Seasons of Renewal | Ep. 198

Change can feel like loss, but what if it’s actually God’s way of refilling you for the next assignment? We start with a vivid picture of renewal, then move straight into the tension most of us live with: we want spiritual growth, but we also want to stay comfortable. Using Ecclesiastes 3, we talk about seasons and why discernment matters. If we don’t recognize when the season has shifted, we keep acting like yesterday is still the plan, and we end up frustrated, tired, and stuck. 

From there, we zoom into God’s rhythms in Scripture, including rest for the land and the Jubilee pattern of return and freedom. We connect that to Jesus’ teaching on pruning and fruit in John 15, and to the warning signs of unbelief in the wilderness. Then we dig into the “new wine” principle from Luke 5: you can’t carry a new work of God with old mindsets, old expectations, or old loves. Real renewal looks like ongoing repentance and the renewing of the mind, not a single emotional moment. 

We also look at why revivals ignite and why they often cool down. The common thread isn’t hype or personality; it’s hunger for God. When we stop asking, seeking, and knocking, we drift into a spiritual “eddy” of familiarity while the Spirit keeps moving. We close with a practical way to think about guidance: God doesn’t possess us. He leads us, and we choose to cooperate, especially when we stay close to other believers who keep the fire alive. 

If this challenged you, subscribe, share the link with someone who needs renewal, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What season do you think you’re in right now?

Transcript

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A Vision That Explains Renewal

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much-needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. As always, I count it a privilege and an honor to be before you. I hope and pray that you didn't come to hear me, or you didn't come to hear because you thought Pastor Joe was going to be here tonight. I hope that you came here because you hoped that you would hear from the Lord something that you needed to hear. And so I would I just want to be a vessel here and uh speak to you about something that I think is difficult for some of us. Although, no, actually, I think it's difficult for all of us. But I think some people are more affected by this word. And the word that I'm going to ask you to think about today is change. How many of you have a hard time with change? Go ahead, raise your hand. Don't be bashful. You have a hard time with change? Okay. All right. I do too. I don't think I have a tremendously hard time with change, but I guess it depends on what the change is about. And so, you know, when you look at the two sides of man, male and female, I think we all handle change in very different ways. Men are more stoic about the change and just, all right, well, let's let's get through this. And uh that's stereotypical, by the way. Um, but because some of us men really don't like change at all. We like to just be in our boat nice and comfortable. We we're used to it, we we know what to expect, at least we think we know what to expect. Um but yeah, today I want to talk to you about change, seasons of renewal. And it was a message that that if you were here last time on Wednesday, uh Malachi was talking about when there's change that needs to come about, and God wants to do something, you have to change something in you. Something has to go on within you so that you can embark in this new direction and you can go through this open door, but without your change, it just is not gonna happen. And so that sparked uh thoughts in me and and and ideas of things that the Lord shared with me many years ago. Um, and I felt like, okay, I think that's the direction I need to go. Um it's funny because uh this week I've been trying to walk with the Lord in the morning. Like, literally walk with the Lord. And so I've been waking up early. I don't have to wake up early. I'm a teacher. I don't have to be waking up, but I am. I'm waking up at six something in the morning. And I'm and it is exercise for me. And I I, you know, I was telling my wife, I need I need to walk because when I go to work, at least I do some walking. But now there's no work. There's no walking, I'm not burning any calories. I gotta do something about those. I think I gotta go in the morning, I go in the afternoon. So I told her that. It had nothing to do with what I thought about over the weekend, and then over the weekend I said, I want to walk with the Lord. I don't want this to just be a time where I'm listening to my Pandora music and the music is just playing and it's praise and worship and all of that. I and so I took off my earbuds and I just started walking with the Lord and doing my walk. And and I I am I'm the type that is more comfortable talking with the Lord alone than with anybody around me. I don't know if y'all feel that way, but that's how I feel. And so I'm walking with the Lord, I'm talking literally out loud, and I'm just sharing my thoughts and and different things. And so on Monday, um, it was interesting. He he he I I was sharing some things, and then I was hearing some things, and I was, you know, realizing uh that change

Seasons And Discernment In Scripture

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 4:25

is is is difficult for some of us, and and that's kind of where he wants me to go tonight. If we start in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, it's a very famous verse of Scripture 1 through 8. I think I may have even read this before in this congregation, but to everything there is a season and a time and every purpose under heaven. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die, there's a time to plant, there's a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, and a time to mourn, and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from emasing, and a time to get and a time to lose, and a time to keep, and a time to cast away, and a time to rent, and a time to sow, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. And I read all that to you, and I and I and I realize sometimes we don't see clearly. We don't discern sometimes too well the changes that come into our life and when that change comes. And so sometimes we kind of get stuck in this previous state of being, and yet God is trying to move us in a new direction, but we keep wanting to stay in this state of being. And so all of those changes that I just described in Ecclesiastes are constantly happening to us, and sometimes we don't, you know, understand what's the proper moment in time that we're in. And Jesus talked about this. He said in Matthew 16, 3, he said to the Pharisees, you can look at the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. If you think about Jesus walking on the face of the earth during that time, they were not discerning what was right before them. They had all this knowledge, all this scriptural knowledge, and all this, the Phariseeal, rabbinical, and the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they had all of this knowledge, but they could not discern what was standing right before them. That there was a change coming. That all of the things that were prophesied through the prophets of old was standing right before them. They didn't discern it. Now we know that there are four seasons in life. Summer, let me see if I can do this right. Summer, winter, spring, fall. Is that the right order? Summer, winter, spring, fall? No. Summer, fall, winter, spring. Is that right? That's not it either. Summer, fall, winter, spring. Is that it? Yeah, yeah. Summer, fall, winter, spring. See, if you get that all mixed up, you know, and you don't realize there's a change in season, well, kind of imagine uh, you know, it's winter time, we all bundle up, right? We all extra layer, right? And if we don't realize that there's a change in season and the summer comes around, we pass through spring, and we're still dressing like we're in the winter, that's gonna be hard and difficult for us. It's gonna be hot, we're gonna be smelly, we're gonna be stinky, and we're gonna be all this stuff because we don't realize the seasons have already changed. And some of us who are sensitive to pollen, if we don't realize that spring has come around and we're acting like, oh, it's winter, oh, it's summer, I got no issues. I don't have to put I don't have to put a mask on to protect myself from the pollen that's out there, or I don't have to take my medicine that I have to take, you know, when that I just go into the spring and I just start sneezing my head off, and by 12 o'clock in the afternoon, I gotta hit the bed. Because I didn't do anything to protect myself from the barrier of this change of season? And so God ordained summer, fall, winter, spring. Summer, fall, winter, spring. But what would happen if we did not move into the next season when

Land Rest And The Year Of Jubilee

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 8:45

it changed? What would happen if we remained in the previous season, even though a new season has already begun? Did you know that there are seasons of change for the land itself? I'm talking about the earth, the land itself. If we look at Leviticus 25, every seven years the Lord ordained a rest for the land. For six years they would plow the field, they would sow their seeds, they would harvest the crops year after year after year. But in the seventh year they were to stop farming and doing what they did in that land, because it needed to rest. It says in Leviticus 25, and the Lord spoke unto Moses in the Mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. Not only the people of God needed to keep a Sabbath, but also the land needed to have a Sabbath itself, a rest itself. And so six years you're going to sow in the field, six years you're going to prune in the vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof, but in the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath and a rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord, thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather grapes of the vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. Even the land had its own seasons and its own necessary seasons of change. So God ordained a season of rest. And the same way we see seasons in the earth, or what some call mother nature, mother nature has the seasons, we all experience changes of seasons in our life. It's not just in the weather, it's not just in the land. Our life, when you look at it from a macro level and you step back and look at it from beginning to end, there was constant seasons all throughout your life. All throughout your life, and you're still going through them. The natural that we experience gives a reflection of the spiritual. That's why Jesus used so many different parables of nature to convey the kingdom of God. God has seasons for his people. It says in Leviticus 25, 8 through 13, you shall number the seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty-nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound of the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of atonement. Shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout your land, and ye shall hollow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof, and it shall be a Jubilee unto you, a celebration, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. And a jubilee shall be that fiftieth year it shall be unto you. You shall not sow, you shall not reap that which groweth of itself, nor gather the grapes in it, of the vine undressed, for it is the Jubilee. It shall be holy unto you. Ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this Jubilee, ye shall return every man unto his possession. God has seasons of liberation for his people. Even the people that were serving underneath his children. In other words, the children who were excuse me, the servants that were serving the children of God, and they were in service to them, and they had to work under them, even they were set free. Even they were set free. In that 50th year, that year of Jubilee. He has seasons of returning. He has seasons of reconciliation. He has seasons of healing.

Pruning, Preparation, And Stuck Faith

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 13:05

He has seasons of deliverance. Now it says in John 15: 2, every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. I don't want you to focus on the result, but what it cost, what did it cost to get the better result? If you had, if he the Lord says, if there's a tree and the branch is bearing fruit, what do you do with it? You pluck it, you take the fruit off of it. You take it, you purge it, you you you harvest it, if you will. But if there's a branch that is not bearing fruit, rip it off. It's not doing anything for me. But what happened when you purged a branch of the fruit, what did it do? It brought forth more fruit. There are seasons where there's purging going on in our lives, and it probably isn't enjoyable to say the least. It probably isn't comfortable to say the least. But when we're a branch that's abiding in the vine and we're bringing forth fruit in its season, God is going to take that fruit, he's going to purge it. And sometimes that purging is other people are going to take from you or eat from the fruit that you're able to produce. And sometimes you might feel weak, sometimes you might feel used, sometimes you might feel uncomfortable, but it's God purging you that you may bring forth more fruit. There is a purpose to that purging. The purging is the change in our life. But many of us don't do well with change. We remain rigid. We're stiff-necked. Like the scriptures described of the Israelites in the Old Testament, a stiff-necked generation. And in so many ways, our growth in Him becomes stunted. We can't seem to grow anymore in the Lord. There's like a ceiling on top of us, and we don't realize that it's a self-imposed ceiling. Because we don't want to move in the next season of our life. We'd rather stay where we're at. We're comfortable. It's been nice all these years, where I've been, what I've been doing. I don't really don't want to change. I really don't want to move. And then you stop because you see, if you're not moving forward, you're going backwards. There's no really, you're just settled right here. I mean, I'm I'm standing right here on the earth, but isn't the earth revolving and rotating? I'm actually moving. You're either moving forward or you're moving back. But the problem is that sometimes we adapt so slowly, if we do it all, and and we bicker. And we complain at God. Sometimes we we put our fists up at God. God, what are you doing? I don't like this. I don't want this. I don't understand this. And we wonder why God is doing this to us. And the question is, well, are you discerning the signs of the times? There are times of testing. There are times of cleansing. There are times of of securing. There are times of renewing. Every change in season must be preceded by a change in preparation and action. Once I realize winter's coming and I just finished the fall, I know it happens in my house. I would think it happens in your house, but if you had an attic and you knew the winter was coming around, what do you do? You go up into the attic, you get your winter clothes out, you bring them down, so you can change your wardrobe. What are you doing? You're getting ready for the winter season. That's what we do. And then when the summer comes around or the spring comes around, what do we do with that winter stuff? We put it right back up in the attic and we go get our other clothes because we're getting ready for that new season. But every change in season must be preceded by a change in preparation in order to be able to move into that new season. Well, there was a wilderness remnant, if you remember. In Romans 11: 20, it talks about this wilderness remnant, and it says, Well, because of unbelief, what happened to them? They were broken off. They were broken off. Do you remember why? God said it's time to go into the promised land. What did they say? Ten of the 12 spies. No, it's not. No, it's not. There's a big giant somewhere. Ain't time, it ain't time. But what did God say? It was time. And they refused to move into the new season. And that whole generation of unbelievers died in the wilderness. Now who did that? Was that God stunting their growth? No. That was their unbelief. That stunted their own growth. And they ended up with their carcasses in the wilderness. And their next generation then was able to move. Why? Why? They had a different spirit about them. They had a different faith about them. And when God spoke and said, Yes, now it's time, they moved and they followed along with Joshua and Caleb into that promised land that they could have done years and years and years before. So we see that the Israelites could not enter into a new season, a promised season, a season that God gave a word for them. You're gonna go in there and you're gonna take possession of that land and you're gonna wipe them all out because I am with you. But they wouldn't receive that. And so we see that they could not enter in. Why? Because of say the word, unbelief. Unbelief stunted their growth. Unbelief was their demise. And Hebrews 4:6 says, Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not because of unbelief. The remnant people are those that have allowed themselves to be renewed, to move in the direction that God was presently moving. They were the ones that were trusting and obedient to the voice for that day. They were the ones prepared to take the next step to face the next challenge that God had set before them. There are seasons of renewal and change, seasons of change for

New Wine Needs A New Container

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 20:40

the people of God. Let's look at Luke 5, 36 through 39. It says, And he spake a parable unto them. He said, No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, unless the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled. And the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth the new, for he saith, the old is better. There's a lot there that has to do with this change. But let's start right from the beginning. Why don't we put a new piece of fabric, linen cloth, and stitch it together with a 10 year old version of the same linen cloth? Why do we not do that? We could stitch it together. We could if we wanted to. But as soon as you put a little bit of pressure on it, is this new one gonna break or that old one? The old one's gonna break. You can't put an old together with the new. It doesn't have the fortitude. It doesn't have the dexterity. It doesn't have the material that is consistent with the new material that's ready for the new thing. So you can't put the old with the new. You got to be ready to move into the next season. History is cyclical. Would y'all agree? It seems to be repeating itself. In the previous fellowship I came from, our pastor described it that it was a progressive repetitious revelation. It starts kind of small. And then as time goes by, it it continues to turn and revolve, but it gets bigger. And it gets bigger, and the revelations get bigger, and the miracles get more profound as time goes by. Each time a repetition comes, it seems to crescendo greater than the last time. Our natural physical life is cyclical. And it's a picture of our process of spiritual maturity. How many of you like dust in your home? Anyone know where it comes from? Nobody knows where it comes from? It comes from us. What is it about us that makes this dust in our home? From the what? Oh, okay. So, yeah, he he he got a little bit biblical. He said, From the earth, and then he said, dead skin cells. Yeah, that's right. Dust is your dead skin cells. Your body, whether you realize it or not, is constantly shedding off the old to be able to walk in whatever new thing he needs for that day. That's why you have all the dust in your house. That's why you need to wash your sheets about once a week. Because while you're, you know, sleeping and going under the covers, your covers are rubbing against your skin and your skin is coming off, and all the dust is piling up in your bed. That's what's happening. So you want to wash your sheets once a week. But the point is that even our physical natural bodies, in order to move into the new, have got to get rid of the old. Our body nature is showing us things in the kingdom of God if we'll pay attention to what's going on. How about a snake? Anybody seen in their yard like shedded snake skin? Anywhere? Happens in my yard. Why? Because the snake is shedding off its old skin and moving into the new. It's happening in nature. Jesus spoke of this in the passages that I just shared above. And you look at from verse 26 that we are instructed not to mix the old with the new. Why? Jesus said they will not be in accord. Anybody know a synonym for accord? They will not be in accord. They will not be in agreement. They will not be in agreement. So Pastor Joe has been talking about wanting to move into the miracles and the faith and the healings and seeing, you know, these mighty moves of God in this place. But that heaven won't open if we're reserved to stay with what we've come accustomed to. If we're not, if we don't challenge ourselves to get out of the boat, it's kind of scary, I know, and and walk on the water with Jesus, we're not gonna walk on the water with Jesus if we stay sitting in the boat. All we're gonna do is sit in the boat, all we're gonna do is get slapped left and right with wind and waves and water, and the boat's gonna get full of more and warm water, and we're gonna get more and more afraid and more and more scared. But Peter showed us that sometimes we gotta get out of this thing that we're accustomed to, believing that it's better to stay in the boat when all of these waves are tossing to and fro than it was to walk on the water with Jesus. That doesn't make sense. It's never been done before, except well, when I saw Jesus do it, and he seemed to be perfectly calm out there. I thought he was a ghost at first. But when he realized it was Jesus, he was he was willing to do something that that made absolutely no logical sense and get out on the water because he saw Jesus was doing it and he looked fine.

The Common Thread In Revival

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 27:26

The new agreeeth not with the old. There have been many moves of God over history. If you look into historical uh events of Sousa Street, uh there's been other other events in different places, and sometimes it's been you know part of the Pentecostal movement, sometimes it's part of a charismatic movement. I mean, I mean, years ago, I think it was around the year 2000, there was the Toronto blessing, and and there were many different moves of God over the years. This is why I was talking about me walking with the Lord in the morning, because while I was walking with the Lord in the morning, he was he was kind of showing me something about this seasons of change and renewal. When you look at all of those revivals or all of those events where God poured out his spirit, you have to grab a hold of the underlying principle that is immutable and that is unchangeable. Don't look at what manifested, don't look at what kind of he used genotype and phenotype with me. Don't don't ask me how why he does that. But he, because I know something a little bit about science. You know, genotype is about, you know, it's the code that that's written in the genes that produces you to have brown hair and produces you to have blue eyes. Those are the phenotypes of what's written in the genetic code. And so He was trying to show me that you can look at all of those different moves of God in this generation or in this century, in this century, and and you could look at all of the manifestations that came out of it, but if you look at the common thread from movement to movement to movement, that's what you got to hold on to. Because that's the common thread. What happened on the day of Pentecost? We can go all the way back to the day of Pentecost. What happened on the day of Pentecost that kept happening? People after people, generation after generation after generation, is you had a people that was hungry for God. I talked about this last Sunday. They were desperate for God. They had heard his word. Wait in Jerusalem, wait in Jerusalem, wait till you be endued with power from on high. Wait there. And they waited, they obeyed, and with desperate faith they kept clinging on to whatever it was he said he was looking for, because they really didn't understand that he was about to pour out all his spirit upon all flesh. Peter didn't get that revelation until he got the spirit, till he got Jesus in his heart, not somebody that he talked outside where he walked for three and a half years, but now he had him in his heart, and now the revelation came. Oh, this is that which Joel spoke about, that he was going to pour out his spirit in all flesh. So we talk about the Asuza Street revival, but we can also talk about how the people after they received the gift of the Holy Ghost and there was mighty moves of God and there was miracles and there was healing. We can also talk about how they started breaking apart and they started dividing themselves. You had those that believed in the Trinity, you had those that believed in the oneness, you had those that still wanted to baptize in the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, you had those that wanted to baptize in the Father in Jesus' name, and then they branched out into different divisions of organizations that are still around today. But don't focus on what the phenotype was, what the manifestations were. Focus on why did God move at that moment on Asusa Street. Why was God moving? And I was reminded because I was reading a book by a friend of mine that I'm gonna see this week, and he learned a lot under a minister that actually didn't have what we might consider the right doctrine, but he learned of them because God was still moving, even though he didn't have the total correct doctrine, and there were still healings and there were still miracles. And I often ask myself that why is it that we're still seeing the move of God when I know that that minister is not even preaching the truth, but but there's still people receiving, there's still people getting healed, there's still people that that that God is moving in a mighty way. And I realized because I'm looking for that underlying principle, I'm looking for that underlying thing that doesn't change, it's immutable, it it's underneath. You have to search for it. And what is it? It's not so much what that person is preaching, although sometimes it's important because sometimes we have mixed messages. We got, you know, got a little truth here and we got a little off here, but we're preaching all of that there. But why are we still seeing the move of God in the midst of the people?

unknown 32:37

Because they're hungry.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 32:40

It's not about God putting a stamp of approval on the minister, it's about God is searching to and fro throughout the earth who is seeking me, who desires me, who wants me. I'm gonna go after them. It doesn't matter whether he's got all the right doctrines and all his T's crossed and his I's dotted. It doesn't matter to God. I mean, it does, but in spite of that imperfection, he's still reaching out to those that are hungry, those that are thirsty, those that are of a broken and contrite heart that really, really want the Lord. God is gonna go override all of that because I want you, because you want me. That's the underlying principle. We want the heavens to open up in this place. Well, we've gotta all get hungry. In one mind, in one accord, in one spirit, in unity. We just hunger, hunger. I told you I can't teach you how to hunger. But if we all get to the place where we're all just hungry, hungry, hungry for the Lord, I promise you, in the name of Jesus, the heavens are gonna open and we're gonna see mighty miracles in this place that have not been talked about in many, many, many, many, many, many years. But do we want that? Or are we satisfied with where we're at? I got a job. My children are kind of okay. My husband, my wife, you know, we love each other. We go out to eat every once in a while. Are we just satisfied with where we're at right now? Because if we are, then now maybe that's all you're gonna get. But if we can if we can ask the Lord, Father, put a hunger in me. Father, put a thirst in me, father, put a fire in me, father, put a longing in me, father, put a yearning in me for you. Regardless of what I have materially, God, you bless me, but I want more. I want more, I want more. I've got to be less, but I want more of you. There's a spiritual principle in the verses that I just spoke to you of, and it instructs us that in order to start a new thing in God, you must start everything fresh. You cannot put the old ways with the new. The old ways are always going to fight against God's new thing. The Pharisees in Jesus' day, in the apostles' day, are a perfect example of that. They could not accept that Jesus was saying, What did he say? I and the Father are one. What? Blasphemy! How dare you say that you are God? They they they they couldn't because they wanted to stay in the old, they wanted to stay with what they understood. They didn't realize the new thing was right in front of them. And they could not move into the new thing, they could not move into the new covenant. Many of them never received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Many of them refused to get baptized in Jesus' name. Even John the Baptist said to them, Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. And he was talking about how come you don't get baptized? You won't even get baptized until repentance. And so nothing really changes for you. And what happened to the Pharisees? The same thing that happened to the Israelites in the day in the wilderness. They died in the wilderness without the promise. If we remain in the old, whatever that old is to you, and a lot of times the old is our old ways of thinking, it's our old paradigms, it's our old expectations. If we just want to hold on to that, we will not be in accord. We will never be in accord with the new. It's too foreign to us. Happens in every generation, doesn't it? Our parents couldn't believe what we were doing when we were children, and now that we're parents, we can't believe what our children are doing, and then when they become parents, we can't believe what their children are doing, and it just keeps happening and happening. Some of that's good and some of that's bad. Okay, because some of that was just worldly stuff that they were just, you know, getting into, but God still rescued them, right? Amen. Thank God. If we remain in the old, we end up deceiving ourselves into thinking that the old is better than the new. That's what it said in Luke 5.39. For he saith, the old is better. If we don't let go of the old, we're gonna think that the old is actually better. And we can never move into the new thing that God wants to do for us. It happened in our born-again experience. How could we, how could we, how could we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost if there was no repentance in us? We couldn't. If there was no repentance in us, we would never have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, what was a sign of that repentance is that we got baptized in Jesus' name when we realized, oh, that's one of the first things I need to do. Repent, change your ways, change your thinking, change your thoughts, and oh my gosh, I gotta get baptized in his name. Okay, that was a sign. You were ready to move into the new. You may not have understood it, you may not have been able to grasp it, but you had enough of it to know that, yeah, I gotta change my ways. And one of the first things I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get baptized in Jesus' name, calling on his name. You had to, in order to be born again, there has to, God, and and God is the one that sees this, he sees the desires of your heart. Are you really broken and contrived? Are you really crying out for me? Because I'll save you. I'll save you if you're really crying out to me. Repentance is a renewal. Repentance is shedding off. What is repentance? I'm not gonna walk the way I did anymore. I'm not gonna walk the way my old man did. I'm gonna walk in a new way. Baptism is being buried with Christ. My old man is buried with Christ, and I rise up walking in the new. All of that is renewal. Every step forward toward Jesus Christ necessitates a renewal of some kind. Because your and mainly it's in your thoughts. Your thoughts are what hold you back. Because you're not allowing your thoughts to be renewed. We have certain ways of thinking about the world, our whatever you want to call it, our worldview, because of the way our parents raised us, because of our experiences. And I've told you before, none of that makes a pillow beans of difference. It's not gonna be an excuse on the day of judgment that you're gonna say, Well, that's how I was raised. So what? I was speaking to you through my word. Why did you not listen to my word? Why did you not heed my word? Depart from me. I never knew you. Paul said that he had to put away childish things. Because he wanted to be an adult. If you're gonna be an adult, a respected adult, do you not have to put away childish things? Nobody's gonna think of you, oh, you're not an adult. You're still a kid in a man's body, in a woman's body, and you're still acting like a kid. Grow up, right? Can't become an adult if you're not willing to put away childish things. He said, When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood things as a child. I fought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away all those things. Ephesians and Corinthians, which are also written by Paul, says to us that we need to put away certain things. It says Ephesians 4.31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. 1 Corinthians 5.13. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Get away from those people that you shouldn't be hanging around. You want to move on with me? You got to let go these people. They're your loves? Ah, hey, who do you love? Me or them? Because that's what the decision is always. Who you love, me or them, the Lord is saying. And if you love them, okay, have them. I'm right here. But if you want me, you need to let them go. Yes, you're gonna need to let go of your old loves because your old loves are your idols. Is that what the first commandments? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And when you have an idol, that is your God. So you've got to put away those things. In our faith walk, a spiritual renewal is not a one-time event. Repentance is not a one-time event. It is a constant, progressive, repetitious thing that is in your life. Renewal of the inward man, it says in 2 Corinthians 4.16, and renewal of the spirit of your mind in Ephesians 4.23. It says in 2 Corinthians, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, even though our bodies are dying, and every day forward is a day closer to the death of this body, but it's also a day closer to getting my renewed body. My new body in Jesus Christ that he has fashioned for me. Because it says, My inward man, in other words, my heart, my heart is renewed day by day by day. In Ephesians 4 22, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So there's a constant shedding of the old to keep us ready, willing, and malleable to move into the new. So Psalm 51, one of those popular psalms in Scripture, says, Create in me what? A clean heart, O God. He says, Renew a right spirit within me. And in 13, then, after that, then I can. And teach the transgressors the error of their ways, and the sinners can be converted to thee. But not until you have dealt with me, Lord. I can't go out and minister to other people if I'm walking in the same junk that they're walking in. You've got to separate from them.

Speaker 1 44:18

If there are people in your life that are party hardy, drinking on the weekends, what are you doing hanging around with them? You're not helping them. So what does it say in the scriptures? God created me a clean heart, oh God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 44:33

Renew a right spirit within me, then in 13. I can teach the transgressors their ways, and the sinners will be converted unto thee. Because I'm showing you there's a different way to walk. I'm over here walking in the light. You're over there walking in your party, hardy, and your drunkenness and all of your wicked, wicked things. And so now you've got a choice. You can either walk in the light or you can continue walking in your arm darkness. It's the very same thing he did on day one of creation. What did he do on day one of creation? It says that the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. Isn't that what it says? That's what it says. And that's all metaphor for man. Man was in chaos, man was in turmoil. Man without God was in a mess. And so the Spirit of God came in, brooded over the surface of the waters, and what was the first thing that he brought out? Let there be light. Why? Because man had to understand that this is not all there is. I'm gonna shine the light and say, Here, I'm gonna give you a choice. Walk in the light or continue in the mess that you're in. That's your choice. But in order to walk in the light, you gotta give up that stuff. You wanna be renewed? You want to walk with me? Give up that stuff. Put it away. But without us having a renewed right spirit within us, we can't teach anybody how to walk right. We can't. It says in Romans 12, I present my bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. And it's my only reasonable service. And then it says that I may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God in verse 2. I can't prove what is the good, acceptable, perfect will of God if I will not put away the old ways of the world so that I can walk in the new and be the example and the shining light that God wants me to be because he's called me to be as an ambassador of Christ. In other words, I'm here in his place to show the world this is how we need to walk in a manner that is pleasing to him. But you can't do it if you're gonna hold on to that old. Says in Colossians 3.10, and having put on the new man, which is what? Renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him. Colossians 3.10. We are renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. That's that's where that Romans 12.2 comes in. We presented our bodies as living sacrifices, our minds are renewed, we're not conformed to this world, we're transformed by the renewing of their minds so that we may prove what is the good, acceptable,

Complacency And The River Eddy

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and perfect will of God. This is the new man. So God comes in a way that we declare revival is at hand. Revival, revival. Mighty moves of the spirit are evident to those that are inside the church, to those that are outside the church. And when that happens, we we invariably get caught up in all of it. And and in the moment, and then and then and then we become familiar. And and and and we kind of get comfortable. And and then all of a sudden, it all seems to stop. Why? The enemy tries to put a stop to it. But he can't stop the move of God. I mean that's laughable. That's such a joke. That the devil can stop the move of God. The devil cannot stop the move of God. But he can slow it down by deceiving the people into believing.

unknown 48:51

He's not gonna get any better than this.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 48:54

This is it. It's done. Okay, okay. You had your moment. You had your moment. You had your moment with God. That's it. It's over. I mean, come on. He's gonna be here another day. He's gonna be here another week. He's gonna be here another month. He's gonna be here another year. Come on. It's done, okay? You had your moment. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Yeah. Can't get any better than this. So let's just stay in the boat and enjoy the ride. Well, what happened to cause God to move throughout the midst of the congregation?

Speaker 1 49:36

They were hungry, they were thirsting. They were yearning. They were longing. They were crying out to him. They were calling out to him. They were desperate for him. But once they got the move of God, oh my God, this is so wonderful. You are so marvelous. You are so glorious. And there's great praise and there's great thanksgiving. But all of a sudden he stops moving because the hunger has now left.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 49:59

The crying out to him is now gone. You're now satisfied because you've thought, oh, I can't get it better than this. I had a taste of heaven. Whew! Hallelujah. So the enemy will lull us into a false sense of security in this new move of God. He can't stop it. He can only deceive you into believing that that's the best there is. So it's over, okay? You had your move. So what do we do? We become complacent. Wow, that was nice. That was a nice little experience we had. And we stopped hungering, and we stopped thirsting, we stopped asking, we stopped seeking, we stopped knocking, and everything that God was responding to in order to begin this great move of God, it just stops. And so after a time, we continue on in this move of God, and we don't realize God departed. He moved on. And we never followed him. Because we stopped. And you're going down the river, and the river's rushing, and you're paddling, and you're going down, and it's just so exciting. It's such a thrill, and you're you're feeling and over time you get a little bit tired, and you gotta, oh man, this is great. The water's cool, it's refreshing. And then as you're going down the river, you know, sometimes it's choppy, and sometimes there's rocky, and sometimes it's settled, and you know, you have your times of rest, and then all of a sudden you don't realize it, but you get caught in in what I call an eddy. You know what I'm talking about? It's just like an eddy just off on the side of the river. Still in the river, but it's off on the side of the river. And you and you're just like, I need a little bit of rest. And then you kind of get comfortable here. And then you kind of forget you're in an eddy. You're not even you're not even flowing with the river anymore. And you're just happy to be here in this little eddy. And you don't realize that God moved on. You need to keep battling with Him. You need to keep hungering and thirsting and asking and seeking and knocking, and all of the things that that was so thrilling in the beginning. And beware not to get caught in those eddies on the side where you just become complacent. We don't want to get left behind enjoying the eddy of old things. The people of God are described

Following The Spirit Without Possession

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 52:40

in a way, I'm not sure if you've recognized this. So I'm gonna bring it up and maybe God will speak to you. In John 3, 8, when he was talking to Nicodemus about being born again and being born again of the water and the spirit, he ends in verse 8 and he says, You know the wind? It blows where it listeth, it says in the old English King JV. And thou hearest the sound thereof, but you can't tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. Did you catch the last line? You know how the wind just moves and it just goes this way and it goes that way, and no one knows why it's doing that, or where is it, where who made it change, and why is it going back and forth and all the way up and down, and then why? It says, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Have you considered that your life, your faith walk should be like it's like no one could tell what's happened in this guy's life? He's just going this way and that way and that way. And I don't mean chaotically, I don't mean crazily. I mean you cannot predict what's going to happen in the life of a child of God when they are just in what do you call it? The wind current. Like an eagle. He doesn't have to flap his wings, he doesn't have to try too hard. The wind comes underneath his wings, and he's just able to sail. And he's just going with the wind. Wherever the wind's going, I'm going. Wherever the wind's going, I'm going. These past couple days, I told you I'm walking with God, right? For some reason, I don't know why. They in a song that I don't even know too well. Maybe you guys have heard the song. Jesus Take the Wheel. By by is it Carrie Underwood? Okay. I don't know that song. I don't listen to that, to the to the to the pop music or anything like that, but but I I I've I've heard about it and all that stuff. But it came to my mind as I'm walking with God, and I had a, I guess I was having a problem with the song. Because, you know, in one sense, you would think, well, you don't want to be the co-pilot, right? You want Jesus driving, right? And that makes sense that Jesus is the one driving your life, driving your car, right? It makes sense. But in the moment that I was walking with God, I said, and it's because of what he's shown me about him. God is not the type of God that possesses people. The devil possesses people. The devil possesses people and takes control of their life. He takes the steering wheel and makes you do all sorts of things you don't want to do. So if Jesus comes and he comes into my car and he takes the wheel, I have no power, I have no control of decision making. I can't say where I'm going or what I'm doing because Jesus, supposedly, Jesus is on the wheel, he's taking me wherever. Well, that to me was it depicted to me possession. My Lord doesn't possess. And then the Lord showed me a compass. Does a compass tell? Does a compass control where you go? What does it tell you? It gives me direction. So in as I'm walking with God, I'm thinking of myself on this boat, and I'm the one holding the rudder. And I see the compass. The compass is telling me where to go. And I am at the rudder, and I am supposed to, out of my own willingness and voluntariness, follow in the direction that he wants me to go. And so then that's cooperation. I am cooperating, I am moving with the Spirit of God. It's not that he's taking possession of me. The devil does that. He doesn't take possession, but he leads you, he guides you, and you're the one that has to take that steering wheel, and you got to follow after him. And when you do that, now you get to cooperate with the Lord. So, yeah, he doesn't take away your free will, he doesn't take away your decision, he leaves that up to you. It's up to you whether you're gonna follow him or not. And after you get born again, it's still up to you whether you're gonna follow him or not. But he's not gonna take possession of you because that's the devil, that's his enemy, that's what he does. But not our God, not my father. My father loves you too much to just take over you and make all the decisions. No, he wants you to make them, and he's gonna lead you and guide you in those decisions. So the scripture says that man makes his plans, but what? The Lord directs his steps. Some of us have a hard time realizing how how do we how do we how do we balance those two ideas out? And the scripture says pretty clear make your plans. Look at far off, see what's in the distance, and make your plans. But trust that I'm gonna direct your steps. And you may not know how you're gonna get there, but you know that's the direction you need to go. Trust me, I'll get you there. There's a promise that he gave to me in the old covenant. He says, He takes me by the hand in the darkness, and the darkness is as light unto thee, it says. And when I realized that when I lost my mother, I told you this several weeks and several months ago, when I lost my mother, that was a scripture that he gave to me that I realized I don't know where I'm headed, I don't know what's going on in front of me, I can't tell what's happening one year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now, but I know that my life is in his hands. And although everything right in front of me is darkness, and I can't see the step in front of me. Well, maybe I can see one step in front of me, but I can't see beyond that because it says his word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He just gives me enough, and he just wants me to trust that he's got me in his hand, and I just gotta follow him wherever that light, that lamp, is leading me. And he does the same for you, he did the same for all the saints. The more we listen to men, the more we listen to

Protecting The Fire Through Community

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 59:10

people sitting in high ministerial offices, then listening to the Spirit of God, the more we as the people of God will remain immature. And we will not produce the fruit of the Spirit in abundance, and we will always miss the move of God. It is vital, vital, so vital for all of us to find humble ministers of God, humble brethren around us that have not stopped hungry and thirsty. I told my daughter recently, I said, this fire that's that's in you. Think of it like a fire in a fireplace. If you take one of the fired embers and you take it away from all the other fires, what's gonna happen over here? It's gonna cool down, it's gonna shut off, isn't it? You gotta surround yourself with other embers, and then you heat each other up and you lift up this fire together, and that's what needs to happen. All of us together, as we hunger and thirst after God, the fire of God starts to not consume or maybe consume all the dross and consume all the chaff, but basically it's gonna purify. And so we sing songs like we're the burning ones. Burning meaning we're burning in fire for the Lord. Make lasting bonds with those choice men and women when you find them. The men and women that are hungry and thirsting after God, they are rare and they are few. If we can remain vigilantly hungering and thirsting after the living God, not only as individuals, but also as as a as a close group, as a community, as a small group, as brethren, we continue to be renewed for the next new thing that God has in store, not only for us as individuals, but us corporately. And so then we can become the remnant God has called us to be.

How To Support And Share

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 1:01:22

Amen. If you were blessed and appreciate listening to this podcast and you would like to support us in our efforts, consider lifting us up in prayer first. Then remember these four social media buzzwords. Share, like, subscribe, or follow. Share this podcast link with someone else by text, email, or word of mouth in the hopes that they might be uplifted as you work. Like by leaving a positive radio review with whomever you listen to our podcast with. Subscribe to support the show monetarily with the link in our podcast description. Follow us on all our social media platforms. May God bless you and make you prosperous as you listen and obey his voice.