Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Senior Pastor Ashley Wooldridge of Christ’s Church of the Valley delivered a cold question to Grand Canyon University students shortly before lunch.
“If I asked you a question and said, ‘Would you rather hear they’re handing out free Chik-fil-A on Lopes Way’ … would you want to hear that?” Wooldridge said at Chapel on Monday in Global Credit Union Arena. “Or would you rather hear, ‘Hey, the doctor wants to do additional tests and a biopsy because he doesn’t like what he sees.’"
“One of those can fill your belly up with something sweet. The other one can save your life.”
In continuing the 2025-26 theme of the Hall of Faith, Wooldridge referred to Jeremiah, who was known as the “weeping prophet” because of his commitment to God during one of the lowest moral points in Israel’s history.
“How many times have you gone before God confessing the same old sin you're talking about, like you go before God and (say), ‘Hey God, it's me again, and I did it again, and I just want to confess it’?
“As you're confessing to God, how many of you know you have a sneaky suspicion that you're going to probably do that same sin over again and again and again? You ever been there?
“Today's message is titled ‘It's Time to Repent.’"
Wooldridge said Jeremiah faced the same issue that exists in today’s culture, where people were going to worship for one hour a week and use it as an excuse to live their lives however they wanted for the other six days of the week.
“And I wonder if that would describe some of us today,” Wooldridge said.
He shared that he was no exception, attending a Bible college in Southern California and attending church on weekends and acting “holy and spiritual.” He used that as an excuse to live his life as he wanted the rest of the week and was “struggling with what I looked at with my eyes online, and I was struggling with what I was doing with my girlfriend during the week.”
He would tell God, “Hey, it’s me again.”
Wooldridge finally came to grips with his hypocrisy after watching a pastor draw 20 squares on a board designed to represent your life.
The pastor said that some followers were giving God one square for attending church and serving. And the remaining squares represented how you live the rest of your life the way you want to.
“In fact, it’s worse,” Wooldridge recalls the pastor telling the audience. “This would be a defining moment in your life where God says it's time to change. It's time to repent.”
God also emphasizes through Jeremiah that showing up to worship as a hall pass to do as one pleases for the rest of the week is nonsense and that only if you clean up your act – the way you live, the things you do and a complete revamping of the way you live – only then He can bless your life.
Wooldridge also delivered a thorough explanation of repentance, which is not just regret and confession.
Repentance is making a U-turn and changing one’s behavior.
“If you’re sorry, you actually change,” Wooldridge said.
“And I want to tell you, biblically, there's a very big difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is passive and focuses on shame, and godly sorrow is active and focuses on changing my behavior.”
He added, Satan’s love language is shame, because when he gets you to feel shame or regret, you will sit down, never move and change your life to the destination God wants you to be.
“This is where some of you are,” he said.
Godly sorrow picks you up and leads you to where you actually want to be, according to Wooldridge, who adds that worldly sorrow brings death because you may never turn to Jesus and will sit in your shame for the rest of your life.
“That's called death,” Wooldridge said.
When one seeks repentance and makes a U-turn, at least three things change – your environment, the people you are with and the access to things.
Wooldridge said he stopped putting himself in environments that were tempting and could cause him to fail.
He asked men to hold him accountable, placed protections on his telephone and limited password access on streaming shows at home.
“Actually, I'm not strong,” Wooldridge said. “I'm not strong to know that we live in a world where Satan is hell-bent on getting you to justify your behavior ... So I'm just going to ask you what needs to change in your life so you actually experience the repentance God wants you to have.”
Next Chapel speaker: Brian Kruckenberg, New City Church, 11 a.m. Monday, Global Credit Union Arena
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