You Can't Get There From Here
Isaiah 35:8-10 NLT 8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. 9 Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it. 10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

Look Back week

  1. Ask God for the Direction
  2. Follow the Directions
  3. Arrive at God’s destination for you. week
  4. Follow God: Holy Spirit leads, Bible directs, Church encourages.

“can’t have leadership without followship, won’t have Fellowship with God without either.”

• Don’t ignore correction “many ignore God's direction by ignoring correction” • Correction is not rejection. “correction pulls you in sets you up for Destiny, rejection condems pushes you away” • Get a new Grip, strengthen your limp hands, stand on strong legs for the new path..

Today’s Scripture: Exodus 20:3-5 NIV 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give… An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” Tim Keller, Counterfeit god.

Essentially, an idol is anything that takes the place of God as the most important focus and priority in our life.

I compiled a list of possible idols we have in the Good Old USA. • Self, we are so wrapped up and self absorbed. • Security, we find security in or own strength apart from God. • Approval, we look for approval for self value instead • Relationships, we need God to fill our deepest relationship need. • Success, can either bring lack of self-worth or pride. • Wealth, more important than relationship with God.

Acts 17:28 NKJV for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Acts 17:16 NLT While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.

• Don’t be religious, Athens was Religious. Acts 17:22 NLT 22So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way,

23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

  1. Operate with Passion. Paul was Upset with IDOLS. Get Mad at Sin to not bless out cuss out but passionately pray, fast, serve.
  2. Operate with Purpose. Paul was directing all To the One True King, Be and Ambassador. Death awaits us all.
  3. Operate with God love.

• End of the day it’s all about The Gospel. The Good News.
John 3:16 KJV 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.