what we're asking God, saying, God, I want to take hold of that.
And I don't want to live the old life. I don't want to live the life with my plans and my decisions and looking out for donkeys and doing what my parents said or what my employer said or what my plans are. God, I want to follow your plan. And God says, my plan for you is to turn you into a different person. It's a different person from the person you started with.
It's actually the person that you always created to be. Do you know that? Do you know that God doesn't want to? He doesn't want to. He's not looking at you going, oh, you're rubbish.
He's looking at you going, I know exactly who you're called to be. And it's the person that doesn't have all the gunk of all the pain and hurt and all the insecurity and all the gunk of this life and all the sin and all the stuff. It's the person that's pure and made whole. And the only way we become that person is when we invite the Lord Jesus Christ to come and cleanse us and come and invite him to come into our heart. And what happens is the Holy Spirit comes and fills our lives and he gives us a new heart and a new spirit.
And he says, now you can lead the life that I always called you to live. And that's what I want to talk to you today. I want to say, what happens to you when God restarts your heart? What happens to you when God grabs a hold of your life and you live different? Because I'm not here.
I'm sick and tired when I walk in the world and I talk to people in the world where they think the church is weak. They think the church is irrelevant. They think the church doesn't change lives. They think it tries to control lives. They think the church is for people who don't have the answers themselves.
And so they just have to use it like a crutch to go, oh, I'm not strong enough to do it myself, so I have to go to church because the pastor tells me what to do. That's not who we are, is it? We're not weak and trodden down. I mean, we are weak in the biblical sense that we don't know the truth until we find Christ. But Christ doesn't keep us in weakness.
He turns us into different people who know the truth. And the truth sets us free and Then we say, now I'm strong, and now I'm the person that God's called me to be. And now it's changed my life. And I want to ask you, has God changed your life? Is he changing your life?
Is he making you into a different person with a new heart and a new spirit? These are the things that happen because that's what happened to Saul looking for donkeys. And then God grabs a hold of him and turn him into a different person. I want to tell you, these are four things that happen to you when God restarts your heart. The first one is this your heart.
Your heart is changed. It's changed. There's a scripture that we see that prophesies what God was going to do when he made the new covenant which Jesus Christ came and gave us. That's why we call it the New Testament. The New Testament is the idea of the new promise.
The new promise that God gives us the new covenant, that we enter into relationship with God. This is what was prophesied in Ezekiel 36, verse 25. Then this is God speaking to his people, to the Israelite people, and to us as well, because we've entered into this covenant. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
And I will give you a new heart. And I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Oh, I need that.
I need a new heart and I need a new spirit. And I got it when I gave my life to Jesus Christ. And you know what I've discovered? I keep needing to go back and say, God, renew a right spirit in me. God, give me a new heart.
Because when I don't guess what happens, same thing happens to you. The old Victoria comes out a little bit. Sorry, I'm not having a go at you, Victoria, but the old Adrian comes out a little bit. The annoyed Adrian, the Adrian with no patience. The selfish Adrian, the poor me.
Oh, it's not fair. No one understands me. The love doesn't flow. And the thing. Because the old heart gets selfish.
The old heart wants to look after itself. But when God comes, he gives you a new heart. Have you discovered that? Gives you a heart. That's why we serve, isn't it?
That's why Michael was talking about generosity. We're generous because God's given us a new heart. And we say, I want that love to pass on. But God, you need to keep renewing a new heart in us. That's why I love when Balon gave his testimony at baptism, and it was so vulnerable and real.
That's what I loved about it. Because he didn't get up and go, I'm gonna change the world. Cause I'm a legend. He came and he went. He said, you know what?
God's given me a new heart, and I want to serve him the rest of my days. But then you know what he said? He said, but you know what? I've struggled. And sometimes I go back and I've struggled because I go back to my old self and the same temptations and the old crap and the old stuff that comes up.
But I want to give my life, God. I want that new heart. I want to serve you, God. I want to stay with the new heart. And I want to honor you, Balaam, because that's real, right?
We don't come to church and say, oh, I've been changed and I'm perfect now. We constantly need God to say, God, I'm gonna stay. Keep giving me the new heart. Lord, why do you go back? Paul said it.
Why do you go back to your sinful old self when God's given you a new life? You're a new creation. The old life is dead, so stop reviving it. But it's hard. It's easy to preach.
It's hard to do. And when we feel the old self rising up, this is when we need to go to God and we say, lord, give me. Let your new spirit, the new heart you've given. Oh, God, you revived me. You restarted me.
I was born again in you. You've cleansed me of my sin. I don't have to live in that filth and pain and shame like it says in Ezekiel here. You don't have to live in that old life anymore. Your filth is washed away.
You don't have to worship idols and the things of this world. God, that new heart, it's tender. It's not stubborn and selfish. Have you felt that? The tender, soft love of God that changes your heart, that has love for your spouse when they're the most annoying person in the universe for you anyway.
And remember this, when you're thinking that way of them, they think exactly the same thing, or worse, of you. That's why we need the tender love of God, the tender love of God to fill our hearts. And then it says, you'll Obey my decrees. This is the thing, friends. You can't.
You cannot. All right? You cannot be a Christian, a good Christian. What's a good Christian? You know, I'm talking about the way the world sees a good Christian.
Follow do all the right things and have the right heart and be loving and kind and all those things. It's impossible without a changed heart. Some of us are trying to live a good Christian life, and it becomes fake because it's too hard. You're trying to do it with the old way, the only way. It has to come naturally from inside.
This is the beauty of Christianity. This is why the world and others see it in the wrong way. They see a surface of performance and structure on the outside. But that's not what God's interested in. He's not interested in all of your sacrifices and all this on the outside.
He's interested in your heart. And he says, if I change your heart, then the outside becomes clean. Jesus said it. It's out of the heart. The mouth speaks.
If there's garbage in here, then garbage cannot help but come out. But if I clean here, if I cleanse here, if I change your heart here, then I will cleanse your outside. Some of us are trying so hard to be holy and so hard to be clean on the outside. We need to come to the Lord and say, lord, cleanse my insides, heal my heart. Some of you are looking for answers.
Why do I do the wrong thing? Because your heart is broken and you're looking for fulfillment. You will not find it, except from Jesus Christ. As he cleanses your heart. Some of you go, how do I forgive that person?
I've got bitterness and anger. The only way isn't to just keep going. I forgive him. I forgive him. I forgive him.
Or I give up. The way to come is to come to the Lord and say, lord, will you heal my heart? And he'll take you on a journey that'll reveal to you how you can forgive. Doesn't come just by deciding. It comes through a revelation that if Jesus Christ can forgive us, he can give you the power to forgive those who have hurt you the most.
Even the ones have hurt you the most. He can give you the power, but it comes in here. Has God changed your heart? Because when he changes your heart, everything else starts to change. Because then the second thing happens.
You start to hear God's voice. You hear the voice of God. That's the second thing. Point number two. Thank you very much.
There we go. I segued into it, but we Didn't. It was too good. It was too good a segue. It was too good a segue into the second point, that it wasn't clear enough.
Here we go. You hear God's voice. This is what happened to Saul. It says God turned him into a different man and he gave him a new heart. And then he got to.
He walked down to the prophets. And what started happening? He started to prophesy with the other prophets. What does prophecy mean? Prophecy just means you're hearing the voice of God.
You're hearing the heart of God. What does God want to say? What does he want to speak? What is God thinking? And a prophecy is just.
He's declaring that. Sometimes we think prophecy is about declaring the future, but it's not just declaring that. Sometimes it can mean that this is what's going to happen. This is what I feel like God's saying, but a prophecy, honestly, is. This is what God wants to say.
That's what I meant by prophecy. This is the heart of God. This is what we see through the Old Testament. We see prophets who came and go. This is the heart of God.
And sometimes he would say, hey, my heart is broken because you're not following me. And if you would come back to me, I'd save you. When your heart is changed, when God restarts it and does something in you, you start to hear the voice of God and you don't have to worry. See, this is why they said, who's Saul? Why is he suddenly a prophet?
Is he a prophet like the others? No. No. It's because God came and changed his heart. God turned him into a different person.
And I want to tell you that every single one of us is capable of hearing the voice of God. Every single one of you. Doesn't matter what your education level is. I know people have gone to Bible college for. They got PhDs and I don't know if I that.
Well, some of them hear from God. Great. And some of them don't hear from God at all. Because God doesn't care about your education status. I mean, it's good to get educated, but that does not make you hear from God or not having a changed heart does.
Being sensitive and open to the Holy Spirit. You hear the voice of God and Saul started to declare what God had spoken. You become sensitive and open. Have you had that? Where you start to sense God starts to speak to you about your own life, about people around you?
This is what I love. It's not just about your life and directing your life and giving you Guidance about how he feels about you. It starts to open up for others, and I want to encourage you to be sensitive to that. How do you know it's the voice of God? It's always in line with his word and the principles of his Word.
God's a loving God, and he's always trying to draw people to himself. And so you'll sense that. That's how I know I'm hearing from God, Because I look and I go, oh, God, I can sense. I can sense a love for people. I don't even know these people that well, but God, oh, I can feel a love go, oh, that must be the Holy Spirit in me.
And then sometimes you'll get an inkling about something. Sometimes it'll be direct. Sometimes it'll just be something you want to encourage someone with. That lifts them up. That could be God.
And if I hear from God in my own life, sometimes what I do is I don't go, thus saith the Lord, because we're human beings. I'm not the pope, right?
And we're not always 100%. But what I do is, if I have a word for someone, I feel like God wants to say. I say, hey, I'm just feeling something. Hey, I feel like maybe God won't want to say this. And you open it up and say, and so it's not this is it, no matter what.
It's an openness. It's a humility going. I'm feeling like God, and they'll share it with others around. Even when I hear from God, God, I feel like we should be doing this as a church or this, and I'll share that with people that I'm close to and say, what do you think? And I'll look for confirmation.
Is God leading you that way? Is he speaking to you? And so we hear from God, and that's. We find it together. God speaks in communities.
That's why there was a group of prophets prophesying, and they were together. There was a unity about it. Sometimes we'll be preaching. I'm gonna feel. I feel to preach for this.
And Michael will be like, well, I haven't even asked you, but this is what I'm feeling. I go, well, that's in line. And we go, that's a confirmation God speaking. He's speaking to our church. Because we've both got similar things.
And go, that's what you look for. You hear God's voice. There's a sensitivity. And it's not just pastors and leaders. It's Every one of us.
When God changes your heart, it's for your family life. Can I say this, parents? God wants to speak to you about your children. A sensitivity. It's hard parenting, isn't it?
And we don't know all the answers. Can I encourage you, parents, you need to go to the Lord and say, lord, will you give me guidance over my child? What they're going through, what's happening. I know parents who would get warned. They'd get warning signals in there going, oh, something's going on.
Something's going on. Sometimes it might be the intuition, but sometimes I bet it was the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit cares about our kids and he wants to speak to you. Then this happens. The third thing that happens in our lives is when God restarts your heart. You become heroic.
You become heroic. Saul. Good looking, handsome Saul. Look at this.
This is in the Bible. Head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.
Apparently women always liked tall men, so we're not going to go there. I think that's a stereotype, right? I don't appreciate that. And God's not saying that's okay. He's just saying that's what the Israelites.
This particular author liked anyway. He was handsome. He had all this stuff, but he was just looking at, who knows who he was. But when the Holy Spirit got ahold of him and changed his heart and changed his spirit, something happened to him where he got a boldness in him that he didn't have before. And he went down and started prophesying the word of God and speaking over people's lives.
And his friends around him went, who is this? Who are you? You're like, you're the handsome guy like that, you know, looking for the donkeys. Your dad likes you. You're rich now.
You're suddenly speaking the word of God because something happened. And what happens is a boldness comes in your heart. What happens when God gets ahold of you? Faith arises? Have you felt that?
I want to tell you, you know, that God's got a hold of you. When faith arises in your heart. Have you felt faith arise in you? Where suddenly you go, I've got a belief that I didn't have before. I've got a strength I didn't have before, a boldness I didn't have before.
It's like Peter at the Day of Pentecost, denied Christ and then suddenly gets up in front of thousands and declares the word of God. And not just small. He had a real go at some of them saying, why'd you crucify the Son of the living God because boldness arose in him. That's what happens when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of you. You go into your workplace, you go, I don't care about my employer.
I'm going to show love and respect, but I'm not scared of you. I'm not intimidated by you. I know what I'm talking about. Because I go, my life, people go, adrian, you get up in front. You don't look like you're scared.
I mean, I used to be intimidated to get up in front of people and speak. I was telling my daughter, I made myself join the debating team. And because I was like. I felt like that's what God had called me to speak. And I was like, well, I have to do this.
I was so nervous, I was freaking out. I'd write every single word down. And I went as first speaker because they don't have to ad lib. And so I'd read out every word on my cards. I had them written out and I'd card, next card, next card.
The first sermon I ever preached was word for word written on a piece of paper. My mum helped me put it together and I just read it out and then walked off. I read it monotone and just walked off and done. Because I was freaking.
I know what, being intimidated by people. Some of you go, oh, Adrian, I couldn't do what you're doing. I couldn't. I'm not a bold person. You become a different person.
There's a boldness. I'm not talking about bold personalities. They're great. We need you in the world, all right? Sometimes we need you to be quiet as well, all right?
I'm talking to myself sometimes, right? I'm talking about Holy Spirit, boldness, Holy Spirit faith, where you go. I just know that. I know I'm gonna rise up and I'm gonna be bold. I remember when the Holy Spirit got a hold of my heart in youth group, and I was the quietest kid in youth ministry.
And then God gave me a word and said, I want you to go up on the front and in the worship and tell the pastor, you've got a word for the youth group. And I was like. And I want to tell you, I was, I'll be there. No, I can't do that. I can't do that.
But I didn't do that. You know what happened? Because the Holy Spirit had turned me into a different person. And there was something in me. And I went, I'm gonna do that.
Cause I'm gonna. Oh, I'm gonna speak this God. You wanna speak to your people? You want to change the world? This is gonna change everything.
Because that was that kind of faith. And I remember I walked up and he looked at me. He was just like, what? He didn't say what. But afterwards, they'd tell me years later, going.
We were just like, what is going on with this guy? Like, you're. The guy just says nothing. I go, I've got a word. He's like, all right, this is weird.
But if it's either gonna be real crazy and. Or it's gonna be Holy Spirit power. And he gave me the mic, and I got it, and it was. They said, you were like a different person. Cause I sensed the power of the Holy Spirit.
And I want to tell you, when he gets a hold of you, you want to declare, I'm not just talking up front in front of others. I'm talking about in your workplace, in your family, over your own life. Some of you gotta pray, and you're going, oh, I feel like I'm weak. And then the Holy Spirit gets ahold of you. Start to prophesy over your own life.
Victory. And saying, I'm not putting up with this. Come on. Some of you, to declare over your spouse, over your family, saying, I'm believing for victory. I'm not putting up with this devil.
I'm declaring victory because I'm gonna be heroic in this. I've got faith in my heart. That's why I love stories in our church. I see this all the time. I love hearing about Aniko, just gotten married.
Aniko. She's like, oh, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I come from Hungary, and English is my second language. And, oh, I'm a bit doubtful about this.
And she's timid and that. And then she just starts inviting people to church. And she went and got baptized in the ocean because God spoke to her. She's like, I'm just gonna do it. Then someone, Kim's here.
Kim got baptized the other day and said, I'm here because Aniko invited me to church. And I go, there's some boldness. There's some firepower because that you're doing it because the Holy Spirit's filled you with boldness and strength, and you know the truth. And I want to say, come on, it's time for some of us to rise up and be the man or woman of God that he's called us to be. That's why I love hearing wherever Samika is Samika from Japan?
There you are. She just quietly goes about serving in the cafe going, I'll just do my thing. I mean, Sumika is a bit of a wild child. She's got the crazy side to her as well. But she's very kind of polite and does the cafe stuff.
But you watch her when she gets up. You should come to the early morning prayer meeting at 9:15. And when Samika gets that mic some, I'm walking up the back. I'm just quietly in the presence of the Lord. Thank you Lord and God, I just want to pray right now that you will move in this place.
And I'm like, whoa, wake up time. Samika's in the house.
And it's awesome because what. And I know when she's praying, she's not just making that up. She's going, she's got the fire of the Holy Spirit in her. That's what I'm talking about. You become heroic.
You become someone that others go, whoa. And I'm not just talking about being loud and doing that kind of thing. I'm talking about stepping in where you wouldn't have done it normally. Because you've got a boldness when you see God, when God changes your heart, not out of. There's a confidence that comes.
Some of you young guys, that's what you need. It's hard in this world. There's peer pressure, there's all these demands on you. And you go, God, I'm gonna be ask for your boldness and your strength and you to guide me and give me a boldness and a confidence about who you've called me to be. And you live out of that.
You live out of that. The fourth thing that happens is when God restarts your heart, you start to help transform lives. You help to transform lives. Saul was the good looking son of a rich man looking for donkeys. And then God turns him into a different person.
Do you know who he became? He became the first king of Israel. And what they needed, what they wanted and what God used him for was he united the tribes of Israel. He united a group of people that were all disparate, had their own plans, and the enemy was taking advantage, going, I'll go in here, I'll go in there. And God used Saul to bring them all together.
And he made Saul a great warrior. And Saul fought some battles and they won. And he changed lives. He turned Israel into a nation. God used him.
People looked to him, he started speaking the word of God and it changed things. And I want to tell you that God wants to use your life to transform others. Do you believe that? I want every person in our churches to believe this, that you are called for more than just your own life. You're called to change things.
And I want you to have a greater belief about how much you're going to change things than you do right now. You can impact more lives and you are impacting more lives than you realize. We're only going to see that in heaven. But God, when he changes your heart, he. He says you're going to have a confidence.
God, I'm believing that when I serve you in church, some of us are going, is it worth it? Is it worth it? You are changing lives for eternity. It says this in Luke. See, this is what I love.
When we follow Christ, we've sung all these songs about following the Lord Jesus. Luke 4:18. Jesus had this belief. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favour has come.
Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit of God filling his life. And then he got up and he declared. He heard the voice of God. He got boldness in his heart and he said, I am the one that's been called to come and break chains off people. I'm going to set people free.
That's the same Holy Spirit that lives in you. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you. And he wants you to have that same belief. Do you know that you are the expression of Christ on this earth? You are Christ's hand and feet and mouth.
You're him living. He wants to live through you. The Holy Spirit using you to transform lives and change lives. Not just to be bold and say, I've got it together and I'm confident, but to go and change things.
That's impossible in the natural. It takes a lot of self belief from people. But you know what? Sometimes you go, oh, it can get debilitating. But when the Holy Spirit's filling me, I'll go, you know what, God?
I'm believing that people's lives are getting changed forever. They're getting changed forever. As I serve you, as I speak life, God needs some people to rise up in faith and say, you know what? I'm not looking at the natural and what's possible in the natural. And I'm not just Trying to fit in and do my little bit and survive and make a little contribution.
I want to change the world. I want to change lives for eternity. I've got a bigger vision than is possible in the natural. But God, I'm going to believe. Come on.
God needs to stir your heart for that. Some of us Christians, we're just, we're just, we're too comfortable and we're too pushed down thinking we don't matter. And God's saying, if you just knew what I had you to do in this world, if you just let me change your heart, if you let me grab a hold of you and speak to you about your life, you would see, I would heal the hurts. I'll do a work in you. I'll give you boldness.
You step in and start being more heroic in your actions. You'll hear the voice of God and you will help transform lives like you never realized possible. Saul did it. Saul did it. Here's the problem.
Saul stuffed it, too.
Saul stuffed it. At some point in Saul's life, he stopped listening to God and he went back to his old man. And he got jealous, he got selfish, he got arrogant. He grew up in a rich family, he was good looking. And somewhere in him, it went to his head because he stopped listening to the voice of God.
And he started accumulating stuff for himself. He started going against what God wanted. And one day God came to Samuel and said, I've rejected Saul.
That man that he changed, that man who prophesied, that man who changed the world, that man who was turned into a different person, went back to his old self.
And so, Christians, if you're here today, there's a humility that must come from us new Christians. People are new to church. Come on, you get a hold of it and you go for it. But some of us have been in church a long time ago. We need to go back to the Father and say, lord, renew in me a right heart.
Give me God. Heal the wounds, God, the things that are there. God, I humble myself before you again. I remember being a young guy, 18, I was in a prayer meeting and I was on fire for God. I felt the Holy Spirit.
And God was showing me things about my future. And he was speaking, I was hearing the voice of God. I was heroic. I was stepping out in faith. And then a little thought grabbed me.
What if this all goes to your head and you lose it all because of your arrogance? And I was there praying, saying, God, don't let that happen to me. Don't let that happen to me. I went to my pastor and I said, because I was concerned, I'd gone from praying and going, yeah. I was like.
And now I was like in this thoughtful mode. And he was like, adrian, what's wrong with you? I said, I'm just, I said, I'm worried. I said, God speaking to me, but what if it all goes to my head and I lose? Because I was thinking of Saul and I was thinking of David when he stuffed up and he got arrogant.
And my pastor said, well, the fact you're talking about that and thinking about that means it's never going to happen to you, Adrian. So don't worry about it. Let's get on with it. There's probably some truth in that, but it didn't solve my issue because I went, I know me, I know my old self. I know my self reliance.
I know that without my continual surrender and humility before God, things might go to my head and I might do things things my own way. And so you know what, that moment, I don't look at and go, oh, Adrian, you just need to get more confidence. I look at that moment as a moment of poignant, A moment where I was like I was in touch with the reality of what I could be if I don't keep coming back to the Lord time and again. That was when I was 18, I'm 45 now. It's still the same truth.
If I don't keep going back to the Lord, why do I fast and pray? I keep coming back to the Lord to say, lord, without you, I am nothing. Without you, Lord, it's all for nothing. Without you. My heart will harden and it'll grow hard to others.
And I'll stop trying to help change lives. I'll start trying to just survive. And there's only one answer to that, brothers and sisters. It's to come back to the Lord humbly and with an open heart. And if you're young here, don't think, start your journey with God saying, God, here I am before you.
If you're older here, continue your journey with God the same way you started it, on your knees before God saying, lord, here I am. I surrender. Cleanse me, wash me, heal me, fill me. There's no place in the kingdom of God for arrogance. There's no place in the kingdom of God for people that have made it.
None of us have made it. We all continually, day by day, moment by moment, rely on the presence and the spirit of the living God in us, renewing us. Isn't that Right in your family, you know when you've gotten hard. And so this is what we're gonna do. As we finish up in the next few minutes, we're gonna have a time of prayer all across our churches and have a time of prayer where you invite us.
Maybe you want to stand, maybe you want to go to the front and get some prayer. Maybe you just want to kneel before God. Maybe you just want to have your eyes closed. Hands outreached.
We're going to say, lord, give me a new heart. Refresh my heart. Renew my heart. Surrender me, Lord, I want to follow you, God, I want that decision I made. Lord, will you refresh and renew a right spirit within me?
Will you fill me again so I can be the man of God? I can be the husband you've called me to be, the person you've called me to be? Maybe you're struggling and you say, lord, I'm sorry, I've been struggling. Surrender, say, lord, can't do it on my own. Will you come and heal those pains in my heart?
God, I need your boldness. I need you to speak to me. I want an open heart. This is the moment. Can we close our eyes and bow our heads all across our churches?
When God restarts your heart, you will be changed and transformed and everything around you will change. But it starts deep inside.
Starts deep inside.
No one else can do it for you.
It's all over our churches right now. If you feel comfortable, you want to lift out your hands before the Lord. We're going to invite him and say, lord, renew my heart.
Renew my heart, Lord, fill me afresh.
I need your holy Spirit.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. No name above all other names. Jesus, Jesus, the name of above.
Oh, come fill us, Lord. Jesus, Jesus, the name of name. Jesus. Jesus, the name of Jesus.
Morning, God.
Holy Spirit, I'm going to pray across all our churches right now.
Gonna do two things. I'm gonna pray for you. Maybe you haven't been in right relationship with God. Maybe you've never known him and it's been on the outside only. But the Lord wants to come inside and change your heart.
He wants to give you a new heart. It's been called being born again, being forgiven and cleansed. And the Holy Spirit dwells within you.
It's what you're always born for. Maybe you've been away from God and you say, lord, I'm renewing myself with that decision to serve you as my Lord and Savior. We're going to say a prayer right now. We can all say it together. Across our churches.
But if you need to say this before God, you say this with us all to the Lord. Dear Lord Jesus, I want you to be in my heart. I need a new heart. I believe you're the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead. So forgive me, Jesus.
Be my Lord and Savior. Give me a new heart in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. For the rest of us, this is what I want us to do if we can.
I want us all to stand across our churches. And if you're comfortable, I want us to lift out our hands before the Lord. And we're going to finish now. But this is a holy moment.
It's acknowledging that he alone is the one that has given us a new heart. But we need to keep coming back to him in surrender and in humility and saying, lord, I see the vision. I want you to speak to me. I want to be heroic. I want to change lives.
I want to have my heart healed and transformed. But Lord, only you can do it. Doesn't come from all your hard work. It only comes from him. It's a beautiful.
Only he can do it. And we're just going to spend a moment right now saying, lord, I invite you afresh to be the one that changes my heart, that helps me live the new life you've given me, not the old life, Lord. Heal the wounds, Lord, soften my heart if it's hardened. So if you want to have your hands outreached, if you're possible, I want to pray for you right now.
Holy Spirit, you see our hearts, you don't care what's on the outside, you care what's on the inside for each and every person, Lord. And right now, I pray, Lord, all of us, Lord, who are coming to you with humility, coming to you with surrender, coming to you, God, with a heart that says, draw me closer, Lord, I know you hear us. I know you hear each one of us. I know you know us, God, more intimately than we know ourselves. And my prayer, Lord, is that you would come and fill us right now, Lord.
Come and fill us with fresh anointing, with your fresh presence, with the fresh love of God, Lord. Let us know that we've been renewed and changed and that you're with us and you're going to guide us. And you've given us all the strength we need that it's not in our power, Lord, but it's in the power of your holy spirit, Lord, that every, everything we need, it comes from you, Lord. Jesus. That everything you did on the cross, Lord God, it was for us.
God. And we can step into that with boldness and grace and love, Lord. That we would know that we are sons and daughters of the most High God. And we'd walk out of fresh with fresh, renewed new hearts, softness to the Holy Spirit, ready to be the people you've called us to be. God, because you love us.
You embrace us and you accept us in Jesus name. Jesus. Jesus, why don't you declare that out of your love for him this morning, out of your love for him. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like you, Jesus, you filled our heart.
You've changed us. You've transformed us. You're the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. Where would I be without you, Lord? You're the mighty one.
You're my savior. You're my king. You're the one I worship. You're the one who changes me. Oh, one more time.
Jesus. Name.
Thank you, Lord.
Oh, we worship you, Lord. Foreign so, Lord, as we walk out of this place, we do it with new hearts, refreshed, restarted, filled with the spirit of God. You're with us. You're guiding us. Be with us with your people in our families, our homes, our workplaces, our schools, and do your work in us and through us.
We pray in Jesus. Precious name. All God's people said amen. Amen. Well, thank you, brothers and sisters.
Hand you back to your pastors. We love you in all our churches. Have a great rest of the week. And we've got our services tonight at Casey and Hare. You see you again soon.
God bless.