Levi Lusko - Through the Eyes of a Lion

you are gonna enjoy the next like 30 minutes so very much for someone it's gonna be the pivotal conversation I believe in your entire life because God brought you here today and God brought my friend here today he hangs out typically in Montana but that's just one place he is Levi let's go literally travels the world right now he's one of the busiest Christian communicators on the planet and he knows sometimes he was someone and you played the friend card and you know you shouldn't play it yeah bad manners do it anyway I did that to Levi I asked Levi a few months ago if he can carve out from his very very hectic and busy travel schedule just one week and sometime in January or February for church by The Glades in this community I mean I would really appreciate it we are our friends I met Levi I don't know eight nine years ago in the green room and Elevation Church or pastor Stephen and he was like this young cool guy in skinny jeans with tats and I thought wow this guy is so remarkable God's gonna do great oh he's in Montana I never hear him again no but he has blown up and he travels with the cutest entourage some pastors have there Pete he has the cutest entourage his wife Jenny is amazing but he has his kids starting with his daughter 13 Olivia then you have Olivia you have Daisy clover all the way into Linux you finally had a boy my brother who is one and they all traveled together so that's not easy but he's made the time trouble and effort to join us at church by the glades would you please at every campus the road Fort Lauderdale Lake Worth Daisy I hope that that's it stand your feet walk the path to Levi [Music] master David Hughes everybody you guys are too kind too kind amazing Happy New Year 2019 yeah you can be seated please thank you so much for those kind words for the invitation for the chance to be here and congratulations on perfect church attendance this year you've done it you've made it now come back next weekend so you don't blow it that's a big deal and I am a little offended because the genius theory starts as soon as I'm gone I saw the promo for it I said so is this a genius series do I need to mention it like hey do I need to work it into my message he goes no no no no that starts after you leave yeah so you're not in the genius series it's your pre genius that'll be post genius here so but I get it I thought tough but fair but you know he makes it wait sound way too too difficult to get me down here I live under a foot of snow at the moment you live in Florida so I I said please I may I come back the next weekend and the next one I'm actually feeling a call of God on my life to come open a new campus for you here at church by the glades so I'll be here but seriously it's a treasure I love this church love your pastors we have just I mean it's getting the preach is great I'm just grateful to have them in my life David and Lisa are you know it to the dearest people there are and and and you guys already of course made a big deal about this not a big enough deal as far as I'm concerned 20 year anniversary of their leadership here 20 years and what a what an incredible thing to seize a couple loving Christ they love these she you should hear about the way they talk about you and you're not there I mean they love you guys they bleed this they eat it and sleep it and drink it and you know I was out we were out in restaurant the other night and we invited the server to come I know if he made it or not and and in like this quick as a quick as a puma your pastor church by the glades business card boom here's the thing telling them all about it just loves and and and and lives this on and off the stage and their marriage their family their kids I mean good grief Charlie you just crush this thing last weekend dang I know I'm speaking all the locations and not every every campus heard the same message last week but Charlie just absolutely crushed it you should check that archive listen last week so good and so we consider a privilege to be linked up in ministry with you guys and the chance to be here is a big gift and so I don't take that lightly and if you brought a Bible open with me to second Corinthians four that's where we're gonna be unbelievable a special time and got two presents today all the services have been so neat thus far and I believe that's going to be true for God's favorite service to one p.m. 2nd Corinthians 4 if you didn't bring a Bible we are gonna put the verses up on the screen for you and I want to give a message specifically I'm sorry the book sold out that didn't last long we didn't obviously send enough or you guys have just people at the other services who were greedy and wanted more than one book but the newest book we released recently is called I declare war you heard about that a minute ago that's been so cool the reason I wrote that few blasts like why did you write that book it's because I'm screwed up and I've had to go through dysfunctional stuff and you know feeling dealing with insecurities dealing with narcissism I don't know if you guys ever drive home from work I Drive home from a conversation wishing you could do it over again having putting your foot in your mouth I just got sick of it I got sick of feeling like I can lead an organization but sometimes I can't lead me and and yet you're you lead yourself more than you lead anybody else and so before you can do great things out there you got to gotta face the man in the mirror and do things in here and so that I declare war is all about that and I hope if that's it all relates to you you can grab that of course audio books out there and there's curriculum if you want to do it with a small group whatever whatever but this week I'm gonna speak out of the first book I release which is called through the eyes of a lion so if you take notes in church which is such a helpful thing to do and if you don't have a religious context or background first of all good that's probably better honestly quite quite quite honestly because I think sometimes one of the biggest things that can get in the way of our relationship we've got is religion well religious people had the hardest time with Jesus the person who was in the club the girl with five guys you know and swiping right all the time that was Jesus was fine ministering to them because they knew their their need they they knew in the world there wasn't the answer to the ache inside their soul sometimes it was the religious people who had the most difficult time coming to Christ because they thought they could see so Jesus couldn't open their eyes and so if you're if you don't have a context for this and you're like what's going on how do I turn to my Bible do a place that I don't know about hey I don't have a Bible B I don't you know let me just say this thanks for being here thanks for taking some time and coming it's a bold step of faith to come and check that out we're not big religious people here at church by the glades but we are big jesus people because jesus has saved our lives and at the end of the day that's what it comes down to Christianity is not a system it's a savior it's not principles it's a person a person who lived who claimed to be God and then was crucified and here's the kicker he got back up from the grave and said I can give that same eternal life to you if you believe in me that's Christianity all right so don't get hung up on anything else someone once said you look at the Bible you say I don't like what god I don't like what the Bible says about money I don't like what the Bible says about sex and so you would object to following God because you don't like something in the scriptures but listen let's just simplify things if Jesus didn't rise from the dead then nothing he says matters so what he says about sex doesn't matter what he said about money doesn't matter but if he did rise from the dead everything he says matters and if he rose from the dead what are we talking about here he rose from the dead and if he can give you the answer to the biggest problem in your life which is death and sin death and sin sin you got it death is coming those are the two biggest problems we're gonna leave this world and our sin is going to cause us to leave this world separated from God the resurrection of Jesus Christ solves both those problems he can forgive your sin and give you life after death and if a guy can do that then I could swallow a tough pill about something I don't like do you like what he says doesn't matter I'm going with a guy who rose from the dead oh why is he there only way to God he's the only way that ever was presented nobody else ever came and said follow me I can take you to God and then proved it demonstrating he had the goods by rising up from the dead so yeah please if you know anybody else who's never risen from the dead who paid for my sins let me know until then I'm with Jesus how about you alright see I'm saying so so that's Christianity in a nutshell but now we're gonna read some scripture from 2nd routines for that was not my sermon that was just bonus I was free second Corinthians 4 Paul says that is why we never give up though our bodies are dying our spirits are being renewed every day look at this this is so great for our troubles our present troubles are small and won't last very long but or yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever so we don't look at the troubles we can see now rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen for the things we see now will soon be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever God just speaks something fresh to our hearts from these words I pray for anybody hurting you would open their eyes to see what they what they haven't seen before and I pray for anyone who's come today maybe they're at one of the locations in the prisons or watching on podcast or here at Sawgrass or perhaps down in Fort Lauderdale whatever the case God we pray if they don't know you you would draw them to yourself they walked in hurting walked in guilty walked in empty they're gonna walk out with life walk out with peace walk out with strength and that can't be done by man can only be done by you so we pray your spirit would do in an impossible thing and bringing the dead to life and we ask this in Jesus name with gratitude in our hearts as we approach you and we all said together amen the the eyes of a lion book that whole metaphor because eyes of a lion is a metaphor for looking at life through a lens of faith looking at life through a lens of faith and and the reason I think it's needed is because it's possible to look at something but not see what you're seeing it's possible to look at something but not see what's right in front of you now any any married women you know this is true any married women show of hands married women you this is tell true or false your husband can look at the same room the same place you look at and I'll see what you see that's why he'll ask you for something that he can't find and you'll walk in and grab it he'll be right in front of him you seen him saying where we're at honey where are my pants you know and whatever where's the peanut butter where's the baby diapers I couldn't find it there nothing nobody seen she's like oh really they weren't right here in front of you oh my gosh how did they get there hey honey can you wear my sunglasses on the front of your shirt hanging down where my keys in your hand you know I don't know how it works but you can you can look at something but I see we're seeing this is true in so many different ways there's you could you could have looked at something for 20 years but not see what you're saying like the FedEx logo right like the FedEx logo is this is this is a logo you've seen before right how many times have you seen that in your life billion times right do you ever notice that there was a perfectly shaped arrow in between the E and the X provocative you have my attention you're thinking I messed with you in Photoshop that's been there since 1994 so alright help your friend you can't find it yeah just get it over with honesty in church because you know if you lie in church you go straight to hell how many of you show of hands never saw that arrow before raise them up now look around look around look around you're not the only dumb one here you go and I do have to apologize because I've just permanently screwed with you you will never not be able to see that arrow I don't even see the logo anymore semi passes beyond the frame like arrow arrow right all right so that's a pretty cheesy illustration but it's obviously possible to see something but not see what you've seen because that's an example of negative space it's not what's there that gives you the arrow it's what's not there which is why it's been called one of the eight best pieces of graphic design in logo history and has won over 40 different Design Awards not because of what's there because of what's not there some of you are trying to change your life and you're trying to add things to change your life maybe it's not what is there it's what needs to not be there maybe it's something you need to take away from your life maybe it's a relationship you're in you could get more Bibles you could read more listen to more podcast maybe it's the wrong relationship maybe you're in the wrong line of work maybe there's something that needs to be an example of negative space in your life that you can actually do addition through subtraction there's an opportunity cost for everything you do you can't do something with that time for every dollar you spend there's that's also a cost of what you can't do with that dollar that you're spending as well all right but but it's also true when it comes to spiritual things as well which is why Paul says here in this passage that we need to use the right lens to look at what we're facing we need to use the right lens to to handle tough situations and he presents his solution for tribulation or pain or suffering the Corinthian church no doubt thought Paul how do you how do you not not lose heart how do you not get discouraged how do you not quit going through what you're going through because Paul he would preach and then he would get beat up he would preach and then he would get put in prison he would preach and then he would get shipwrecked he would preach and then he would he would he would get bit by a snake I mean this guy's life he's shipwrecked one time he had to do a filling his own filling with a ice skate loves Tom Hanks sorry yeah talking to a volleyball people right no but but he did get shipwrecked a bit by a snake he went through so many hard things honestly went one time he was beaten with rods one time he was stoned with rocks not weed it's all the way somebody like oh really Paul did that well then maybe I can do that no okay only thing you get high on is Jesus all right listen there's no high like the most time so but Paul got stoned with rocks till he was dead this many people believe this is what happened what what happened in acts 14 when he was preaching at Lystra and and he he he died there and many people think this is when he got to go to heaven just for a moment because he said in in second Corinthians I know a guy not gonna mention any names but it was me ultimate humblebrag who got to go to heaven and what he experienced there I couldn't even put it into words what I experienced there cuz everyone wants like tell us what is I what's heaven like you know Paul tell us he goes no I'm not gonna tell you cuz I would ruin it it was so amazing if I even try he said it would be against the law for me to even try now John the disciple that Jesus loved a nickname he gave himself by the way but you could give that one to you too yeah whatever your name is you could say I'm the one Jesus loves and I'm telling you when Jesus when Jesus invades your life with his love that becomes your identity I'm the one Jesus loved I'm the one right he loves me he loves me wake up tomorrow morning look in the mirror and say he loves me he's kind of it changes the way you carry yourself it changes the way you walk into room when you're loved by God you want to share that love with other people with but John he got to go to heaven too and he talked about it in the book of Revelation only he didn't do what what Paul did cuz got to know you need to tell people about it and there's it's funny he used the word like so often it's almost like he's from Southern California you know like it was like and he was all like and it was all like and it was like there was a throne it was like there was a see the reason he used the word life so much is because he didn't know how to describe what he was seeing so he's like it was like this it was like this and if you've ever read the book of Revelation and it seems scary to you don't worry it's not exactly like he's saying it is he's just saying it was like that you know who's like I don't know how to describe it man and and and and that's why Paul said I'm not even gonna try it you just gotta go see for yourself but know this it's far better that's the best description of heaven in the whole Bible far better far better now this world's pretty good right anybody with me South Florida is pretty dang good y'all got some beaches up in here I'm telling you what beautiful South Florida it's amazing and this world is resplendent the Grand Canyon where I live we get to see sometimes not always sometimes too Northern Lights the aurora borealis it's unbelievable when now I got picked up at the airport coming home and and and the guy who was driving me for my church we're driving and I'm like dude I don't think I've got enough sleep on the trip because I feel like the sky is dancing he's like I see it too and I slept good last night like okay I'm just making sure I didn't take any drugs or anything on unbeknownst to me you know like the flight attendant slipped me something and and I'm like I'm watching the sky ripple and dance and we got home my daughter Olivia's with me and she's in this service and we go get Jenny out of bed we're come down here like what's going on just get out here we stood in our driveway for 30 minutes watching the sky dance the Northern Lights and what tripped me out was realizing that's always happening always happening we just don't always get to see it depending on our perspective from where we are at on the earth but right now if you look up in the sky it's dancing something's dancing up there whether you can see it or not it's still there the stars when you can't see him in the daytime they're still there they don't go to bed they're still there you just can't see them because of light pollution I'm telling you something when you start to realize what's actually there and what you see is there are two different things it changes the way you look at life so there are beautiful things to this world but it's marred by sin it's broken because of sin scripture says that all of creation has been subjected to infirmity or weakness I like to describe it this way when God originally created the world it was like a grape and what we see in the world today is like a raisin it's still good raisins alright no they're not like a necessary evil like if I'm hiking maybe I'll eat erase it otherwise it's like it's what the trail-mix has that you don't really want trailmix for me is an excuse to eat M&Ms but feel like I'm doing something healthy you know anybody with me you do a raisin you're like oh you that you're there to know you're like the friend no one wanted to come to the party but they heard you talking about it so yeah you might as well come raisin you know I'm saying the world today still has the essence of the grape but all the vitality has been sucked out scripture says that as beautiful as the world is it's almost weeping because it can't get to be what it once was trees are gonna one day the Bible says that in in heaven trees are gonna clap their hand their hands together mountains are gonna sing there's no doubt that animals it seems are going to speak there are animals that speak in the Bible Balaam's the donkey and the snake in the book of Genesis what when and when the snake speaks to Eve she doesn't flinch at all she talks back to it like that was normal so perhaps one day the animals will speak I mean as good as the Great Barrier Reef is and as this world is today marred by sin imagine what its gonna be like on that day and here's the question if trees are gonna clap their hands what are you gonna be able to do what are you gonna be able to do and and Paul Paul had that kind of stuff in his spirit and that's how he could go through beatings imprisonment trials shipwreck pain hardship aging and someone go how do you not give up he goes because of that it's small that troubles small like no Paul it's huge you're gonna get decapitated in prison he goes as small small potatoes and won't last very long not by itself your trials bad and hard if you look at it just it by itself but when you compare it to something it changes perspective when you compare it so he lifted his eyes up to heaven like he said we're supposed to Colossians 3 set your mind on things above not on the earth where Christ is right seated at the right hand of the Father and when Christ who is your life appears and you will appear with him in glory when you have your eyes on the prize when you have your mind on heaven all of a sudden it shrinks these big mountains of trials we face in a mole hills small trials that aren't going to last very long but they produce in us a vast glory that outweighs them all so listen to me your trial will not stay with you forever I don't care what it is if it's a depression that is just a constant reoccurring fame if it's a crippling pain and you're in a disc a bulging disc in your back if it's if it's something chronically difficult you a blood disorder or something you deal with you're not going to keep that forever it's gonna it's gonna be like going through the metal detectors when you get to heaven it's not gonna be allowed to go to go with you but what your trial is producing in you that you get to keep forever because God's gonna use the hard thing to do good things in you but but you but to see all this we have to use the right lens here is this whole sermon in just one sentence it's the whole essence of the book through the eyes of a lion just in one sentence listen listen to me very carefully suffering is not an obstacle to you being used by God it is an opportunity for you to be used like never before suffering is not an obstacle to you being used by God it's an opportunity for you to be used like never before we discovered this on the worst day of our life worst day of our life six years ago now this Christmas we were wrapping Christmas presents it was my wife and i's date night it's been our tradition throughout our marriage to have a date night and last time i came we talked about sex and marriage and romance and we were a whole book about that called swipe right and it got steamy up in the church by the glades buildings that day and but what we've made it our habit to take a date night and we don't we don't wait you know I know we're doing good well we'll get to that eventually we don't know newborn we're not doing - no we just spin our tradition we're just we're gonna fight for it and when we were first married and poor or you would be go to Costco and Walker honey samples you know baby girl you can have all anything you want so long as it's on a toothpick and but tells you something the best days some of the best dates we ever had and you know now I'm flyer to New York City and we'll go see Hamilton on Broadway and have it you know but but here's the thing you don't wait till you have the big budget to make the right decisions romance works on any budget and you it's a principle it's like tithing you don't wait too tight so you make a million dollars you tithe when you make ten dollars you tied that first taller how else can God trust you with more so it's it's small acts of obedience continuously repeated that leads to the enormous victory that all of us want it's it's being willing to do today what others won't so you can do tomorrow what others can't that's that's what that's what we really need and so with your New Year's resolution you know don't don't don't make it so big you know make it little a little thing you'll do every day don't say i'm mridu a book a day oh good lord you kidding me that's like the person who's like I need to get in shape I'm gonna go to CrossFit that's a mistake I mean let me just do this put it out there I'm apologize if there's a CrossFit person among us but you'd be so sore day two you don't never go back you know what I'm saying you guys start small once you're twenty minutes on a treadmill or something you know like say I'm gonna read one page a day you'll feel so good when you read that page like I might even read too while I'm here you know I'm standing make it small but um anyhow that not Christmas we were on our date night and when we went back to the my grandmother's house my daughter's grandmother's house to pick up our kids our daughter Lenya was having an asthma attack now I've had asthma since the third grade any other asthmatics in the house a few of us be a little more confident next time right you're like I guess me and when do you have a moment to be like you know what asthmatic and proud that's not a compare we'll get together after the service you and I have puffs our albuterol together gonna do it we're gonna do it alright so for it for me asthma isn't as normal you run or get wheezy take your inhaler and you feel better and that's normally how it's been for for any in our family who have had asthma but this night this December evening my daughter's asthma attack got worse instead of better when when she got her medicine and pretty soon she stopped breathing and then her heart stopped beating and in a matter of minutes she went from being completely fine playing with her sisters to being in heaven with Jesus escorted by the angels into God's presence and I never got to say goodbye my wife Jenny she never got to say goodbye her sisters never got to say but we didn't see it coming there wasn't a long lingering illness there was a planned trip to Disneyland the day after Christmas but instead that was the day we had her funeral and I won't sugarcoat it it was ugly it was horrible it was it was it was much like February 14th here in the area where you live of last year and the suddenness of it and the meanness of it and the coldness of it and a thousand questions and a thousand wise but what we've chosen to do is what Paul lays out for us and it's to not just look at your life and see what's there but to choose to put a lens of faith in front of your eyes and look at it through that lens I'm not just gonna look at what's there I'm gonna use a lens but how do I get a lens of faith this is so important listen to me it comes from the Word of God because Romans chapter 10 says faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God so what you have to choose to do is load up promises from Scripture into your heart into your life you need your bloodstream full of Scripture loaded full of Scripture so when difficult days come you don't just look at your life you load up a promise from Scripture look y'all y'all y'all you got to do a double tank you like to want it like I do at the beach it's a different sermon it's a different sermon I'm talking about you look at your pain but then you load up prompts from Scripture and you look at it again so so here here's what this could look like okay February 14 2000 and 18 today is 326 days ago and and as I've prepared my heart to come and be with you and minister God's Word to you I've been getting into my heart what that feels like and thinking about from our own grief what many of the families and friends of those 17 beautiful people are walking through right now and I know one of the things about the passing of time is that you feel like you're getting further and further from people you love because today I'm 2208 days away from línea and all those days I've had to wake up and I feel like I'm getting further firmer because every day I remember when I was with her last and I know for you now 326 days to wake up on a world that you hate because they're not there with you in it anymore and it feels sometimes like they're passing through your fingers 326 days it's with vertigo that you feel like is that ten minutes ago or is that ten years ago it's 327 tomorrow and and every day you feel like you're drifting away but that's only if you look at it through the natural that's only if you look at it through human understanding because human understanding places the loved one who died in Christ as being either in the grave or in your memory where they once were but when we open up Scripture we find Jesus saying I am the resurrection and the life and anyone who believes in me though he dies he will live and so now I don't look at my daughter we don't look at them as being in our past we look at them at be us being in our future because they're not over here behind us they're over here ahead of us where we're heading and so now we get to wake up every day and guess what today 326 days closer because we're moving in the right direction and those who have died in Christ are more a part of our future than they're a part of our past come on can you thank the Lord for the hope for the power of the gospel that gives us a different way of looking at life you've got a see the arrow and not just the logo this is true in every area of your life look at your car and see some broken-down piece of junk that's what you'll feel like when you drive it around or if you look at it as a gift from God that you have transportation it changes how you look it put the lens of faith on I hate this job my boss is a jerk or thank you God that you sent you love these people here so much who obviously need help that you have sent me up in here to be a little beam of sunshine and a reminder of the goodness of God oh I hate this job I made coffee or you know what I get a give coffee to uncap native people and I just I just dare you to send someone in here who's having a bad day I'm gonna encourage him I'm gonna notice them I'm gonna love them I'm gonna see him I'm gonna spot him you go into your cell at prison are you gonna go in there feeling like a victim feeling this feeling that are you gonna have that mentality of Joseph God sent me in here now now yes I I may have done bad things that got me in here but God I see you a purpose for me in it an assignment for me in it there's people I'm gonna love on and show grace - and I'm gonna see I just changes everything when you put that lens of faith in front of your eye so you have to choose to look at your life and do so through the eyes of a lion and this has to happen every day that's happened every day I've contact lenses in my eyes and you know what I'm gonna need them tomorrow I'm gonna need them tomorrow and it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if I put the lenses on today if I don't do it next Thursday the thing about grief is that you can't ever say I'm through it now I'm at the one-year mark we're good you know or hey we made it through five years we're good it's same with marriage same with your walk with God that's why you owe it to yourself to be here next weekend for the launch of this new series and you owe it to yourself to to be here through the weeks and wait good days and bad days I feel like I need it I don't feel like I need it you need to lift your hands up and praise God on the days when you really sense him near to you but you know what you also need to worship God when you feel like he's far see us Lewis wrote a book called Screwtape Letters and he writes as though he were a demon giving advice to another demon and he's encouraging it you're like that's weird I know but it's brilliant he's writing pretending to be a crafty master demon giving advice to a newbie a newbie demon on how to really mess with people and one of the things he says is really marked me for life in that book is he says our case is the most desperate when a human being looks out into a universe and it seems like there is no signs of God at all but still chooses to obey Him that's when you have real power in your life anybody can love their their friend loving an enemy that's different anybody can praise God when you got 19 Jesus goosebumps and euro Mike he's so near to me he's like right there yeah but when you feel like I haven't even heard from you God but I'm gonna praise you anyway cuz you never called me to understand you you called me to obey you and I'm telling you the night that my wife and I now in a hospital room and said with with we felt so much anger I wanted to rip machines off the walls I was so mad that day but when we still held our little girl's hands and raised up our hands to heavens and said God you give and you take away the blessed be your name we can't be mad at you you're the one holding her even now as we speak in the presence of the Angels we can't be mad at you because when we leave this world you're gonna bring us home to be with you and with her there we can't be Maddie because even now you filled us with your spirit and you're giving us the strength to face this enormous trial I'm telling you something worship is not a feeling expressed through actions it's an act of obedience that often leads to feelings and so what we have to do is be a people who can worship God no matter what and I dare you this is gonna where I'm gonna close and leave you with this we have to be a people who believe that God can even use our pain to do good and that puts you on your toes can I get a head-to-toe shot not just to show you my beautiful ankles but the devil here I feel so is toughness of strongly my spirit you need to hear this the devil wants us to be on our heels if I'm on my heels the the youngest 90-pound girl in the room could give me a little tap and I would probably fall over cuz I would lose my balance but you get me up on my toes I will straight neo Morpheus on the bullets over my OC I'm saying why because ballerinas and fighters all have this in common they're on their toes so they can do what they've been called to do on there and you know what I remember - I'm not I remember playing tennis as a kid and member ready position if you want to get to where you need to be you got to be on your toes to get there the devil wants you on your heels what does it look like where were you on the worst day of my where were you and my dad walked out where were you and that person molested me where were you and that that madman in terms of school armed where were you God on the worst day of my life that's what God the devil wants us to be on our heels like that God wants us on our toes that the toes the person who says I know it's hard I know it's terrible but God you have never left me you are right there on the worst day in human history when Jesus was butchered you had a plan you see the future you have a plan to work all things for good you're gonna restore all things to yourself and I believe you're gonna use me so so where do you want me to go who do you want me to touch who do you want me to love on I'm on my toes ready to see you doing great why cuz suffering is not an obstacle to you being used by God it's an opportunity for you to be used like never before but only if you've got the eyes of a lion to see the invisible and do the impossible I love to introduce you be a picture to my little girl Linea who's waiting for us in heaven this is her here and I love this photo because I never saw it talked to she was in heaven it was sent to me in by email by my assistant who took it unbeknownst to me and sent it to me and it was the biggest gift of my life day I saw I wrote in my journal I want to write a book about her eyes one day her eyes Linnea Lyon is her nickname through the eyes of a lion is the book I wanted to write this pictures in the cover of the book along with a photo of a lion and the reason that was also connected is because the night she went to heaven we had the chance to give as a gift her two corneas the outermost lent of her eyes as an organ transplant surgery was done and two blind people received sight through her eyes and they today see life through the eyes of a lion and that provides us with a picture of the gospel because that happening involved quite a few elements it involved a need it involved the death it involved a sacrifice it involved a father saying yes and it involved two people with that need who were going to die themselves one day saying yes that's the gospel God so loved the world he gave the father gave the son loved you so he gave his sacrifice and went you have a need and you are going to die the only question that's up in the air is have you signed the dotted line consenting to the procedure whereby God will transfer the righteousness of Christ into your heart if not today's today I believe it in Jesus name would you pray with me father we thank you for the way you can work in a hard unspeakable difficult things to do beautiful things the cross is proof if you're here in this moment and you would just want space to say I'm hurting and I'm in pain but I want God to open my eyes to see something new could I ask you just raise your hand up you just say this message has touched me and I want to just acknowledge that in the presence of the Lord thank you Jesus open the eyes of our hearts give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation give us that kind of enlightenment to look at our lives differently through the lens of faith you can put your hands down Jesus draw people to yourself and use us to help a hurting world we pray this in Jesus name Amen god bless you Church by The Glades love you so much [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Church by the Glades

Views: 8,793

Rating: 4.8639455 out of 5

Keywords: church by the glades, cbglades, fort lauderdale, coral springs, tamarac, margate, sample road, lake worth, miami, broward county, church, church service, sermon, creativity, south florida, message, fun, CBG, Levi Lusko, Through the Eyes of a Lion

Id: xpLw64zgIy8

Length: 37min 55sec (2275 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 06 2019