Where Love Is

Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church 

Father's Day

Proverbs 15:15-17

"All of the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. 

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.

Better is a dinner of herbs (Hebrew = vegetables) where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it."

It's been said - "The greatest tragedy in life is to win at the wrong things."

Before all else we should focus on :

1. The fear of the Lord

2. Loving others

Fear of the Lord = a reverential awe that produces a life of worship.

Proverbs says fear of the Lord is : the beginning of knowledge, wisdom, prolonging of days, fountain of life, departs from evil, leads to life.

God, I want to honor you.

God, I want to please you.

Loving people = 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Mathew 22:39

"A second is equally important : "love your neighbor as yourself."

The 2nd commandment is equally as important as the 1st!

LOVE IS SO IMPORTANT THAT WHEN IT'S IN PLACE :

Little is much when God is in it, much becomes little when God is not.

1. Love is so powerful that there is a joy that has nothing to do with circumstances.

Proverbs 15:15 merry heart // cheerful heart

Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there is no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!"

Disconnect how things are going from how you are doing!

Acts 16:25

"Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening."

2. Where love is there is a peace that can't be purchased!

Peace in a home cannot be overemphasized!

What is spent on your family is not nearly as important as the atmosphere that surrounds your family.

Proverbs 17:1

"Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting and conflict!"

Money without love doesn't bring peace, it brings problems.

The grass will always be greener where you water it.

Get the love right, and you'll be safe to be blessed with more!

We shouldn't just provide for our families we should be present for them.

Provision for your family spiritually.

Get better at :

Attention

Interested in what their interested in

Affirm them

To speak life over them

Instruct them

Celebration

Correction

As God trusts you with more what do you do with more?

Ramp up the generosity!

Love always gives!!

3. Where love is there is a power worth fighting for!

Example to them.

Don't just give instructions, live the instructions.

Lean into the power of the example God has called you to be.

Proverbs 20:7

"The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them."

As for forgiveness when you know you've blown it.

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!

Joshua 24:15b

4. Where love is there is a hope that cannot be overcome!

We're teaching them not only to live, but to die with Hope!

Only Jesus can death proof your life!

Tornadoes & Potatoes

Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church

Romans 8 - read the whole chapter!

Overview : the tension of living in this home away from Home.

Up to this point in Romans 8 Paul had been discussing the suffering & glory we experience as God's children.

Vs 17-18

And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.

Share in the suffering and share in His glory.

There will be times the darkness doesn't like the Light.

When darkness comes, ask, "what did I do RIGHT?" Not, "what did I do wrong?"

The suffering comes from a fallen world, from following Christ, and glory. 

There are present problems & a promised prize!

The promised prize is the way through the problems...keep your eyes on the prize!!

Perspective = fight through the suffering by leaning into the glory!

2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Paul's struggles

Paul is being honest that the pain is real.

God doesn't want you to walk around in denial. 

Always keep in mind what you've gained.

The way to make something that feel big feel small is to look at something bigger!!

Measuring your pain alone will weigh you down...pull the prize into the pain...you'll see the crown inside the cross.

Eugene Peterson quote :

Reality is mostly made up of what you cannot see.

Glory ultimately 

Glory incrementally

RIP = rise in power

There is a glory God wants you to experience glory every day.

From glory to glory, from grace to grace.

He always saves the best for last.

This has happened so that the glory of God can be revealed!!

Perspective eliminates despair.

2 Corinthians 4:17

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!"

These hard times are small potatoes compared to the good...

Perspective is relative

Fluid not fixed

Perspective is constantly changing

Every day continue to focus on the glory and not just the present suffering.

Rock & Soul Recap

Kevin Guido - Fresh Life Church

What Now?

John 10

How are we going to follow in the footsteps of our Shepherd?

1. We Listen

The sheep recognize their Shepherd by voice.

You can't hear your Shepherd's voice if you're not listening for it.

We have to allow God's word to guide us!!

Luke 10:3 "Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves."

Everyone is seeking/searching for that Voice.

2. We Respond

John 10:7-10 so He explained it to them: "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through Me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

Abundant pasture! How do you get there?

Jesus said, "I am the gate!"

John 10:11-18 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded." 

The access to that life is Jesus!

Jesus is the gate & the Good Shepherd!

Romans 10:9

"Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures." 

ABBA = father/dad

I NEED YOU!

Rock & Soul : week 6

Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church

The Best For Last

Psalm 23:6

Proverbs 20:17

"Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth."

What the devil gives is always best, first.

Blesses up front, then bites in the back.

1. Don't ever put a period where God has a comma.

There's more to the story.

God wants us to remember the grand scheme of things.

Our God can make a way where there is no way.

2. You don't need to chase what's supposed to chase you.

Goodness and mercy SHALL FOLLOW ME.

Our job is to follow Jesus.

If God hasn't opened the door then no one's going to open the door. If God opens the door no one will be able to close it.

3. Don't ever underestimate your impact.

Follow : chase or sequentially.

Pleasant, charming, cheerful, loyal, full of favor...

A sweet agreeableness!

You want people to leave thinking about Jesus!

4. Mistake what's temporary for what's forever.

It's not the end of the road, it's a bend in the road.

Philippians 3:20

"But we are citizens of Heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior."

1 Peter 1:3-4

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ form the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."

5. Don't wait until you're dead to enjoy being in the family.

John 14:1-2

"Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's Home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?"

If Heaven is God's home, why is the church called God's house?

Ephesians 2:19-20 

"So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. Together, we are His house, build on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself."

YOU BELONG HERE!!

Brick by brick he's fitting you in!

One's His Home, one's His investment property!!

Hebrews 10:25

"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near."

Psalm 27:4

"The one thing I ask of the Lord - thing thing I seek most - is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His Temple."

Rock & Soul : week 4

Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church

Courageous Living, Even When You're Scared to Death

"The waiting is never wasted! He is in the waiting!" Jennie Lusko

Psalm 23:4

Life is full of valley's.

Put faith in Psalm 23:4 even and especially when you're scared to death!

1. His Plan

Eventually every wrong would be made right.

What's God's plan in your valley? To bring you through it!

Don't get comfortable in your valley.

You're just passing through.

Proverbs 4:18

Keep moving forward!

No pain, no sickness is permanent.

Death is not the end of the road, it's a bend in the road.

Keep moving.

Make the best of it.

Beauty to be found in the valley.

Find purpose in your valley.

There may be people there that you're supposed to bring hope to.

2. His Presence

His presence gives us permission to not live in fear.

The reason I don't have to dwell in fear is because I am never alone.

When you're hurting don't just talk about God - talk TO God!

I WILL fear no evil!

Quit paying for tomorrow's problems with today's peace!

3. His Power

Your rod - authority

Your staff - leadership 

Together = power

4. His Precedent

C.S. Lewis "It's hardly complimentary to God that we should chose Him as an alternative to hell: yet even this He accepts."

How gracious & how good is our God!

Are you ready to die?

Collection of old church notes

*I came across an old notebook that had bits and pieces of sermons. Here they are...*

Marriage :
Leaving (run to each other)
Cleaving (joined together)
Weaving (becoming one living lives together)

Fear of the Lord is living in awe of Him and being scared of hurting Him.

Do things in Thanksgiving!

Love = sacrifice

Arrows :
Any blessing can feel like a burden because they're both heavy.
Pray Deuteronomy 28:13 over your children!
"If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom."
You are the head & not the tail!
You are a leader & not a follower!
Teach your children everything they need to know :
Who God is
Right from wrong
Difficult decisions
Uncomfortable topics (sex)

You don't have to tell kids to have an imagination.
The world is supposed to be a playground.

Rock & Soul : week 3

Levi Lusko - Fresh Life Church

The Shepherd of Your Bad Days

Psalm 23:3

What does God think of us?

What is God's reaction toward us when we "stray from the path?"

David had some very high highs and very low lows.

God is not just the Shepherd of my good days.

It's great to have a Shepherd when you're not doing great!

God is great because...

1. Our Shepherd pursues us!

Because we wander.

We all go astray.

"O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,Bind my wandering heart to Thee.Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,Prone to leave the God I love;Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,Seal it for Thy courts above."

Robert Robinson

Luke 15:4

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!"

JOYFULLY

Jeremiah 3:22a

“My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”

2. Our Shepherd renews us!

Because His heart is to make us stronger!

"He brings my soul back - He restores my soul."

Excerpt from F.B. Meyer quote on Psalm 23

3. Our Shepherd leads us!

Because He wants to take us to right places.

Paths of righteousness...something better.

How does Jesus lead? Always from the front.

John 10:4 "After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice." 

We need to get good at listening to the sound of His voice.

We read His word.

We can't listen in chaos when we don't listen during the calm.

4. Our Shepherd includes us!

In something bigger!

What's one sheep at the end of the day?

What can we as individuals ultimately do?

When one sheep strays they don't think of the impact on the whole flock.

For HIS NAME's sake!

The Shepherd marks His sheep.

Stick together!

Sheep are a part of a flock!

Stick together it will keep you from wandering.