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Great to see you all today. My name is Justin. I'm one of the pastors here.

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And if you have a Bible, you can grab it now and turn to the book of Exodus.

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We're going to be in Exodus chapter 20. We're starting a new sermon series.

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We're going to be going through the 10 commandments and it's going to take us

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10 weeks, 10 Sundays. All right. And so if you can turn to Exodus 20,

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if you're using one of the Bibles under the chairs in front of you,

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Exodus 20 is on page 64 in those Bibles.

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So as we get into the 10 commandments, the absolute most important thing for us to see,

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the very most critical thing for us all to start with and focus on is actually the very first word

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of Exodus 20. Look at that very first word, Exodus 20 verse one, it says, "Then."

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Then. That is the absolute key to understanding the 10 commandments. If you don't understand that

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word, then, you'll never understand what the 10 commandments are about. That then is there for a

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reason. So what does then tell us? Here's what it tells us. It tells us that our God frees us.

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Our God frees us. Our God gives us freedom. What do I mean? Well, this then is there to tell us

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what the commandments come after. You see, God didn't just show up out of nowhere and command

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his people, give his people rules, right? He did it after he had already done something else.

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And what did God do before the commandments? He freed his people. You might know the story.

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There's a summary of it there in verse two where he says, "I am the Lord, your God,

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who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery."

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See, God has been loving and blessing his people since he called them to be his people during the

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time of Abraham, but this world is broken and sinful. And the story of most of Genesis is how

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God's people end up finding themselves in slavery in Egypt. In Exodus 3, God speaks to a guy named

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Moses and he says this up on the screen, "I've observed the misery of my people in Egypt. I've

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heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings and I have come down

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to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and bring them from that land to a good and

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spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey." God hears his people. He knows what they're going

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through and he comes down to rescue them and bring them into freedom. He raises up a rescuer,

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this guy Moses, who goes in and liberates God's people. And it's after the rescue that then,

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then God gives his people these commands. God gives freedom first, grace first, and then

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his commands. That's just how our God works. We see this all over. We see this back in the

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beginning where we see that God is the creator who created everything. He created everything

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good and then in Genesis 1, he says he gave it all to us. He created us and said, "It's all for you."

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He blessed us. He put us in this perfect place of freedom, gave us all this blessing,

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all this grace, and then after all that gives one command, "Don't eat of this one tree."

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You see, we tend to think that following God's commands is the way that we achieve freedom

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in life. That if we can just be obedient enough, follow God's rules enough, then we'll get the

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freedom and blessing that we long for because that's kind of how life tends to work, right?

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We don't typically get the promotion, the pay raise, the corner office just because of the

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kindness and goodness and love of our boss, right? That doesn't normally happen. We get it because we

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work hard. We grind it out. We meet or exceed expectations and then we get blessed. We obey

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all the commands, follow all the rules, we kill it, and then the blessing comes. That's typically

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how life works. That's not how God works. That's not how God works. God blesses us first. God loves

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us, blesses us, and gives us freedom before he commands us, which means this. God is ready and

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able to bring you freedom right now. Like right now, today. Maybe you're like, "No, no, no. I'm

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super new to this. I don't even know the Ten Commandments. Neither did God's people when he

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rescued them from Egypt. He hadn't even given it to them yet and God rescued them and brought them

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into freedom." God wants you to experience freedom in this life. Freedom from guilt, freedom from

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shame, freedom from striving, freedom from slavery. God is absolutely ready and able to give you

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freedom right now. He isn't waiting on you to get better, follow his rules more. He isn't waiting

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on you to figure it out and keep these commandments. These commandments aren't given as the

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way to get to God and experience life and freedom. God frees us first, but then, even then, after God

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frees us, he does something else before he even commands us. Look at the rest of verse one.

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"Then God spoke." Then God spoke. This is massively important and here's why.

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If you've been around our church for a while, you maybe know that I'm the oldest of three brothers

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and I'm much older than my two younger brothers. And so I was in like late high school when they

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were starting elementary school. And so every once in a while, my parents would go out and leave me

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with my brothers. And at that time, they were in this like big Steve Irwin kick, like the crocodile

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hunter. They were all about it. And so they used to find pillowcases in our linen closets and stuff,

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and they'd go hunting around the house for our cat. We had this cat for a hot minute and they

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would bag the cat. They would catch the cat and bag it and hold it up and go, "Crikey." And just

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kind of, the cat ran away eventually. We lost the cat. But they bagged, they just loved animals.

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They loved animals, these guys. And I'm not an animal person, I don't get it. But one day,

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I was watching them and they ran in from outside and they were in tears, they were all upset.

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They told me there was a bird stuck in our garage. And I said, "I don't care." And they said, "But

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it's going to die. We think it's hurt." I'm like, "Yeah, not moving the needle for me. I don't know."

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But they kept bothering me, kept bothering me. I couldn't watch whatever show I was watching. So I

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was like, "Fine." So I came out into the garage and they got all excited. They really wanted to

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give this bird, they wanted to free it, give it life and freedom. And so I kind of got behind it.

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I was like, "Okay, let's do it." I got this net that we used to take down to Florida on family

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vacation to the beach. And I cornered the bird and I caught it. One of my actually most amazing

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achievements as a human. I caught this bird in a net. And then they were super stoked. And so I

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said, "Okay, let's go out and give it freedom." So we opened the garage door, I kind of twisted it

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so it was under in this net. And so we went out and I flipped it over on the grass and my brothers

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were super excited. And so I was just going to, I said, "Let's count to three and I'll pull this up

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and we'll watch it fly away and we'll have this great moment together." And so I said, "You guys

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ready?" And I pumped them up. They're all excited. They're cheering. I said, "Let's count together.

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One, two." And we got to three and I lifted this net up and they cheered and screamed.

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They were happy and we were, you know, "Woo, it's great." This bird flew straight up and then

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directly over into our neighbor's house, burst into a pile of feathers and blood and killed itself.

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It was awesome. It's like the most amazing thing I've ever seen. But my brothers went from like,

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"Yeah," to, "Ah!" And they started like screaming, crying. It was the most devastating thing to them.

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But here's what happened. Why'd that happen? I set that bird free to live its own life however it

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wanted. I mean, I gave that bird freedom. I freed it from the bondage of my garage. But then I didn't

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care what happened to it. I just set it free and said, "Go, do your thing." And it went and killed

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itself. See, that's not what God does. God doesn't free us and then just leave us alone to ourselves.

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He frees us and then in these first three words, we see this, God pursues us. He continues to pursue

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us because now He's speaking, right? The freedom's already there. He's already given His people

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freedom. He's brought them out of Egypt. He's brought them through the sea. He could just say,

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"Okay, you got it. Go, figure it out." But He doesn't do that. He continues to engage with

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His people. He's speaking to them. Why? Why is He pursuing them? Because He doesn't want them

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to fly into a side of a house. He wants to keep them in the freedom He's miraculously brought them

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into so that they can experience it in its fullness now and forever. It's the reason why

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when you have a baby who starts to roll, why you put them in, you know, you don't just put them on

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a mattress or on the couch. You put them in a space where there's some walls, right? Where there's

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some, like a crib so that that baby, why? Because you're a parent who's so restrictive and so rule

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based and legalistic? No, no. It's because you want that baby to thrive in the freedom and safety of

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that crib. That's what God's doing. He and His love is still pursuing His people because He wants His

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people to thrive in the freedom that He's placed them in. God doesn't lead His people out of slavery

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into another form of slavery. He leads them into freedom, but it's a freedom with some restrictions.

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And what are those? Like what's going to keep us in the freedom that we so desperately want?

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Well, it's God's words. He spoke. And when God speaks, He shows us who He is. That's what we're

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going to see all throughout the Ten Commandments. It's like this window into seeing clearly who our

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God is. He tells us, "Here's what I care about. Here's what I value. Here's what's going to keep

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you in the freedom that you were designed for and that I've brought you into. Here's who I am."

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When He speaks, He also tells us who we are. I've got kids, and if you have kids, you probably have

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some family, household rules. I was also a teacher for a while, and man, I was putting, making rules

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like crazy. Why? Because I knew my students. I know my kids. I know what they're prone to do.

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And God knows us. He knows what we're prone to do, how we're prone to wonder, how we're prone

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to leave the freedom He's brought us into and run right back to slavery.

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See, knowing who God is and knowing who we are, that's what we're going to see all throughout

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these Ten Commandments. And here's the first thing that God speaks about who He is and who we are.

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The first commandment, verse 3, He says, "Do not have other gods besides Me."

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This is the first guardrail to keep us in this freedom. God's telling us He is the only God,

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the only God who can lead us to freedom and the only God who can keep us in freedom. No other God

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can do it. Now, what does this mean, though, "have no other gods"? Are there other gods?

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I mean, the message we get all throughout the Bible is that there are no other gods,

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actually, living beings who are competing with God for supremacy. And so what does He mean,

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"have no other gods"? Well, what He's showing us is exactly how prone we are to wander away from Him.

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We're prone to turn other things in this world into gods. We're prone to elevate things that we

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can experience and things of this world, we're prone to elevate them to the position of deity

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in our lives. We're prone to fall in love with other things, turn them into functional gods,

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and believe that they will give us what only God can give us. You see, only God can give us true

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freedom and security, but we're prone to believe that money can do a better job of it. And so we

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start to fall in love with money and pursue money and go hard and fast after money more than we do

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God. Only God can give us true lasting pleasure and love, but we're prone to believe that other

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people and really good sex can do it, and so we think that that'll just do a better job of giving

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us those things, and so we start to worship those. Only God can give us true peace and rest,

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but we're prone to believe that travel and experiences and leisure can do better. And so

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we elevate those things, we start to give our hearts to them, even start to functionally worship

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them, and we leave God in the dust. We leave the only one who can truly bring us freedom behind,

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and we pursue things that can't deliver. We run back to slavery. And that's why God says,

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"Don't have any other gods but me. Don't give your heart to anything else other than God. Don't

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sacrifice God for money or relationships or experiences. You're giving up freedom for slavery."

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And here's what God's really telling us with this command, this first command. He's telling us

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that He wants us. God wants us. God wants you. God wants an exclusive relationship with you

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and Him, with me and Him. This isn't a command where God's saying, "Well, you should want me

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more than anything else." This is God saying that He wants you. He wants your total allegiance,

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your full affection, because He wants you to experience the freedom He's won for you.

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He's loved you and cared for you and brought you into this freedom, and now He wants you to

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experience it in its fullness. God wants the best for you, and He knows that having your heart fully

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committed to and satisfied in Him is the only way to truly experience this freedom. And so that's

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what we get from these first three short, quick verses here in Exodus 20. God has freed us from

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all the slavery that binds us in life. He's pursuing us to stay in that freedom. He wants

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us to stay in that freedom. And so now, there's likely two groups of people here this morning.

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There's likely one group here who've never experienced God's freedom. They've never

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experienced the freedom of turning from everything else and trusting in Jesus and tasting the freedom

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that God has for you in this life right now. Maybe there's people in here that are in that group. Let

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me make this clear. From what we see in Scripture, the invitation is there. That's not just for some

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people. You don't have to qualify for that. The invitation is there for everyone. You can experience

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that freedom today. But maybe you know you've been rejecting it. Maybe you've been content to stay

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in slavery. There was a guy who kind of came to that decision point in the Bible. Look at what

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happened when he came up to Jesus looking for freedom in Luke 18. It says, "A ruler asked Jesus,

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'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'" We learn a few things about this guy later.

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He's not just a ruler, but he's young, which means he's full of life, and he's rich. He's

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super loaded, right? He's got it all. He's got all the things that we think will bring us

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satisfaction in life. He's got money. He's got power. He's got political success. He's got this

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good reputation. He's got all these things that we long for and we tend to elevate and love and

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chase after more than God. He's got the three houses. He's got the retirement plan. He's got it all.

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But notice he leaves it, descends from it, comes down to the streets, and finds this

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wandering homeless rabbi and says, "I know there's more. What am I lacking?" You see,

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for everything that this guy has achieved and all that he has, he's still in slavery.

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Do you see that? He's still in slavery. He knows there's something else. He knows there's something

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else he's need. He's grabbed it all. He's tasted it all. He's got it. And he says, "But good teacher,

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what else is there? There's got to be something else to satisfy my soul."

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Jesus says to him, "You know the commands. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder. Don't steal. Don't

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bear false witness. Honor your father and mother." He says, "I've kept all these from my youth."

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When Jesus heard this, he told him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and

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distribute it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

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Now man, doesn't this show us that keeping God's commands can't bring us the freedom we're looking

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for? Because this guy says, Jesus tells him, "Here's the commands. You kept these." The guy says,

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"I've kept them. I've kept them perfectly." And what's interesting is I think Jesus would be like,

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"Yeah, you think you have, but you haven't. Here's how you haven't." But he doesn't do that. Jesus

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just kind of takes that. I mean, this guy must be squeaky clean, goody two-shoes,

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like just so super moral. He really has kept these commands.

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But even our morality, even our exterior actions can't produce freedom. There was still something

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inside this guy that Jesus exposes because the commandments were never meant to bring us freedom.

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Freedom comes first. So Jesus tells him, "You want freedom? You can have it. Trust me for it.

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Trust me for it. Stop trusting in money for the freedom of your life. Trust that I'll give you

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the freedom you long for. And show me you trust me by giving it all away." So here's what Jesus was

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telling him. "You've taken money, which is a thing of this world, which God gave us in order to bless

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others, to bless us and to bless others and to be used to glorify him. You've taken it and you've

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elevated it to be a God in your life. You're putting your trust in it. You're banking your life

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on your bank account." And Jesus says, "Dethrone it. Take it off the throne of your life.

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Don't trust in it anymore. Trust in me. And then you'll experience freedom like you could only

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dream of." Verse 23, "After he heard this, he became extremely sad because he was very rich."

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Jesus gives him the invitation to freedom, but he rejects it because he thinks money can give him

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more freedom than Jesus can. Jesus is inviting him into a freedom that neither money nor politics,

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power, fame could ever achieve for him. And as far as we know, this guy, man, he never experienced it

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and maybe that's you today. Maybe you've never tasted and experienced the true freedom that the

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God of the universe, your creator, can give you because you've always been trusting in other

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things to give you the freedom you're looking for. Today, God's calling you to dethrone those things

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and trust him. Trust him to step into the freedom that he has for you.

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Maybe you're in another group. Maybe you've tasted that freedom. Maybe you've done that.

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Maybe you've said, "Okay, I'm going to stop trusting in everything else. I'm going to follow

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Jesus. I'm going to bank my life, not on my money, not on anything else. I'm going to bank my life

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on Jesus. I'm going to give my life to him, believe who he is, what he's come to do for me."

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And you've tasted it. You've tasted that freedom. Maybe that happened back when you were a kid or

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in college. Maybe it's happened in the last couple years, but you've tasted that freedom.

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The freedom of knowing that your guilt is taken care of, your shame is covered, your sins forgiven,

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that you have life now and forever because you're a child of God. Maybe you've lived in that freedom.

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But lately, life has actually felt a lot more like slavery.

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That's how God's people feel for most of Exodus. I mean, they saw the miracles, the plagues,

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the parting of the sea, the pillar of fire, the cloud, the bread from heaven. They experienced

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God's power, God's provision, God's guidance. And it seems crazy that they turn away from it

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all and go back to slavery, the slavery of Egypt. But that's exactly what they do.

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There was a time where they actually said, "It would be better for us to go back."

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That's exactly what we do over and over again. Maybe you've been doing that.

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Maybe you've drifted or run recently back to the slavery that God's already delivered you from.

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Here's a good way to maybe know, a question to ask. Does God feel distant to you?

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Does God feel distant to you?

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Intimacy within relationship thrives in exclusivity. That's why we take the covenant

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of marriage, right? When one person makes a covenant commitment to another person, they say,

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"I am exclusive to you. I won't go wondering after anyone else." And intimacy can thrive in that kind

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of relationship. But in a relationship where there's not exclusivity and someone starts to wander away

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and give their heart to others, the intimacy will crumble and maybe even be broken.

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So this is why God says, "Be exclusive with me. Don't give your heart to others. Don't give your

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heart to money or experiences or travel or leisure or sex. Be exclusive with me."

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And the intimacy will thrive, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

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But maybe if the intimacy that you've had with God, the freedom you've had in relationship with God

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feels dry, it might be because you haven't given yourself exclusively to God lately. Maybe you've

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been worshiping money or experiences or your work. Maybe you've been worshiping your schedule or your

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free time, worshiping some weak gods that seem powerful, but they can't deliver on what only God

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can give you. And today, God's calling you to wake up, to wake up and see that Jesus has set you free.

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You're free from having to bank on those weak gods to deliver for you.

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You can put your trust in the God who did deliver, the God who gave his life for you, who loved you to

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death. And so man, if you're living in either of those places today, if you've never experienced

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the freedom God offers or you've experienced it but you've been living in some slavery lately,

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here's the question for us. How can we get in on fully experiencing the freedom that God has for

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us today? How do we get in on it? Here's the first way. We listen to God's words. We listen to God's

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words. I mean, God spoke. So what it says here, "Then God spoke." He has words for us. It's right here.

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These words, the words of the Bible. And look, you're here. You're here today hearing God's words

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that he spoke and preserved so that you could hear them today and respond to them today.

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He spoke because it's the only way we can know him and know ourselves. And so are you listening?

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Are you listening? Are you truly listening?

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Look, I have three kids ages six and under, so I know that it is very possible to look another

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human being in the face and to even have them give you vital information about your life but

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truly not hear a word that they're saying. All right? I mean, it happens to me every single day,

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which means that it's very possible to come sit in a room 52 days out of a year and not really listen.

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Are you listening? Are we truly listening to these words as the words from our creator to us,

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the words from the God who loves us and wants the best for us, words that he wants us to hear

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today and respond to today? That's the first key to fully experiencing God's freedom.

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Are you listening to his words? How are you going to listen to God's words this year?

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How are you going to position yourself so that you're hearing God's words? How are you going

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to prioritize listening to God's words this year? Maybe for you it's like, "Yeah, I got to

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prioritize being in church." This is where we gather and we sit under the authority of God's

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word and you're like, "Yeah, I skip church for all kinds of things." And you're like, "No, I'm

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going to prioritize it. 52 out of 52 this year, I'm going to come, I'm going to listen to God's word."

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Or maybe it's a community group where we discuss God's word and pray through God's word and hear

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about what God's word is doing in each of our lives. You're going to prioritize that. You're

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not going to miss anything for it. Maybe it's going to the women's retreat and digging deeply

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into God's word with other women next weekend, next week, two weekends soon, or other Bible

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studies that happen here at our church. Maybe it's just saying, "Man, of all the things I could pursue

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and prioritize in life this year, listening to God's word comes first because that's how I fully

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experience the freedom that God has for me." It's listening to God's word, but then there's a

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necessary next step here. You also fully experience God's freedom when you love God's words.

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When you love God's words. Here's what I mean. It's possible to listen to God's words, even agree

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with God's words, but not love God's words. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes about people who've

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rejected God. He says this in verse 10, chapter 2, "They perish, they reject God because they did

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not accept the love of the truth and so be saved." They didn't accept the love of the truth. Not just

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that they didn't accept the truth, but they heard the truth. They maybe even concluded that this,

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in fact, is true, but they didn't love the truth. Paul writes to the Colossian church and he says

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it this way. He says, "You've already heard about this hope and the word of truth, the gospel,

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that has come to you. It's bearing fruit, growing all over the world, just as it has among you

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since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God's grace." See, something happened.

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These people heard God's word, but they didn't just hear it, didn't just agree with it, but it

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says they came to truly appreciate it. There was a heart change. They saw in God's word, not just

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facts to learn and memorize, but a God who loves them, gave his life for them so that they could

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be free and live life forever, and it produced love. It produced love when they listened to

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God's word and they truly listened to who God is and what he'd done for them. When they saw the

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love of God for them, it changed their hearts. They loved God's word. They love who God is and

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therefore they love what God has said. It's the reason the psalmist is able to say in Psalm 119,

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47, one of the wildest verses in scripture, "I delight in your commands which I love." I mean,

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when's the last time you fell to your knees, raised your hands to the heaven and said, "God,

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I love your 10 commandments. Give me more. Give me more rules." How's the psalmist able to say this?

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Because he tasted freedom first. Because he's in love with the God who's rescued him,

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who brought him to freedom. See, there has to be an experience and a taste of grace

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first, of freedom first, before God's law and God's commands can be lovely and beautiful to us.

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Do you love God's word? If your love for God's word is cooled, I'd invite you to go back to who

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God is and what he's done for you. Go back to the gospel. This is the God who loved you to death and

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gave himself for you on the cross. Does any other small God deserve your heart?

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We love God's word when we know who he is and what he's done for us. And when we listen to

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God's word and when we love God's word, the next step will just naturally happen. We'll live God's

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word. We'll live God's word. And this is how we get in on truly experiencing the freedom that

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God has for us. When we live God's word, when we obey his commands. You see, we don't obey God to

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put him in our debt or make him admire us. We live God's words. We obey him as a response

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to his love for us. When you hear his words, love his words, your desire will be to live his words

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and you'll be living in freedom. When you enthrone God as your only God, you'll experience this

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beautiful freedom where you'll see everything in your life as from God and you'll see everything

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in your life as for God. All the other small things that we tend to elevate, they'll lose

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their grip in your life and they won't have any control anymore on your happiness or your contentment.

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One of my favorite theologians said this, so I put it up on the screen because I love it so much.

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He says, "Wake up, enthrone your God and live." Church, let's wake up where we need to. Let's wake up

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to who God is and what he's done for us. Let's wake up to the beauty of the freedom that we have

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and let's rightly enthrone our God as the only God and let's live in the freedom that he has for us.

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Tiana Morikawa is a member at Harbor Church, Waipahu, one of our sister churches,

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and she has gone through the journey of figuring out who she is, that she's someone like the rest

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of us whose heart is prone to wonder, but Jesus's love captured her heart and it caused her to wake

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up and live boldly for him and take something in her life, a gift, a skill, a talent that she could

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have elevated and worshipped, but to actually in the freedom that God has given her, to take that

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gift and actually use it to serve God and bless others. Check out a little bit of her story.

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I'm Tiana and I'm a state home mom. I homeschool my two kids, five and seven years old, and I

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record music on the side. I grew up in Mililani. Me and my family, we went to church from before

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I can even remember. I think as a child I had these experiences of God. He's good and he created

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all this. He's mighty. He's powerful, but I don't think I had intellectual roots to my faith. I

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crossed paths with people who encouraged me and shared those things with me. One example of this

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is I had an older gentleman invite me to help with a worship team at a small church in Mililani.

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I remember practicing the song "Come Thou Fount" and there's that line that says, "Prone to wander,

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Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it

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for thy courts above." I remember it being a turning point for me in my faith because

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that's when I realized you can embrace not being enough. You can't rely on your own works and your

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own strivings. You have to rely on Christ and the work that he's done for us on the cross.

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Just being shown his love and power through music, and so that always fascinated me.

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I've always loved music, but I've always been somewhat shy. God's been so gracious in

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kind of helping me shed some of that anxiety and helping me to enjoy him through music.

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About two years ago, I was writing a song based on Isaiah 53, and it was an Easter song. I thought

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to myself, "Okay, maybe I'll just go out on a limb and share it with our worship director."

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As I have done so many times before, I sort of succumbed to the fear and thought, "I don't want

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to be self-promoting." So I didn't end up finishing it and sharing it in time for an

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Easter service. But when that Easter service came, the sermon was on Isaiah 53. I just took it as a

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sign from God that it's okay and it's a good thing to just step out in your giftings that God created

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you to know him and be known by him. I think about in Scripture where it says, "Seek first the

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kingdom of heaven and all else will be added to you." So yeah, I guess I'd say just keep your

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eyes on Jesus and ask yourself what really makes you feel alive and how you can enjoy

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Jesus through that. That's a great place to start.

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So I'd love to pray that we do just that. That we keep our eyes on Jesus, enthrone him as God of our

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lives, and live in the freedom that he's brought in us into. Live in that freedom of being able to

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use our gifting and the things we're passionate about in his service and in the freedom that we

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live in. Let's pray together.