New Life - Life Change

Life Change

INTRO:

Welcome back to NXT, where we are in week 4 of our New Life series, where we are studying through what it looks like to walk the steps toward healing. Over the last 4 four weeks, we have been walking through the word “healing” where each letter of the word has a different meaning. We started out with H - admitting that we are broken and in need of Help! E - after you admit that you need help, you must surrender and fully trust that God will carry you through your struggle. A - Assess the situation. How did I get to where I am at!? And now tonight, L - Life Change. When we ask for help, begin to trust God, assess the situation of how we got where we were, we begin to take action and make changes in our lives that God wants to make.

To begin, I am going to start by reading a poem by Portia Nelson - this poem is titles “Autobiography in give paragraphs”

IMAGE:

I

I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost ... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place but, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it's a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

V

I walk down another street.

NEED:

So, why do we need to do this? Because maybe you have been coming for the last few weeks and you have really been leaning into what has been said. You’ve been walking the steps toward healing and it seems life you just keep stumbling back to where you came from. You need this message tonight because in order to see the change the God wants to make, we need to take action.

BIG IDEA:

That’s my big idea that I want you to remember. If you want to see change in your life, you need to take action and make changes that God wants to make in your life.

How do we do this? We do this by doing two things, 1. Get out of the Cage. Get out of the cage that you are afraid to escape from! 2. Walk with the wise. Walk with people that will carry you closer to Jesus!

(Direct to take bibles out) We are going to be looking at what the bible has to say about this in Mark 2:13-14 where we see the story of Levi, or Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew was formerly a tax collector. Tax collectors in that time were despised and looked at like traitors and thieves because they were oftentimes Jewish, but worked for the Roman Empire and were in charge of collecting taxes from their fellow Jews. So it is safe to say, though they lived lavish lives, they were absolutely hated. This is the story of when Jesus calls Levi to follow him and be his disciple.

Mark 2:13–14 NLT

Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

My first point tonight to begin Life Change

POINT 1 - Get out of the Cage

Get out of the cage! Break out of the cage that is holding you back or blocking you out from fully experiencing freedom with Jesus. I think this image of Jesus calling Matthew is beautiful. I love it because I picture Matthew in his tax collector booth sitting there alone. Being looked at as a traitor and a thief because he is taking money for his own personal gain. I can only assume that Matthew felt ashamed of the job he had but was so entranced by the personal gain, the money, and the greed that when he stepped into that booth, he forgot all about it. Day in and day out, returning to the thing that weighed him down and blocked him from Jesus. Until Jesus saw him and called him to a higher and better way of living, simply by saying “follow me.”

In one moment, Levi left his old patterns behind him and began following a new way of life. I have to imagine it was hard. Leaving behind a successful job and a comfortable yet sinful way of life. Without knowing it, Matthew made the best decision of his life.

So let me ask you this. What is the tax collector booth or “cage” in your life? What is the thing that you know you need to avoid and escape but you just cannot get yourself to? Is it your school? Is it your friend group? An app on your phone that sucks you in every time you open it? A substance you just cannot get enough of? A specific friend? You name it. What is it?

Once you identify what the cage is, you need to seek him. You have to listen to his voice. When Matthew listened to his voice, everything changed.

When Matthew said yes to Jesus, everything changed! I cant imagine it was easy but I can imagine that people started noticing different patterns in his life. This can be the same for you! When you break out of the cage, follow Jesus, and ALLOW him to do the work, things begin to change. The way you think starts to change, the way you talk starts to change, the way you act to change, your interests start to change. All of a sudden the cage that entrapped you or tempted you might not look as pretty anymore and might not suck you in every time!

So, we need to throw off the sin throw off the weight that so easily weighs us down, and we need to follow Jesus.

But we cannot do it on our own. We need people that will draw us closer to him. People that can pick us up and carry us when we are down. People that can bring us closer to the cross when we simply do not want to on our own.

We do this by walking with the wise. That’s my second point.

POINT 2 - Walk with the wise.

As we’ve been studying through this content, hopefully you have identified that you need help, you have began to trust God and understand that he is the ONLY one that can save you, you’ve assessed the patterns in your life that have led to this moment, and now you are ready to make a change. You just heard about breaking out of the cage and now it is time to walk in the leadership of Jesus and make the big changes that need to take place.

So here is the hard part. Think about who in your life is bringing you closer to Jesus or pulling you farther away? Who is helping you and who is hurting you? Who is building you up and who is tearing you down? Who is making you more like Jesus?

When Matthew said yes to Jesus, he had to say goodbye to his old way of life and hello to a new and potentially uncomfortable way of living. A way of living that doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. Whether you like it or not, your friendships really shape who you are.

Here’s who I was in high school - full transparency. I turned to substances and girls to fill a void of pleasure in my heart that only Jesus could fill. I thought that getting high would solve my problems and I thought that intimacy would fill my loneliness. Turns out, both of them made me feel worthless. I was faced with a decision. Do I want to spend time with people that make me like Jesus? Or do I want to spend time with those who encouraged me to do the very things he went to the cross for? Let me tell you, it was the hardest but best decision that I made. You become who you surround yourself with and I wanted to become like Jesus and become like people that fully followed him.

So, you will need to begin to make changes in some of your relationships if you want to experience the healing and freedom that Jesus has to offer.

This might look like -

telling your friends you’re no longer doing certain things or going certain places with them

saying “no” when certain people ask you to hang out with them

leaving group chats or deleting specific contacts or apps

ending an unhealthy romantic relationship - just because you had sex doesn’t mean you’re in love

Joining a small group at church

finding other christians to spend time with at your school

sharing your story with other people

inviting your friends to come with you to NXT

Whatever it is, identify it and make that change. Now i wouldn’t in good conscience stand up here and say that making those changes is easy. It’s actually very hard. Why? Because sin is tempting and it is hard to let people down. But the cost of following Jesus looks foreign to people that do not know him. So, you may experience a season of loneliness. You may get made fun of. You may be sad for a little bit. But I promise you this. If you faithful walk with Jesus, he will provide your every need. He will fill every gap in your heart. He will mend the broken relationships, he will heal the wounds that have been created. The times that you feel the loneliest are the times where Jesus is urging you to follow him. When you notice those patterns come up, go the other way.

CLOSING

That poem that I read earlier, it has two very different outcomes. There is a road with an obvious hole that is stopping you from going around. It seems impossible to pass. You just keep falling into it but cannot seem to figure out why. It isn't your fault! You pretend you cant see it! Every day, you walk down the road and fall again. Trapped, searching for answers why you fell. Until your eyes are opened. You hit your breaking point. You identify the that the hole is there and you’re able to climb out of it and avoid it. That hole is the cage that you’re stuck in! It’s the group of friends that you know drags you down, it’s that twitter account you know you shouldn’t be following, it’s that place you know you shouldn’t go!

There are two clear roads in life. There is a road that leads to a trap and there is a road that leads to life. Jesus is offering you a road that leads to life with him. John 10:10 - The thief comes to steal kill and destroy but I have come that you may have life and have it to the full! Don’t walk around this life being trapped in a cafe of darkness and destruction. Break out of the cage and walk with the wise person of Jesus.

If you want to begin to see change in your life, take action and make the changes that God wants to make in your life.

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