This past Sunday at Gateway in Austin, we had a stand alone message.
At Gateway South Austin, our Students and Guest Experiences Director Peter Shenk shared an inspiring and powerful message!
What if the Kingdom of God isn’t just something you experience after death—but something you can live in today? In this powerful Bible message, discover why Jesus came to transform your heart—not just your behavior—and how the promise of a new heart unlocks the reality of God’s Kingdom, spiritual transformation, and abundant life in Christ. If you’re searching for hope, healing, or a deeper relationship with Jesus, this message will challenge and encourage you.
Message Audio:
Message Notes from Peter Shenk:
Good morning Gateway South. My name is Peter Shenk and I have the honor of serving as our South Campus Student and Guest Experience Director. I also get the honor of speaking this morning while our campus pastor, Eric, is teaching down at our Buda Campus!
My wife Ashley and I moved to Austin in 2019 and, along with our 5.5 year old daughter Isla, we have been so grateful to belong in this community for the past 6.5 years.
This past Saturday, as I was tidying up our kitchen here on campus to get ready for Sunday morning, I saw a great question posed on the whiteboard – “What’s the best compliment you’ve received recently?” There were answers all over the gamut… everything from “you have great energy” to “you smell good.” Answering for myself – I think it might be the biggest compliment when people tell me I have a great heart…..
But most people don’t know I have a rough family history of heart problems! My dad’s dad, who I never got to meet, died of COPD – Congestive Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, basically a heart/lung disease – when he was 65 years old. My dad had to have robotic assisted heart surgery to do a double bypass surgery on his heart when he was 67. My mom’s dad had a mild heart attack in his mid 60’s and her mom died of COPD. I just got my bloodwork done and analyzed. The good news is I’m “biologically 7 years younger” than I actually am. The not so good news is that I gotta keep an eye on and take better care of my heart!
But medical history and reports aside… I already knew I had heart problems…
- See, my heart’s been beaten up over my lifetime through various friendships I got into with people who didn’t care for me well. Some didn’t want what was best for me.
- My heart’s been tainted by numerous things it’s been exposed to… Things that felt harmless at first, but slowly changed the way I love and treat myself and others and God.
- My heart has become calloused and numb because of all the things I have done to try and keep my heart from hurting… to try and minimize the pain and disappointment I wrestle with when I stumble in life.
- My heart has become cold and hardened with bitterness and apathy towards others who I disagree with or who I see as obstructions to my peace and my prosperity.
And where I look at my 5.5 year old daughter, so full of life and awe and excitement and peace, so FREE… I can look back on moments in my life, where it almost felt like there wasn’t a heart inside of me at all…
Often times, in the Christian faith, we talk about the gospel – “the good news.” When many people are asked what this good news is, they usually describe something along the lines that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die so that we could be saved from our brokenness, and so that we could receive eternal life and go to heaven, to live out eternity in His Kingdom, where things exist the way God had designed them to exist under His rule.
A ticket to an eternity in heaven! That’s GOOD NEWS!
But the “good news” that we call the “gospel” is SO MUCH MORE than what happens to us after we die…
“Eternal life” is something everyone seems to long for in some way, shape or form… Something more meaningful and more beautiful than what we experience here on earth. But the truth is, it isn’t waiting for us somewhere over the rainbow… or out beyond outer space… or even after we die…
Jesus actually defined “eternal life”:
John 17:3 (NIV) “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Eternal life is found in a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus.
The core of Jesus’ teaching was focused on the Kingdom of God and the good news He preached was that God’s Kingdom has come to us, here! We can begin experiencing eternal life right here and now!
“Eternity is now in session!”
– Pastor John Ortberg
That means we don’t have to wait for “eternity” in a holding pattern in a dark, cruel, hopeless world, waiting until death to experience God’s Kingdom… NO. God’s Kingdom is accessible here! Available now!…
It’s almost like wanting to go to your favorite restaurant, to taste the food, experience the atmosphere, the service, the sights, the smells… But they don’t deliver to your location. In fact, they don’t exist in your state… And then one day, In & Out Burger announces that they are opening a new location in Austin, Texas! As my wife, Ashley, would say – it’s proof that God is good!
Jesus brought heaven from “up there” down to us, into the middle of our messy, difficult, and painful lives. And he made it personal. God’s Kingdom is for you, through Him!
“Eternity is now in session!”
You might be skeptical towards God, and you’re thinking… “Sounds great, but the world looks and smells like a giant burning dumpster fire and my life is tougher than nuclear physics, more painful than stepping on Legos barefoot. Why can’t I see this Kingdom? When will I be able to experience it?”
If that’s you, you’re not the only one who has had those thoughts! I’ve had those thoughts. You’re not wrong! Even Jesus’ disciples were confused too!
But listen to how Jesus explained it to the Pharisees when they asked Him directly:
Luke 17:20-21 (NCV) “When will the kingdom of God come?” Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within you.”
It requires faith because the truth is, God’s Kingdom isn’t an external kingdom that we observe… It’s an internal one that we experience.
- Maybe you accepted an invitation into God’s kingdom already, and you’re saying to yourself – “So why does my life not look any different now?”
- I tried the prayer to receive Jesus as my savior. Actually, I probably tried that like 10 times at this point..
- I try to go to church on Sundays.
- I try my best to do the right things, to live the right way, to get on God’s good list so that I can experience the benefits He promised to me…
- But honestly, I don’t feel much different, other than tired of trying!
- What am I doing wrong??
Look, I grew up in a Christian home, invited Jesus into my heart at an early age, went to all the church services and student nights and camps… I heard about the God who gave His only Son as a sacrifice so that I could receive a free gift of salvation from my sin.
But my day by day life looked more like me trying to be the savior of my own life…
So that I could make God proud of me.
So that I could be acceptable to Him.
So that I could become worthy of what Jesus had done for me.
Externally everyone thought I was thriving. Internally I was constantly striving to earn what Jesus had already freely given me.
“Have you been there? Maybe that’s where you’re at today.”
For many of us, we try so hard to fix ourselves, focusing mostly on our external behaviors, in order to earn God’s love and to feel worthy of this invitation into His Kingdom.
But it doesn’t get us very far. In fact, it can make us resentful and angry towards God.. or even cold, apathetic, or prideful towards others.
We usually get to a point where we think to ourselves: “My life isn’t improving, so why do I keep trying?” …. But maybe that’s the problem, we keep trying!!
“Behavior modification without heart transformation will eventually lead to spiritual desolation.”
– New York Pastor Rich Villodas
When we spend our lives trying to correct and modify our own behaviors, the things on the outside… but we don’t fully surrender and allow God to do what ONLY HE CAN DO with our broken hearts, we live in a constant tension between knowing
what we should do
what we should want
how we should think…
and our hearts desiring for us to stay as we are. To not disrupt our unhealthy comfort zones. Feeling safer with old familiar broken patterns of behavior.
All the while keeping us from the One we need that will heal us and change our entire reality.
Maybe this is why so many Christians become exhausted. We’ve spent years trying to produce outward change that only God can create from the inside.
At the center of it all, the truth is we don’t experience the Kingdom life because We have a heart problem. It’s a result of our brokenness in our rebellion against God.
Our Broken Heart
The prophet Jeremiah described it like this: Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
That’s my heart! That’s your heart! I always associated the heart with being good and beautiful and full of love… But “the most deceitful of all things”?!? Doesn’t exactly make for a good valentine’s day card when you put it that way, now does it?!
YES. It deceives you. It deceives other people. It even tries to deceive God!!
And everywhere you turn, the culture is telling you to “Follow your heart!” “Just listen to your heart.”
To the point we’ve become OBSESSED with what OUR HEARTS WANT and I’m here to tell you our hearts are often used to trick us!!
It gets worse than deception… In Matthew 15:19 (NLV), Jesus said, “For out of the heart come bad thoughts, killing other people, sex sins of a married person, sex sins of a person not married, stealing, lying, speaking against God.”
These things come out of the heart?!?.. Ouch!
And like the heart conditions I mentioned earlier being passed down to me from my own family, our heart issues have been passed down to you, from generation to generation, since sin entered our world.
God designed us to have hearts that bring life to us and through us… but because of our brokenness, our hearts have become toxic. You might be a little confused – we’re talking a lot about the heart and simultaneously about the Kingdom of God… “Where are we going with this?”
I’ll tell you! You want to know what the Kingdom of God is? The Kingdom of God is the reign of Jesus in the HEARTS of His people.
Our BIG IDEA this morning is this. If you remember nothing else from this message, don’t miss this!!
You want to experience God’s Kingdom?
The Kingdom Means a New Heart.
This morning, I want to focus on two powerful passages in the Old Testament that both point to the Truth we find in the New Testament.
So if you have your Bibles with you, you can go to Ezekiel 36 with me.
A little context: Ezekiel was a prophet that God sent during one of Israel’s darkest seasons, while they were living in exile because they had turned from Him.
Ezekiel 36:24-28 (NIV) (this is God speaking to his people through Ezekiel) “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
Did you notice who is doing all the work? God doesn’t say, “Go earn a new heart.” He says, “I will give you one.”
If You want to experience the Kingdom, You Need A New Heart
Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I think it’s incredibly important that God specifies that this is a NEW heart.
This isn’t a repair job. This is a full blown heart transplant.
When I was younger, I remember inviting Jesus into MY heart. Now, decades later, I realize He invites me to receive HIS heart!
And it says that God gives us this new heart. It’s not something that we can purchase with our good behavior, our talents, our looks, our accomplishments… It’s a free gift from God. It is by grace we have been saved, through faith.
It goes on to say: I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
There’s something really powerful in this imagery:
The old contract (covenant) between God and his people was written in stone, in the form of laws. A relationship that looked like a legal contract. And over the generations, God’s people added more and more fine print, making it even more impossible for us to have any shot of not breaking every rule. Generation after generation. The people tried and tried and tried… No one was successful.
So God sent His only son, Jesus, to make a new covenant, a new promise, with all of humanity, not just an insider group anymore. And Jesus came to fulfill all the laws of the old covenant perfectly where we could not. And then he wrote a new contract, emphasizing the need to love God and love other people as we love ourselves. A contract written not on stone, but on our hearts.
Do you have a “heart of stone”?
At some point in our lives, most of us will lose our innocence, or have it stripped away from us.
The harsh realities of this world leave us vulnerable and the enemy lures us with the temptation to numb ourselves. Using things like TV, video games, and social media… Drugs, alcohol, food, sugar and caffiene… sex and pornography… like anesthesia, so that we don’t have to feel when life gets hard.
And though it starts like a self-defense mechanism trying to prevent future injury…
Over time, this tactic can cause us to become increasingly cold-hearted, apathetic, even life-less.
But one of the scariest things to do, is simply to trust someone else with your heart. Will they cherish it? Or take it and stomp on it? Use your heart as leverage to manipulate and control you? Or flat out reject it…
I remember the first time I experienced real heartbreak. I got rejected. The feelings just weren’t mutual. And now the friendship was awkward and probably over too.
UGH. WHYYYYYY????
I don’t know how you handle heartbreak, but I basically locked myself in my room, listened to every sappy heartbreak song, and watched the most depressing Sarah McLachlin commercial for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on repeat…. Thinking to myself, I feel like these poor animals look.
To make things worse, I had a roommate who kept opening the blinds to let in the sunlight and I kept shutting them.
I was having an EMO moment!!
But seriously, How could you not let an experience like that (or worse) make you cautious about giving your heart to God?
And here God looks at the condition of your heart and mine and He sees hearts in need of a transplant.
It’s hard for me to let someone into my heart, and you want me to trust you with a full blown HEART TRANSPLANT?!?
A Heart Transplant
Bill Conner tragically lost his daughter Abigail, who drowned during a family vacation in Mexico. She was only 20 years old. But because she signed up to be an organ donor, her heart was transplanted into the chest of 20-year-old Loumonth (Lamont) Jack Jr., who was suffering from fatal heart disease. Check this out:
That’s what God has done for us.
God knew his only son would have to die so that we can have a new heart. Jesus knew and was obedient, even to His own death on a cross.
Though His sacrifice was needed to give us His heart and His Spirit, we believe that 3 days later, He conquered death and is VERY MUCH ALIVE.
And like Bill, Abigail, and Loumonth, when we receive this free gift of a NEW heart, God sees, feels, and hears His Son living in us.
You may be thinking, What do I have that Jesus would want me? My heart? I CAN’T give Him my heart… My heart and life is a MESS!!
Again, if you have your bible handy, turn with me to Psalm 51.
King David (the same David who, in faith, was used powerfully by God to defeat the Philistine’s giant, Goliath and who later on became king), “a man after God’s own heart”, grew in power and in popularity, and eventually drifted from God’s heart. He committed adultery with the wife of one of his best soldiers, got her pregnant, tried his best to cover it up and failed, and eventually sent the soldier to the front of the battlefield to have him killed by the enemy (murder).
It’s not the Sunday School story of David that we usually focus on.
But when God sends the prophet Nathan to confront him, David was led to confess and to repentance. He wrote his prayer in Psalm 51.
Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV) Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
The word David uses for “create” here is the Hebrew verb “bara” (“bah-RAH”), which is used in Genesis 1 for the creation of the heavens and the earth by God. Strictly used, this word describes what only God can do: to create something out of nothing.
Again, it’s clear this is NOT an HGTV heart makeover or renovation. This is a new and pure heart! An out of this world heart!
I hope we can learn from David’s repentance here… Someone with a truly repentant heart doesn’t fear losing comfort, success, or reputation…
They fear losing closeness with God: being distant from His presence and without the guidance of His Spirit.
David continues. Remember the condition his heart and life was in while he wrote these words…
Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV) – You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
David gets it!
God doesn’t desire “perfect”! In fact, it’s the OPPOSITE.
A broken and contrite heart isn’t a heart that’s been simply crushed by shame… it’s a heart that’s DONE pretending, admits its need for God, and is ready to let Him change it.
Theologian Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“A broken heart can never long be divided from the broken Savior.”
– Charles Spurgeon
That is such Good News for you and me.
One of the prayers that has had the biggest impact on me was asking God to “give me eyes that see others the way He sees them, and a heart that breaks for what breaks His heart.”
As God has continued giving me His heart, I’ve found myself grieving things I used to scroll past without a second thought.
- Families falling apart.
- Students wrestling with anxiety, addiction, and hopelessness before they’re even old enough to drive.
- The division and hatred that seem to grow louder every day.
- And maybe most heartbreaking of all… watching followers of Jesus, including myself at times, not always reflect the compassion of the One we claim to follow.
It’s for this same reason that many people out there, and maybe some of you in here, reject God or Christianity. How could God allow so much suffering in the world and not do anything about it? How can “Christians” say that God loves and then treat others so poorly or not do anything about the pain?
So if you’ve ever looked at Christians and wondered, ‘If God is really loving, why don’t His people look more like Him?’… I just want to say I’m sorry.
Not because Jesus has failed you. But because His image bearers, including me, haven’t always represented His heart well.
We haven’t always allowed His heart to move us toward others with compassion…
You want to experience the Kingdom, Allow His Heart to Move You.
To experience the Kingdom of God here and now, we have to allow God’s heart to move us towards His, and towards others.
It’s why Jesus summarized the fulfillment of God’s law with two commandments:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
And to be moved by His heart is a BIG sign that God has put a heart that lives and beats and bleeds inside of you. A heart that He sits on the throne of! A heart where maybe you once felt calloused, apathetic, and numb.
To be moved by His heart means to allow the heart God has given you to compel you to respond. To action. To be representatives and ambassadors on God’s behalf to the kingdoms of THIS world.
What’s holding us back?
We gotta know our desperate need for a heart transformation. And be willing to surrender fully. Our broken spirit and broken and contrite heart, and nothing less, so that we can receive a new heart and His Holy Spirit.
There’s only room on the throne of our hearts for ONE King.
AND There is only one King who is WORTHY of it!
It’s the one who died on the cross to make His heart available for you, so that you could live and live abundantly, eternally!
The one who gave you His spirit when He breathed His last breath.
In order that when His Father sees you, He sees His Son’s heart within you. He sees you as His child.
And His name is Jesus!
Earlier I told you that heart disease runs in my family. The truth is… spiritual heart disease runs in every family.
Every one of us needs the same diagnosis.
And yet every one of us is offered the same gift: a new heart.
The question is this: Will you allow God to give you a new heart… and let Him move you through it? Maybe one of these next steps describes where you are today.
Receive a New Heart
If you’re still exploring faith, we’re genuinely glad you’re here.
Jesus welcomed people with honest questions, doubts, and curiosity. He said, “Ask… Seek… Knock…”
If that’s where you are, keep seeking Him. Read Scripture. Ask questions. Join Alpha. We’d love to walk with you. We’d even love to give you a Bible if you don’t have one.
Or maybe you’ve been seeking for a while… Maybe today is the day you stop standing at the doorway and step inside.
Jesus didn’t come to make bad people a little better. He came to make dead hearts alive.
If you’ve recognized your need for Him, don’t keep trying to patch together your old life.
Jesus offers something far better.
Forgiveness.
A new heart.
His Spirit living within you.
The invitation is open anytime, but especially right now.
Return with a New Heart
Maybe you’ve already trusted Jesus, but somewhere along the way you’ve drifted.
Your heart has grown numb.
Maybe you’ve been holding onto sin.
Maybe you’ve simply become tired.
Jesus’ invitation isn’t shame. It’s repentance.
Repentance is not just feeling guilty… but turning back toward Him and surrendering the throne of your heart once again.
God isn’t asking you to clean yourself up first.
He’s inviting you to come back so He can continue the work He already began.
Respond from a New Heart
Or maybe you’re walking closely with Jesus. You love Him. You’re growing… So don’t stop there.
God doesn’t give us new hearts simply so we’ll feel different.
He gives us new hearts so we’ll live differently.
Ezekiel 36 says God puts His Spirit within us and moves us to walk in His ways.
Maybe your prayer this week is simply:
God, let my heart move with Yours.
Show me who needs compassion.
Show me who needs encouragement.
Show me who needs forgiveness.
Because when God changes our hearts, He changes how we see people, how we love, and how we live.
No matter which of those three describes you… don’t leave today with the same heart you walked in with.
Let God do what only God can do.
Would you pray with me?
