ReGen October 19th Psalm 63

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, and you're God's beloved. Praise the Lord. Well, praise the Lord, can you stand with us? We're going to lift him high this evening because he's worthy. Come on, we're just going to think about what he's done. And we're going to respond and praise him. I was buried beneath my shame, who could carry that kind of way? It was my turn to lie there. Come on, put your hands together. I was breathing the night of life. All my failures, I tried to hide. It was my turn to lie there. You called my name, and I read out of that grave, come on, out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name, and I read out of that grave, out of the darkness into your glorious day. Now your mercy has saved my soul. Now your freedom is all that I know. You called my name, and I read out of that grave, out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name, and I read out of that grave, out of the darkness into your glorious day. Oh, I've been set free, redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Come on, we celebrate tonight because we're set free. We're free to continue living for Jesus, Hallelujah. I need to rescue, my sin was heavy, chain break at the weight of your glory. I needed shelter, I wasn't orphaned. Now you called me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing. Now your love is the end of life. Come on, I have a future, I have a future. My eyes are open because when you call my name, I read out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. Oh, Hallelujah. You called my name, and I read out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. ♪ Has he said it about a free in this place ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ Come on, we can celebrate him. For who he is, for what he's done. Hallelujah. That's what we do. We come together to remind one another

and to remind ourselves all that what God has done. The children of Israel, that's what the Lord taught them is to remember. He taught them to teach their children to remember what the Lord your God has done for generations and generations and so that we know we can look back and say that God has brought me so far. And that stirs up our faith. It stirs up our trust in him. And so we're facing things that we're facing in the present. We can look back and say, our God is bigger than any of that. It doesn't matter. I don't have to add anything to what he is doing. It is his blood that has already done enough. It is his blood that has already set free and those things that try to rise up against me and try to rise up in our lives can hold not a candle to the blood of Jesus and the power of his spirit. And man, so we're just gonna continue singing and giving God the glory because everything that he has done already it's been done. It's our future is set. And so we can give him glory and praise for it. Thank you for life changed, Jesus. (gentle music) ♪ Everything changed ♪ ♪ It's getting harder to recognize ♪ ♪ The person I was ♪

♪ Before I encounter class ♪ ♪ I don't walk like I used to ♪ ♪ And I don't talk like I used to ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside out ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the flood ♪ ♪ Could've only been the flood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the flood ♪ ♪ Could've only been the flood ♪ ♪ Whole Father ♪ ♪ Thank you for the sacrifice ♪ ♪ I cannot explain ♪ ♪ Nothing's more real than this ♪ ♪ In the presence of God ♪ ♪ Who in my heart experienced ♪ ♪ When my shame hit the wayside ♪ ♪ And my sin met the most high ♪ ♪ I was washed from the inside out ♪ ♪ I was washed from the inside out ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the flood ♪ ♪ Could've only been the flood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the flood ♪

♪ Could've only been the flood ♪ ♪ Oh thank you, God ♪ ♪ Thank you for your plan of salvation ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ All if it wasn't from the flood ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ It's been about the falls ♪ ♪ Perfect ♪ ♪ I'm striving for acceptance ♪ ♪ Let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the night ♪ ♪ It's never been about the dirt ♪ ♪ We don't earn to give what's free we give ♪ ♪ And we tell ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be holy ♪ ♪ And righteous ♪ ♪ You're a fine, smartness ♪ ♪ Let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be worthy ♪ ♪ Let me give it just the fun we live at ♪ ♪ Let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood ♪ ♪ I'll let you know ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, I know it was a lie ♪ ♪ Could've only been the man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a lie ♪

♪ Could've only been the man ♪ ♪ Oh, you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ You'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ Free, thank you for the blind Jesus ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Come on, we sing, sing Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a lie ♪ ♪ Could've only been the man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a lie ♪ ♪ Could've only been the man ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Oh no, oh no, oh no Jesus ♪ ♪ So you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ Oh, you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ Oh, you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ Oh, you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ Oh, you'll be the only one who can say ♪ ♪ How do you know his love is amazing, amazing ♪ ♪ Stoking his love tonight ♪ ♪ Amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I was what a Lord's putting down ♪ ♪ I found what was fine ♪ ♪ But now I see ♪ ♪ What a grace that dawned my heart to fear ♪ ♪ And grace my feet really ♪

♪ How precious did that grace appear ♪ ♪ The hour I first leave ♪ ♪ My chains are gone, I've been sent free ♪ ♪ My God, My Savior has risen on me ♪ ♪ And like the flood is mercy raised ♪ ♪ On ending love, amazing grace ♪ ♪ Amazing grace, the Lord has promised for it to me ♪ ♪ His work, My hope, secure ♪ ♪ He will wash you and worship me ♪ ♪ As long as I knew ♪ ♪ My chains are gone, I've been sent free ♪ ♪ My God, My Savior has risen on me ♪ ♪ And like the flood is mercy raised ♪ ♪ On ending love, amazing grace ♪ ♪ My chains are gone, I've been sent free ♪ ♪ My God, My Savior has risen on me ♪ ♪ And like the flood is mercy ♪ ♪ Amazing grace ♪ - Oh, there we go. ♪ The earth shall soon dissolve ♪ ♪ Like stone ♪ ♪ The sun for bear to shine ♪ ♪ But God who called me here ♪ ♪ Beloved will be forever mine ♪ ♪ We will be here forever mine ♪ ♪ God you are forever mine ♪ ♪ Beloved will be forever mine ♪ (audience applauds) - Father God, we just love you tonight. Thank you, Lord.

For meeting us in the midst of our mess, carrying us out of our brokenness, Lord, you're never too tired. You're never weary, Lord, you are God. God, all by yourself, you deserve our worship and our praise. We were meant to praise you. So Lord, have your way tonight in the hearts of your people. Meet them tonight where they are. Let your glory feel this place. We thank you, Lord, we praise you with Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you all for worshiping with us tonight. We may have a seat as we continue in the service. (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience applauds) - All right, how we doing tonight? (audience applauds) Yeah, that's some good worship, amen. (audience applauds) Hey, I want you to take a second and think about your life and think what is the greatest thing in your life. Right now, what is the greatest thing in your life? Could it be a marriage?

Could it be your children? Maybe your family? When it comes to life, I mean, there's so many things. It could be like the work that you're doing that's so meaningful. It could be the experiences you've had, the places that you've traveled. Every single one of us has certain needs and certain wants. And if you've been around many counselors or philosophers, you've probably heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the pyramid, anyone? Yeah, so most people actually spend their entire lives in pursuit of these things. So the base of the hierarchy of needs, the base of this pyramid is all of our physiological needs. Water, air, food, shelter, football. Chief football, I should say. Sleep, right? That'd be one too. But as it moves up, it kind of gets into different levels of things that we desire. And actually three of the sections in this pyramid have to do with security, love, and significance. So security, this is all about like safety, right? Making sure our health is good, making sure we have employment, we have like a way to pay our rent

and keep a roof over our head. And we put all of this energy into making sure we're secure. You know, if I have enough money in my 401(k) or my retirement or the stock market, whatever it is, or maybe it's just having a home, right? Or just not having to run from like debt collectors, right? We're longing for this security. We want this security. We all desire to belong, that's a need that we all have, and internally. So we'll look to, you know, family, we'll try to be accepted in our families, try to belong in our families, could be really strong friendships that we have, could be a romantic partner, a spouse, you know, like an intimate relationship, but it's really this sense of connection, could be community as well. And then another level, as we move up the pyramid, is significance. Significance is more like for our self-esteem, it's a want that we have. So we want our lives to be impactful, right? We want our lives to make a difference. We want to make the world a better place, do something for our community, leave a legacy for our children, all of those things are in that category. So we want to feel secure, we want to feel loved, we want to feel significant. These are all normal human things, and what's interesting is life has so many things to offer, so many incredible things, right? Like if you actually fall in love and find a spouse, you know, the Bible says you found a good thing, getting married, holding your child for the first time, anybody been there, unexplainable. Or how about when your children like succeed at something, they do really well, you're like super proud, incredible friendships that we have in this life, or maybe it's some kind of remarkable achievement that you've completed. Does anybody know Lauren on the regent team?

Hey, give it up for Lauren. She just ran a half marathon on Saturday, and that's an achievement. Could be traveling the world, I get to share an office with Pastor Jeremy, who goes on a mission trip like every week, like is there a continent you have not been on? He was like Antarctica. But yeah, the truth is, the reality is that all of these things, even though they're gifts from God and they can be really good things, they're all temporary, right? I think about leaving a legacy for my children, and they'll remember me, and maybe my grandchildren will know me, but then my great-grandchildren, you know, there might be a story or two, great-great-grandkids, like forget it. You're already kind of wiped off, but I was thinking about Solomon when he writes in Ecclesiastes that it's all vanity, right? It's "hevel" is the term that he used. It's like chasing the wind, because all these things are good, but they don't last. And Job is actually a really good example of how all of these things God gives them, but he can also take them away. So when I used to manage the homeless shelter downtown, actually prior to this, so this would have been when I was homeless and, you know, thought I knew everything, was living on the street, ruined every relationship in my life, and I met this man named Clarence Roberts. Clarence was probably '67 when I met him, and he was a homeless guy living downtown at the shelter, and, you know, he'd asked me, "Why are you here? What's going on in your life?" and all those things, and I would share all my big problems that I had. Well, Clarence had this wonderful life, let me tell you. He was a, like, master car salesman, right, employee of the year, always top rewards. He had a wife, he had children, he had this beautiful home, this wonderful, loving family. Until one day, his son and daughter were killed in a car accident. About six months after this car accident, his wife had a heart attack and passed away. And Clarence tried to cope and tried to get through the pain of that kind of a loss,

but it was too much, and he ended up having a stroke, and when he had a stroke, he lost his ability to remember anything long term, or lost his short term memory, I'm sorry. So he couldn't remember, you know, the things that he was doing. Now naturally, you know, the car dealership was like, "Hey, we love you, but you can't stay here." And so he ended up losing his job at the dealership, which ultimately led to him being evicted from his home, and he ended up homeless. I remember thinking like whatever I complained about, just He had been through the ringer, but what stood out the most about Clarence wasn't all this stuff that he had been through, the trauma, the pain, the loss. It was the insane amount of joy that he had. I mean, he was like the most joyful guy in the room, and I could not figure it out. Like how is it possible that someone who's experienced this much pain can be the most joyful person, and he would love on people and he would help guide people and share scripture with them, and just had such a huge impact on my life that he could have that much joy. My name is Jonathan. I have a new life in Christ. Recovering from drug addiction, depression, low self-worth, and this week struggling with some bitterness. So working on that. Hey, tonight I just want to say welcome if you're here in the house or you're watching online, one of our facilities or campuses, we just want to say welcome. So glad you're here. If it's your first time at Regen, you are in the right place. I pray that God works in miracle in your life, and we're so glad that you're here. Regeneration is an authentic community of Christ followers who are relentless in helping each other experience intimacy with God. That is our vision at regeneration. We've been working through a series in the Psalms this entire year called In His Image, how God has created us to not stuff down our emotions or try to hide our emotions, but

to be aware of our emotions and how God wants us to steward those emotions in our lives. And tonight we're going to be looking at Psalm 63. Psalm 63 is actually known as the Pearl of the Psalms, Pearl, P-E-A-R-L, but I'm just going to read it real quick. If you have a Bible you can turn there. If not, look on your phone, I'm going to go through this. It says, "Oh God, you are my God, early will I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you, in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory, because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you, thus I will bless you while I live, I will lift up my hands in your name, my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed I meditate on you in the night watches, because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you, your right hand upholds me, but those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for the jackals, but the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped." This is a famous psalm, it's David, everyone probably knows King David. There's an argument on whether this took place while he was in the wilderness running from Saul, or whether it took place during the rebellion of his son Absalom. Regardless, he's in the wilderness, a dry, weary land, he's probably starving and thirst and all these things. I tend to believe it's the latter David, the older David, for this one reason, that every single wilderness psalm that David writes is a plea to be rescued by God. Save me, oh God, deliver me from my enemies, all these people who are after me, help me in this situation, but this is the one psalm where it's just like, "I trust you and I'm

going to praise you and rejoice," and so you can see this maturity in David's thinking. But yeah, he's out in the wilderness, he's praising the Lord. Listen to some of these terms, early in the morning, will I seek you? My soul thirst for you, my flesh longs for you, I praise you, lift up my hands, my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, I meditate on you. In the shadow of your wings I will rejoice, my soul clings to you. It's just so beautiful, this devotion to God. And I would ask, does your devotion sound like this? Step 11 here at Regeneration is we seek to deepen our relationship with God daily and depend on His power to do His will. Out of all these verses in Psalm 63, there's one that stands out to me above all, and that's verse 3, and it says, "Because your loving kindness is better than life." Your loving kindness is better than life. The word for loving kindness, if you study the Hebrew, is "hased," which means steadfast love or covenant loyalty. But as I was studying this word, all of these people are trying to define something that's almost not definable, like we don't know how to define it. The best thing I could find was that "hased," loving kindness, is more than a feeling. It is an active commitment. You know that God is actively committed to you, even when you're not? Isn't that a powerful thing? 250 times in the Old Testament it uses this word, "hased." God is abounding in "hased," showing "hased" to a thousand generations to those who love Him and obey His commandments, says the Lord is slow to anger and filled with "hased," which is an active commitment. My friend, Clarence, is no longer with us. He's rejoicing with the Lord. But I think about Him from time to time, and I know that Clarence desired security. But when his health failed him and he lost his job in his home, it left him without safety and security.

He desired love, but his family died horrendously, all of a sudden, leaving him all alone by himself. He desired significance in his life, but he ended up kind of just a no-one at a homeless shelter, another mouth to feed. But Clarence knew something similar to what David knew, that God's loving kindness is better than anything in this life, better than anything this life has to offer. Think about Jesus, who says, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it. And whoever desires to lose his life, for my sake, will find it." God's love is eternal, amen? God's love is eternal. He is the only one who can provide true security, real love, real significance. And so maybe that's you here tonight, maybe you're here or you're watching online, and you're thinking, "Man, if God loved me, he wouldn't have allowed these things to happen in my life." I've been there. Maybe you're thinking, "I wouldn't be in the situation that I'm in if God truly loved me." Maybe you don't have security, maybe you've never experienced real love, maybe you do not feel significant in your life. But the Bible tells us that we live in a world that has broken a fallen world, right? And that we ourselves, our sinful nature, has actually contributed to that fallenness, that brokenness. First John says that God is love. Hold on to that tonight. Take that with you. God is love. God demonstrates His love for us that while we were still sinners, right? Not when we cleaned ourselves up, but while we were still sinners, He gave His Son Jesus, who died for the ungodly. He made a way for all of us to be forgiven and to have true relationship, true reconciliation

with God. I think about Romans that says there's nothing in all creation that can separate you from the love of God. Isn't that incredible? It's incredible because I'm a part of creation. That means I can't even separate myself from the love of God and that all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose and who love Him. You know, the 12 steps of regeneration, I love them. They can help you get sober. and help you to have healthy relationships. But true repentance and true freedom comes from intimacy with Christ. That's it. That will bring absolute freedom. Hey, I'm so excited tonight. Malachi, why don't you come on up? Malachi's coming to tell his story. Let's go. (audience applauds) Cheers. Thank you. (audience cheers) All right. Well, it is. It is bright up here. Okay. If we have not had the pleasure of meeting yet, my name is Malachi. I have a new life in Christ. (audience cheers)

Hello, everyone. My struggles include bitterness, pride, lust, anger, self-protection on the list to go on. Fun fact about me before I begin is that I am super introverted, right? So this is about the worst thing I could be doing right now. (audience laughs) In fact, I was checking my heart rate before I came on stage and it did not go below 110. So, let's get into it. (audience cheers) For a long time, if you had asked me what my testimony was, I would have given you a super short highlighted version. What had gone something like this? I was born with a bunch of complications, due to my birth mother being on drugs, which she was pregnant with me, that include a bilateral cleft palate. My windpipe is smaller than the average humans. My ear canals are not where they should be. And a bunch of other stuff. I don't know really anything about either one of my birth parents. I was in a foster home for three years, with an older couple, who did the best they could and loved me in the way that they knew how. And now I was adopted and moved to Kansas City. And when I was adopted, it was myself, my teddy bear, my clothes, and a bunch of anger issues. Growing up, I didn't want to be angry.

But whenever I didn't feel happy, that's what I turned to. That was my safe spot. I didn't want to feel hurt. I didn't want to feel pain. And so instead of feeling the pain, I got angry. One night when I was eight, my parents sat me down after a fit, and I can't tell you what they said, but what they said made sense. And it felt like the only way to get rid of my anger. And looking back on it, that was them explaining to gospel. And that night, I accepted Jesus into my heart, and I got saved. And it was also, (audience applauds) I was also around that time that I got the opportunity to join the track team. And that became my first love, you know? I loved running. I felt like that was really the only thing I was good at. And so that's what I did. I ran, grew up, made friends, graduated high school. I hurt my knees my last year in high school, so I couldn't really run anymore. And that's when I realized that running had been not only my first love, but my identity. That's where I put everything that I was into.

So moving on throughout my life, I got a job, hung out with my friends, lived the regular life that a 20 year old would live, until the end of 2021, when I was sitting in my room, playing video games, waiting for midnight, so I could celebrate the new year. And was thinking about just what had happened that year, and realized that I couldn't remember anything that I had done that year. And in that moment, I realized that I had been living life for myself, and not for God or for others. So, I made the commitment then, "God, I'm gonna live for you, "on I want you to show anything that is in my path, "that I'm putting before you." Now, if you haven't prayed that prayer, don't. (audience laughs) Because he answered very quickly. And in the summer that followed, I decided that I needed to change my playground, so I left the church I'd been going to, 'cause they all knew me well enough to know that something was wrong. I came, and I hid at a abundant life. Kind of found some traction, started getting discipled. Really felt like things were going well. Another thing about me is that I am a mama. So it kind of felt like every time life put something

in my way, I was able to just smash through the wall and keep going. And felt like I was able to do that until 2023, all when I woke up one morning and found myself in a immoral and ungodly relationship. And after I broke off with the young lady, I tried to smash through that wall to you and realized that I was letting my ego run my life. And I thought that getting revenge on my birth parents by becoming the best man that I could be was what I was letting roll my decisions. And I was sitting in my disciple's living room and we were just talking about it and I knew the question was coming. Malachi, how are you doing? And I sat there and I prepared an answer. You're basic, I'm fine, how are you? And he asked the question and I heard myself say, "Man, I'm terrible." And in the discussion that followed, he suggested that I come to region. So I came to region, saw the life change that God can bring. And so I went through it, thought after I graduated, man, that's been fun. God, what's next? And I felt God saying I want you to serve here. And I debated him on the issue. Clearly, I did not win. And so now I'm here.

And that would have caught us up to where we are today. But as I mentioned, I had a massive problem of pride throughout my life. I have always felt abandoned by my grandparents. And everything that happens, I always are created to that. Every time my parents told me, we love you, we're proud of you. Instead of viewing it as my parents telling me that, I viewed it as them doing a job. That the people who were supposed to be doing that job didn't view me as worth sticking around for. It hurt even worse during track meets when my friends' dads would tell them how proud of them they were. Because I knew I would never have that feeling of having my father look me in the eye and tell me the same thing. I would like to sit here and tell you that all of the decisions that I've made have been because I am impulsive. And to an extent, that is true. That is why I was up late last night waiting for the Cowboys to do something offensively. (audience laughing) Unfortunately, that is not the answer for everything. Now, I've gone completely off script, so bear with me here. It's taken me a long time to accept that my birth parents not being there

is a mountain that I will never climb, right? I always thought that I would make something of myself I would become the best man that I could and that I would meet them and I'd be able to lift them in the eye and tell them that I was a man in spite of them. Not because of them. And it's taken a long time to realize that that probably won't happen. And it's also taken a long time to realize that I need to be focused on other things, right? Region helped me realize that. Now, I'm normally a bit of a negative person, so I've been trying to look at my life more positively. And in that note, there have been a lot of kids that can enjoy the foster care system under the same or worst conditions than I did and not too many of them have come out on the other side, the way I did. Community is a big thing in my life because God has always provided people who have met me, who I am, but never stay there. And that's what I love most about region, right? We can all talk about the book work. We can all make a big deal of inventory. But at the end of the day, if you're here and you're wondering, should I go through region, my answer to you would be yes. Because this is a place where there are a lot of God feeling men and women who won't meet you where you're at. And that is where we find our freedom.

So to stay within the 10 minutes, I'm going to cut it short. My name has been my name is Ben Malakai. I am still Malakai, and I have a new life in Christ. Thank you very much. (Applause)