← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Why You Still Feel Stuck
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Part 1 of Romans Eight
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Sam. Well, happy Sunday, everybody. Yeah. You excited to be at church? I'm so excited that you're here. Here at Grants Mill. Every location. Anyone joining us online or on demand. What an honor it is to be in God's house today. So I'm going to start a little bit different today with a question. And to be honest with you, I don't expect anyone to raise your hand, but I want us to reflect on it at least. How many people at Church of the Highlands just love clutter? Got a few giggles? No hands at Grants Mill, at least. I mean, you just love a cluttered house. You love a cluttered car. Ooh. And you really love a cluttered desk at work. Anybody out there? Okay, I would ask a second question, but I'm not gonna be mean today is how many of y' all have one of those cluttered house? Probably a lot of us. So I was asked recently about my top pet peeves. All right, so think about that for a moment. Like your top three things that just annoy you. Number one on my list. And this is kind of like a deliverance ministry moment for me. I just gotta get this off my chest. Number one on my list of pet peeves is someone who stops inappropriately in a merge lane. Where y' all at? Come on, make some noise. Wave at me. You're like, they built this lane for you to keep moving. In Jesus name. I'm free. Secondly, I think it's because I have four boys at home. This happens all the time when I go to, you know, I get butter and I open the butter, I go to use it, and I look down and there's, like, little bread crumbs in the butter. Or how even worse, jelly is already in the butter with some of those bread crumbs. Drives me crazy. Number three would have to be clutter, though. I am just someone who hates clutter. Cluttered anything just drives me crazy. And whenever, you know, maybe, at least for you, it kind of stacks up over time, right? And then whenever you get a chance to go. And we're in the spring now, spring clean, whatever, you get a chance to go clean it. Isn't it an amazing feeling? Like the day you walk back into your office and your desk is clean, pulling somebody out, you walk back in your house and you're like, oh, I can breathe again. It's a great feeling. I want you to hold onto that emotion for the next six weeks, because here at Highlands, we are launching a brand new series today out of Romans, Chapter eight. Six Weeks Long. All the Way through Easter, we're gonna go verse by verse through one chapter in the Bible. And here is the goal. We are going to spiritually declutter. This is a spiritual spring cleaning moment. Honestly, even in line with the Lent season that we're in, we're gonna take the opportunity to do whatever it takes. And Romans 8 is gonna be so helpful for this, for us to see God clearly. And I'm just praying, I'm praying with all of my heart, that that same kind of emotional feeling you have when you walk back into that clean space for all of us, that the result of this series would. We would be able to see God clearly and breathe again the life, power and presence of the living God. Does anybody love Jesus at Church of the Highlands? Put your hands together. I know you love him. I know you love him. I love him. But all of us, all of us, every single one of us, gather this spiritual clutter along the way. And so I'm speaking today through the camera in this room to somebody out there online on demand, somebody out there who's not yet a follower of Jesus. And one of the reasons why is there's just a lot of clutter. And maybe it's like kind of an eyesight issue. Like, I'm kind of looking for God, but I can't quite see God through the clutter. And, man, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. We're praying for you. That this series would be a godsend for you to really see truly the life God offers you and to let go maybe of some of the misconceptions or even some of the pain of the past that's even been attached to church or God. I believe with all of my heart there are going to be people who don't know Jesus. You're going to find him today and throughout this entire series. And honestly, for all of us, maybe you've been in church your whole life, we gather that spiritual clutter along the way. And what was once beautiful and amazing can become just familiar and religious. And so we're just going to shake all that off. I believe God's going to do a huge work. So you may be wondering why Romans chapter 8, it's just an incredible chapter in the Bible. In fact, I believe In Romans chapter 8, we can find these verses. We could have found verses all throughout the Bible, but In Romans chapter 8, we find everything we need to spiritually declutter. This is what Martin Luther said about Romans 8. He said this chapter alone would be sufficient to explain the Whole Christian faith. That's a strong statement. This is what Spurgeon said. He said, put that next quote up. There it is. Because I showed it and memorize it. And you better put it on the screen. Are we going to move on from Spurgeon to somewhere else? Can I get an amen? That's awesome. If there be one chapter in the Bible which might be called the marrow, everybody say marrow. I've never said that word on stage. It's a good word, though. It's like the source where it comes from. The marrow of theology. It is the eighth of Romans. I'm so excited about this. Be sure you have your app open today and every week to take notes. And this is the roadmap of where we're going. The life in Christ. Spiritually decluttering this today, kind of laying the theology for all this next week, Power in Christ. And I've asked Pastor Chris specifically to preach a message on the power of the Holy Spirit. Being a spirit filled follower of Jesus. And I'm going to be in Tuscaloosa next week and I can't wait to hang out with you guys. I got like one Roll Tide over here. We'll deal with that in a different message. All right, so anyway, the identity in Christ, huge deal in our hope in Christ, by the way. Hope in Christ. All about the hope of heaven. We have. You know, this earth is crazy. We saw that this weekend with the situation happening, the war happening right now in the Middle East. And when those moments happen, man, we need that anchor of hope in eternity that this world is not ultimately our home. Come on, somebody. That heaven is our home. We're going to preach that maturity in Christ and then on Easter Sunday, victory in Christ. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. And I can't wait. And honestly, in a lot of ways, I feel like Easter is actually starting today, the season of Easter. So this is not just a series for us. Be very clear with this. Although we are doing everything. I'm doing everything I can to serve you well. The new TAP technology that we've launched has allowed us to have over 700% up year over year in connection cards, which is amazing. We're able to pray with people faster and respond faster with next steps. This new growth track experience you're hearing so much about is life changing where even today. And this is new information for everybody launching a podcast to go along with the series because in our heart, you know, we've talked about it a lot. It's growth track for life. You come out of that growth track experience. But after step three, we keep growing. This podcast is a chance for you to take whatever we talk about on Sunday a level deeper with you or your small group. And I think it's going to be amazing. We have brand new soap at Church of the Highlands. We're trying to serve you well. Have y' all noticed the new soap? People have been asking me, what is this scent? All right, y' all ready for it? It's called the essence of Chi Ha. And even new service times. All right, so we're doing every. Bottom line is, I'm trying to say everything we can. I love you. We love you. Everything we can to serve you. But as we experience all that, also making room for those who aren't here yet. That's a foundational value of this church. And the Easter season is a really great chance to do that. I found these stats this week that Americans are more open to God in church around Easter than any other time of the year. Check this out. 8 out of 10 people will say yes to a personal invite to church. Seven out of ten unchurched people have never been invited to church. Let that sink in for a moment. And only 2% of church members invite an unchurched person to church. So I just believe with all of my heart that God's called us in this season, these six weeks to lean into that and to be a church that makes room for those who aren't here yet, because we are in that Easter season. And so today, when you leave, we're gonna give you a prayer card which has Romans 8, 39, our Easter verse, on it. And on the back, there's a chance to write down some names for all of us to be praying for. And maybe you need two cards. Cause you have a lot of names, but at least each one reach one. At least one name on this card. And then later on in this series, we're even gonna equip you with ways to invite those people so that on Easter Sunday, when he gets all the glory and we see people say yes to Jesus. Can I get an amen at Highlands today? Come on, make room for those who aren't here yet. All right, so today I want to again lay the foundation for this series. So excited for this moment. We're going to look at Romans 8, and we're going to study today verses 1 through 4, which are just a powerful picture for us of the life, name of the message today, the life that we have in Christ. I'm going to read these, and we're going to go back verse by verse. Romans 8:1. Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit, who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death. Verse 3. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did how? By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled, fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. I want to go back to the very beginning of verse one there. And there's an important word we have to reflect on, and that is the word therefore. You may know this, but whenever you're reading the Bible and you see a therefore, you need to ask what it is there for. All right? So to answer that, I want to go all the way back, actually to the beginning, all the way back to creation. Genesis chapter two. Now, the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden. And there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground. Trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So everyone at Grants Mill has already seen this for you guys at campuses. We have two trees out here on the stage. And I want to use these because those trees in the garden, they were actually literal trees, but they were also symbolic trees. And so first we have the Tree of Life. Now, this tree was about more than just being alive. In fact, we just read it in the scripture. There were plenty of trees that were producing fruit and things to eat. This was way more than that. In fact, in the original language, the Tree of Life is all about flourishing. This is all about the life that we can only have in God. This is in the New Testament, John 10:10, that abundant life. This tree, the Tree of Life is all about a relationship with God, not religion. It's all about, you know, that, a dependence. He's not just my Savior, he's my Lord. And ultimately, and this is what I want for all of us, that kind of deep breath of that decluttering is that it is all about resting in him where the weight is off of me. And come on, somebody. God is our king and God is our source. This is the Tree of Life. But then there was a second tree. And I chose at the rental place to get the tree of the Knowledge. The tree for the tree of knowledge, good and evil. A weeping willow tree. All right. This is the saddest tree I could find. And I kind of feel like Homer Simpson right now in that gift. Like, watch this. I'm disappearing. I'm back. All right, so this was not an apple tree. A lot of times we think about it like an apple tree. This is actually not even a tree of sin. Catch this today church. This tree, tree of knowledge and good and evil, is a tree of life through self effort. Whereas this is all about resting in God. This is all about the weight being on us, autonomy from God, all about performance. And ultimately, we're seeing this right now everywhere in our culture. You're eating from the tree of Knowledge when you kind of define life for yourself. My identity, any area of life is all comes out of this tree. And it's kind of a weird phrase, tree of knowledge of good and evil. But really what that language was from was from, like a king's authority. So that the king would say, I have the authority to determine good and evil. So this tree represents us taking. Trying to take God's authority for ourselves. So for the rest of the. Today we're gonna refer to the tree of life. And we're actually just gonna call this the tree of self. And all of us are gonna choose one or the other. And this is back to Genesis, chapter two. And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil, for if you eat of it, you will surely die. Two things I wanna reflect on here. Number one, this is huge. This represents the heart of our loving God, our Father is that he gave them a choice he did not force because his heart is always for a real relationship. But he's also kind. He made sure they knew in the choice which way was right. He gave them the choice, and he made sure he knew which one led to life. And ultimately we know what they chose in the garden. That Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree of Knowledge. And Adam immediately blames who? Eve. He actually blames God and he blames Eve. It's like when a child gets caught doing something. Jill and I were looking at a video. You know, kids grow up so fast. Parents where you at? And this is happening so fast. We love to look back on old videos and thank goodness for most of their life we've had a phone to record stuff, but we were laughing so hard. Cause our youngest Knox, when he was really little, he was on video, he was telling Jill that there was. This is hilarious. He was saying there's some blue eyed chickens in our neighborhood and they're poisonous. And she's like, okay, number one, where all that come from? And she's like, well, who told you that? He starts just blaming everybody. My dad, his grandfather, he calls Paul. He said, Paul told me that. Jill's like, paul didn't tell you that? And he goes, dad told me that. She's like, dad didn't tell you that. And he goes, I made it up. It's so true for all of us, right? We just, we start to blame it. Ultimately we all chose to eat from that, from whatever choice we make. The main thing is this. Here we are, thousands of years later, those same two options. We have the Tree of Knowledge and we have the Tree of Life. The Tree of Self and the Tree of Life. Are we going to trust God? Are we going to trust ourselves? The same choice that was in the garden we have today. And that is what the there is there for. In fact, we're going to look at this quickly. The entire book of Romans up to chapter eight has been building the case for what you experience if you choose the wrong tree. The tree of self and the kind of life that comes from that tree. And you can go study these or read up this week. This is just fascinating. In Romans 1 we. One of the results of the Tree of Self is pride. This feeling of I've got this, I'm in charge. I don't really need God. Romans Chapter two. Moralism. And we all do this. At least I'm better than the other ones. My grass may be tall, my landscaping isn't great, but it's better than my neighbors. It's this idea of justifying ourselves by comparing ourselves. Romans 3 and 4 hit idolatry hard. That whatever it is around us will make us enough Success. Relationships. Romans 5, Self righteousness. Well, God must be pleased with me because I am working really hard at this whole thing. I'm weighing out my life on the scales. Romans 6 and 7 gets so real. Paul gets so vulnerable. The guy who wrote Romans. Romans 6. Destructive patterns. I start to feel like I just can't change. I feel stuck. Maybe that's where you are in church today. Then Romans chapter 7. Self judgment. Man, I should be better than I am by now and just beating ourselves up. I just, I should be better. All of that flowing from the wrong tree. The Tree of self. CS Lewis said, human history is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. It's the wrong tree. And when we eat from that tree, we end up in a cycle. And I'll be the first to raise my hand and say, I have lived in this cycle in many areas of my life. And I know because, in fact, I'll even reflect on it in a moment. I'm walking with some people in my own life right now who are in the middle of this cycle. And maybe this is where you are as well. If we eat from that tree of Self, this is what it looks like. Starts out with knowledge. It goes to effort, it moves to failure. That failure turns into shame. Eventually, that shame turns into condemnation. And then death arrives. Maybe not actual death, but the death of that area of our life. And one of the people I'm walking with in my life right now is. It's the area. It's his role as a husband in his marriage. And man, he's trying with everything he can. I should be a better husband by now. And he is putting so much effort into it. But along the way, this anger thing keeps coming out and he fails time and time again. And just even praying with him recently, praying off that shame that comes with that, because ultimately he's now saying, I will always be a failure. Maybe you feel that way as a parent today. Maybe you feel that way in the area of money today. Someone else that I've walked with in my life in that area of money, it was just. I know what to do. I'm watching Dave Ramsey. I've gone to. I've read the book. I've gone through the process. But there's some generational stuff that he saw growing up. And every single time it gets to, like, a moment, what he ends up doing is trying to buy comfort with money to get something he can only really get from God, and ending up in massive debt. And that debt creates that shame. And he just feels like a failure. And the enemy tries to come in to use that to bring death in every area of our life. We can all look at this cycle and see how we have lived through that. And the result of the tree of Self is that ultimately it's an exhausting life. It's insecurity, it's guilt, it's fear, it's shame. Romans 7, 24. This is kind of how Paul ends his whole lead up to Romans 8. He goes, what a wretched man am I. Aren't y' all ready to pray today? Praise God. Everybody feel encouraged today at church. Thank God it doesn't end there. And Romans 8 comes into the mix. It's like sunshine after a thunderstorm. Here we are in the spring now. It's like that spring rain. And then all of a sudden, come on, the sun comes out and you can see the flowers that are blooming. It's what a wretched man and I. But there is hope. And the hope is the good news of Jesus Christ that we don't just have to live in the tree itself. Come on, somebody. There is a tree of life available. We have a choice. Romans 8:1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The tree of self is based on what we do, but the tree of life is built on what Jesus has done. Well, that's good news at church today. Everybody, we have a choice. We don't have to choose that tree of self because we have a Lord and Savior who made a way for us. There is now, therefore now no condemnation. Condemnation. Maybe you watch like Law and Order or another courtroom show. It's courtroom language. All of us, because we have chosen the wrong tree, all of us should be condemned. But Jesus stepped up and he took our sentence. And we are now. This is a great way to think about it. Whereas we should have been condemned, we now stand uncondemned. Receive this today. Open hearts all across Highlands. Today. You're uncondemned in Jesus. He knows it all. He saw it all. Even your thoughts. He knows it all. And in Christ Jesus, we stand uncondemned. It's powerful. I got a testimony from our brand new Prattville campus that just illustrates how a life that was going in completely the wrong direction. By receiving and eating from the right tree. It's a complete 180 change only God. This is Christina from Prattville. I never had a relationship with God. Even though I was raised and going to church in my teens, I began going down the wrong path. This continued through my 20s and early 30s, leading to drug and alcohol abuse. And here's where that failure this cycle comes in. I was lost, alone, depressed, and generally in a terrible state, especially mentally. It got worse when my father passed away unexpectedly in January 24th. I fell into a deep depression, full of grief. Easter was approaching and it made me sad because I could remember memories of going to Easter church services when at work, my supervisor. Y' all do know Dream Team is not just something we do on a Sunday. We're Dream Team every day. Kelly, Dream Team every day. She's at work and she invites Christina to a Good Friday service at Highlands. At the end of the service, PC prayed for those who want to be saved and I said the prayer aloud. I gave my life to Jesus that evening and committed to the one year challenge. This was the greatest day of my life. Everything began to change for me. I finally had hope and joy. Life. This is the life of God. It came back into my soul. I immediately completed the growth track. I was baptized and I love this next line. I joined some small groups, not one. Come on. For some believers out there today, what a fresh reminder. Remember when we first got saved? You would do anything. I love it. Not just one small group, some A Monday small group. Yes. Tuesday small group. Yes. Yes. Wednesday Bible study. I'm in whatever I can do to grow. I love that. Through the small groups I have met many new, healthy friendships and I even met. This is almost like too good to be true. The love of my life, Aaron and we are getting married May 2nd of this year. Sometimes I think about all the things I've gone through to get me where I am today. And I'm just grateful to God for turning them into good. The tree of life is available. How do you get it? We yield to Jesus the second and final time. I'll talk about a yield sign today at church. But yield signs are actually the most misunderstood signs on planet earth because they're seen often as a suggestion. I'll yield when I want and I'll go when I want. And I think many words we could use for this. I'm talking about getting saved today, rededicating your life. It's yielding to him. It's like saying, I'm not going to go first. Sometimes in the areas I want to and other times I'm going to let you go. It's actually once and for all saying, jesus, you're going first. I am yielding to you. And I just know in my heart that today is the day for somebody in this room or through that camera, in another location or online to let go of control and to trust him to yield to Jesus. There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in him. Here's verse 2. Isn't Romans 8 great, everybody? And we're just getting started. It's so good. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death. Everybody say free. The tree of self focuses on external duty, but the tree of life frees me by awakening internal desire. The freedom comes from the inside, not more effort and striving on the outside. And this truth radically changed my life. I'll say it as strong as I can. I would not be on this platform without this truth, the tree of life truth. Because I grew up with a very religious mindset. It's just the way that I'm wired, thinking that I gotta climb this ladder with God and always feeling. I'm like the poster child for Highlands. Coming to Highlands before I came here, I would have said, you know, there has to be more. I always described it this way. There felt like it was a ceiling on my faith because I was in my own strength. I could only get so close to God, and I kept trying. And I'll never forget Pastor Chris sharing John 14:15. Put it on the screen, guys. If you love me, you will obey what I command. And this just frames up this whole message today because there's a comma there. And how you read this scripture and how you relate to that comma changes everything for me in that kind of external duty mindset. It was, if you love me, like, prove it. You're going to do what I command. And if you're not doing what I command, obviously you don't love me. I would have seen God that way. Grumpy, angry, frustrated with me, constantly frustrated with Mark Pettus. That's the way I saw God, obviously, because he can see the things that I'm doing. But the truth of the way this verse reads is not that if you love me, you're gonna do what I command. If you love me, if you just fall in love with me, then the result of that love will be a changed life. So how do we eat from the tree of life? We fall in love with Jesus. Pastor Chris has used this illustration about Tammy. I'll use it about Jill. How do I stay faithful to. To my wife? It's not by waking up every day and saying, don't cheat on Jill today. Today is the day. You're not going to cheat on Jill. No. How do I stay faithful? I stay in love with her. And by loving her, I'm going to choose the right actions. I focus on stoking the fire of my love with her. And the same is what God wants from all of us. And I pray that every area you experience here at Highlands is full of life, life giving, Christianity, Sundays and small groups. But I want to highlight one more time. We have just relaunched the growth track experience. And it's powerful what has happened in just one month of people walking through it. Of course, it's still about Membership and it's still about connecting to next steps. But really the environment and even what I teach in that environment is all about this. Falling in love with Jesus, growing in that love with God. Everyone who goes through the growth track now gets two things in addition to membership. And that kind of next steps to a dream team opportunity is you're going to get a chance to have a spiritual growth plan. You're going to walk away with some next steps for you that are individualized. And this one's so exciting. Everyone who walks through the growth track now is trained on how to share your faith. So from the very beginning, we know how to share the change that God has done in us. We just fall deeper in love with God. If you've not been through that environment, go through that environment. Just be around the environments that are life giving here at Highlands and in your own walk with God. I'm changing my mindset. The comma changes today forever. I'm just gonna fall in love with him. Amen, everybody. All right, here's verse 3, Romans 8, 3. For what the law was powerless to do, we've experienced this cause we've tried. Law being effort, we've tried. It was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh. God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh. The tree of self traps me in that cycle we talked about earlier. The tree of life frees me to truly live. And this is a truth that's again all throughout the Bible. But I love the way Jesus says it himself in John 8:34. I'm gonna read these verses right here. This is from Jesus for you today where you are. This is what he has for you. Jesus replied very truly. I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. That cycle, it is so real. And a slave has no permanent place in the family. But a son belongs to it forever. Here it is. Receive it today. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. That we now don't have to earn it. We receive it. We receive freedom through Jesus. The tree of self is like quicksand. We think we got it. I got this. We go dip our toe in it. We think we can get away with it. And before you know it, some area of our life is up to our ankle. It's up to our knee. And this may be the emotion you have today in church. Now, I'm trying to be that good husband. I'm trying to be that good Parent. I'm trying to have healthy relationships, but in my own strength, I just keep sinking deeper and deeper and deeper. And the enemy again comes to condemn and shame us, to say we are stuck there forever. And the truth is, God can pull us out of any mess. I grew up, as I've shared before, in the country, in a very rural part of Alabama, Clay County, Alabama. And I'm really grateful that my grandfather, my mom's dad, had a farm there because it was so much fun growing up to get out on that farm. He had retired as a general in the military, and he had never been a farmer. It's kind of funny. He just bought a farm. It was like Green Acres. He's like, I'm just gonna be a farmer. And got a tractor. And it was just so much fun to grow up on that property. And there was this one day, my brother Stephen and I, who Steven's in this service so he can testify to what I'm gonna tell you. We were both on a four wheeler, just riding out through the property and the pond that was where we usually fished. He had drained it. He was going to kind of redo the pond, and it had been drained for a while, so it looked dry. And we jump off into it on our four wheelers, like, drive off into it. I'm first. I get about a third of the way out to the middle, and it was dry on the top, but underneath there was still mud. And I just get bogged down immediately in mud. There is no hope. I mean, tires are spinning. There's no hope of getting out. So I'm like, stephen, stop. Throw me a rope. He's on his four wheeler. He throws me a rope. I tie it to it. He's now trying to pull me out, but he starts digging in. And guess what? We're now both stuck, which was a funny sight, covered in mud. Now, we don't want to get in trouble. So the last thing I'm going to do is go tell my granddad we've gotten both of the four wheelers stuck. So instead, we went and got his truck keys and snuck away with his work truck. And then we take the work truck on the edge of the pond. True story. We hook a rope to the first four wheeler that's hooked to the second four wheeler. And I get in there and I shift it into gear, and I'm just hitting it. The tires are spinning. And it hits a stump that had been cut that was sharp, and the tire just plants itself on that stump. So now the truck is Stuck. The first four wheeler is stuck and the second four wheeler is stuck. And we're just like, what's happening? When all of a sudden we hear a noise and I don't. We didn't get my grandfather. He must. He had some binoculars up at the farmhouse. He must have seen it. He's a total. He's a total. I mean, just g. He doesn't say a word. He just comes driving by on his tractor, pulls in front of. Never says the word, pulls in front of the truck, hooks a chain to the truck, puts it in gear and pulls the whole thing out. Can I testify today? That is a picture of our God. No matter what mess you have found yourself in, he can pull you out. Freedom in Christ. There's nothing Jesus can't free you from. Yeah, those sins, I'm talking about those sins. I'm talking about that mess. That's why we're praying for people this month. There's a lot of people whose names are going to go on these cards. They feel stuck today that there is no hope when we get to. Come on, throw them the lifeline of Jesus. There's nothing he can't free us from. Here's verse four. We got to finish up in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. At the end of the day, the tree of self is limited by my strength, but the tree of life gives me God's strength. We have access to the Holy Spirit, God himself who will live on the inside of us. And now, eating from the right tree, we can live a spirit filled life in Jesus. And guess what everybody, that is the message for next week. How to become spirit filled, a spirit filled follower of Jesus and experience in every area of my life the power of God. So whereas the tree of self leads to exhaustion, leads to shame, it leads to fear, insecurity. I got news, good news today for Church of the Highland. The trees of God's life. The fruit is good. Peace, joy, rest, confidence, hope. This is what I have come to preach today, that there is two trees. The tree of life, the tree of God's life, with a tree of self, our own strength. And here we are, all of us here have the same choice that Adam and Eve had to choose the tree of God's life. You know, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of self and the Bible says they surely died. And they did. It wasn't physical at first, although that followed, but they died spiritually that day. There was a disconnect from God. And the same has been true for every single person that has ever lived since that point. In fact, this is a section of scriptures from the book of Romans called the Romans Road. Romans 3:23 tells us this. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And then in Genesis chapter three. Go read it. Adam and Eve were physically removed from the garden. The Bible says there was a flaming sword that blocked the way to that tree of life. That sword was there because of sin. That sin was separation. That sin brought death. And once that sword came down, there was no hope for humanity to get back to that tree. Romans 6. 23 says this. For the wages of sin is death. And we all know that verse is true because we've all experienced it. But thank God the story doesn't end with the first half of Romans 6. 23, because Romans 5. 8 says this. Our God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. Oh, come on, somebody. I'm preaching the Gospel today. While I was still a sinner. What kind of God? While I was still a sinner. And how did he do it? He could have died a million different ways. He could have gone to an altar, or he could have died in a coliseum. But first, Peter2.24 says, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross, which he refers to intentionally as a tree. Jesus chose to die on a tree. We rejected him. We chose a tree of rejecting God that brought us death. But our God chose a tree to bring us back to him. And he was crucified on Calvary. And once and for all, he crucified the tree of self. That flaming sword was removed. Here's how it says it in the New Testament. The veil was torn and all are now invited back into the presence of our God. Oh, you want to clap. That's a great place to clap. Because Romans 6:23 has a second part. This is what it says. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So all of us have a choice at Highlands today. Tree of self, tree of life. And I want us to pray and I want us to choose life today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? All across Highlands today. The last verse in the Romans road is Romans 10:9. Let me read it over us. The message is over, but this is a moment of decision with open hearts today, if you want to know how to receive that life. Romans 10:9 says, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord. And you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. I'm going to pray two prayers today for anyone who's never experienced, experienced that you've never eaten from that tree of life or you have. Like Jason's story earlier, you went away from it. Today's a day of rededication and salvation. And then I'm going to pray a second prayer for all of us here who in some area of our life have just been pulling fruit from the wrong tree for us to choose God's way to yield to him today. First group, if you're here and you want to get saved today, you already know it. I want to lead you through a Romans 10:9 prayer. Pray this in your heart, God, right now. Thank you for saving me. I repent of my sin, my mistakes. I turn away from that. I choose you. You are my Lord, which means you're in control. And you are my Savior. I receive your grace and your mercy. And God, I ask you to fill me with your spirit so I can live in your strength. God, all of us at Highlands pray for those who just made that decision. It changes everything. God, thank you. Even now that that shame and condemnation is lifting off of them. Oh, come on. If that's you and you just prayed it, just allow the Holy Spirit to take all of that weight off God. I'm praying for the rest and peace of God and for all of us here, myself included, for every area, money, relationships, our future, our dreams, any area of our life where we're just. We're a follower of Jesus, but we're choosing the wrong tree in that area. We're trying to do it in our own strength. Let's repent today, God. We repent for living in our own strength, for striving today. We receive your grace and mercy and we choose your way in every one of these areas. In any area, we're praying, God, we choose your way over our way. And we thank you that as we do, we get to receive that freedom. And God, we just say, we'll give you all the glory in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Can we give God praise today? I love you.