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Life is a Highway Part 2

Fresh Life with Levi Lusko

November 3, 2019

27:40

Fresh Life with Levi Lusko

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Life is a Highway Part 2

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So I don't care what your neighbors says about Jesus, I don't care
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what the person who you work with says about Fresh Life.
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Let me just tell you something, there'shope for every body. That
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eventually God could touch their heart. Let's not give up on anybody.
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Oh that church, of that church. Oh, that church? oh I've heard about-
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-yep, let's just love them, let's just kill the with kindness. Let's just
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keep showing grace.
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Maybe they'll be preaching at this church one day. You see what I'm saying?
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So that was Paul's story and what changed it all for him was when he encountered Jesus one day.
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Hey thank you so much for tuning in to Fresh Life TV. It is such a
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privilege to have you with us.
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We're in a series of messages called Rumble Strip. You know,
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that brr, brr, brr that you feel when your car drifts on the highway,
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drifts on the road and all of a sudden, you're grabbing something
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on the ground, tuning the radio and now you're hearing a sound,
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a sound that could save your life.
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Keep you from collision, keep you from the ditch. Keep you from
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damaging your car by coming into contact with the guardrail.
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Similarly, God has put into our heart and through His voice and
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through conviction and good friends who speak into our lives.
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Those opportunities to course correct, before danger.
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If we can lean into this powerful protection, we can be prevented from disaster.
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So this really could be one of the most important series you ever really hear.
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If this message blesses you in any way, we would love to hear about it.
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Shoot me an email to levi@freshlife.church.
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And if you want to support this ministry and help bring this
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message to more people you can partner with us by clicking the
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donate button at levilusko.com.
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Well thank you so much,please enjoy this message from God's word.
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But there would always be conflict in my heart if I told you that, because
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I've got another love, The Gospel of John. I love the Gospel of John.
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And at another point in my life, if you would have asked me
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consistently, this would be like Bible college era, you would have said,
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what's your favorite book of the Bible? I would have been like, bro, I
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love me some John, but there would have been conflict in my heart
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because I would have been like, yeah, but Ephesians is really good too.
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This week I got asked that question. Someone said to me, hey, what's
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your favorite book in the Bible? Super random, because I didn't know
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the guy, I didn't even know if the guy knew I was a Christian. But I was
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talking to my wife and he overheard me talking to her about speaking
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at a church and he said to me, hey, what's your favorite book of the
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Bible? He looked at me real weird too. It was uncomfortable, I didn't
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want to answer him at all. But I said to him, I said to him, John and Ephesians.
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Gotcha. Right? I finally found a way to just snake it on in there, pal.
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They're both my favorite. Right? So anyhow, John and Ephesians. But
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Ephesians is particularly special. Here's why. Paul, he ministered
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there longer than he spent anywhere else in his ministry. And you're
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like, who's Paul? I'm getting a blank from you. Here's the deal, Paul,
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was this bad to the bone preacher who blazed a trail all over the
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entire Roman Empire, right after Jesus had risen from the dead, this
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guy got saved and got called and began preaching the gospel like
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crazy to people, expanding the reaches of the message of Jesus to
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virtually all corners of the Roman Empire, in a relatively short period of time.
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Why? Because his message was really good. He even admitted, I'm
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not the greatest preacher, I'm actually-- I'm not a good people person,
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he even said, it's not because I'm so good looking, he said, it's
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because I'm preaching that Christ was dead but then rose, and if you
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believe in him, you can rise too. I mean, hello. That's a good
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message. It's a really good message. It resonates everywhere it goes.
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And that is what explains the Church of Jesus advancing all over the world.
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There's nothing but that. Is that Jesus rose from the dead, and people
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who witnessed Him and had their lives changed by Him, they just
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couldn't keep it to themselves. It wasn't because they were intolerant
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and not respectful of other belief systems, it's because Jesus is alive.
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What do you want me to say? Jesus is alive. Oh, that's so narrow
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minded. Yeah, but He's alive, and if you believe in Him, you can be
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alive too. You don't want that? It was like they're running through the
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cancer ward saying, there's a cure for cancer, there's a cure for cancer.
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Oh, that's so narrow minded, that you think that you're the only cure
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for cancer. Well, if you have a cure for cancer too, that's great. But
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here's the thing, there's a cure for cancer, right? I discovered it. And
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Jesus is alive. He's fixed me, He could fix you too. So he's preaching
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like crazy all over the place, but he spent longer than anywhere at
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Ephesus, and I love that so very much because it was one of the most
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impressive cities of antiquity.
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In fact, the temple to the goddess Diana, the dominating deity of the
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day in that corner of the world, of Asia Minor, she had her temple
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there. And it was one of the-- look, Google it, one of the seven
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wonders of the ancient world. The temple to the goddess Diana. And
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one of the big souvenirs, you had to get this souvenir. This is the
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souvenir you had to come back with if you visited Ephesus as you
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would doing business. It was a trade center.
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If you went to Ephesus, you've got to come back with a tiny silver bust
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of the goddess Diana. And those in the city, that was how they made
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their money. Diana tchotchkes, Diana tchotchkes, right? So once
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everyone started getting saved, no one was buying Diana tchotchkes
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anymore, the city turned on Paul. They got so mad at Paul. They did
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not like Paul. At all, ya'll, right? And so, but he just kept preaching. He
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didn't really much care.
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He just kept preaching, kept preaching, kept preaching, kept
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preaching, kept preaching. Three years he preached in Ephesus. At
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one point he rented the lecture hall of Tyrannus. And I always want to
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read that. Think about a dinosaur. Every time. The lecture hall of
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Tyrannus. And I'm like, [GROANING], tiny arms. I just can't stop, won't
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stop. So Paul preaches there for three years. He builds the most
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impressive church that he and his team ever built. Hands down.
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I mean, it was just magnificent what God did through them in that city,
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unreal. All right, so Paul ministers and builds this great city. Spends
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longer there than anywhere else. He had a soft place in his heart for
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him for sure, but eventually he has to go. And he ends up, through
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time and craziness, in prison. What does he do in prison? He writes.
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You can't keep the word of God chained, was Paul's conviction. So
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you don't want me to go preach there, that's OK, give me my quill pen.
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You don't give me a quill pen, I'll preach to these bars and have
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someone else write it down who's out the window. I'm going to get me
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this thing written. I will fashion a shank pen out of whatever I can find.
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I will write me a letter in jail. And so he does. And he keeps writing
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He writes Galatians. He writes Ephesians. He writes Philippians.He
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writes Colossians. He writes 1 Timothy. He writes 2 Timothy. He
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writes Titus and then they cut his head off. And he's like-- he's just
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gangster, he's like, kill me and you'll only make me stronger. Right?
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Darth Vader, Han Solo.
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Why do we keep planting churches and doing all we do? I just don't
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want Paul to give me a dirty look in Heaven. He's like, really? You had
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the internet and airplanes, huh, right? Because he's just-- I just know
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he's going to slap me when I get there, if we don't get after it
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somebody. Right? So that's not going on YouTube. So Paul, he writes
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a letter to the Christians at Ephesus from prison and it ended up in
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our Bible by the Holy Spirit's guidance in a book that we call Ephesians.
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And I want us to live here, I want us to breathe it in deeply for the
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next four weeks from today. And it could be whatever you want it to
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be. You could read a chapter a day. And since it's only six chapters,
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you'll read the book four times in the next month of Sundays. Or that
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can be intimidating to you, so you know what, slow it down. Read a
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verse a day. You'll read the entire book half way through by the end,
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but you'll still be blessed. OK.
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Or it could be that you read five verses a day and that will take you
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through all 155 verses just at the end of the series. I don't care what it
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means. There's no pressure and there's no rewards for reading it 50
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times. So please don't tell me if you did. I read it more than anyone
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else. Good on you, mate, right? No one's going to be more excited
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than me if you do that. So, but all I want us is to live there.
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I want us to live as a Church community in the book of Ephesians for
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the next four weeks. And I just think it's going to breathe life into our
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conversations, and what are you getting out of it? And what's
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blessing you? And what's touching your heart? And I just think it's
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going to be awesome. And we're going to be focused, hyper focused
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on five verses from the second section. There are two main sections,
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some would say three, they are wrong, I don't really care.
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Two main sections to the book of Ephesians. There's the blessing
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section. There's the behavior section. The blessing section is, let me
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paraphrase, is basically how wicked ridiculously awesome it is to be a
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Jesus follower. That's Paul. That's the first section. Here's all the
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blessings that come when you're Jesus' follower. He's basically trying
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to open your eyes, expand your horizons, broaden your mind when it
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comes to what you do in the Google search in your own head of what
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it means to be a Jesus follower.
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Someone says to you, why should I be a Jesus follower? That you
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would have a huge list of things to say that are ridiculously awesome
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perks and benefits of being a Jesus follower. That's why Paul wrote
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the first half of the book of Ephesians. He basically keeps saying,
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you're in Christ, guys, you're in Christ, you're in Christ, you're in
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Christ. And then he starts saying, you're seated in Heavenly places,
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you're seated, you're seated in Christ, and you're seated in Christ,
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and you're seated, comes up a bunch of different times in the first half.
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Why? Because Paul wants you to know that when you are seated in
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Christ that everything changes. He wants you to understand that
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blessings upon blessings upon blessings. Whatever you think it is, it's
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better than that. However tall you think it is, it's bigger than that.
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However good you think God is, He's better than that. He's already
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gone into your tomorrow. He's already into your future.
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He's standing over you. He wants to bless you. He's fighting for you.
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He's giving grace to you. He's in love with you. He's entrusted His
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Spirit to you. He's made something entirely different out of me and
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you. It's called the Church.It's glorious. He wants to do exceedingly
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and abundantly beyond what you could ask or think or imagine.
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Listen to this, the longest run on sentence in the Bible is in this section.
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Why? Because Paul refuses to end the sentence until He's out of air.
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Then he gulps in another breath and keeps going. Like you're just like
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superlative, upon superlative, upon superlative, upon superlative,
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upon superlative. I know my editor would never have allowed it. She
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wouldn't. She would have sent it back to me in red with a sticky
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note saying, nah ah. And I would have been like, well,
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I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I
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declare war on me. That's the editing process basically real quickly if
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you've never gone through it. So Paul wants you to know how great it
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is to be a believer. Then, in the second half, he talks about the
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behavior of a believer. It's so important you understand the blessing
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section comes first not second. Because a lot of people are
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preachers, a lot of people would tell you if you just behave right, then
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God will be good to you.
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If you just get your life sorted out a little bit, then God will start to
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bless you. If you just quit the drinking, get the addiction sorted, work
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on the marriage, get your temper in life, then God will start to bless
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you because God's keeping score, God's like Santa Claus, He's only
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good to those who are on the naughty list, so you better be good
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behavior, so then you can get you some of the blessings. But here's
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the thing about what Paul says in Ephesians, he says, the blessings
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come first and knowing you got the blessings even though you don't
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even deserve them, you can never lose them is why you change your behavior.
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When God says, here's my grace, but I don't deserve it. I know, here
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you go. But I'm the prodigal son. I've been with hookers. I've been in
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the mud. I know. Here's my grace. Here's a robe. Here's a ring.
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Here's the table. Here's Heaven. Here's my Spirit. I love you. But I don't deserve it.
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I don't even see you, you're in Christ, all I see is His goodness
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anyway. And that is what drives our behavior, is knowing we're not
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trying to earn anything. We already have what we can never lose.
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And that's why we want to change. That's what drives life change.
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Listen to me, Church, grace changes everything. Knowing that your
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behavior does not alter your standing before God, one iota is what
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makes you show up at work different.
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It's what makes you want to work on that temper. It's what makes
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how you treat that addiction matter. It's not fearful, slavish. If I don't
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do this God will do that. It's, He's already giving me His best in a feast.
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And I hear the music of the party He's planning for me even now. And
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that just sucks the desire out of you to sin, not like nothing on this
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planet. The revelation of God's grace will change your life to the very
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core and leave you a different person.
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If you've heard nothing I've preached in 11 years at Fresh Life, please
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understand that. That blessings is what determines the behavior. It's
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not the behavior that gets you God's blessings. That's Ephesians.
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You're welcome. All right. So in the walk section Paul gives us our
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five verses where we're going to camp out. And so let's read it
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together. It's going to go up on the screen like I said.
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This is Ephesians 5 starting in verse 14. Therefore He says, quoting
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God, awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give
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you light. See then that you walk then circumspectly, not as fools but
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as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore do
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not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not
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be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
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speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
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singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks
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always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
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Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.
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Rumble Strip, that's the theme to this series. And what's going to
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happen for four weeks in a row is not a collection of talks within that
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theme, but one message that we're going to spread out across these
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Sundays. And all I'm going to do now is just introduce the concept.
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You're not going to find out anything about it, how to do it, what to do
00:15:30.270 --> 00:15:34.230
about it. That's all going to come in the weeks to follow, so you want
00:15:34.250 --> 00:15:37.110
to keep tuning in on Fresh Live TV.
00:15:37.130 --> 00:15:38.280
You want to get the podcast that drops next week and the week after
00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:42.000
that and the week after that and keep showing up at church. Because
00:15:42.020 --> 00:15:44.260
really all I want to do is wet your appetite with kind of where we're
00:15:44.280 --> 00:15:47.220
going. This is me telling you about the specials. OK. I'm going to tell
00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:50.240
you about the fish. I'm going to tell you how the-- you're not going to
00:15:50.260 --> 00:15:52.230
get any of it, I'm just going to tell you a little bit about it. got a
00:15:52.250 --> 00:15:55.140
macadamia crust, it's delicious it's been reduced with honey drizzle and basal. OK.
00:15:55.160 --> 00:16:02.290
Don't you love when they're like, oh, yes, it's an oregano reduction
00:16:03.010 --> 00:16:09.040
with an afterbirth of pomegranate. You're like, afterbirth? That's
00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:13.110
disgusting. No, I'll have meatballs. That's what I'm going to have. Sir,
00:16:13.130 --> 00:16:17.190
this is a fish restaurant. Meatballs!
00:16:17.210 --> 00:16:19.140
Over the last four years Levi Lusko has written three best
00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:27.100
selling books. Through The Eyes of a Lion, Swipe Right, and I Declare War.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:31.220
Each of these books targets different yet important topics that will
00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.290
help you live the life of freedom and power that God has planned for you.
00:16:35.010 --> 00:16:38.280
Through The Eyes of a Lion is all about facing impossible pain
00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:42.170
and finding incredible power through it.
00:16:42.190 --> 00:16:44.200
Swipe Right exposes the life and death power of sex and
00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:48.130
romance. It will equip you to train today for the relationship you want tomorrow.
00:16:48.150 --> 00:16:53.010
I Declare War will help you get out of your own way by giving
00:16:53.030 --> 00:16:55.280
you four keys you need to win the battle with yourself.
00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.250
For a donation of $30 you could receive a bundle of all three
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of these books. Get your bundle today by visiting levilusko.com
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:08.110
A second to compose myself. Clear the pallet, and continue.
00:17:11.040 --> 00:17:15.250
All right. So here's the big idea, answering your question,
00:17:15.270 --> 00:17:20.230
presumably, what is the rumble strip and why should I care about it?
00:17:20.250 --> 00:17:23.260
Well, it's a series of slits or bumps in the road to warn a driver
00:17:23.280 --> 00:17:26.110
of advancing danger. It's a warning sign to a car. It's slits or
00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:31.240
bumps in the road that tells the driver that something
00:17:31.260 --> 00:17:36.060
dangerous is impending. It's an advanced notification of
00:17:36.080 --> 00:17:41.180
impending devastation. Rumble strip. And there are both
00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:48.070
audible and tactile. Audible, you can hear it. Tactile, you can feel it.
00:17:48.090 --> 00:17:53.170
[IMITATING ROAD NOISE]
00:17:53.190 --> 00:17:56.240
You can feel it in your fillings too, right? On the deep ones
00:17:56.260 --> 00:17:59.170
you're like, holy! I like them. I like them. Sometimes, if I'm
00:17:59.190 --> 00:18:05.160
with my kids in the car, I'll just purposely drive over the
00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:07.170
rumble strip. Sometimes, if I'm with myself in the car, I will
00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:10.030
purposely drive over the rumble strip. It's like a massage. I
00:18:10.050 --> 00:18:14.100
feel like, oh, it's like cheaper than therapy. You know what I'm
00:18:14.120 --> 00:18:16.190
saying? It just shakes it all out.
00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:18.270
And the rumble strip, it's tactile, you can feel it, it's audible,
00:18:18.290 --> 00:18:22.240
you can hear it. It's a way for the road-- it's so cool, it's a way
00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:27.090
for the road to send a text message to the driver telling you
00:18:27.110 --> 00:18:30.020
one thing, ready? You're moving in the wrong direction. Not
00:18:30.040 --> 00:18:34.280
subtle, all cap, not lower case, capital case. It's shouting. The
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:40.050
car is like, Hey! You're moving in the wrong direction.
00:18:40.070 --> 00:18:49.100
Rumble strip doesn't change you, it just tells you you need to
00:18:49.120 --> 00:18:52.130
change. Rumble strip doesn't fix you, it just tells you of
00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:58.080
something that needs to be addressed. The rumble strip is an
00:18:58.100 --> 00:19:03.010
audible and tactile declaration to you that you're moving in
00:19:03.030 --> 00:19:07.250
the wrong direction. Why would we need this? First thing I
00:19:07.270 --> 00:19:10.060
want you to jot down. There's going to be three. Super fast
00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:12.040
and then we're done. Drifting happens.
00:19:12.060 --> 00:19:15.230
That's why we need rumble strips on the road. And that's why
00:19:15.250 --> 00:19:18.220
we need rumble strips in life. By the way, the title of my
00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.180
message is this, this is awesome, I'm just telling you in
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.070
advanced, it's really good. Life Is A Highway. That's my
00:19:25.090 --> 00:19:28.010
message. Could you turn to your neighbor and tell 'em, and
00:19:28.030 --> 00:19:30.060
I'm going to drive it all night long. Just tell 'em. And then send
00:19:30.080 --> 00:19:33.130
up a little prayer for Rascal Flatts because they're awesome.
00:19:33.150 --> 00:19:36.090
How do you know how awesome they are? I recently was
00:19:36.110 --> 00:19:38.000
preaching in Nashville and I said, what's happening before
00:19:38.020 --> 00:19:40.010
me? Because I thought it was one band, and they're like, no,
00:19:40.030 --> 00:19:41.170
no, Rascal Flatts is actually going to come out and sing How
00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:42.290
Great Thou Are. It was like, oh, that's normal, sure, why
00:19:43.010 --> 00:19:45.060
wouldn't they do that? Could they just throw in just a little bit
00:19:45.080 --> 00:19:47.260
of Life Is A Highway? I was writing this message that day. So
00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:50.180
I was kind of thinking about it, but they didn't do it.
00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:52.290
Like the little Car's soundtrack wouldn't kill the moment at all, right?
00:19:53.010 --> 00:19:55.140
(SINGING) How great-- life is a highway.
00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:58.100
Gary LeVox, that guy is amazing. By the way, his family came
00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:00.290
back and said hello and his kids were like thank you for the
00:20:01.010 --> 00:20:02.220
Fresh Life podcast. They love the ministry. Great people.
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.180
Amazing. Anyhow. Life Is A Highway. And what I'm doing in
00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:12.210
comparing walking to driving is because driving to us is what
00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:17.180
walking was to Paul. Following me?
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:22.090
We are so lazy, is what I'm trying to say. I am so lazy. I was in
00:20:22.110 --> 00:20:27.230
a juice shop the other day and I asked how far something
00:20:27.250 --> 00:20:30.200
was and the guy said to me, [MUMBLING] and I was like,
00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:34.100
well, is it an Uber or a walk? And he goes, oh, oh, definitely Uber.
00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:38.120
So I got on the phone thinking it would be far away, half
00:20:38.140 --> 00:20:41.090
a mile, half a mile. And so I got in an Uber. I'm joking, I'm
00:20:41.110 --> 00:20:47.070
joking. I walked. And I didn't even die.
00:20:47.090 --> 00:20:50.290
So Paul walked everywhere. And for us to compare this
00:20:51.010 --> 00:20:56.200
sermon walking, that's not as much for us because we
00:20:56.220 --> 00:20:58.210
really-- most of us-- maybe you're judging me right now, that's
00:20:58.230 --> 00:21:01.140
fine. Maybe you're unlike me, but I usually only walk when I'm
00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.270
paying to do it, at a gym, it's so stupid now that I think about
00:21:06.290 --> 00:21:11.090
it, because I'll circle the gym parking lot like four times to get a
00:21:11.110 --> 00:21:13.280
front row spot to go in and walk. I'm working up a sweat now,
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:19.090
they gave me a towel. This is appropriate, right? Now, doing it
00:21:19.110 --> 00:21:21.240
in nature, no.
00:21:21.260 --> 00:21:23.170
So we're comparing life to a highway, and in life, and on
00:21:23.190 --> 00:21:28.070
highways drifting happens, doesn't it? What do you have to do
00:21:28.090 --> 00:21:31.220
to make it happen? Whoa, that's cool, how do you drift? Just
00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:34.120
take your hands off the wheel, drifting happens. And as it
00:21:34.140 --> 00:21:39.150
occurs on the road so occurs in life. Drifting happens. When?
00:21:39.170 --> 00:21:43.240
When you're not paying attention. When? When you're
00:21:43.260 --> 00:21:46.240
drowsy. When? When you've fallen asleep at the wheel.
00:21:46.260 --> 00:21:50.200
Which is why we get a wake up call from the road, we get a
00:21:50.220 --> 00:21:54.070
wake up call from the scripture that says, verse 14, Awake,
00:21:54.090 --> 00:21:58.060
you who sleep. [IMITATING ALARM BUZZING]
00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:02.170
It's an alarm. It's telling you you're drifting, you're drifting,
00:22:02.190 --> 00:22:06.080
wake up, are you sleeping in your finances? You're moving
00:22:06.100 --> 00:22:08.270
towards insolvency. Are you drifting in your diet? You're
00:22:08.290 --> 00:22:12.140
moving towards obesity. Are you drifting in your relationship?
00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:16.200
That's the funniest one to me. We just drifted apart. Of course
00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:20.010
you did. Your hands aren't on the wheel. Of course.
00:22:20.030 --> 00:22:24.000
And you'll drift from this one too. Go get married again. You'll
00:22:24.020 --> 00:22:26.110
drift from her. Go get married again. You'll drift from him. Move
00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:29.180
to a different church. You'll drift there too. Drifting happens in
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:32.100
your soul. Drifting happens in your life. Drifting happens in
00:22:32.120 --> 00:22:35.080
your health. And we never drift in the right direction. You have
00:22:35.100 --> 00:22:38.020
never once tuned out driving and then woken up inside your
00:22:38.040 --> 00:22:40.220
garage. What the heck, I took my hands off the wheel for a
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:44.190
minute and I drove 400 miles and ended up at home.
00:22:44.210 --> 00:22:47.000
No, you may end up at Heaven. You're ultimate home. But you
00:22:47.020 --> 00:22:52.050
don't drift the right way, you drift the wrong way. Second thing.
00:22:52.070 --> 00:22:56.030
Jot it down. Driving takes work. Drifting happens on its own,
00:22:56.050 --> 00:23:00.120
but dri-- anybody can drift, but it takes someone who's paying
00:23:00.140 --> 00:23:05.020
attention to drive. Why? Progress is expensive. It requires that
00:23:05.040 --> 00:23:10.090
you pay attention. You have to pay attention to make progress in your career.
00:23:10.110 --> 00:23:15.240
Pay attention to make progress in a relationship. It takes work
00:23:15.260 --> 00:23:18.190
to drive. This world is treacherous. There's a hundred
00:23:18.210 --> 00:23:23.070
temptations and 1.000 ways to die. And some of us, we need
00:23:23.090 --> 00:23:28.130
this series so bad, because there are people in our Church, if
00:23:28.150 --> 00:23:32.020
something doesn't change in 10 years, in 15 years, you're
00:23:32.040 --> 00:23:35.120
going to be in a casket or you're going to be in a prison cell.
00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:38.070
And that crew, and that activity, and that choice, it's one
00:23:38.090 --> 00:23:42.100
degree now, but that drift it's just going to get worse.
00:23:42.120 --> 00:23:44.230
Drifting is subtle. It's involuntary. It's automatic, but driving,
00:23:44.250 --> 00:23:52.210
constant fine tuning is needed to drive. Calculation, where is
00:23:52.230 --> 00:23:56.210
this going to take me? Am I going over a cliff? Am I going into
00:23:56.230 --> 00:24:00.140
oncoming traffic? Where is your life taking you? That's the
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:04.140
question we want to ask in this series. And we want to have
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.100
the Holy Spirit of God apply the rumble strip where needed.
00:24:07.120 --> 00:24:10.020
Why? Because, third point, jot it down. You can't correct what
00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:14.010
you don't detect. If you don't know what's coming. If you don't
00:24:14.030 --> 00:24:19.200
listen. You have ears to hear. If you've learned to tune out. If
00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:23.010
you've numbed and dulled the [IMITATING RUMBLE STRIP]
00:24:23.030 --> 00:24:27.250
you'll crash right past it. The rumble strip won't stop you, it just talks to you.
00:24:27.270 --> 00:24:31.040
It won't keep you out of the median an into a head on collision.
00:24:31.060 --> 00:24:37.180
It'll just tell you, stop, stop stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.170
stop, stop, stop, stop. And what I'm praying is that through our
00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:43.170
time together we would learn to lean into the rumble strip, to
00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:47.040
heed the rumble strip, to say, OK, and correct because of the
00:24:47.060 --> 00:24:50.070
rumble strip. You can't correct what you don't detect, and
00:24:50.090 --> 00:24:53.020
that's why you need a rumble strip. And my question that I'm
00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:58.010
going to ask and I'm going to ask and I'm going to ask and I'm
00:24:58.030 --> 00:25:00.090
going ask is, already, perhaps, do you sense and feel God guiding you?
00:25:00.110 --> 00:25:04.190
Right now. Is He already putting on your radar something that
00:25:04.210 --> 00:25:07.140
needs to change? Something that needs to fix? We're not
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:10.030
going to talk about it for a few more weeks, but this is the
00:25:10.050 --> 00:25:12.070
chance for us all to say, you know what, throughout the weeks
00:25:12.090 --> 00:25:14.170
of this series, God, I want to have an open heart for you to
00:25:14.190 --> 00:25:17.040
speak to me. Because I believe you see what I don't, and I
00:25:17.060 --> 00:25:21.020
believe that you have my best in mind, so I want to listen to you.
00:25:21.040 --> 00:25:24.180
Now, honesty in church, as we end, because now we're done,
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:27.180
and the sermon is over, but honesty is needed here. I lied to
00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:32.140
you a moment ago when I told you that life is a highway. The
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:36.240
truth is that life is actually two highways. Listen to what Jesus
00:25:36.260 --> 00:25:42.150
said, this is from Matthew's gospel. He put it this way. You can
00:25:42.170 --> 00:25:47.030
enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The
00:25:47.050 --> 00:25:51.220
highway to Hell, that's highway one, is broad. It's gate is wide
00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:57.010
for the many who choose that way.
00:25:57.030 --> 00:25:58.240
Listen to me, you have to choose to go to Hell. No one can
00:25:58.260 --> 00:26:03.020
make you. But you also have to choose to go to Heaven, and
00:26:03.040 --> 00:26:07.140
that's a gateway to life. It's very narrow, and that road, that's
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:11.290
highway number two, is very difficult, and only a few ever find
00:26:12.010 --> 00:26:16.210
it, meaning only a few ever choose it. We're all, by nature,
00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:21.180
children of wrath. We're all, by our own sin and the sin in our
00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.070
blood, we are headed towards Hell on that broad highway, it's
00:26:25.090 --> 00:26:29.010
easy to go to Hell. But Jesus said, I am that door, I am that off
00:26:29.030 --> 00:26:33.130
ramp, I am that gate to eternal life.
00:26:33.150 --> 00:26:35.090
But so many people are so bent on following their own desire,
00:26:35.110 --> 00:26:39.050
they refuse to take that off- ramp. They see 10 miles to this
00:26:39.070 --> 00:26:43.000
city, nine miles, three miles, and they just keep thinking, I'll get
00:26:43.020 --> 00:26:47.130
off on the next one, I'll get off on the next one, I'll get out--
00:26:47.150 --> 00:26:49.090
there's going to be more options, there's going to be more
00:26:49.110 --> 00:26:50.240
exits, and then comes that final opportunity. I don't know
00:26:50.260 --> 00:26:53.120
where you are out in the spectrum. I don't know where you are
00:26:53.140 --> 00:26:55.130
on the journey. I know all of us are headed to Hell on our own.
00:26:55.150 --> 00:26:58.010
But I know that Jesus loved us so much He was willing to
00:26:58.030 --> 00:27:01.160
come to this world and die on the cross to say, I am the on
00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:04.220
ramp, I am the off-ramp, I am the gate, I am the bridge, I'm the
00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:08.290
only way you can have access to eternal life. But there has to
00:27:09.010 --> 00:27:12.030
come a moment in your life when you will yield, and I believe
00:27:12.050 --> 00:27:14.260
that even right now God is applying that rumble strip to you
00:27:14.280 --> 00:27:16.260
saying, you are moving in the wrong direction, you're on the
00:27:16.280 --> 00:27:19.240
highway to Hell, but I want you to be saved. I want you to have
00:27:19.260 --> 00:27:22.030
life. I love you and have a plan for you.
00:27:22.050 --> 00:27:24.120
And I'm believing that many are going to respond to that voice
00:27:24.140 --> 00:27:27.070
and come to Jesus even now.
00:27:27.090 --> 00:27:29.180
MUSIC
00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:33.080

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Life is a Highway Part 2

Life is a Highway Part 2

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Life is a Highway Part 2

Life is a Highway Part 2

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