Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Host Pastor Lee Day.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
Rebuild and Replant
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We open Jeremiah 17 and sit with a surprising pairing: the steady tree planted by water and the sobering truth that the heart is deceitful and sick. That tension becomes our on-ramp to a deeper kind of trust—surrendering to God’s will.
From there, we get honest about spiritual clutter. God doesn’t approve when we shove bitterness, envy, and old grudges into the closet. He searches the heart and tests the mind, not to shame us but to heal us. With Psalm 51 as our prayer, we ask for a clean heart and a renewed, steadfast spirit that won’t swing between zeal and drift. We talk about the joy of salvation as the rain that slows us down long enough to notice the mess and welcome real change.
Then we step into Ezekiel 36, where the promise expands: a new heart, a new spirit, and God’s Spirit within us. This is not a touch-up; it’s spiritual surgery. God rebuilds ruined places and replants what was desolate, turning private renewal into public witness. People recognize the shift as motives soften, speech heals, and habits align with love. Along the way, we share practical ways to keep the “room” clean—confession, Scripture, service, and daily surrender—so grace doesn’t just rescue us once but reshapes us over time.
If this message helps you breathe again, share it with someone who’s tired of hiding the mess. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: where do you sense God rebuilding and replanting in your life today?
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to this episode of Beyond Sunday. I am your host, Pastor Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church located in Amelia County, Virginia. We're gonna jump right into it. Today we're talking about a clean and pure heart. Jeremiah chapter 17, beginning with verse 7, says this Blessed is the man. Now that sounds real good, doesn't it, my friends? Blessed is the man. I know I want to be blessed. I'm sure you want to be blessed. Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. But then there's the ninth verse. Listen to this the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Wow, those verses put together, you know, you start out with, you know, blessed is the man, you know, and it it talks about the fruit of the one being blessed. And then all of a sudden it kind of shifts gears and gets right into the heart being sick. And as people, you and I having heart problems and how we need to address it. That's where we're gonna get into today, my friends. Because here's the deal. If you and I want to be blessed according to the seventh verse, we've got to trust in the Lord God. The seventh verse says, listen to it again. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. So again, I'm gonna tell you if you want to be blessed today, trust God today. Can you say amen to that, my friends? Because placing trust in God, it means that you've got to surrender to him. And it means that you are going to be counting on him today and allowing today the will of God to take place in your life. And and listen to this. And you have to be okay with that. Amen. You've got to be okay with that. That's trusting, that's trusting God. That if you're gonna trust God, you cannot be upset with something that he does or even that he does not do in your life because, wait for it, because you trust him. You you you gotta be okay with whatever God's gonna do in your life because you trust him for the outcome. And not only the outcome, my dear friends, but you're trusting him through the process. You're trusting him during the process. Now, let's get into the eighth verse. The eighth verse says that the man who trusts in the Lord, the eighth verse says, he is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream. Now, talking about you and me, those that are trusting God, okay? Listen to it carefully. He is like a tree planted by water. I want you to make that personal for you today, my friend. You are like a tree when you trust God, and this is the faith we we have, this is the confidence that we have from the text, that you are like a tree. Let me just build you up, listener. Let me let me encourage you in the Lord today, that you are like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for your leaves remain green, and you are not anxious in the year of drought. Amen. For it does not, or for you do not cease to bear fruit. Man, would you make that verse personal? Man, how powerful, how powerful it is for you. The eighth verse explains what happens when you fulfill the seventh verse in your life. Amen. The seventh verse says, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. And when we fulfill that in our life, when we fulfill in today, when we go out today and we we fulfill the trusting process, I'm gonna live today trusting in my heavenly father. Then the eighth verse kicks in, and and it is the fruit of us trusting in God, that you are a tree planted by water, that you do send out your roots by the stream, that you do not fear when heat comes, for your leaves will remain green, and you are not anxious in the year of drought, for you will not cease to bear fruit. Man, I'm gonna tell you that that's worth preaching in your life right now, my friends. That's worth preaching in your life right now. So let's get into the ninth verse, because seven sounds great, verse eight sounds great, but the ninth verse, the ninth verse produces a major problem. And it is the ninth verse that likes to get in the way of the seventh verse. And if we let the ninth verse and what it's talking about get get in the way of the seventh verse, then all of a sudden we may not we may not see the fruit of the eighth verse in our lives. So this is what the ninth verse says The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Question mark. That's the ninth verse. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? So here's the problem. This is the reason so many times in scripture, especially even with David in the Psalms, this is the reason why we see the Word of God telling us that we need a clean heart. This is the reason we need a pure heart. Because, my friends, without God, without Jesus Christ, without us surrendering to the will of God in our lives, our heart, my heart, your heart is desperately sick. And the word of God tells us that it is deceitful above all things. And so we have a problem. We have a problem. That the reason we think certain ways about people, the reason we become jealous, the reason we can become envious, the reason hate can can begin to get a root, the reason there can be a root of bitterness is because the heart, my friends, is desperately sick and deceitful above all things. So this really explains why so many things are messed up in the world today. When you really take and study the ninth verse, this just shows us why so many things are messed up in this world today, and not just in the world. Let me say this. Even within the church house. Why? Because even within the church house, we can have, we can have Christians that have not dealt with their heart posture before they come into the church house. And so within the church house, they bring along with them into the church house a root of bitterness, despair, anxiety, jealousy, deceitfulness, envy because they haven't dealt with the heart posture and this issue of having a heart that's deceitful above all things. They've they've left the house, they've left the prayer closet time, they've left time where they should have been spent in the Word of God dealing with the heart issues, and they haven't dealt with it. They haven't surrendered it over to the Holy Spirit of God. And so they carry these roots with them, these sinful roots with them into the church house. And so it's not just the world that's messed up. If we're not careful, it could be the church house that becomes messed up because we're carrying in it a heart that is deceitful above all things. So this is this is a really big deal, this issue of the heart. This this issue of needing to have a clean heart and a pure heart. Because people, even Christians, even Christians, when they have not surrendered to God's will and God's authority for that day, when when they're acting selfish, listen to this. When we are acting selfish, we're gonna receive selfish results. When we are acting selfish, we're gonna receive selfish results. Now, we're gonna push into the 10th verse. I haven't I haven't read that to you yet so far in this episode, but Jeremiah 17 says this God says, I the Lord God search the heart and test the mind. Wow. I the Lord God search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. That's God speaking that in the text. I the Lord God searched the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. This verse, my friends, this verse reinforces why you and I should want a clean heart. Amen. Because God is searching our heart to give us according to our ways. I'm just reminded, like when I was younger and living at home with my parents, just a little boy, and and my mom and my dad would say, get up there and clean that room. Go in there and clean that room. And I'm gonna come in there and check it. I'm gonna come in there and check it when you're done, and I'm gonna make sure that you've cleaned it the way that you're supposed to clean it. And man, knowing that mom or dad was gonna come do an inventory of my room being clean, it meant that I couldn't just shove everything up under the bed. It meant that I couldn't just push everything into the closet and just like put all my strength against it, right? Just trying to shut the closet door and just making sure that everything was just stacked in there. And really, that's not cleaning up. That's moving a mess. That's not cleaning up. That's just that's just transferring the same mess from one area to another. And I wonder how many times as Christians we do that. How many times as Christians do we, rather than let God clean our mess up or or us receive the ability and the power from God to address the mess, rather than address the mess or clean the mess up, we just transfer the mess from one area of our heart to the next. And so when we realize that God is searching the heart and testing the mind, we should want to make sure that we are presenting a clean heart because I know he's coming to look at it. Just like I knew I had to clean my room up because I knew mom and dad were gonna be coming up the steps to check on that room. And I knew, I knew that they were gonna get down on their knees and look under that bed. And I knew that they were gonna open that closet and look in. Why? Because they were grown adults and I won't gonna fool them. They knew the tricks. They knew the tricks. And can I just say, you and I, we ain't fooling God either. He knows the tricks. He sees right through it all, my friends. He sees right through it all. And he is requiring a clean heart, a pure heart. God is searching our hearts. And can I just say that that's good news? I know people are like, God, just get out of my business. I just don't want God in my business. No, no, no. God searches your heart because he wants the best for you. And the reason my mom and dad wanted my room clean is because they wanted the best for me. They wanted the house to be in the best working order that the house could possibly be. And the reason that God the Father is searching your heart is because God wants a clean house in your life, for your life. And that's good news. That's that's not bad news, right? That's great news that God wants the best for you. And if we all remembered that, then when we were dealing with others, it would certainly be a reminder to treat people and handle things in the order of God. Because I want a clean house for my life. And therefore, I want to be an ambassador of God so that other people can see a clean house and that they too would desire a clean house. As I present a clean and pure heart to other people, then that should be a contagious thing that other people should long to desire. You know, it's kind of like you walk into somebody's home and it's like perfectly clean out of a catalog or a magazine or something like that. You know what I mean? And then you think, oh my goodness, it it makes me want to go home and clean. It makes me want to go home and have a clean room. It makes me want to go home and rearrange the garage when I see someone else that has a clean garage. The 51st Psalm. Let's go there for a moment. Because in the 51st Psalm, verses 10 through 12, this is what it says. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. I want you to listen to this heart cry, and I don't want you ever to forget it. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with the willing spirit. You know, one of the days that I love cleaning my room, because normally cleaning my room wasn't one of the one of the most favorite things on my list to do. We we lived when I was young, we we lived in a very extremely busy neighborhood in Chesterfield County, Virginia. And there were so many, so many children there that pretty much at any given time we could go out there and play a pickup game of basketball or football or ride bikes or you know, hide and go seek or just do whatever we wanted to do. Play baseball, all kinds of just fun, fun, fun was right there at your fingertips. So normally what I did not want to do was go clean the room. But the time that I wanted to clean the room was when it rained outside. Because when it rained outside, nobody was going outside playing sports, nobody was going outside playing hide and go seek. It was just kind of your downtime. We we really didn't have a lot of downtime because we played so much. And it was a wonderful, wonderful childhood. I'm I'm thankful to God Almighty for that. Amen. But when it rained, it it forced everybody inside and it caused us to slow down. And all of a sudden, I begin to appreciate my room, I begin to appreciate my things, and I begin to get excited about cleaning up my room. And I'm just gonna kind of relate that to the 12th verse right here, because the 12th verse, uh, David the psalmist, he says this restore to me the joy. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with the willing spirit. And I think that if we could focus on the joy of salvation, just like the rain made me focus on my room, if we could focus on the joy of the salvation that we have every single day, then I believe we would address the posture of the heart, the cleanliness of the room, if you will, the cleanliness of the heart, of the mind. So if we could really begin to think about the joy that we have because we are saved in Jesus Christ, I believe we would keep the room clean. You get what I'm saying? Are you picking up what I'm putting down? I believe that we would make sure the heart was clean. Oh God, restore to us today, Father. Restore to us right now in this moment, please, Father God, the joy of our salvation. Our desire, Father, is to have a clean heart. And let me just say this: God Almighty is the only one who, by the power of his Holy Spirit, can create within us a clean heart. Self-help books won't do it. You and I ourselves cannot create a clean heart that's gonna last, right? We may be able to refresh our attitude on our own, and we may be able to feel good about it for a while, but sooner or later, I tell you this, sooner or later, we're gonna be in danger of going right back to the same old way of thinking when we want to do something our way and not God's way. So we need God's help. We need his Holy Spirit helping us to make sure that we keep a clean and pure heart. God is the only one who can truly deliver to you and I a clean heart. Amen. And the good news is that he wants to. He wants to, he longs to. He wants to deliver us a clean heart. And so we've got to understand the reason we've we've lived so ungodly, so ugly before we got saved was because our heart was so sick and wicked because we were not asking God to step in and clean it. Now, now take note. David is asking God to give him a clean heart. And you and I should do the same. He he also asked God to renew his spirit within him. And you and I, say it with me, should do the same. That word renew in the Hebrew is steadfast. So, in essence, he is asking God to give him a steadfast spirit within him. In other words, he doesn't want to waver. He doesn't want the room clean one day and dirty the next. He doesn't want the room half clean on this side, half dirty on this side. And can I just say if it's one room, then it can't be half clean, half dirty. It's either clean or it's dirty. Right? It's either clean or it's dirty. How many times did your parents walk in, or you as a parent, walk into a child's room and say, pick this room up? The entire room wasn't dirty. It just had areas that were dirty, and therefore, because it had areas that were dirty, the the whole place is now classified as dirty because it can't be half clean, half dirty. It's it's one or the other. That's like saying, um I put a few drops of gasoline in my water bottle, and now my water bottle, it's it's half pure and and it's half um it's half dirty. No, no, no, no. The entire thing, the entire thing has now been affected. The entire bottle of water has now been impacted. It's no longer pure, it's no longer clean. And so we got to ask God to come in just like David did every day to renew a steadfast spirit within us. Again, he didn't want to waver. And I'm believing that you and I don't want to waver. Amen. Praise be to God. He he wants to be firm in what he believes and how he lives his life out for God Almighty. Now, we're gonna get into the 36th chapter of Ezekiel. And if you got your Bibles, I want you to go ahead and flip to Ezekiel chapter 36 and the 22nd verse. And this is what it says. Therefore, say to the house of Israel Thus says the Lord God it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my Holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came, and I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Now watch this, my friends. The 26th verse. God says, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit, capital S, and I will put my spirit, the Holy Spirit, within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Wow. Let me just say this. I love. I love how God rescues us from our past. Can you say hallelujah? Which is the highest praise? Can you say hallelujah to God for that? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And then not only does God come in and rescue us from our past, no matter how disgraceful our past was, He is willing to save us. He is willing to change us, to redeem us, so people can hear and see God the Father working in and through us. He says, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, lowercase S. So He's willing to come in and change everything about you. God is willing to come in and clean up the room. Hallelujah. God is willing to come in and clean up the room, my friends. He's willing to come in and clean up the heart. He wants to come in and clean up the heart. He wants to come in and clean up your mind. And then he says he will put his spirit, the Holy Spirit, capital S, in you. Within you. Man, what a gift. What a treasure. What a treasure. The 26th verse lets us know that it's God who takes out the old hardened heart and replaces it with a new heart. Now, God, if you will, does a spiritual surgery. We're just going to give you kind of a word, uh, a word picture here. God gives you a spiritual surgery, removing the old hardened heart, putting in a heart of flesh, removing the old lowercase S spirit, giving you a new spirit, if you will. Okay, this is what it says. He will give you a new spirit. In other words, the room's gonna change. What God's not gonna do is go in and give you a new heart and a new spirit, and then allow you to take the old heart and the old spirit and put it in the closet. Because then it kind of because then it kind of comes back trying to lure you into being the old you again. God wants to come in and completely change who you are for his glory. He doesn't want you struggling with the old hardened heart and a new heart of flesh. He doesn't want you struggling with the old spirit and and combating with the new spirit. No, no, no. God wants to give you a new heart and a new spirit so that you could be a brand new born-again you. Not two-faced, not not one way this day and another way the next day, not in the morning uh this way, but in the evening this way. No, no, no. God wants you sold out. God wants you sold out, bringing him honor and glory and praise all the time. Why? Because he's worthy. Why? Watch this. Because he's willing to do it. Because he's willing to do it. Now, why? Why is he willing to do it? Listen to this. Because he loves you, because he absolutely loves you. Now, let's get into the 28th verse for a moment. Because Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 28 says this. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you, and I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God. Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt, and the land that was desolate shall be tilled instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. Amen. Verse 35. And they will say, This land was so desolate, has become like the Garden of Eden. Hallelujah. And the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. Amen. Verse 36. Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord God. I have rebuilt the ruined places. Man, that's so good. Listen to that. God says, the people around you will know that I'm the Lord God, because I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord, I have spoken, and I will do it. Wow. Man that gets a brother fired up around his table. Whoa. I mean, so God wants to come in and clean up your room. God wants to come in and clean up your heart. And he says, I'm gonna do that so that when the people around you see your heart change, they see your heart posture has become completely different. They're gonna see that your heart is clean, your heart is pure based off of your actions, your intentions, your motives, and how you do things is gonna be completely transformed. Your mind is gonna be clean and pure. The way that you talk to people and receive people and accept people, the way you deal with people, the way you love people. God says the people are gonna see that I've moved in and I've done a change. They're gonna see that I have rebuilt the ruined places. Oh my goodness, that's something, that's something to preach about right there. That God has rebuilt the ruined places. Maybe you're out there listening and you're just thinking, I got ruined places that can never be restored. Oh, you don't know my God. You don't know my God. I'm just gonna tell you, you got ruined places. The good news is I know a father. I have a father that can restore any ruined thing. God says the people will know who I am when they look at you and they see that your ruined places have been restored. I got I I gotta finish the verse. I I I can't I can't leave it there. I can't leave you hanging. It's too good. Let's listen to what it says in the 36th verse. Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord. I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord, I have spoken and I will do it. Verse 37. Thus says the Lord God, this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them to increase their people like a flock, like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feast, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people, and then they will know that I am the Lord God. Woo. I'll tell you, I love the 36th verse. Man, it's also I love it all, but I just want to point out the 36th verse here where God says, I have I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted. Everybody just say, replanted, rebuilt, replanted, rebuilt, replanted. Let that encourage you. Go throughout the rest of your day, the rest of your life, just confessing that over your life. God is is is rebuilding and replanting. God has rebuilt and has replanted that which was destroyed and desolate. Man, that's such a good word, right there, my friends. God takes what seemed to be completely shut off and ruined and opens the floodgates of his love and gives life. When God transforms the heart of a person, it's gonna change their countenance. Everything, everything about that person changes. And then you're gonna see God working on the inside of their life. Let's pray. Father, I am grateful that you are willing to come in and clean up the room. You're willing, Father God, to come in and clean up the heart. You're willing, Father God, to come in and clean up the mind. You're willing to come in and rebuild ruined places, places that we have ruined because we have caused destruction within our own hearts, our own minds, our own lives. We've allowed the enemy to come in and ruin things, relationships. We've allowed the enemy to come in and create ruined places. And I'm just so thankful, Father, that you, you are willing to come in and redeem and restore and rebuild and replant. So, Father, I pray in the name of the blood of Jesus Christ for every person listening that needs some rebuilding and some replanting, whether they know it or not, they would turn to you for it. That the people who don't think they need any rebuilding, that don't think they need any replanting, that Father, today, in the name of the blood of Jesus, I pray that today they would be given a revelation, an understanding that every moment of every day we need you. And if someone's listening out there right now that does not have Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you're ready to accept him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then just repeat this prayer right after me, right now. Father God, I repent. I turn from my sins, forgive me of my evil ways. I recognize, Lord Jesus, that you died on the cross so that I could be forgiven. And I ask you now to come into my life, forgive me of my sins, and save my soul. Fill me, Father God Almighty, with the power of your Holy Spirit. May I experience your anointing today in my life. In the name and the blood of Jesus. Amen. And let me just say this prayer for those people because I feel led to say a prayer for the people that are believers, but they're just struggling. And beginning, beginning, or already have begun a backslide position. And maybe you're going to church, but you're just not serving, you're just not functioning within the body the way that you should be. Your room's just not clean. Let me just pray for you. I feel led to pray for you. Father, in the name of the blood of Jesus, I pray that as you give understanding, as you give revelation to these people, Father God, that they would begin to serve you, that they would begin to cry out for a pure and clean heart, that they would begin to do the things that they need to do to not only get the room clean, but keep the room clean. Father God, I pray that you put them in the right room, in the right circles, that would bring you honor and glory. Father, even all of us, myself included, all of us, that when people would look at us, they would see that you are our God, the one living true God. And they would see that you have rebuilt us and and you have replanted us. We ask all this in the mighty name and the cleansing, washing blood of Jesus Christ and all God's people said, my dear friends. Amen, amen, and amen. Do me a favor, would you share the link of this episode with some people that need to hear it? Put it on your socials. Um, do whatever you got to do to get it out there. But I know, I know that this episode is going to be a great help for people that need to hear it. God bless you. Until next time, stay in prayer and stay in the word of God.
