What to do When Faith Feels Routine

Spiritually Sleepwalking: How to Get Unstuck

The audio of this teaching is available on Spotify.

Have you ever driven somewhere, pulled into the parking lot, turned off the car, and realized you do not remember a single moment of the drive? You made every turn. You stopped at every light. But you were not really there. You were on autopilot. A lot of us are living our faith exactly the same way.

This message walks through Acts 25:1-12, a chapter that is repetitive on purpose, and asks a hard question: what happens when your life with Jesus quietly turns into a routine you can run in your sleep?

What Is Acts 25:1-12 About?

Acts 25:1-12 records Paul's trial before Festus, the new Roman governor of Judea. Paul has been imprisoned in Caesarea for two years. When Festus takes office, the chief priests and Jewish leaders immediately press their case against Paul and ask for him to be moved to Jerusalem, secretly planning an ambush to kill him along the road. Festus refuses and holds the trial in Caesarea instead. Paul's accusers bring serious charges they cannot prove. When Festus offers to move the trial to Jerusalem anyway, Paul refuses and appeals to Caesar, exercising his right as a Roman citizen.

Two details give the chapter its weight. First, the plot against Paul has escalated. In Acts 23 the conspiracy came from forty unnamed men. Here it comes from the chief priests and elders themselves. Second, Paul's appeal to Caesar sends him to Rome, which is exactly where Jesus told him in Acts 23:11 that he would go.

Why Does Acts 25 Feel So Repetitive?

Acts 25 feels repetitive because it is. Same prisoner, same accusers, same unproven charges, a different politician. If you missed Acts 23 and Acts 24, you are about to hear it again. That repetition is the point. Paul has lived two years of waiting, two years of wondering whether this will ever end, in a dark cell with a Roman soldier chained to him.

The chapter is easy to skim. But underneath the monotony is a question every one of us actually lives with: what do you do when your days stop moving and start repeating?

What Does It Mean That Regular Does Not Have to Become Routine?

Regular does not have to become routine means that the repeating parts of your life do not have to become spiritually dead. Life will be repetitive. The alarm goes off at the same time. The commute follows the same road. The week runs Monday through Friday and starts over. Those rhythms are not the problem.

Following Jesus does not mean every day will be exciting. It does mean every day can be significant.

Ordinary becomes extraordinary when we stop waiting for something to happen and start looking for ways to get involved. Your commute can matter. Your workplace can matter. Your conversations can matter. Your dinner table can matter. Even your Tuesdays can matter.

How Do You Fight the Monotony of Everyday Life?

Paul spent two years in prison and never gave up. Acts 25 shows three things he did with circumstances he could not change.

1. How Did Paul Stay Active While Stuck in Prison for Two Years?

Paul had no control over where he went, who the governor was, what people said about him, or how much longer it would last. He did have control over himself, and he chose to stay active. Over those two years he wrote four of the letters we now hold as books of the Bible, discipled the Roman guards assigned to him, and encouraged churches he could not visit. He refused to let a season of waiting become a season of wasting.

Staying active is not complicated. It looks like this:

•      Keep praying

•      Keep serving

•      Keep showing up

•      Keep forgiving and keep giving

•      Keep inviting people in

•      Keep reading and keep worshiping

•      Keep taking the next step

Not because every day feels amazing, but because Jesus is worth following every single day.

2. What Does It Mean to Get Creative With Your Circumstances?

When Festus offers to move the trial to Jerusalem, Paul says no. He knows the same trial in a different city produces the same result. Paul was not waiting for different circumstances. He was going to do something different with the circumstances in front of him.

Most of us do the opposite. We assume the circumstances have to change first. If I just had a different job. If I just had more money. If the kids were older. If I lived somewhere else. If I just had more time, then I could do something meaningful. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

What if you watered the grass on your side of the fence?

Followers of Jesus should be the most creative people alive, because we serve a God who does extraordinary things through ordinary circumstances. So ask yourself: What can I change? What do I need to stop doing? What should I start doing? What have I never tried? What risk am I willing to take?

3. How Do You Leverage Ordinary Things for God's Purposes?

Paul looks at his life and finds one asset he can use: his Roman citizenship. Under Roman law, no one but Caesar could sentence a Roman citizen to death. The Jewish leaders could not kill him. Festus could not condemn him. So Paul appeals to Caesar, and one sentence changes his entire situation.

You have things sitting right in front of you too. Most of them go completely unnoticed:

•      You eat twenty one meals a week. What if three of them became chances to engage someone far from God?

•      You drive to work every day. What if that commute became time for prayer or worship?

•      You coach or sit at your kid's games. What if the sidelines became a ministry opportunity?

•      You drink coffee every morning. What if once a week someone else sat across the table?

Nothing is a waste of time, not even two years in a prison cell.

What Does It Mean to Be Spiritually Sleepwalking?

Spiritual sleepwalking is what happens when you still love Jesus but your life with him has gone to autopilot. Church becomes attendance. Prayer becomes occasional. The Bible becomes familiar instead of alive. Nothing dramatic happened. You did not walk away. You drifted.

The honest truth is that the enemy does not always have to destroy you. Sometimes he only needs to distract you. Sometimes he only needs to lull you to sleep.

What Does The Screwtape Letters Say About Spiritual Drift?

In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis frames the strategy of hell as something far quieter than spectacular rebellion. It is drift. It is getting so comfortable, so distracted, and so entertained that life slowly becomes routine and faith slowly becomes mechanical.

At one point the senior demon's counsel on a man who runs, reads his Bible, prays over coffee, and sings worship every morning is not to stop him. It is to make those same things less about devotion and more about duty. Same habits. Different heart. That is how drift wins.

Why Does Jesus Tell a Church to Wake Up in Revelation 3?

In Revelation 3, Jesus writes to a real church that has fallen into religious duty and gives them a two word command: wake up. It is the same invitation in this passage. And it is not an invitation to another routine or to religious monotony. It is an invitation to the greatest adventure you will ever live.

Think about the disciples. Three years of following Jesus had plenty of repetition. Wake up, find Jesus praying somewhere, walk to another town, get in another boat, eat some fish, hear a sermon they did not fully understand. But they woke up with anticipation, because they never knew what Jesus was going to do next. Then Jesus died, rose, and ascended, and the adventure did not stop. It exploded.

What Are the Greater Works Jesus Talks About in John 14:12?

John 14:12 says the one who believes in Jesus will do the works he does, and even greater works, because he is going to the Father. Far too many of us live like that verse is not true for us. The same Spirit who empowered Jesus is the Spirit he promised would live inside his people.

The Holy Spirit has not retired. God has not stopped working. People still need to meet Jesus. Lives still need to be transformed. Marriages still need to be restored. Addictions still need to be broken. Hope can still be found. The gospel is still changing the world the same way it did through the book of Acts, and God wants to do it through you.

How Do I Apply This Sermon This Week?

Pick one thing. Make it specific and make it measurable.

1.    Choose three of your twenty one weekly meals and use them to connect with someone far from God.

2.    Turn your commute into prayer or worship at least three days this week instead of a podcast.

3.    Invite one person to coffee, to your table, or to church this week.

4.    Name one thing you have been waiting on circumstances to fix, and take one step anyway.

5.    Set your alarm with a different question. Not what do I have to get done today, but what does Jesus want to do through my life today?

Discussion Questions for Small Groups

•      Where does your life feel most repetitive right now? What part of that can you actually change, and what part can you not?

•      Paul stayed active in a situation he did not choose. What would staying active look like in your current season?

•      Have you been waiting for your circumstances to change before you do something meaningful? What is that waiting costing you?

•      What ordinary thing in your life could you leverage for God's purposes this month?

•      Be honest: are you spiritually sleepwalking? What is one thing that has become duty instead of devotion?

Scripture Referenced in This Message

•      Acts 25:1-12 (main text)

•      Acts 23:11

•      Philippians 1:12-14

•      Revelation 3:1-3

•      John 14:12

All scripture quotations are from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB).

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Bear Creek Community Church meets Sundays at 10:30 AM and serves the Lavon, Wylie, Josephine, and Rockwall communities.