Run Toward the Roar
#ThroughTheEyesOfALion Week 4
October 22, 2017
Pastor Kris Freeman
Revolution Church
This series, Through the Eyes of a Lion, is based upon a book by Levi Lusko of the same name. It is recommended you order the book online or by electronic device to follow the series through the month of October at Revolution Church. This series is used by permission.
Review the first three weeks:
- Hidden in Plain Sight - how to see with Godly vision
- Standing on the Tiptoes of Eternity - lean into the groaning
- Hope Has a Rope - keep your anchor tethered on a short leash
- Run Toward the Roar
Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
A fascination with lions is the way they HUNT
- Relatively slow compared to their prey
- Don’t change direction well
- Incredibly good at hiding and incredibly patient
- They are a social cat, they live and hunt in prides
- One will attack from the front and roar, while the others will flank and hide and attack the prey as it attempts to run away. It’s a TRAP.
The counterintuitive thing would be to run TOWARD the roar.
These two followers of Jesus go from frightened and despondent and scared to running head on into their mission because their eyes were opened!
They ran toward what they were previously avoiding:
- In Jerusalem, they could be arrested
- In Jerusalem, there were traumatic memories
- In Jerusalem, there was opposition and foreign rule
- In Jerusalem, they could be implicated as followers of Christ
- In Jerusalem, they had been disappointed (verse 19 and 21)
But once they saw Jesus and recognized him, they returned seven miles back to Jerusalem in the DARK. They ran toward the roar!
When your eyes are opened, you will have courage to do what you think can’t be done.
- Reverse the FEAR
Often the place we need to go and the thing we need to do is exactly the opposite of what fear tricks us to believe is impossible.
We tend to BOLT when we are frightened and run AWAY from danger.
Victory comes from facing fears and running toward what we once were frightened of. Fear is a part of the faith - it’s trusting God for what we cannot overcome ourselves.
- Old Things Seen in a NEW Way
Sometimes running toward the roar means REMAINING when we feel like bolting.
Faith doesn’t always call us to GO, sometimes faith calls us to STAY.
Luke 8:39
Return home and tell how much God has done for you. So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
- Accept Your Mistakes and KEEP MOVING
One of the hardest things about moving into the future is the regret of things you wish you could change about your PAST.
Things you feel in regret: immobilization, paralysis, powerless. But God is not SCARED of what scares you!
1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
- Remember ETERNITY
John 9:4
I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
We have eternity to celebrate the works of Christ, but only a few short hours of light to win them. Life will soon past, and what’s done for Christ (or not) will LAST forever.
Reverse the Fear
Old Things Seen in a New Way
Accept Your Mistakes and Keep Moving
Remember Eternity
This is how you Run Toward the Roar
#ThroughTheEyes
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