A Part Of The Process :: October Surprise | Pastor Levi Lusko

well we're a little series of messages that we've called October Surprise and it's kind of a fun thing because we don't really know what we're gonna get every week I don't even know where we're going let's go John 3 I'm kidding I know I studied I prepared John 3 because I don't want to waste your time and John chapter 3 is where we're gonna be the title of my message is a part of the process as you come to fresh life what you're gonna figure out real quick is we are all about seeing people come into a relationship with Jesus this is not B we don't put a big emphasis on religion here we're not big into like exteriors here we don't want you snuggling the 10 commandments at nighttime like oh they're so cold and made me feel terrible about myself like like we're actually interested in you having a relationship with God's Son Jesus Christ and we believe when that happens it changes everything with them when that happens just watch out when God when God touches your heart it's just it just begins to work its way out and a lot of times the approach is the exact opposite it's external Reformation that just leaves you with a heightened sense of frustration and we believe when Jesus touches your heart that works its way outside and he he just get to holding you that way it's like the best restaurant in and out he works in and it works its way out right not outside then trying to get get in and so but but here's the thing about that when we talk about some of our relationship with God and we oftentimes we did this week and our services have a time when we celebrate a story of transformation was tell a Brady story it'll be like I was always lonely I was empty I was hurting and then God touched my heart and and and almost like what what happens is we end up seeing and celebrating this powerful moment of someone entering a relationship with God I was lost but now I'm found we're like yes why because it's on our mission statements on our website it's it's it's all over the place we want to see people who are stranded in sin find life and liberty in Jesus Christ like we are so unashamedly about that like that's the thing for us we're not gonna argue about the t's and eyes being crossed of theological things and you know I think I think when Jesus Christ comes back on the clouds I think it's gonna be exactly in this like we have thoughts on that we do Bible studies on stuff like that but at the end of the day our biggest emphasis is people coming to life in Jesus Christ that's the main thing that's what we're after we want to see what do you see in this world I see a world where people know Jesus and that's changing everything okay so but I think that can tragically give us sometimes an unrealistic expectation of what it looks like because we so celebrate stories like that where you see that transformation you know kind of Damascus Road style stories like like Paul who you know he was hating Jesus he was persecuting Christians and boom one day light shine from heaven and and scales fall from his eyes and he gets up and he's like I won't preach the gospel and you're like that's a great story I want to see that little YouTube you know highlight reel of this transformation but I think what what that can do are with a good intention praising these awesome stories of people internal relationship with God that can make us forget there's a whole lot of backstory to that there's often a whole lot of backstory and kind of the big idea for this talk this week in a message that I'm calling a part of the process a part of the process is that people encountering God is more incremental than it is instantaneous it's more incremental than it is instantaneous what I'm trying to say is it's a process it's a journey it is it is not just like before after because even when you do see a story like that before after like Paul there is a whole lot of backstory that you might not realize went into it God is trying to reach people God with his never ending overwhelming overwhelming reckless love he's pursuing people the Bible says that God has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to pursue people to work on people to work on people's hearts and here's the greatest honor ever we have been given the chance to be a part of the process everyone you know everyone you interact with everyone in your world God's working on their hearts God's working they're on a journey of of coming to know God the Bible says that we people are without even understanding it they're groping after God lurking for God sometimes in all the wrong places but God is not far from any one of us and he's put that emptiness in us he's allowed the emptiness to be there so that we would fight not it not it not it so we would keep looking for us why no one has ever been completely satisfied by drugs I did drugs once on totally satisfied no they were looking for more there's an emptiness to it right no one's ever got a big payday go you know I don't want anymore money ever no there's others an end now while I was looking for more I spent that now I need more and the target just moves right and so no one ever gets to the end of a bottle it goes that's it I'm completely satisfied no the reward is looking for more and so it is with sex and so it is with power so it is with connection you get famous with someone's more famous than you and now you're aging dang it right Hollywood's a tough place to age I hear and it's always a younger always a fresh were always a newer always a riskier always a bolder and and so there's just as emptiness but God granted that emptiness as a gift so that we wouldn't be satisfied with a lesser thing but we keep looking for him so it's a process it's a journey we were all on a quest and we have been ever since we were ever born and we want to drill down a little bit on what it means for us to be a part of that process all right and and there's nowhere better we can look than Jesus how he interacted with people because there was this period 33 years where he was on this earth and and in that time he would interact with people and be a part of their process and we want to learn from how he handled one such interaction there's so many we could have picked but I picked the one in John 3 and here's what it says in verse 1 if you don't have a Bible no worries we always put the verses up on screen for you it says there was a man named Nicodemus a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee after dark one evening he came to speak with Jesus rabbi he said that's a way of honor to speak to to a leader rabbi he said we all know that God has sent you to teach us your miraculous signs are evidence that God has sent you that God is with you jesus replied I tell you the truth unless you are born again you can't see the kingdom of God cutting through the religious rhetoric Jesus got to the heart of the matter here with this guy verse 4 what do you mean exclaimed Nicodemus how can an old man go back into his mother's womb everyone stay grosse and be born again jesus replied I assure you no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born both of water that's how we get born out of our mothers we're surrounded in water but then he said and the spirit so it's a second birth it's a second thing it's this is what we're talking about that transformation that powerful moment when someone goes from darkness to light that's that's what we're praising but notice it's this dis man's in process understanding these things verse 6 humans can reproduce only human life but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spirit real life so don't be surprised when I say you must be born again the wind blows wherever it wants just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it's going so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit it's a mystery right and that confused Nicodemus verse 9 how are these things possible Nicodemus asked jesus replied proving he could be a little cheeky you are a respected Jewish teacher and yet you don't understand anything I'm talking tough Tiger okay now just pause right there for a second who is Nicodemus well Nicodemus is a man who hadn't made he was connected religiously the Bible calls him a Pharisee this was an elite group of like basically Navy SEALs like pastors right who praised themselves on how rigorously they kept the commandments how they never violated them in the slightest bit they literally wore clothes that would tell everybody how holy they were these guys were too righteous for their shirt you know I mean they just went around like I am so holy and I know it right and and and yet he was not just connected religiously he was connected politically he was a part and Hedren this ruling class in Israel in the time he was also super wealthy he was he was he was - he was in the who's whose society he was a member at Soho house like he just this guy he was plugged in he was known people understood him he was he was he was wise old and and in every way you could possibly imagine he was successful yet why is he doing here at this evening talking to this this this this outcast pastor Jesus who was the born of a woman who there was so much controversy about him and and he didn't some people didn't think he knew how to read and and yet he had he had come to him something had him coming to Jesus and that's because he was unsatisfied by the things that he had in this world he was looking for something more he was looking for something and he had a hunch that maybe just maybe that could be found in the teachings of this man and the life of this man and the power of this man Jesus who many believed to be the Christ and so he came to speak to Jesus and Jesus in this moment engages him and talks to him and and and then in verse 14 notice he continues Jesus does and as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness some people who are new like this is getting weird there's a bronze snake on a pole we're gonna explain that just a second so the Son of Man must be lifted up verse 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life now here's one of those really famous verses in the Bible for this is how God loved the world he gave this one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life don't miss this next part God sent his son into the world not to judge the world now you wouldn't know that from a lot of people's Facebook pages who call themselves followers of Jesus who just want to yell at how dark the world is and tell people how sinful they are but God apparently did not send Jesus in order to judge the world but in fact to save the world through who's thankful for a God who does not focus on the condemnation but on the salvation of people that he loves so much hey he was willing to die for even saw it there but but we are in the midst of one stage in Nicodemus journey but what are we learning we're learning the relationships with God these things are often incremental more so than they are instantaneous and even when they appear to be instantaneous there's actually more back story than meets the eye you know what happens when you think something is going to be instantaneous and it actually turns out to be incremental frustration I'll never forget driver's ed I was um I was so excited about turning 16 because when I turned 16 I've been tracking it since I was nine now I see my daughter doing this she's 12 sick dad I'm almost 16 I'm not getting behind me Satan you know I have refused a lot of challah I refuse to hear it but I was so excited to turn 16 now then get the car of freedom emancipation amazing right and in New Mexico the law is you can drive when you're 15 I told my parents about it said not in our house 16 is what we're doing my dad so all my friends are driving but finally I'm 16 and they made me pay for my own driver said they figured it would mean more to me if I paid for it so I saved up the money my school didn't offer it in case you're wondering I save up the money I'm I go to driver's ed I'm sitting there it's TLC school of driving in Albuquerque New Mexico I'm sitting there and the teacher comes in so hungover and it proceeds to bump cigarettes off kids in the class this teacher did not intend on teaching us nothing about no driving I'm just telling you and I was so so frustrated because I was so excited to learn about driving and I got to sign up for my driving time okay finally I'm gonna get into a car with another human being whose only goal in life is to teach me how to drive this car and so I get into the car with them it's eight o'clock on a Saturday and I'm like I'm finally gonna drive this is so exciting and the teacher gets in she tells me to turn they're over here and to turn right there and I'm like 10 and to baby ten in two eyes I got this I got I'm Lightning McQueen right cut juga cut you got and I'm going and she says turn right over here and she directs me to a Burger King parking lot I'm like what's this Bible me driving for five minutes she was I am hungry she gets out of the car leaves me she's gone for 30 minutes and I'm just sitting there not driving right cuz I got 12 minutes of driving in so the point of the story is I got done with driver's ed not knowing how to drive guys right and there was like a five-month period honest to god where every time I would get to a left turn on a street where there wasn't a stop sign or a signal I would freeze I just wouldn't know what to do I'm a father they're coming all other cars are still coming all the cars is to come and I would just guess when I'm about to go I would get so scared cuz I didn't really know how to do this and and cars behind me are honking now and I'm sweating and I'm stressed you know I do I would change my blinker to the right and I would turn right and then I'm sure left and that was her left and then I was her left and then I would turn right every time I needed to merge onto a left road but turns out for me that learning to drive wasn't as simple as turning 16 it wasn't instantaneous it was incremental but if you think that's bad my wife's 35 and still can't drive standard she's on a journey guys don't judge her so you're like one that you teach her that would be so bad for our marriage and my clutch okay so here's the thing you could teach her so so here in this story we just see one little piece of Nicodemus this journey but the way that Jesus handles him here he doesn't expect his relationship with God to be instantaneous he in fact gives him that the luxury of being on an incremental process and I want to drill down on just that right there Jesus and Nicodemus for a little bit but instead of me telling you about it I wanted to invite some leaders from all across our church to it every single fresh life worship experience would you welcome to the stage a different communicator who's gonna teach us about this thank you so much pastor Levi and hello everyone my name is Allie Quinn and I get the honor and the privilege of talking with you all this morning in case you didn't know I have two roles here at fresh life one of them being that I work here in the administrative staff and the second one is that I get to be the wife of our Kalispell Campus Pastor Chris Quinn well before I get started I just want to say thank you so much pastor Levi for this incredible opportunity and thank you so much for the time and energy and effort that you and Jenny pour into us as a church on a weekly basis I am so thankful for you both come on who else is thankful for Pastor Levi and Jenny okay well without further ado I want to jump right into that text that Pastor Levi read and there are five things from this text that I want to pull out five remarkable things about Jesus's part in Nicodemus process the first remarkable thing is that he earned the right to be heard Jesus earned the right to be heard let's look at that text again it says there was a man of the pharisees sect Nicodemus a prominent leader among the Jews late one night he visited Jesus and said rabbi we all know you're a teacher straight from God no one could do all the God pointing God revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it I think it is so clear to see that Nicodemus was impressed with jesus's life before he ever had a conversation with him and that's because Jesus lived a life that opened up doors and there is something this is something that we all need to emulate we need to really work hard at earning the right to be heard about from those around us and I don't know about you guys but I just love the messages from Pastor Levi where he talks about how we need to live these extraordinary lives or by being exemplary in our workplaces we slip through the cracks and earn the right to be heard by those around us and Jesus did just that he um I oh I'm so sorry mm he earned the right to be heard and if the life has to come before the light okay the second thing that we learned from Jesus is that he was willing to be inconvenienced he was willing to be inconvenienced it was late one night it says in the text late one night he visited Jesus so in the middle of the night Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus does not dismiss him but rather he welcomes him in and Jesus was a busy guy you know he had three years of ministry to prove to everybody that he's the son of God and instead of seeing this as a disturbance he saw this as an opportunity I think that too often we all get too busy to take time for others too busy to encourage a person or seek someone out but I want you to know that some of the most powerful moments come at the most inopportune times you know maybe it's a moment at the grocery store how many of us actually engage the grocery store clerk or maybe we're running late for work and we're grabbing a coffee or we're on vacation it's these times they're not convenient but these are the times we need to look out for and be ready for and honestly I'm not always the best at doing this but there are some moments where I have been able to be inconvenienced for the benefit of others and one of them my husband and I were driving home from Kalispell one night to Whitefish it was probably around midnight you could say it was late one night and we as we're going north we passed this bus stop and saw these three cute young girls hitchhiking and as we zoomed on by I just felt God tugging my heart telling me I only go pick up those girls turn around so we did we turned around and once they got to the car we learned that they were here on vacation they were here from China and they were staying in West glacier many of you know West glacier is not very near whitefish and I even though I wanted to do was to go home go to bed I just saw this as a divinely appointed opportunity that I would not get back now I wish I could tell you guys that the next 45 minutes we preach the gospel and they came to Christ and now they are missionaries in China and revival is breaking out but I can't what I can tell you is that those forty-five minutes we got to love these girls we got to hear about their lives we got to tell them about ours told them about fresh life we got to give them our phone numbers in case they found them stones hitchhiking at midnight again and I don't know what will happen with those seeds that we planted but what I do know is that those seeds would have never been planted if we were not willing to be inconvenienced and it's this heart and this mindset that we all need to strive for every single day we need to be inconvenienced just as Jesus was and this brings me to my third thing that I pulled out from this interaction and that's that Jesus listened and he asked questions he listened when it was needed and asked questions when it was necessary all throughout this interaction and all throughout that text we can see Jesus meeting Nicodemus right where he was at Nicodemus asked question after question after question and Jesus did not cut him off but he listened answered his questions appropriately and then expounded on what Nicodemus wanted to know about and I believe this led Nicodemus to not just want to understand more but it showed him that Jesus actually cared about him and that's because Jesus knew that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care I think all of us can easily point to examples of good listening and have bad listening in our lives right like bad listening is you're talking and someone is literally on their phone while you're talking or maybe they're looking at everybody else in the room except for you Oh you know there you're talking and they're asking these questions that are coming out of nowhere like out of left field or even better yet maybe as you're talking you can literally see on the person's face that they are formulating a response as you're talking and these people might be kind well-intentioned people but you just don't leave feeling loved or cared for and it's the good listeners the people who sit down with you or they're engaged looking you into the eyes you know their questions are are looking for the meaning behind what you're saying these are the people that are willing to laugh with you they're not offended by anything you say and they're not shocked by anything that you can say and it's these people that we leave feeling so loved and so cared for and that is what Jesus did for Nicodemus and I want to encourage all of you guys to be great friends and great listeners because I believe that as we do this we will be drawing people in to Jesus because that is who he was and what he did okay now the fourth thing we see in this interaction with Nicodemus is that Jesus pointed to the cross he pointed to the cross but let's take notice that he did not do this until there was an established relationship first he didn't just open up the conversation with it he waited until Nicodemus knew how much he cared and it was only then that Jesus communicated the gospel clearly and lovingly it was tactful and not tacky I just love that Jesus did not just let this be a great inconvenient conversation but that picture this with me guys he's sitting there across the table from Nicodemus looking him in the eyes and his heart was just broken for him and it was out of that compassion out of that broken heartedness that Jesus felt this urgency and this drive to need to tell him what was coming and he does so in John 3:14 it says in the same way Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and believe it's necessary for the son of man to be lifted up for those of you that do not know that reference don't worry about it I had to ask about it too it's a passage from the Old Testament where the people of Israel turn their backs on God typical and you know all of a sudden there was these poisonous snakes that came and were biting the people of Israel and as they were dying of the poison they recognized their inability to save themselves so they cried out to God to save them and God being loving and the merciful God that he is he told Moses Moses raise up this bronze serpent on a rod so that anyone who has the faith to look up at that serpent might be healed and I just love Jesus uses this example to point to Nicodemus about what's coming he's saying just as Moses lifted up the serpent so my body will be lifted up on the cross that anyone who will look at me and have the faith to believe they will be saved and they will be healed so I just want to remind us all to be pointing people to the cross but only doing so after we have an established relationship first okay so the last final point that I had from this interaction was that Jesus trusted the seeds to do their work he trusted the seeds to do their work Jesus was urgent but did not rush Nicodemus to make a decision he let the light do its work on his own time Jesus knew just as we need to that the seeds that he planted would sprout up at the perfect time we actually get to see a glimpse of these seeds starting to sprout in John 7 it says Nicodemus the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee spoke up he says does our law decide about a man's guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he's doing now I don't know if you guys caught that but this was said in the middle of an argument the Pharisees were having about Jesus and Nicodemus stood up and just kind of defended Jesus amongst all these people who hated him it's just such a beautiful picture of that seed just beginning to sprout and I want you to know that Jesus wasn't even there anymore he wasn't even around and Nicodemus did this but because the power of that interaction that they had lingered long in Nicodemus is heart and mind way after that conversation had ended and I believe that some of you here today have planted many seeds I believe many of you actually have planted many seeds in people's lives and I just want to say I know that it's hard you know it's hot we pray over those seats we pray incessantly over those seeds we lose sleep over those seats but I want you to know that you can trust God and that God is faithful with those seeds God uses our faithfulness to work in people's lives and we get this incredible opportunity to plant seeds and water seeds but only God is responsible for the growth that happens with those seeds and I just think that as we are planting seeds watering seeds God's Word is gonna flow in us and through us and this is what Isaiah 55 has to say about God's Word it says so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper for the thing for which I sent it I want to encourage you all to just let God's Word flow in you and through you that as we are playing planting seeds in people's lives we are letting that flow through us and I think that this will help us as we are trying to play a part in people's process amen amen back to you pastor Levi come on let's hear for every single one of our leaders across the church great chance for sixteen different people to preach on a single weeknight race that's pretty good huh hey uh so what we're seeing is just just one stage that's the stage where Jesus had this conversation when they could be missed and we learned so much about it he didn't rush him for a commitment wasn't like a hard essential oil sale you know it was uh it was it was not like it you know always be closing yeah Jesus was just look giving Nicodemus the chance to be on a journey and he was with him in that way and I think that we would do well to be in people's lives there not a notch on her belt there not a scalp to be collected the people in this world that God allows us to be around he's working in their lives and as that goes as the ebbs and it flows we just got to be with them and love them for them and love them for who they are and believe that God has something for us to just kind of advance his work of showing love to them and maybe the the best way to show this mentality in its robustness would be to show you that Nicodemus this journey wasn't completed really until after Jesus was dead matter of fact in in John 19 the third time Nicodemus his name shows up in the Bible pops up it's we've seen two out of the three in John 3 it's just a conversation and I love that I love that it was Nicodemus wanted the conversation Jesus didn't come to his house be like hey I need to tell you about God Turner burn sinner you're going to hell like Nicodemus asked for the meeting isn't that key that Jesus his life was so strong Nicodemus was craving some time with him what the heck bro and that explains why perhaps Jesus was so aggressive a little bit like hey unless you believe you can't be born again unless you're born again you can't come to heaven but Nicodemus wanted the meeting remember so that's that explains Jesus's attack a little bit but then Jesus like alright peace out bro see I have a good one and Nicodemus is just churning churning churning and then later on some of his friends are like Jesus is the word Jesus sucks let's get him and Nicodemus these timid for sure timid he's not used by no means fan I have a follower Christ but he's just kind of like hey does our law condemn a man before he's been you know he was actually quoting a maxim of the day I guess you could say someone put it this way nickname is his heart wanted to fall at Christ button-head his head he was still scared on a journey on a process incremental not instantaneous time goes on Jesus is killed guess what he gets lifted up on the cross just like Moses put a bronze serpent on top of his rod Jesus had said if I get lifted up on this cross I'm gonna draw all people to myself and the moment Jesus dies Nicodemus was in Jerusalem Nicodemus probably went and visited Christ and saw him hanging on the cross and something in him just broke all of what Jesus said it was coming back to him like the most epic Hollywood montage flashback scene just very I mean it was just like everything changed in a moment of time it was a full-on Damascus Road and count and rely shined and and scales fell from Nicodemus his eyes but you know what there was a whole backstory that went into that in fact the Bible puts it this way Joseph of Arimathea was the one who begged Pilate to bury Jesus's body at his own personal grave you know that right Jesus with his body what would have happened to Jesus's body if Joseph hadn't stepped up it would have been burned on a trash heap because he was a convicted criminal in the Roman Empire they were not given the dignity of a proper burial so he just would have been tossed out but Joseph's a follower of Christ said I want him to be buried in my grave and here's look look just as he went to bury look what it says John 19 with him came Nicodemus the man who had come to Jesus and Nicodemus his name never shows up inscription without does not designate her the man who came to Jesus at night that's just his nickname right old Nick's nickname who had come to Jesus tonight keep but Nick at night get it remember those of you who are old get that reference right I Love Lucy he he brought about 75 pounds of perfumed pointment made from myrrh and aloes and and the text goes on but basically Nicodemus funded the funeral Joseph of Arimathea supplied the grave Nicodemus paid for all the myrrh and spices 75 pounds he came loaded for bear hey that's gonna do the trick and and he he lavishly vocally publicly fearlessly courageously went with Joseph to collect the body from the cross all the Pharisees are gonna see it what this the bleeding ruler of the Sanhedrin the teacher of Israel lavishing praise and worship by helping take care of Jesus's funeral expenses a funeral that the Pharisees protested they wanted Jesus's body rotting on the trash and so what is he done he has crossed the line this man has done gone all in he has pushed everything to the middle of the table all of his chips and he is saying I am of the party of Jesus Christ he had decided to follow Jesus though none go with him still he would follow no turning back no turning back he was saying I believe he is God's Son he's saying he's changed my life he's saying I can't deny what he's done I can't deny what he said I didn't find what I was looking for money it didn't find what I was looking for in influence I didn't find what I was looking for anywhere but I found that in Christ and I love so much that Jesus gave him the space to be on a journey and Nicodemus didn't come to know God until Jesus had already died and so can we love the world like that can we love them if they don't change and we love them if they don't they're blasphemers can we believe that the seeds that are planted they could still bear fruit even if it happens after we're gone come on let's show that reckless love that aggressive three what an incredible message and thank you so much for joining us in this teaching from fresh Life Church if while you were watching this message you felt led to make a decision to follow Christ congratulations we would love to send you a 21 day devotional through the book of John the pastor Levi wrote to receive that text the word fresh life to 99,000 you can also register your decision by clicking the no God button on our site we would love to connect with you if you've been impacted through what God is doing through fresh Life Church we would love to hear from you click the share your story tab on our site or email us at story at fresh Life Church and share how God is using this work to impact your life these stories are incredibly encouraging to both our staff and our church family finally if you'd like to partner with us financially and support the things that God is doing in and through this house you can text the word fresh two four five seven seven seven you can click the give button at fresh Life Church or you can give via the fresh life app thank you so much for watching

Channel: Fresh Life Church

Views: 1,870

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: fresh life, freshlife, fresh life church, levi lusko, lusko, pastor levi, church, church montana, kalispell, liberty

Id: jYRd0g3XLXc

Length: 34min 27sec (2067 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 14 2017