ReGen 07-13-26

you you his son into your hearts crying out Abba Father Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son than an heir of God through Christ And it's in that position in that posture that we can face our lives that we can face the things that will come to us you know, it's one thing to To face adversity and face all the things if you are if you have no hope But we have the hope of Christ we have the hope we have his spirit living in us And because of that because of what he did and because of who he is we can face anything We don't have to fear. We don't have to be afraid But we can look to him And it's because of what he did and because of who he is Because he lived I can face tomorrow Because he lived All Fear is gone Because I know He holds my future His life in his hands And life is worth the living Just because he lives Come on, let's declare that together again Say because he lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives

Jesus, the mother Before he spoke creation The God of heaven knew our names Found in his reflection We are his glory on display And his heart is good He is always kind With a cross he proved He is on our side We are the sons We are the daughters of God No matter where we go We're close to the Father's love Though we stumble, He will not let us fall We are the Lord's and He will never forsake His own We are the sons, we are the daughters of God His love, He loved and shone on us And called us children of the King And in His love and kindness He chose the lonely and the weak His heart is good, He is always kind With the cross He proved He is on our side We are the sons, we are the daughters of God No matter where we go, we're close to the Father's side Though we stumble, He will not let us fall We are the Lord's and He will never forsake His own We are the sons, we are the daughters of God He belongs to you Lord, the Lord we are When the lies speak louder than the truth Remind me that I belong to you And when I can't see past the dark of night Remind me you're always by my side When the lies speak louder than the truth Remind me that I belong to you And when I can't see past the dark of night Remind me you're always by my side You're by my side We are the sons, we are the daughters of God No matter where we go, we're close to the Father's side Thank you Lord Though we stumble, He will not let us fall We are the Lord's and He will never forsake

His own We are the sons, we are the daughters of God Lord, thank you, thank you that we get to come into your house tonight That we get to draw near to you Father, I ask that you would draw near to us as well Because your word says that you will So please make good on your word God, we know that your word says you will not forsake us But sometimes our hearts fail because they're deceitful So Lord, would you draw close to us Would you remind us all of the ways that you will never forsake us Would you remind us of your goodness When we are failing and when we feel like we are falling Please draw close to us Thank you Lord, and in Jesus' name we pray Amen Thank you all so much for worshiping with us tonight You guys can have a seat and direct your attention towards the screens Thank you Good evening, ReGen. Thank you, Des. And it's good to be back. Those of you who don't know, my name is Jared. I'm a campus leader over at the Johnson County campus. I get the privilege of coming back and visiting every once in a while, and teaching and sharing my story when the opportunity comes about. First of all, shout out to everybody online, Independence, Crossroads, and my people at Johnson County. Love you all. Hope you guys are having a good night. So as most of you know, here on Monday nights, we're going through a series called In His Image. Through the book of Psalms, we've been each given a chapter and a subject out of that. And tonight, I'm in Psalm 69, and the subject is surrender. The 15 or so minutes that I have is not enough time to cover surrender. So we're going to work through this as much as we can in a short amount of time, and just allow God to move in our hearts throughout that time. Psalm 69.3 reads, I am weary of my crying, my throat is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. My name is Jared, and I have a new life in Christ,

recovering from pride, pornography addiction, codependence, and many other things. So grateful to be here tonight, and grateful for Region. Have you ever been in a place in your life where you are so overwhelmed that you want to give up, or you want to change your circumstance? I can say I've been there many times. I want things to be easy. I don't like the hard, but God has a plan in it all. We know that. Psalm 69, 1-5 says, Save me, O God, for the waters are coming to my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I have come into waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dry, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs on my head. They that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restore that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from thee. In these times when we're feeling like the psalmist wrote there, we're overwhelmed, life is hard, we don't see a way out a lot of times, we don't know what the end game is. In those times, we have a choice to make. A lot of us have seen this road sign, they're going to put it up here, a Y in the road. A lot of us have seen that. We all know what that is. We're traveling down a road, and we have a choice to make when we get to that sign. It's giving us a warning of that. I want you guys just to visualize this with me. The vertical part there is our circumstance, or where we're at in life, with whatever that trial is, whatever that addiction is, whatever that struggle is. And we get to the point where we have to make a choice. Are we going to go God's way, or are we going to go our way? I all too often have gone my way, and have learned the hard way that was not right. Doing things our ways puts us in control and never turns out well. But doing things His way demands trust in Him and His outcome. I'm going to pause for a minute in this section here a little bit. A lot of us have heard the term messianic psalm. That's what this psalm is, it's a messianic psalm. So what it's doing is talking about Christ. So I'm going to jump over to Mark chapter 14 here, and read some verses and talk about where Jesus was at the point of having to surrender to His Father's will. Verse 32, And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray. And He taketh to them Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. He said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And He went forward a little

and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from Him. And He said, Abba Father, all things are possible unto Thee. Take away this cup from Me, nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt. Jesus is on his road to the Gethsemane there, as we read in the first verse. He was heading to the cross to die for you and I. Imagine that, putting yourself in his shoes at that moment, knowing what was to come. Imagine what decision we would have made. We know here that God created the world, created the world, and then Adam and Eve brought sin into the world. God's a holy God, and he cannot allow sin in his presence, so sacrifice had to be paid for the penalty of our sin. It had to be a perfect sacrifice, and that was his son, Jesus, had to pay that penalty by dying on the cross for you and I. I would ask you tonight, have you surrendered your life to Christ in the death on the cross for you and I, so that we can have that eternal promise of heaven with God the Father forever? And we know that the sacrifice was for all. It wasn't one of us that he left out. He died for all of us. We didn't bring anything in here tonight, or any Monday night, that's not too hard for God. That he didn't forgive by sending his son to die on the cross for our sins. We can receive the free gift by putting our trust in Jesus,

who paid that debt for our sin. Again, I'll ask you, now that I've made it clear that it's all inclusive, have you put your life, surrendered it to him, and put your faith and trust in that work on Calvary? Act 1631 reads, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It's an act of faith, trusting in the work of Calvary, and surrendering our life to Jesus, and the work that he did, so that we can have that eternal life, that free gift of salvation. So that we can have that eternal life, that free gift of salvation. Then the question comes, what does it mean to surrender? What does it look like? Surrendering is not as easy as just letting go. There's that phrase out there, let go and let God. True, 100% true. But I believe surrender is a daily choice. There's things that have been in my life where I have to, moment by moment, sometimes day by day, surrender that to Christ. A definition of surrender that I found is to cease resistance, yield control, or give up possession of something. What are you holding onto tonight? What do we need to give up control of?

A surrender, giving the situation to God, and trusting him with the situation. Surrender is giving the situation to God, and trusting him with the situation, the circumstance, or the outcome. Or in the outcome, sorry. What does it look like for you when you're in these tough spots? And we're not sure what to do. When we're at that Y in the road, and we don't know what to do. I can say one of the cool things about being able to teach here, you start studying, you start digging into the word, figuring out what God wants you to share. And more often than not, he gives you a life example of it. Couple weeks ago, just dealing with some stuff, working through some hard stuff, and then I was doing my readings in the mornings, working through Psalm 69 in my daily readings, and I got to these next verses that told me what to do in that moment. Imagine that, God gave us the answer. Psalm 69, the end of the chapter there, 29 through 33. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord,

better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this and be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. For the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not the prisoners. Verse 30, mainly verse 30 there is the one I wanna pull out of there. When we're in these situations where maybe it's our addiction, maybe it's a relationship, it's a sin that we're living in, maybe it's unforgiveness, maybe it's bitterness, you name it, we all have a list. What do we do when that's so overwhelming and we can't turn away from it, or we don't feel like we can turn away from it? Verse 30 says, I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify him with thanksgiving. I had to find myself doing this a couple weeks ago. Just sitting, I drive a lot for work, and so I just cranked the worship music and I had to worship God. And I had to give him thanks, even for the situation that I was in, the circumstances that were surrounding me, giving him thanks. Oftentimes when we take that, we're on that why in our life, and we get to a point in there where we have to make that choice, we don't know what God's will is in this situation.

More often than not, we don't know what it is. But we do know, according to 1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. So I'm gonna challenge you tonight, when you're in this situation that we all face, either we're in it now, we just got out of it, or we're about to go into it, we give thanks to God for the things that he's given us, for whatever it might be, whatever that situation is, it helps posture our heart in gratefulness to him. It helps lead us down that path. Often throughout the scriptures, we read about altars, and sacrifices, or surrenders made. With these altars, it requires us to bring something to that altar. I know oftentimes, Sunday mornings here, we do it on Monday nights too, there's kind of an altar call. People come forward to pray with you, to just be there with you, to love on you, whatever you need at that time. It's an act of surrender, really, is what it is. I'm surrendering what God's pressed on your heart to him, and you're just asking for the help of others. Many years ago, when I was struggling with pornography, it was, it probably characterized the majority of my life. I would get to a point where I hated it. I was so overcome by it, I hated it, I would ask God to take it away. Just take it away, you don't like it, I don't like it.

Please get rid of it. And he didn't, for some reason. I don't know that answer to this day for sure. I might ask him one day in heaven. But I don't know why he didn't take it away. If he wanted to, he could. I believe there's a process to our healing and our recovery. As time went on, and I was crying out for him to take it away, he said, God, why won't you take it away? I became angry at God. He didn't care. He didn't want me to be healed from it. As I overcame pornography, probably six or seven years ago, I don't remember how long ago it was right now. I was able to get that sin under control and I didn't know the answer to, the full answer to why God didn't take it away from me till about a year ago, I think it was. Or maybe it was six months ago, I don't remember. Pastor Phil was teaching. Don't even remember what he was teaching on. And the statement that got me was, God does not bless an empty altar. That hit me pretty hard. I believe one of the reasons that God did not take it away from me is because I wasn't willing to give it to him. God did not bless an empty altar. Tonight here, I want you guys to do something with me.

Everybody make a fist. I probably need to make two fists for this analogy. Just make a fist and ask yourself, what are you holding onto? It's a question between you and God. What's in your hand right now? What are you not willing to let go of? What are you not willing to give to him? We probably all have something in our hands right now. We probably all have something that we're holding onto. Are you willing to bring whatever it is to God and surrender it to him? Not part of it, but all of it. He knows what's in your hand. He knows what you're holding onto. He's just waiting for you to give it to him. As we talk about surrender, the one thing that stops us is having to trust God. It's a scary thing to do. How often do we control our circumstances because we don't trust God and what he's doing? I've done it many times. Even though he has proven himself faithful over and over again, we still doubt him. Verse in Psalms 20 and verse seven reads, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. To break that verse down a little bit, I love that verse. One of my favorite verses, especially for a regen thing. I'd use it a lot in groundwork here when I taught groundwork.

But are you trusting in man-made things? The chariots we read about in that verse. Are you trusting in the man-made things? Are you trusting in the creation before the creator? We heard about horses in that verse. Or are you trusting in the name of the Lord, our God? Pretty big challenge, pretty heavy challenge. What are we trusting in? Here's the last few minutes, I guess I got a little bit less than a minute. But I'm gonna do something, I want all you guys to bow your heads for a minute. And just have a time of inventory. We read about inventory, we talk about inventory a lot here at Regen. I want you to have a little conversation with God right now. Thinking of that fist that you had and those things that you were holding on to. Surrender it to God tonight, give it over to him. Trust him, because his ways are higher than our ways. Maybe tonight, your story is you took the path of your own way. And you're living that own way right now. Even though you know where God wants you. It's not too late. Just because you took a right turn doesn't mean you can go back. And let him heal you from whatever it is that you're holding on to, whatever it is that you're struggling with. Maybe tonight you're here and you've never heard the gospel before. You've never put your life in Jesus' hands and trusted him with that. Trusted the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin. Tonight can be the night. By saying tonight, I want you to think of tonight as the night of the cross. Tonight can be the night. By simply believing on him as we read in Acts 16.31.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I pray that tonight's the night for you if you can't say that about yourself. If you don't have that personal relationship with Jesus. If you have questions about that, please come find myself or anybody in this room or in the building here that has a lanyard on. They would love to have that conversation with you. Be able to walk with you in that path to eternal life. Don't miss the opportunity. Again, I'm just gonna leave you with that verse that I read there in Psalms 20, verse 7 here as I close. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Tonight, we have the privilege of hearing Sammy Jackson share her story with us. Look forward to hearing what God has done in your life, Sammy. Come on up. Hi, Sammy, come on up. Hi everyone, my name is Sammy Jackson. I have a new life in Christ and I am recovering. Hi, I am recovering from anxiety and anger. Before my recovery in Christ, I was anxious, angry, and struggled deeply with controlling every situation in my life. Before working on my recovery, I was at my lowest point in my life. My sweet husband met me crying in the kitchen and knew I needed to change. The once happy, lighthearted, go with the flow woman that he married. Was not the woman sitting on the floor in front of him. I struggled with depression from a failed dream career, being told I would never naturally carry a child on my own. Failed expectations in my marriage, not healing from past church hurts, walking in motherhood without giving every part of it to God, and my education career. My relationship with God was surface. I would not speak to him about life situations, but only as a last resource.

I would go to church and feel connected while I sat in the chair. But once I left church, I struggled, sorry, I left church, I truly struggled with being the godly woman I knew I was called to be. I had attended D1 and Blueprints. I knew what I needed to do. So in my mind, I was a Godly woman, a Godly woman, a Godly woman, a Godly woman. I knew I had to lay everything at his feet and take up my cross daily. I was a Godly woman, a Godly woman, a Godly woman, a Godly woman. But the letting go piece was one I struggled with immensely. I thought if I could just keep my chin up, try my best, and pray when times were hard, then I would be just fine. And fine was all I ever was. I wasn't happy. I wasn't joyful. I was scared, anxious-filled, and a worrywart, as I was called, and not one that I ever wanted to carry. Soon it became the lens I saw out of. I would worry about every situation, big and small, true or not true. It was the one thing I could control. If I could prepare my mind for every scenario that could happen, then maybe I wouldn't be so worried. Soon it took over my mind and life, and it was very heavy. The night my husband met me in the kitchen begging me to get help was a moment I will never forget. I was a basket case, always thinking the worst situation. I would make myself sick by overthinking. I was knee-deep in motherhood,

a career I loved yet was drowning in, trying to manage being a full-time mother, a full-time wife, a full-time teacher, a daughter, and a friend. I was very unhealthy in all areas of my life, including my health. When I was encouraged to get help, when I was encouraged to get help, regeneration was the very first place that my mind went to. I had already been through the amazing counseling center that Abundant Life offers to help with my postpartum anxiety. While in counseling, I started peeling back the onion on some bigger issues in my life that I thought I had worked through. But truly, I had just packed them in a nice little box and put them at the top of the shelf the very, very furthest away. I knew that I wanted to be a better mom to my sweet son. A wife to my husband. And most of all, I knew I wanted a relationship with Jesus Christ. I sought what regeneration had done for my mom. Sorry. And wanted to see if I could do the same, it could do the same for me. In Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me. When you search for me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord. And I will bring you back from your captivity. This verse is one I have held close to my heart for a very long time. On my first night as I walked through these doors, I was scared. I knew that this was not going to be easy, that more issues would for sure come up to work through as I started peeling the onion back on my life story. That I would have to stand up and face my issues and all of them. But that if I did, I knew I would finally have what I so desperately prayed to God for, which was peace. Before I opened my car door, I promised myself that I would not quit, no matter how hard it could get, because I knew that where I was in my life was far worse. I knew Satan had been attacking and I was ready to have freedom from my shame and guilt. So I walked in and was greeted by the amazing door greeters and the welcome table, and the sweet Carol Megan at the first time table. The woman who led me through blueprints and the woman who I knew, who would also keep me accountable to stay, to pray to God, to lean into my sisters in Christ.

As I sat through my first evening, I was scared. I was crying in my seat at the beautiful message and testimony shared. It was about step three, trust, one that I so desperately needed to hear. This was a perfect night for me to start, the one that God knew I needed to hear, to realize where my burdens were at, at my lack of trust, to realize that it was not going to be me at all that stuck to this, but my trust in God to heal me through it. Because as someone who grew up in church, youth groups and serving, I knew deep down who was the only one that could heal, and that was God. That night as I left region, I prayed. I prayed as I looked at the paper that listed all of the issues of why you could be here and thought, wow, I have just a few that I can circle and was quickly shown just how wrong I truly was. By the end of my step group, God had shown me so many layers of the onions I truly did need to work on and to lay all at his feet. During recovery, I found myself completely broken. I cried almost every night on Monday in step group and was greeted with love and understanding by my amazing leaders. and my gracious region sisters. I quickly realized how much I needed to lay my burdens at his feet and that it was too much for me to hold on as I had seen.

As I went through this step group, I learned so much about my faith, that God doesn't expect me to be perfect. He knows my story from beginning to end. He knew every sin I would make before I did it. He knew every single moment of it. What I learned through the group are the skills to realize that I am a sinner, but I am also fully loved, given grace and acceptance as I repent my sins to him and ask for forgiveness. To let go of all my shame, anger, guilt, control, people-pleasing and anxious thoughts, and give it all to God. To believe God is the only one who can fully restore me. He is the only one who can give me peace. To trust that God has a hold of me and gives me grace. To realize that my sins do not define who I am. To learn to confess once I have made them and repent to Jesus and my sisters in Christ. To follow my heavenly father's plan and to change my heart and mind to be more like him. To forgive those who have hurt me and to ask for forgiveness to those I have hurt. To make amends where I can and submit to my father and ask for help. To continue in this walk with him daily and confess when I need to, that God longs for my willing heart to choose him daily and depend on his power alone.

Because every generation, I have a new life in Christ. One that is healing daily and practicing my walk with the Lord through every moment of my life. God has used this amazing recovery program in my life to show me that I am loved by him. I am made new in his image. That I am not what my past says about me, but I am chosen. My relationships with others are no longer surface. I am not isolating from others. I am fully living in my community. Something that being here in region made me remember is that God doesn't want you to walk alone. Like in Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. My marriage is stronger than it has ever been and we are able to raise our sweet baby boy together in a marriage that he will see as a love for Christ. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. My son sees his mama learning to be more patient, kind, understanding and loving. My baby boy sees his mama loving Christ daily. My anxiousness is now something that comes and goes, but I am equipped with the skills to remember that I was never meant to carry it on my own and to ask God to completely guide my every step and take what I was not meant to carry. Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous be moved, Psalm 55, 22. Through regeneration, I have learned to read the Bible

and be in his word more so that I am more equipped to handle life situations. This is something that I struggle with and I'm learning to practice daily though. At the end of my step group, God put it on my heart to lead, something that I never felt equipped to do, but one that I have felt God pushing me towards so that I could share the life that I am able to live now because of him. The peace that I have gained from going through regeneration is one that I am eternally grateful for, one that I do not take lightly. I am so incredibly grateful for the story God has written for my life. Now that I'm able to use my story to help other ladies run to him and to have the peace and hope that I once prayed for. I am so grateful to have the amazing opportunity to share God's love as a co-leader to my amazing ladies every Monday. I am extremely blessed to have the amazing sisters that I gained through my step group and my amazing ladies that I now get to help guide through regeneration. If I could say one thing to you this evening, it would be to stay, do the work, pray to Jesus that he would change you from within and make you the woman or man you were created to be. Something that a mentor said to me that encouraged me to stay when it was hard

was you are breaking generational curses, ones that stop with you and ones that your son won't have to ever carry with him. My name is Sami Jackson. I have hope for the future and peace in my heart. Thank you. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.