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The title of this sermon is the edgy billboard that Erwin McManus, at http://www.mosaic.org/podcast/, spotted in LA. It was quite a thought provoking advertisement. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is trying to think of what men should do while they're here that makes life worth living before the inevitable, death. We spend our young lives waiting to be younger and our older years trying to live as if we were younger. When we diet or decide to eat right, it's always the times when we've gone for a long period of time doing well with the diet, but then we plunge into the pleasure of cheating the diet with the worst kinds of food. In our gut, we know that someday we will die and it actually makes it harder to deny ourselves the things we'd like to do. Solomon talks about not having to deny himself anything. He accomplished much, he owned much, he had slaves, he had women, he had money and he had land. But he tries to tell us that this is not what life is about. The advertising company of the billboard above was sponsored by a company that facilitates the meeting of two people who want an affair and also the aiding in covering up the affair. This was a billboard promoting a negative choice! What brings us freedom is not the freedom to choose, it's the choices we make that allow us freedom! Choices COST us if we don't choose wisely. Erwin talks about the poor choices of his stepfather, who had an affair and left Erwin's mother. Then, the other woman left Erwin's stepfather because she had an affair with another man! But while he was with her, he gave a bottle of scotch to her son for graduation, who was then killed in a car accident while under the influence. Erwin could see the brokenness and sadness in his stepfather's life when he talked to him years later. But the devastation of his decision extended even further into the lives of his daughters, who remained wounded long after he was dead. Our decisions can kill our freedom! Erwin then talks about how he and a group of guys went to go see a movie while out of town and, they had two choices; to see "Juno" which had rave reviews or to see "There Will Be Blood". As a group of meat-eating guys, they had to see "There Will Be Blood". This was a movie about taking and taking and taking what didn't belong. It was the phenomenon of pure, dark greed and it ended dark. It didn't bring the light of realization or redemption. It was the sum total of Taking. Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela, is a totalitarian who recently held an election that basically asked the people to give up their freedom and make him their permanent President. The bill was narrowly defeated, but Chavez is undeterred and is confident that he will "win the people", who will eventually give up their freedom. There are many people, though, who give up their freedom by choices they make outside of politics. Many of us have been driven by desires for money, fame, success or woman and we lost so much in the process. We lost people we cared for. Jesus had something to say about this in Matthew 16:24. He said, "if anyone wants to know the life I have, he must deny himself and take up his cross. For whoever wants to save his life must lose it." This is just the opposite of the what the billboard says! "What good is it for a man to profit if he loses his soul?" There's more than just this world. Some of us are "Empty Over Achievers". Sex is not Love. Liquor cannot dull the senses of a life that is lost. Jesus says, "the Truth will set you free". When asked why he was hooking up people for affairs, the billboard guy's sum-total answer was "for the money". It wasn't freeing people and he is losing his soul. Many of us already know the prison of affairs, greed and shame. We're trapped and we're haunted by our decisions. "He who the Son sets free is free indeed". Jesus says life is short so DENY ourselves! Accepting Jesus is just our first yes to a life of "Yes's" to God. Live a life that is connected to the profound, the beautiful and the real! Get free. I've never heard Erwin before, but I'm very glad I listened this morning. He's very much worth bookmarking.