ReGen 072026 Perseverance Psalm 126

You have been borrowed with a price, so you're not your own. What I love about this is only God can tell you who you are. And by his grace and mercy, he says, you are chosen, you are forgiven, you are a new creation, you are a child of God, you are free from sin, you're one with Christ, you're created for good works, you're victorious, you're no longer a slave, you're accepted, you're healed, you're surrounded by God's mercy, you're beautiful, you're not alone, you're strong, you're blessed, you're special to God, you're fearfully and wonderfully made, you're in God's love, you're in God's glory, you're in God's love, you're in your God's beloved. Praise the Lord. What is up, Region?! Welcome to Region! It is commencement night, so we're gonna get excited and worship tonight. Come on, hands up! We're gonna boast in the Lord tonight! What you say to me, I'm walking in the mercy that you've shown, though you changed me, oh not by works but grace through faith alone, you redeemed me, the old days gone, my life has been made new, Lord, you freed me, these chains are breaking all because of you, because of you, I will not boast in anything, my hope alone in Christ my King, not by strength, but by the cross of Jesus Christ, I will not boast in anything, by grace through faith, I have been saved, by grace through faith, I'll never be the same, by grace through faith, I have been saved, by grace through faith, I'll never be the same, I will not boast in anything, by grace through faith, I'll never be the same, by grace through faith, I'll never be the same. and so tonight we're gonna get to sing what a God we need to take a moment and reflect on what he's done for us that a perfect God would come down and leave his throne to save a sinner like me like you are you thankful for that tonight God we just give you the glory tonight we are excited to get to worship you to join the angels and saying hallelujah to the one true King what a God we serve Lord you're perfect you're holy and you came down for us so we are grateful

tonight we worship you father my mistakes oh you're nothing you were what a guy what a God what a God what a God what a God what a God we serve what a God what a God we boast in you tonight what a God we stand on your right I thought you'd show for perfection cause what kind of God was for us they say it's over no it's not, no it's not hear you say no it's not, no it's not what a God, what a God yes what a God, what a God who you are God what a God, what a God we worship you what a God, what a God what a God I serve oh you're perfect you're holy

great and you're all it's done oh perfect in all the ways if the highest place I reach is at your feet then I've done it all if the best thing that I see is your glory then I've seen it all your love it changed my life forever satisfied God you are my everything if the highest place I reach is at your feet then I've done it all if the best thing that I see is your glory then I've seen it all your love it changed my life forever satisfied God you are my everything if one word is the only thing you speak then I've heard it all if I feel your heart and never see your hand I still have it all no treasure of this life could ever satisfy me you are my everything oh God you are you are my everything Lord you are you are my everything what a God, what a God oh it's true you are

what a God, what a God amazing what a God, what a God we worship you Lord what a God, what a God if the highest place I reach is at your feet then I've done it all if the best thing that I see is your glory then I've seen it all your love it changed my life forever satisfied God you are my everything oh if it's one word is the only word it's the only thing you speak then I've heard it all if I feel your heart and never see your hand I still have it all. No treasure of this life would ever satisfy God. You are my everything. Oh, we declare that You are everything. You are my everything. You're everything to me. You are my everything. And Yours is the love. Yours is the power. All of the hour. Yours is the truth. Lost in Your wonder. Beauty and splendor. Yours is the key. Yours Jesus. Lord, we bring You our offering this evening. It's a sacrifice of praise because You deserve it, Lord. We lay it at Your feet. Come on, lift up Your voice. Say, Father in heaven, we are Your children. Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come and Your will be done in heaven and on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, hear Your people sing. Oh, hear Your people sing. And we sing, oh. Yours is the glory. Yours is the power. All of the honor. Yours Jesus. Lost in Your wonder. Beauty and splendor. Yours is the kingdom. Lord Jesus. How dearly we pray that You give and forgive our debts as we let go. Lord, lead us into freedom from every temptation. We live for You alone.

There's no praise You can have on us. You deserve it all. Yours is the glory. Yours is the power. All of the honor. Yours Jesus. Lost in Your wonder. Beauty and splendor. Yours is the kingdom. Lord Jesus. Lord, lead us into freedom from every temptation. We live for You alone. Your kingdom come and Your will be done in heaven and on earth as it is in heaven. It's all Yours. To You alone on earth as it is in heaven. Oh, let Your kingdom come. Your kingdom come. Lord, let Your will be done in us. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We bring You all our praise, God. Oh, it's all for You. You alone are worthy, God. Let Your kingdom come, Lord. Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. On earth as it is in heaven. On earth as it is in heaven. Your's is the glory, Your's is the power, All of the earth, Your's Jesus. Lost in wonder, beauty and splendor, Your's is the kingdom, Your's Jesus. God, everything we have, we bring it to you. You deserve our praise. We bring our lives as a sacrifice. We bring our lives as worship to you. We are not our own. We were bought with your blood. And so we bring ourselves to your throne as an offering. God, we pray that you be pleased with our praise. We love you. It's in your name that we praise you. Can somebody just give God a hand this evening? He's good. Hallelujah. Thanks for lifting up his name with us. You guys can have a seat.

We'll be right back. All right, all right. How are we feeling? All right. Man, I know every Monday is a celebration at Regen, but if you are commencing tonight, can you please stand up for that? Let's go. Job well done. Just the beginning, amen? Step 10 in Regeneration says this, we continue to examine our lives and when we sin, promptly confess and turn to walk with Christ. Step 10 is all about perseverance. And perseverance is actually a huge part of recovery. And I always tell people, you know, it only takes about 10 months to complete the Regen process, but it should stick with you the rest of your life. Regen truly is a lifestyle. We have a saying, you know, 24 hours at a time, right? And there's this principle, this mindset of one day at a time, one step at a time, one moment at a time. We focus on continuing to move forward. You know, the hardest part about faith is not starting, it's continuing. Back in the 1600s, there was an author named John Bunyan, and he wrote a very famous Christian book called The Pilgrim's Progress. Now, The Pilgrim's Progress was a Christian allegory, so it was kind of written symbolically of the Christian life.

And it was an old book but very popular in church culture. And the story goes, it actually follows a man named Christian. Christian is his name. He leaves the city of destruction, and he travels all the way to the celestial city with all the challenges in between. So he leaves the city of destruction. He has a burden on his back, which represents guilt and sin. And he goes through all these different obstacles and challenges before he finally reaches the celestial city, which represents heaven. First thing that he goes through is what they call the slew of despond, for anyone who's ever read the book. This is like a swamp. It's very muddy, a swamp of discouragement, really. He has to navigate and make his way through this swamp. Next, he comes across this giant hill, and it's very difficult to get over, and there are other paths that are a lot easier, but he has to go over, taking kind of the narrow path. And then he comes to what's called the Valley of Darkness. And he goes through, and he can't see his hand in front of his face. It's completely pitch black. He hears all these voices, and he just focuses on taking one step after another. And what ends up happening is him and his companion actually wander off of this narrow path, and they get captured by the giant despond. And the giant takes them and he imprisons Christian in what's called Doubting Castle. And while he's a prisoner in this castle, he really starts to lose his motivation.

He's listening to all the voices of doubt, he's wanting to give up, he's kind of losing the will to fight. And then he remembers that he has something around his neck. And what he has around his neck is called the Key of Promises. And it represents God's promises. And all of a sudden he realized that this key opens every single door in the castle. So he's no longer a slave, he's able to get free. And finally he comes across this great big river. There's no bridge, it's this roaring river, he's got to cross it. And the river represents death. And he has to get through that before he can finally enter the Celestial City, which is Heaven. But I think about that because I think about life in general and how challenging and frustrating it can be. We say here at Regen, life can get lifey, you know what I mean? And many of us, I know myself included, have been tempted to give up. Right? There's sometimes we just get so tired of fighting, we want to throw in the towel. My name is Jonathan, I have a new life in Christ. Hello, I am recovering from substance abuse, from depression, and this week I've been struggling with self-doubt. We've been going through a series here at Regen, this entire year is a series on the book of Psalms, and it's called In His Image, and it's really this teaching about all the different ways that God has made us human and emotional, and so it's kind of an exercise in emotional intelligence. Today we're going to be talking about Psalm 126, and I want to give you some quick context. It's a pretty short psalm, and you can read it on your own time, which I encourage you to do, but the psalm is actually written about the exile, coming home from the exile, how God delivered the Israelites from Babylon, and they're able to return back to Jerusalem and rebuild, and it's really kind of like a dream to them, they can't believe that it's

actually happening after being a captive for 70 years, and so they would sing this song every time they would come into Jerusalem for any of the feasts and festivals, and so it's a very common thing that was done. But I want to focus on two of the last verses in the psalm, verses 5 and 6, which say this, "'Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him, the harvest.'" Now I want you to imagine a farmer. In context, a farmer who is coming back to Jerusalem, probably nothing but rubble, right? They've been poor, they've been prisoners, and he continues to plant his seed even though he's weeping and full of sadness. And I notice that same principle, like one day at a time, one moment at a time, one step at a time, one seed at a time. Have you ever done the right thing for a long time and wondered if it was really making a difference? Anybody ever been there? Yeah, you do the right thing over and over and over and you just wonder, what's the point? I know I've been there personally. Maybe it's like praying for the prodigal child to come back home. You've just been praying and praying and you're not seeing anything, or maybe you're battling addiction and it's like one day after another and I'm just not seeing the fruit. Could be you're surviving a marriage that feels very one-sided and you're just trying to wait in faith that God will work a miracle. Maybe it could be serving in ministry and you're not seeing a lot of fruit that's visible. Could even be fighting depression and just having to get out of bed every day. This Psalm, Psalm 126, it shows us what faithfulness looks like even when life is hard, right? Or what faithfulness should look like when life is hard. And what's interesting is that most people think a good life is a life that's free of struggle. But the reality is, or even I should say the Bible teaches us otherwise, right?

So Noah built the ark while people did nothing but mock him. He spent years building this ark. Moses, who led all of these people while he was exhausted and angry. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. Even Jesus wept. So we see it over and over. You know, faith and pain can exist together. Is really the concept I want you to take away. And God never asks us to fake joy in our lives. He just wants us to remain faithful. Perseverance continues to plant even when things look dreary. So I want you to picture this farmer, this poor farmer. And he's got just a little bit of seed, maybe a handful. And imagine you have children and you have hungry children. And a lot of times this seed, not only was it seed for planting, it was also their food. And so imagine being down to your last handful of seed and trying to make the decision, do I plant it or do we feed the people? It's this tension, eat today or plant for tomorrow. And what ends up happening is like every seed that's planted feels like a loss. When in reality, it's like actually hope, you know. It's interesting, you never see a farmer go like dig up the seed the next day. Like man, it's not working, you know. And wouldn't make for a very good farmer. Why isn't this thing growing?

I just planted it. It takes time. And what happens is growth usually starts underground. Right? Long before you see it above ground. And I think the same is true spiritually in all of our lives. Many people quit because they make the mistake that unseen work is absent work. When in reality, it's not that. And so my challenge for you tonight, if you're in that season, whatever it is, is to keep praying, keep reading God's word, keep forgiving, keep serving, keep coming to church, keep coming to regen, keep loving difficult people, keep showing up. Every act of obedience is another seed, a seed of hope. When I was in City Union Mission, I spent a few years of my life where I was homeless and I was battling addiction. And I went through this recovery program that was also a discipleship program. And it was kind of this two-part thing. And God was able to lift all of these heavy things off of my life, all of these drugs that I was using. And I was able to get down to a place where the only thing I was doing was smoking cigarettes. And for some reason, I just felt like, I'm not giving this up. Like I've given everything else up.

I'm working hard, I can keep this one thing. Well, it was that one thing that ended up getting me kicked out. Yeah, I got kicked out of the program. And I got so mad and I'm like, how dare you? Right, like I've been working so hard and I've been doing the program and just over something this small, you're just gonna kick me into the curb? And I've invested so much. And I remember I just kind of threw in the towel and I was like, you know what, God, if that's how it is, I don't want any part of it. And I left and I went and I met an old friend and I kind of went through this relapse and it was just this real ugly time. And I remember I woke up the next day and it was almost like I could audibly hear the voice of God saying, what have you done? Like I gave you this beautiful opportunity and you're just throwing it away. And I wanted to quit and I was so mad. And after hearing that or whatever that was, if it was my conscience, I don't know, but I felt really convicted and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna go back. And so I humbled myself. I went back to the program and I said, I don't care if you start me over, I'm gonna get through this and I'm gonna keep fighting.

And I was able to go through it. But I want you to understand tonight that God promises us a harvest if we don't give up. It's promised to us. It says in the verse, he shall come home with shouts of joy carrying his sheaves. Notice the certainty, shall. It's not like should or might or hopefully. He shall come home. Galatians 6, 9 says, let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not, what? Give up. Sometimes the harvest is not crops or food. Sometimes the harvest looks like a restored marriage, right? Sometimes it looks like freedom from an addiction in my case. Sometimes it looks like the prodigal child who does return home, or it looks like a changed heart or a stronger faith. Sometimes the greatest harvest of all is the person that God turns us into in the waiting. Jesus was the perfect example of perseverance. He modeled it for us. He walked towards the cross weeping, suffering. He sowed his own life into the ground and and all the disciples, everyone thought it was lost. He was dead. And three days later, what happens? The harvest came. Amen? Because he persevered, we can have hope. That's it. That's the name of the game. So I want to ask you these questions. What seed has God asked you to continue to plant? What seed in your life has God continued to ask you to plant? What prayer have you stopped praying? You've given up on it. What act of obedience have you just abandoned? I'll never find victory in that. It's a lost cause. I want you to remember that the tears that you cry today may be watering the harvest of tomorrow. And you don't even know it oftentimes. You know, John Bunyan, who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, he

didn't write it from a palace. He wrote it while he was in prison. He was in England. He was preaching the gospel. He got sent to prison. He got separated from his wife, his children. He had a blind daughter who he loved. Separated from all of that. And it's in his suffering that he wrote the story. Step 10 is we continue. We continue to examine our lives. And when we confess, we turn and walk with Christ. Regeneration is a lifestyle. I have people ask me all the time, how long does it take? I'm like, depends on the person. I don't know. You know, the textbook answer is 10 months to a year to go through the book work. But you'll spend the rest of your life trying to walk this out by the grace of God. So I'm really excited tonight. I get to introduce tonight's testimony. And I promise you, this wasn't planned. But when it comes to perseverance, it's the most amazing story I've ever heard. Dale, are you in the house? Dale Hotop, everybody, give it up. Hello. My name is Dale Hotop, and I have a new life in Christ. Hello. I am recovering from control, anger, and unforgiveness. I have a feeling my tears are going to be watering some harvests, so thanks, Jonathan. At the age of 22, I died as a result of a head-on motorcycle accident. At the age of 27, I held my three-day-old daughter, Shelby Madison Hotop, as she passed to our Lord. Within the next 12 months, I found myself divorced, fired from my job, and selling my house. At the age of 44, my now-wife and I watched our house burn to the ground. We lost everything but the clothes on our back. At the age of 45, my wife and I were on the verge of losing our business due to the housing market crash in 2008. At the age of 62, I had a heart attack due to a 100% blockage in my LED artery and a 99% blockage in my diagonal artery. These tribulations are among the greatest blessings in my life. Now, in the words of Paul Harvey, the rest of the story. My mother and father had seven children and raised us in the Catholic faith on a farm in southeast Missouri. In a small town, there was a seminary and college. I became very good friends with one of the students. He would share stories about Jesus, the apostles, and many other stories in both the Old and New Testaments.

And I don't know why, but through these stories, I felt like I had a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus became my Marvel hero. So there's my shirt that I'm wearing right now. Isn't that cool? I shared this with some friends of ours and one of them went out and bought me this shirt, so I love it. Thank you. Okay, so we're mad here. So I found myself 100% consumed with everything Jesus. This is the time in my life when the seed was planted. During my youth, there was a couple of defining moments that created my absolute faith in the belief that He does exist. These defining moments were a couple of very specific prayers that went unanswered at the time. However, eventually they were answered on His terms and according to His will. I felt so incredibly blessed that Jesus showed me that He heard my prayers. He taught me that it's always His will, not mine. I had no idea at the time that He would continue proving to me that He is the Alpha and Omega, the One and Almighty God. So now that I've shared with you how I came to faith, I'm gonna go back and explain some of my greatest blessings, the motorcycle accident. Myself and a passenger were cruising on a two-lane road that I'd been on 100 times before.

We were cruising around 45 mile an hour around a corner where I later learned that a dump truck has lost part of his load of sand. The bike lost traction with the pavement and we slid into oncoming traffic. The next thing I remember is feeling the most incredible peace come over me. I was somewhere looking at gold clouds swirling all around me and then came this magnificent light. I took it all in, then I asked, is this it? Did I die? Is this heaven? I was so at peace with the possibility and had absolutely no fear of the answer. The answer came quickly and was very simple. God said, no, I have much for you to do. I opened my eyes to see my broken body on the pavement. Things were not where they should have been. I heard the paramedics running around treating the others involved. It seemed weird that no one was working on me. I started processing the information and realized it likely took the medics 10 to 15 minutes to get there. And they had likely been there five to 10 minutes by the time I came to. But no one seemed concerned about my broken body just lying there. I don't know if I grunted or shouted, but somehow I got someone's attention

and they rushed over to me. At some point, a few days later, I asked someone why no one was working on me that day. I was told I had no pulse and was thought to have passed. So the main concern were the others involved. There have been less than a handful of people that I've shared this with. It's made me uncomfortable for years. Was I just knocked out and that's what everyone sees when they get knocked out? Recently, I shared this moment with Pastor Phil and he gave me the confidence to believe in it fully. So now I'm able to share this incredible blessing with you. My daughter, Shelby Madison Hotop. After a successful birth of our first child with my then wife, Karen, we took turns holding our beautiful daughter. A few hours later, the doctors told us that she had a heart murmur and they wanted to run some tests. Within an hour or so, they told us that they needed to transport her to Children's Mercy where they would be better equipped to diagnose the problem. They took Shelby by ambulance and we followed. We waited for what seemed like hours before the doctors came out and gave us the news. Shelby's heart had not fully developed and they could not save her. We were told that within two to three days her heart would stop beating. We were given the option to stay at the hospital or to take her home. We decided to take our daughter home and two days later while in my arms she passed to our Lord. While

it has not yet been revealed to me what blessings may have come from her passing I find much comfort in understanding that she never experienced the suffering of this earthly world we live in. But without my faith I would not have been able to trust in God's will. I accept that he has not chosen to reveal the why. You know sometimes we're just not gonna get those answers. Losing our home to a fire. Our family was across town having dinner with friends when we received a call from one of our neighbors. Dale your house is on fire and you need to come home right away. We left immediately and once on the road I called my neighbor to get more information. He said our house was gone. We lived on some land outside of town and our house was a log home that myself, family, and friends had built over a three-year period. It was devastating. I remember our five-year-old son asking if his favorite toy was going to be okay. It was such a difficult few days as we tried to stay positive while shopping for new clothes, figuring out where we would sleep at night, and all the other things that you would never consider until you've lost everything. Fairly quickly we moved a mobile home onto the property and started cleaning up the mess. The support from friends, family, the community was overwhelming. We saw God's hands at work everywhere. The army of Christians he sent us was such an incredible blessing. One particular blessing I received is a realization that stuff is not important. I had a knife and gun collection that I was very proud of, most of which was completely destroyed. I still have some stuff, but my attitude towards it is completely different. My attitude now is that nothing I own is mine. I am only the custodian of whatever gifts I have received from God. Should he choose to take it all back, his will be done. The realization that we might lose our business. The housing crash in 2008 had a very significant impact on our manufacturing business. We were losing money every day on the verge of going bankrupt. As a man and provider for my family, I wanted to take control of the situation and do whatever it was going to take to financially protect my family. I started looking into things that weren't exactly ethical or even legal. Eventually, my wife and I sought counsel from someone wiser than us, whom also had

a relationship with our Lord Jesus. We explained the situation, and the question presented to him was this, should I be a man, protect my family, or shall I let it all go and just trust in God's will? I'll never forget his reply, Dale, the fact that you're asking me this question tells me that you already know the answer. And indeed I did. My wife and I discussed it that night and came up with a game plan. The next day at work, we gathered all the employees for a meeting. We started with a prayer and went on to explain the financial situation of the company. We then told them that we were placing the future of the company into God's hands and letting his will be done. We also told them that we would no longer take a paycheck, and then we asked each of them to consider taking a 10% reduction in pay with the promise that if we survived, we would repay them all. To our very emotional surprise, every single employee voluntarily took the pay cut. We closed with a prayer, and that was that. The very next day, we made a profit. The day after that, we made a profit. The next day, and the next day, and the next day, we made profit. Within one year, we repaid all the employees and reinstated their full wages. You know, it's sad that I had to relearn the lesson from my childhood, to always trust in God's will. What an incredible blessing it was to go through this tribulation to strengthen my faith, and brought me even closer to my Lord. The heart attack. In February of 2026, I survived a heart attack due to 100% blockage of my LED artery and 99% blockage of my diagonal artery. According to my doctor, Chet GPT, seriously, my six previous attacks over the past five days was just severe indigestion. Even after the nurse and the doctor in the ER explained that I likely had damage to my heart as a result of several heart attacks, I just had to ask one more time, are you sure it's not just indigestion? I was admitted immediately and hooked up to monitors, and 24 hours later, had another

heart attack and was rushed in for surgery. I received two stints, and the crisis was over. Over the next few hours, I experienced lots of different emotions, fear, sadness, confusion, gratefulness, to mention a few of them. Later that evening and into the next morning, I started to ask God, why me? Not as in why give me the heart attack, rather, why did you save me? I have lived an extremely incredible, undeserved life. Why did you save me when you could have saved a child? Not to question His will in any way, but death has no power over me, for I know that I am saved. I always start my day in the Word. The first verse the morning after the surgery was Philippians 1.6, for I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. How about that? This was pretty much the same message I received after my motorcycle accident, and it brought me so much peace once again. I don't know what He has in store for me, but apparently my work here on earth is not complete. About regen. I'd known about regen for a couple years. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but always thought it would be a good thing to try out. One particular Sunday, Pastor Phil was plugging it pretty hard, and I'm thankful he did. As he was speaking, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me I had to go. I immediately shared this with my wife, and she said, me too. We signed up, and what a blessing it has been. My first night, I told my ground works leader that I just wanted to get my mind, body, and soul closer to God, and the rest was history. What the Holy Spirit did for me during my season of regen was so incredible that it's difficult to put into words.

Best way I can describe it is to say that I became aware of God's presence in a way that felt deeply real to me. It felt like something beyond myself met me in those moments. I had a deep sense of being known and loved. I find it hard to explain because it wasn't something I saw with my eyes or heard with my ears, but it felt profoundly real. It wasn't just an emotion. It brought a sense of peace, clarity, and love. It also changed how I wanted to live the rest of my life. This was the most powerful experience I've been through in my life, and as I've shared, I've been through some stuff. I have a dearly loved friend whom I was sharing some of these emotional Holy Spirit moments with during my regen season. I was telling him that I thought he would really appreciate going through regen at some point. He told me that he was afraid it would change him, and he would have to give some things up that he really enjoyed. He told me that he was afraid it would change him, and he would have to give some things those words have resonated with me ever since. And let me tell you, this man is a warrior for God. He's a warrior for the truth and he's a warrior for his family. If you were ever to meet him, you would be truly blessed as am I. So I say this to everyone that hasn't been to region. If you want to stay in your current state of a mostly happy life and keep those things that are not from God, don't come to region. If you're happy with your anxiety, your depression, your addictions, your financial situation,

family struggles, marriage struggles or any other daily struggles, don't come to region. Now, let me flip that. I double dog dare you to give region a try. And if you're on the fence, just remember that Satan owns the fence. I'm gonna wrap up with this. Cool. The person you see here before you on this stage is literally living proof of an almighty and loving God to a watching world. All glory be to God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.