Be Renewed
OPEN: As strange as this may sound, LIFE has a way of sucking the LIFE out of us.
If you have faced any one (or more) of these situations in the past twelve months, it is quite possible (even likely) that you need to be renewed:
Lost a loved one in the past 12 months

Dealt with a recurring, nagging injury or illness
Got fired from a job
Got demoted
Got promoted (but feel
overwhelmed)
Had a setback in your finances
Became dissatisfied with your
spiritual life
Went through a divorce
Started a new company
Got a bad job review
You’ve been unable to sleep at night
You were betrayed by a close friend
Felt withdrawn or isolated
Been lied about and made fun of
Had feelings of hopelessness about
the future
You and your boyfriend (or girlfriend)
broke things off
Have creditors calling left and right
Have been unemployed for a lengthy
period of time
Sustained problems with stress
You and your spouse separated
You can’t seem to find the right
person to date
One of your kids had a severe injury
or sickness
Bills have piled up with no clue how
you’re going to pay them
Feeling low in energy, as if your
strength is zapped
Your life has had so much pain that
you don’t even want to talk about it
Eating issues (like anorexia, bulimia,
binging or purging)
Just lacking the joy and enthusiasm
about life that you once had
If any (or several ) of these apply to you, then I am here today, not in my own power, but in the Power of God to offer you hope.
TITLE: Two weeks ago we started a new series. The first week was “Be the Bigger Person”, last week was “Be Thankful”, but today, I believe I am bringing the most important message of this series. Today’s message is entitled:
“Be Renewed”
EXPLAIN HOW TODAY’S SERVICE
WILL BE DIFFERENT
TEXT: I want us to look at two KEY scriptures today; then ask the power and presence of God to be present in this place today!
And my speech and my preaching were
not with persuasive words of human
wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power 1 Corinthians 2:4
The Message Bible says it this way ( 1 cor. 2:4):
I was unsure of how to go about this,
and felt totally inadequate—I was
scared to death, if you want the truth of
it—and so nothing I said could have
impressed you or anyone else. But the
Message came through anyway. God’s
Spirit and God’s power did it, which
made it clear that your life of faith is a
response to God’s power, not to some
fancy mental or emotional footwork by
me or anyone else.
In other words, if we are going to be renewed, it MUST be God that does it!!!
THAT is what I am praying for today!
One more scripture (God really, really got a hold of me through these scriptures and I hope He does the same thing in you):
Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not
heard? The everlasting God, the
Lord, The Creator of the ends of the
earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His
understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, And to
those who have no might He increases
strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, And the young men shall utterly
fall,
But those who wait on the Lord Shall
renew their strength; They shall mount
up with wings like eagles, They shall run
and not be weary, They shall walk and
not faint.
BACKGROUND ON THE BOOK OF
ISAIAH:
The book of Isaiah is divided into two parts. The first 39 chapters deal with impending judgment, and the second part deals with forgiveness and deliverance. The first 39 chapters deal with sin, but the last 27 chapters deal with a Savior — 66 chapters in all. Many people see Isaiah as a small Bible, for there are 39 chapters in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament — 66 books in all. The Old Testament often deals with the sin of the
people of Israel, and the New Testament deals with the Savior which came from Israel. There is a distinctly different tone and message beginning here in chapter 40.
Three Observations from this passage of scripture:
1. EveryoneGetsWearyatSome
Point!
Vs. 30 says
The Message Bible says
“Even the youths shall
faint and be weary”
“For even
young people tire and drop out”
STORY: I remember the first time I decided to run in an official 5k. It was in downtown Dallas. I sprinted the first 1⁄2 mile. Then......I fell to exhaustion.
Sometimes we do that in life. We take off well, but we get exhausted.
LIFE sucks the LIFE out of us. What we need is to “Be Renewed”
TRANSITION: SO the first observation from Isaiah 40 is “Everyone Gets Weary at Some point” and the second observation from Isaiah 40 is........
# 2 – God NEVER Gets Weary

vs. 28 The everlasting God, the
Lord, The Creator of the ends of the
earth, Neither faints nor is weary.
That is hard for us to understand because we ALL have a capacity.
Some people have a small capacity to deal with problems or stresses and others have an enormous capacity to deal with stresses and problems, but the point is we ALL have a capacity and once we reach that capacity, we can’t go on!
But God doesn’t have a capacity. He NEVER faints. He is NEVER
weary.
Illustration: For years, millions of dollars in research has gone into creating a “Perpetual motion” machine. Perpetual motion describes "motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy” It can also be described as "the motion of a hypothetical machine which, once activated, would run forever unless subject to an external force or to wear".[3]
Wikipedia states the following: “There is a scientific consensus that perpetual motion in an isolated system is impossible as it would violate the first or second law of thermodynamics.”
In short, God originally stated it and

science proved it that everyone gets weary at some point.......everyone except God!
In Isaiah 55:9 God says....
For just as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so my ways are higher
than your ways and my thoughts
higher than your thoughts.
TRANSITION: SO the first observation from Isaiah 40 is “Everyone Gets Weary at Some point” and the second observation from Isaiah 40 is God Never Gets Weary, and the third Observation from this Passage is......
# 3 – The ONE Who Never Gets
Weary Promises to Renew Those Who
DO Get Weary
vs. 31 says
Now, in order to fully understand verse 31, I have to give you an English lesson and take you back to verse 30.
For you see, verse 30 is an “Independent clause” that stands on its own; independent in thought and connectivity. It reads:
“Even the youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall”
However, notice with me the absence
“But those who wait on the
Lord Shall renew their strength;”
of a period. There is in fact a comma, followed by the word “But”
The word “But” is known as a “conjuction”.
It ties together two independent clauses and suggests a contrast in light of the first clause.
In other words, it would seem that if “even youth grow tired and weary” that everyone, everywhere would eventually grow tired and weary.
BUT NOT GOD!
He has infinite power, infinite strength and infinite stamina.
And He invites us to come to Him and Be Renewed!
CLOSE: Abraham Lincoln: At the worst part of the Civil War when victory seemed hopeless he said,
"Without Christ I cannot succeed. With
Christ I cannot fail."
