Pastor Jeff's message challenges us to embrace the true freedom Christ offers, based on Romans 8: there is no condemnation for those in Christ. Believers are freed from condemnation, sin's power the law's burden, spiritual ignorance, and death's sting. This freedom is not just about liberation from, but also to: worship, pray confidently, grow, step out in faith, and serve with love. Paralleling the Israelites' exodus, we're saved not just from something but for something greater. It urges us to reflect: Are we living fully in this freedom or held back by old fears? Step into a deeper, empowered life with Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses this morning? It's so great to be worshiping with everybody. Special thanks to you to Brave the Cold Elements. It's negative two out this morning when I was driving in.
We call that the Midwest. And it's great to see so many smiling faces. For those that are joining us online, because the little kids, whatever, glad to have you. I want to let you know I was up at the students' winter retreat on Friday and Saturday. I spoke on Friday night.
Saw many students come to know Jesus Christ as a personal Lord and Savior. Many are under conviction. More were coming through the small groups, but just God was doing some things and just really working on your students. Parents, you're doing a great job with your kids and was just really encouraged by that.
Also, can we do something special this morning? Can we just give a shout out for the parking ministry that's been standing out in negative two degree weather? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
And then you have just a little time to sign up for the Warrior Summit. If you haven't done that, it's February 1st. It's going to be incredible. I've been praying for it during this 21 days of prayer and fasting. If you haven't signed up, sign up.
If you're in high school, come. If you have a child that's like in eighth grade and can handle the day, bring him. It's going to be a powerful men's event. I'm telling you, you do not want to miss this. And it's going to be awesome.
So come to that. And then today as we pray, would you join me? I do want to pray for President-elect Trump, who is being inaugurated tomorrow for a number of reasons. But let's be praying for him and his family and his administration as well.
So Father in heaven, we come before you today and we thank you that you are the God of the universe, that you love us, that you care for us, that you honor us, that you love us, and that every detail matters to you. And Lord, we come before you this morning, we think about our nation and Lord, tomorrow is inauguration day. We pray for President-elect Trump as we've prayed for all of our leaders over the years.
Lord, we pray for a safe transition of power. Lord, the man has been a almost assassinated at least once, if not twice. And Lord, there's forces of evil around this whole thing. And Lord, we pray for his administration. We pray for his family.
And Lord, we pray that you would put your hand upon him, that he would align his policies with biblical values, that we can champion what he does. And Lord, we are encouraged by the direction that this seems to be going. But Lord, first and foremost, we want to declare to you, we are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of heaven, long before citizens of our great nation.
And we love you and we're excited about you and we're thrilled to be worshiping you here today. So Lord, we ask as we preach this word that you would have your way because Lord, we as a people believe that every time you're living an active word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord for we are ready to hear what you have to say.
And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you who will believe what he says and and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word? Amen.
This morning, I want to talk to you about the number one reason I believe that Christians stop maturing in their faith. The number one reason I believe that Christians stop maturing in their faith. Perhaps you've been in a season or perhaps it's been longer than a season where you've started your journey with Christ, where everything's fresh, it's new, you're moving on, the word's starting to make sense, prayer's exciting, new relationships, it's going really well, but then you kind of hit this speed bump you can't seem to get past.
Or maybe you've been a Christian for a long period of time and then you get to a place you just can't seem to move beyond. It seems like for every Christian, it's not just automatic the way that God works. He's constantly working in our heart to grow us into what he wants. And in different times and in different seasons, Christians can go through this.
And yet we come to church sometimes and say, what am I doing wrong? And how do I grow? And what does God want to do with me? And so that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. I'm gonna talk to you about how you can experience what God destined you to become and what it is that keeps you from becoming that.
Now, we've been in a series on the doctrine of God, taking a look at the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We started with the Son, taking a look at the person and work of Jesus Christ in the month of December. We've been on the topic of the Holy Spirit. And as we've been talking about the Holy Spirit, we've really had two messages on the Holy Spirit.
And the first was the advantage that you have in the Holy Spirit. The fact that Jesus went to heaven and sent his Holy Spirit is to your advantage. And we talked about when you get saved, you get regenerated. You are dead. Now you're made alive.
You get sealed or marked. So you're his. No one can snatch you out of his hands. You get baptized into Christ and into the family of God or his church. And then you get indwelled with his spirit. So God's spirit comes and remains in you forever, right?
Then we talked about the fact that ongoing, you can continue to be filled with the spirit, which means controlled more and more by the spirit as you yield to him. So you would think that the next step we would talk about is spiritual gifts. Everybody wants to talk about spiritual gifts in the church. And if they don't want to talk about them, they want to hear what I believe about them so they can see whether they agree or not, because spiritual gifts are one of the most divisive things in a church.
But we're gonna talk about that next week. So you wanna be here next week. Lord willing, that's what we're talking about. But this week, if we don't deal with this topic, it's the reason why so many people that know that they're born again, that are filled with the spirit, that are walking with God, don't serve his church. It's because of what we're going to talk about today.
And I'll give you one verse just to start, and then we're going to be in a variety of different places. And for those of you new to the faith or you're checking out the church or visiting, I apologize in advance. Normally we stay in one text. I'm going to be jumping all over the place as this is a little more systematic for what I'm teaching today.
But let's just start with one verse, Galatians 5.1. He said, it is for freedom that Christ Jesus has set you free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Why did Jesus set you free? So that you will be free. The one the son sets free is free indeed. Amen.
So today I'm talking about the liberty of the Holy Spirit or the freedom of the Holy Spirit so that you would no longer be under bondage of what you used to be under. Because for many believers, even though intellectually they know something's changed, spiritually they try to live the same lives they once lived. And when you try to live the life that you once lived, you can't become the destiny of what God puts you on the earth to be.
And so today I'm going to package this message in three different parts. One, what is it you're freed from? What is it you're freed to? And then what are you freed with? Like, how are you to exercise this freedom, which will launch us into what we're talking about with spiritual gifts next week.
If you get this and if you understand this, and if you live in the freedom and liberty that the Holy Spirit has given you, your spiritual life will begin to trajectory. I promise you that. So I wanna encourage you this morning, open up your Bibles to Romans chapter eight. That's where we're gonna start with the understanding of the liberty of the Holy Spirit in mind as we take a look at this passage.
And we'll start here in Romans chapter eight and look at the first 11 verses for this first part. But we're gonna talk about what you're freed from. What you're freed from. If you get these five, you'll understand how to continue to grow. You may understand as you're listening to this today, hey, I'm not freed from that. That's why I can't grow.
Now here's the first one. What's no longer a part of us? You have freedom from condemnation. Condemnation. Romans 8.1 says, therefore, now that you're a believer, now that you're born again, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
So, not a rhetorical question. Speak loud to me. It's cold outside. You need to warm up. Everybody's wearing their coat. Therefore, there is how much condemnation for the believer? How much? How much? Spanish speakers, nada. Okay, there's none. There is none. There's zip.
How many Christians do you know live under condemnation all the time? I should have done better. I could have done better. I'm a Christian now. I know better. I should, I could, I would have. That's condemnation. When you sin, what the devil does is he whispers in your ear a ministry of condemnation.
You should have known better. You shouldn't have done that. See, you're not even a Christian. If you were a Christian, you wouldn't act like that. How come you've been doing this for years? Why do you do that? Why do you act like that? You're no good. You're lousy. You're stupid. We've all heard that voice. That is not the voice of God.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, here's what he said about all your sin. It is, say it with me, finished. Now, think about this. 2,000 years ago, how many sins had you committed? Zero. You weren't even born. So when Jesus was declaring all your sins forgiven, looking forward to the future, when you trusted Christ, which sins have been forgiven? All of them.
No condemnation, all forgiven. Past, present, even the future sins that you're going to sin. They're forgiven. Jesus took care of that on the cross. And if you don't get that, you're gonna think you were born again just so you can be a good person and try to measure up for the rest of your life.
Friends, you have been set free from condemnation. There is no condemnation. If you're born again, the only person condemning you is the devil and yourself and somebody else that doesn't know the truth. But if you're in Christ and you're listening to his voice, here's what he would say. I already paid for that. Quit living under the condemnation, calling yourselves by all sorts of names that you are no longer. You're not that.
A couple of weeks ago, we just took a look at the word alcoholic. There's no such thing as a born again alcoholic. No such thing. That doesn't exist. You have a new identity. You are formerly an alcoholic. You have a proclivity to go towards alcohol. Your behavior would look like that of an alcoholic, just like someone that's an anorexic, their behavior may look like that, but that's not who you are. That's what you were.
When you get to heaven, God's not going to say, hey, meet Julie. She's an anorexic. Meet Joe. He's an alcoholic. You Meet Julie. She's a daughter of mine. Meet Joe. He's a son of mine. I paid for all of it. There's no condemnation. And yet the devil whispers in our ear, shows us a mirror and like, yeah, he's right. I'm so bad.
You cannot move forward if you're hanging on to a ministry of condemnation in your life. You need to rest in your new identity. There's no condemnation for you. If you've been born again, if you've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and him only, his sacrifice on that cross and his getting up out of the grave, there is no condemnation for you.
Yeah, but I always hear this voice that I'm not good enough. That's not the voice of God. That is a voice. That's the liar. That's what he does. That's an enemy. That's what he does. He hates you and he doesn't want to see you progress. Amen. You're freed from condemnation. You are free. Doesn't that feel good this morning? If that's all you get, that's good, okay?
But you're also freed from this. You're also freed from sin. I'm going to be very careful how I explain this. Notice verse two. For the law of the spirit of life, notice that life, you are dead, now you're alive. Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. You are dead now. And now you're alive.
So we just talked about there's no condemnation. So you've been freed up from the penalty that your sin deserves. And what your sin deserves is an eternity in hell because you've offended an eternal holy God. And you're free from that. So the penalty of sin, gone.
But there's the possibility of you being freed from the power of sin in your life too. Did you know that? Many Christians don't realize this. Many Christians think, well, I'm free from the penalty of sin, but I'm always a sinner and that's just what I do. I'm always gonna struggle with this. No, that's not true.
What's true is that's what I used to struggle with. But now because the Holy Spirit lives in me, not only am I freed from the penalty of sin, but I have the possibility of, if I continue to yield to the Spirit, I have the power to overcome that sin. What sin? Any sin. Any sin.
Have you ever been in a small group where people don't believe that? Guys, you ever been in a small group where guys struggle with pornography and they say, well, that's just the way it always is. All guys struggle with pornography. No, they don't. I don't. Used to. Don't. Why? Because the power of the Holy Spirit, he can change you.
If he can't change you, how worthless is it to become a Christian when it wasn't a big deal before? You were living in sin without conviction, and now you live in sin with conviction, but you can't do anything about it? Well, I'm just gonna struggle for the rest of my life. You don't have to. The Holy Spirit can give you power over any single sin in your life completely.
Now, I wanna be clear here. There's no such thing as the eradication of sin. meaning you have a sin nature that's gonna stay with you till you meet Jesus. I mean, y'all know you still sin, right? I mean, I still sin. Ask my family, ask anybody that knows me. I mean, just spend time with me. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. I get that.
I'm not saying you can overcome sin in this life. I'm saying there's no sin that has to have mastery over you if you're in Christ. And if you don't believe that, you'll continue to live in sin and you'll grieve the Holy Spirit and you'll wonder, why is it I'm not growing? Because you're living in sin. And you've declared to the Lord, Lord, I can't change. Which really what you're saying is this, Lord, I don't believe you're powerful enough to change me. So I'm just gonna live my sinful life. And then we wonder why we're not experiencing the spirit of God.
No matter what you're dealing with, there's nothing that sees you except what's common to man. If you had to come up here and Jesus made you share all of your deepest sins with everybody in this crowd, and he stood there and said, well, you're not being totally authentic, share more. There's nothing you would share that you would be the only person that struggled with. Everybody has sin patterns.
What he'd want you to know is not only was I powerful enough to remove the penalty, I'm powerful enough to remove that personal pain that you have and you can overcome that sin with me. What you couldn't do on your own, you can do with Christ. Do you believe that? I mean, if you believe, well, I'm always just, I'm just kind of an angry person. That's just the way God made me. Okay, that's what you were. That's not who you are.
Do you understand what I'm saying? And if you go before the Lord, he's willing to change anything in your life if you're willing to partner with him and be controlled by his spirit and yield to him. And one of the reasons people don't serve in church is these are the two biggies. I know I'm supposed to serve, but I feel nobody would want me around. I'm not good enough yet. Once I get my life in order, then I'll be ready. You'll be dead first.
Or I'm still struggling with this sin.
Once I'm not struggling with any sin in my life, then I'll start walking with Jesus.
I would still be on the sidelines.
There's no condemnation for you.
And you've been forgiven from all your sin and you have the penalty.
And through the Holy Spirit, you have the power to overcome it.
There's nothing holding you back.
That's the devil that's lying to you saying you're not good enough.
Anytime you hear the words you're not good enough as a believer, you know it didn't come from the Father's throne.
Let me give you a third one you're free from.
You're free from the law.
Notice what he says in verse 3.
For what the law could not do, weak as it was.
Man, I thought the law was good.
The law is great.
The law is awesome.
The law shows us the holiness of God.
The law shows us that Jesus is the only one that can keep it.
The law shows you that you're a sinner.
The law shows me that I'm a sinner.
It's the mirror saying, here's God's holiness and you're not that.
And what that law does is that mirror points us to Jesus Christ.
He's the only one that can save us.
He shows us that we can't live holy.
We can't live with him and we will be punished.
Law is good, but here's what the law is.
It's also weak and here's what it could not do.
Weak as it was through the flesh, here's what God did.
Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but what?
According to the spirit.
So here's the deal.
The law is good.
It just doesn't do anything for you.
The law just highlights what God is and what you're not.
The law shows you your need for Christ.
That's its job, but it can't do anything.
The law can't save you.
The law can't redeem you.
And the law can't grow you.
Who can?
Jesus.
So think about this.
There's this tendency and pull, even after we become a Christian, towards religion, right?
Like after we become a Christian, we join a church, we learn all the proper lingo and the way to dress and what sins we can get away with, kind of petty ones, and what sins are the biggie that we don't want anybody to know.
And if we do them, we do them privately so nobody will call us to account.
That's called legalism.
Here's how you should do it.
And everybody, if you walk with Christ long enough, has been around legalism.
I can't stand legalism.
I hate it.
But what we tend to do is like, okay, I couldn't keep the law before, but now that I have Christ, I'm going to try to keep the law.
You can't do it.
I mean, think about the law for a second.
Think about the law.
You should not commit adultery.
I personally don't think that's a very high bar.
I don't think it's a high bar.
Honor your mom and dad.
I think I honor my mom and dad pretty good.
I don't think it's a high bar.
But when you think about the spirit of the law and what he's trying to say, it's a massive bar.
Don't look lustfully upon someone that's not your spouse.
Hey, in all things, preference your parents as they age.
Take care of them as they get older because they took care of you when you were young.
I mean, the spirit of love can't do it without Christ.
So what we tend to do is we get saved and then we start going back and looking at the mirror all the time and we feel awful about ourselves.
Oh, I got to keep thinking about it.
I'm still failing.
I'm still failing.
How about this?
How about now that the Holy Spirit indwells you and wants to control you and you want to yield to him?
How about you just seek Christ?
And as you seek his word and pray to him and know what he's prompting you to do, and you begin to take those little steps, he will do what the law can't do for you.
Jesus came so that he could live in and through you through his Holy Spirit to accomplish in and through you what the law could never do.
Does it mean the law is bad, we throw it away?
No, the law is good.
It's great.
It still shows the standard of God.
It reminds me I can't keep it, so I need Jesus.
And I need Jesus as much today as the day I got saved.
The law can't change you.
You can read the law now for the rest of your life and you'll still be the same.
But in Christ, he's the fulfillment of all of it.
That's why Christ is the end of the law.
Every single one of the 10 commandments repeated in the New Testament, except for keeping the Sabbath.
And that's because instead of having a day of rest, we have rest in Christ 24 seven all the time.
So if you just follow Jesus, he will lead you in a way where the fulfillment of the law comes out in your life.
Not because you're, quote, trying to keep the rules, but you're trying to honor and joyfully serve the one who saved you.
Friends, there's joy in that.
If as a Christian, I have to feel like, okay, I got saved.
Now I got to put on an act.
I got to try to act good, be good, do all this stuff.
Christianity is miserable.
I'm free from all that.
Christ is the fulfillment of the law.
The law is fulfilled in me.
God sees me through the lenses of his son and sees me as a perfect fulfillment of the law because Christ is in me.
I'm not under condemnation.
I have the ability to have power over my sin through the Holy Spirit and working with Jesus, he's the one that can fulfill it in me.
So seek him.
Friends, that's so relieving to me.
Some people come to church and they wanna know the rules they gotta keep.
What rules are you talking about?
Just honor Christ.
Honor Christ.
Just give him your best.
Ask the Lord, how can I best serve you, Jesus?
What does it look like?
He will guide you in the right way.
And where the spirit of the Lord is, 2 Corinthians 3, 17, there is liberty.
I mean, you ever talk to a non-believer and they say something like this?
You know, if I become a Christian, does that mean I have to?
And then they start filling in the blank with all these religious things.
If I become a Christian, do I have to stop drinking?
If I become a Christian, can I not go out with my friends anymore and party?
If I become a Christian, do I have to stop doing drugs?
Hey, if I become a Christian, do I have to stop sleeping around?
Hey, if I become a Christian, you ever hear these stories?
You know what I tell people?
I'm like, when you're ready to give Jesus Christ your full allegiance, here's the question.
Will you let him guide your life?
I'm not telling you what you have to give up or not give up.
The question is, if Jesus is on the inside, will you want to surrender to him?
And if they say no, it means they don't want to be saved.
And if they say yes, I trust the power of the Holy Spirit in their life to guide them into all truth.
And some people, much like me, when you get saved, have a lot of things that the Holy Spirit needs to clean up.
And he doesn't do it in a day.
You ever notice like somebody, I love sometimes when I'm ministering the gospel, people get saved and they come up and they're trying to give an exclamation to how great it just is because God saved them, but they don't have the Christian words to say it yet.
And they let out a word that we would say, that's not a good word to use.
But they're so excited, they don't know yet.
I trust the power of the Spirit over time to tame their heart so they can change their tongue.
I'm not trying to change them in a moment.
I'm not trying to change their immorality in a moment.
I'm not trying to fix them all.
That's the Holy Spirit's job.
And if they will go with the Holy Spirit and have freedom to grow in Christ, they can become all that God wants them to be.
Amen?
And if you have the freedom to grow in Christ, you can become all that God wants you to be.
It's not somebody dictating to you, you have to do this, and here's the rules.
I can't stand that stuff.
When I hear somebody preaching like this, click, off.
I don't want that.
The law killed me.
The Spirit of God's made me alive.
Amen?
You're free from condemnation, sin, the law.
Let me give you another one you're free from.
You're free from ignorance.
Ignorance.
I'm talking about spiritual ignorance here.
Notice what Romans 8, 5 says.
For those who are according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to spirit, the things of the spirit.
For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.
Because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God, it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.
And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This verse to me is almost, oh, as a Christian, oh, I see how this works.
Do you remember what it was like when the blinders came off your eyes and you were born again?
You're like, I get it.
I remember getting saved when I was 18 coming home and I'd studied the Bible, you know, because I went to a Lutheran grade school.
We had to memorize catechism, memorize Bible verses, memorize long passages.
And I did all that.
But when I got saved, I remember reading through the book of James.
And for the first time, when I was reading my Bible, I was saying,
I understand this.
This makes sense.
Wow, this is so easy to understand.
I mean, do you understand what I'm saying?
Non-believers cannot discern what God is leading them to do.
They just can't.
I mean, 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14 highlights this a little bit.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 says it like this.
It says, but a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness to him.
He cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.
See, once you know who God is, you realize you don't need to be spiritually ignorant anymore.
You can be aware of what God is doing in your life so you can move his way.
And sometimes for people, they don't move God's way because they go after the things of the world and that's not what God has.
You can discern the things of God if you're born again.
That's why he gives us his word.
I'm telling you a majority of everything God wants to do with your life.
Perhaps 99% of it is found in the inerrant word of God.
That's who he is.
That's what he wants to do.
Read the word, feed your soul.
Let him do a work in and through you.
Seek him, pray to him, talk to other believers.
Start discerning what he's having you do.
You're not ignorant anymore.
You can seek him.
You can talk to him.
You can grow in him.
You're not the same as the people in the world that are dead.
You were that.
Now you're alive.
Amen.
Which leads me to my fifth one that you're freed from.
You're free from death.
I mean, if that doesn't receive a hallelujah, you're not listening.
You're free from death.
Okay.
Think about this.
I mean, as a Christian, what's the worst thing that could happen to you?
I don't know.
It's not death.
How you die may not be good, but death itself is glorious.
I mean, imagine this, the second that you breathe your last here, you will see the glorious Jesus Christ, the full God-man who created you, who redeemed you, who died on the cross for you, who was buried for you, who got up out of the grave for you, welcome you, bring you, help you stand firm in front of the Father, present you faultless before him with exceedingly great joy.
That's not a bad day.
And that's just day one of eternity.
So dying is not bad.
Dying is the goal of your faith.
Amen?
So think about this.
You're freed from death.
You don't have to worry about your future.
However long you live.
Let's give you 120 years.
That's how long it is compared to the eternity you're going to spend.
No matter how beautiful, miserable, whatever, all the problems, it's that long.
What's coming is forever.
Never, and we don't even have a concept of it.
We can think about it in our heads academically, but we don't have an experience for it.
Notice what he says.
However, verse nine, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, but anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.
Again, what we talked about with the indwelling of the spirit.
If the spirit of God is not on the inside, you're not a Christian.
If you're a Christian, you have the full person of the Holy Spirit on the inside.
That's what that means.
Verse 10, if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.
Are you kidding me right now?
Think about this.
How miraculous is it that Jesus got up out of the
Who raised him?
The Holy Spirit.
That same Holy Spirit now indwells you.
What can't he do?
He says you were dead and now you're alive.
In the same way he raised Christ from the dead, he's raised you from your fleshly spiritual deadness and now you've been made alive to Christ.
And yet, yet, yet, watch how many believers still try to live their dead old same lives.
We become believers and then we say things like this.
Well, this is my life.
Jesus didn't save you so you could invite him to be part of your life and bless it.
Jesus saved you so you could be part of his life and his church and he could favor you as he grows you and what he wants you to be.
So it doesn't matter what your job was, your income was, it doesn't matter about any of that stuff when you get saved.
It's not, well, this is who I am.
So Jesus come bless this.
It's like, no, I gave any idea up of what I wanted to be because I came to you.
You've made me alive and now I'm following your way.
I was dead.
Now I'm alive in Christ.
I was unrighteous.
Now I've been declared righteous by the blood of Jesus.
I'm completely washed.
There's no condemnation.
I've been forgiven of the penalty of sin.
The power of sin no longer has mastery over me if I don't want it to.
The law has been done away with because Christ is fulfilling that in my heart to the extent that I continue to walk with Jesus.
And I'm not spiritually ignorant.
Jesus, I want all of you.
That's the Christian life.
And if you'll allow God to do that, he will guide you on a path that looks unlike anything else.
See, as Americans, we're so linear.
So here's what we think the Christian walk looks like.
We think it looks like this.
I got saved today.
Then I'm gonna take step B. Then I'm gonna go step C. Then I'm gonna go step D. It's gonna be such a nice, easy stroll.
And I'm just going with Jesus every day.
How many of you over 20 realize your life's gone different than you thought it was gonna go when you were a kid?
Anybody?
God doesn't work that way.
Even when you're following Jesus, he purposely takes you through detours.
He purposely leads you in different places.
So you might go here and then you go all the way over there because you heard God, you were prompted to do it and you get all the way over there and like, what am I doing here?
I hate it here.
And then you go over there and you hate it there and here, you hate it here.
And then God moves you forward and you say, oh God, thank you for those three circumstances I had to go through because now I know what you were building in my life.
He's taking you on circuitous routes all the time to get you ultimately where he's gonna get you because he's building things in your heart.
It's not linear.
Matter of fact, I talked to a young girl in our church this week and Kim and I had the privilege of ministering to her and she came up after Friday night when everybody was pretty emotional and she said, hey, Pastor Jeff, I think there's something wrong with me.
My first year I got saved, I got saved last year and I've been experiencing the Lord and it was so fun and the Bible was exciting.
I was feeling, she kept using the word feeling, feeling, feeling.
And now I just don't feel it anymore.
What am I doing wrong?
And Kim and I just smiled at her and said, you're doing nothing wrong.
It's not about feeling.
It's about faith.
And it's a sign of maturity when you don't feel and you still continue to take steps.
And Kim and I were able to minister all the different times that individually and even as a couple, we're walking through dark times, but we're sensing this is what the Lord has and we're going through the tunnel, so to speak.
And we don't see the light at the end, but we're walking and we're doing it and we're, okay, we're trusting, but I don't feel anything because it's not about feeling, it's about faith.
And we walk by faith and not by sight.
We walk by faith and not by feeling.
So even if you're here today and you're like, I'm not feeling everything.
You don't need to feel anything.
Some of you are going through that dark time right now.
Good.
It's God's entrusting you with something really, really special in your life.
And will you continue to follow me even when you don't feel me?
You know, we sing that song, even when I don't see it, you're working.
And even when I don't feel it, you're working.
You never stop.
You never stop working.
Amen.
That's who our God is.
And the problem is, I mean, our culture, anxiety, fear, doubt, worry, it's at an all-time high.
Why?
Because as Christians, you're born again.
You're something fundamentally different.
So why do you follow the teachings of the world?
If you go after everything that dead people are going after, you will never experience the life of Christ.
Well, this is where I need to go to school.
This is where I need to go to college.
And this is a degree I need to have.
And this is the job I need to get.
And this is the money I need to make.
And this is who I need to marry.
Lifeless.
You follow Christ and he will take you on a journey and an adventure that's better than anything you could ever plan out for yourself.
And it's different for you than anybody else.
And the problem that you have is if you try to follow what everybody else does, you'll never get there.
You know, people come to me.
I mean, yeah, there's some markers in my life.
I went to seminary and I became a pastor and all this kind of stuff.
But what people don't know are all the dark times I had to go through interpersonally, relationally, even ministry where I get all excited to do a big gig.
I'm invited to, and there's five people that show up.
I preach my socks off to five people.
You don't see all that.
Like God's taking you on a journey.
Just follow him and never stop following him because you were dead and now you're alive.
Majority of the voices you listen to in the world, they're dead people leading you to dead things that are lifeless.
And oh, by the way, before you came to Christ, you did not live the life.
If I hear another testimony that goes something like this, before I knew Christ, I was a partier, slept around, drank, it was awesome.
Then I met Jesus and I'm walking with God.
Vomit.
You are dead on your way to hell.
Vomit.
and you had nothing good, and you didn't have any real relationships, and you didn't have a relationship with God, and Jesus set you free, and now you're something, not because of you, but because of him.
Amen?
That's a testimony.
So be very careful who you're listening to and what they're saying, because if they're saying everything that the world's saying, chances are it's going to contradict the book with what God is saying.
Don't follow the crowd.
Follow the master.
Amen?
Got it?
Friends, these five things will free your heart.
There's a reason why some people don't serve in the church because they're living under condemnation, sin, the law, ignorance, and death.
Listen, you've already died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God.
Isn't that a good thing?
I mean, the world fears death and they should because they're going to be judged.
You shouldn't fear death.
And by the way, because you're in God's hand and there's no condemnation, you can't blow it.
You can't blow this.
You can't mess it up.
I would share my faith, but what if I share it wrong and they go to hell?
You can't blow it.
You don't have enough power to send somebody to hell.
They're already going there.
What if I do this?
Do you know how many mistakes I've made in ministry over the years?
I don't even know how many mistakes.
I'm aware of many of them, but I know there's even more than I'm not even aware of.
Quit making yourself be perfect until you serve the Lord.
You're freed up.
Christ died for you.
He rescued you.
You have power over the penalty of sin.
You have power over the presence of sin.
Like just keep walking with him and trust him.
It's an adventure.
It's a great life.
Now you're freed from that.
Let me tell you what you're freed to.
What you're free to pursue.
Let me give you five.
You're freed up to worship Christ.
You're free to worship Christ.
Now listen to me.
Colossians 1, we talked about where everything in creation, things visible, invisible, thrones, powers, dominions, authorities, all things created for him and through him.
Jesus created all things.
He created you.
He's worthy of your worship.
He holds all things together.
Even in Philippians chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, he tells us what's going to happen someday, whether you're a believer or not.
This is what's going to happen.
You need to know this.
For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
You will bow and give him honor and praise.
Now, here's the thing.
Worship is not singing praise songs.
Worship is not just coming to church and hearing the word.
Worship is not just joining a cadre.
Worship is not just being in our core and serve.
Worship is an ongoing lifestyle of giving your allegiance to the one and only Jesus Christ.
That's worship.
I mean, what you're doing 24 seven is worship.
And here's how you know who you're worshiping.
If you're worshiping someone other or something other than Jesus, it will hurt you when it's taken away.
It'll hurt you.
Some people were hurt yesterday watching football games because that was their idol and that's their worship.
Some people get hurt relationally because that's their idol and that's their worship.
Some people are hurt financially because that's their idol and that's their worship.
And what we tend to do is we pick one or two things we're gonna worship and then we invite Jesus to be part of our worship.
He wants 100% full allegiance.
Whether you have plenty, whether you have little, Jesus gets your allegiance.
Whether your relationships are strong or strained, Jesus gets all the allegiance.
In your life, who's the one you're bowing to?
Who's the one that you're giving allegiance to?
And by the way, everybody worships.
Some worship at concerts.
Some worship their kids.
Some worship, you know, their parents.
You can worship anything that you want, but if you're worshiping someone other than Jesus, your allegiance is off and you'll never experience life, peace, and joy.
You won't.
And we've been freed up to worship Jesus.
That's why evangelism done correctly is an invitation to worship.
Evangelism is not just telling somebody the gospel so they can get out of hell and go to heaven.
That's part of it.
That's a byproduct.
But when I'm sharing the gospel, I'm sharing with somebody whose allegiance is given to some other idol and showing them that if you give your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can have life and peace.
Come worship the Savior with me.
That's the gospel.
Worship is not, I mean, evangelism is not religion.
Like just pray this prayer and then go do your own thing.
And it's a transfer of worship.
It's a transfer of allegiance.
Who's your God?
Who do you serve?
Who has your thoughts?
Who captivates your mind?
Who do you think about?
Why do you think about him?
Are you getting to know him?
Amen.
You're free to worship him to give him your allegiance.
Number two is this.
You're free to pray to Christ.
You're free to pray to Christ.
Interesting that in Jesus' earthly ministry where he healed crooked spines and leprosy on hands and restored sight to the blind and even raised the dead, cast out demons, that the one thing we have in Scripture that disciples wanted to know how to do in Luke 11, verse 1, is Lord, teach us to pray.
Here's what they understood.
They understood if we had a relationship with the Father like you do, that would change everything because we know that's why everything changes with you.
So he taught him the Lord's prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Let thy kingdom come.
Let thy will be done, et cetera.
But think about this.
What a privilege it is to pray.
I'm not talking about religion here.
I'm not talking about religious worship.
I'm going to do the religious thing.
I'm not talking about religious prayer.
Well, okay, I got to pray a little more.
I'm not talking about religion.
I'm talking about relationship.
Prayer is relationship.
It's not I have to.
I have to fast.
I have to pray.
No have to.
I want to get to know the one I'm praying to.
It's really interesting.
You can be really religious and pray a lot.
I mean, if you go to the Middle East, you can hear the siren or obnoxious sound of Muslim mosque going off five times a day.
And there are devout people that will get down in rows and kneel five times every single day religiously that are praying to no one because it's religious.
Jesus said, I'm leaving the earth, sending my Holy Spirit.
And just so you know, I'll give instructions to you.
Let's get to know each other.
You can talk to me and all these things I'm wanting to accomplish, I'll reveal to you as you go.
I know everything about you, Jesus says.
I would like you to know everything about me.
That's why I'm bringing you in for all eternity.
You have the privilege of praying to the God of the world.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
The God of all creation, the God that holds everything together.
Talk to him.
Seek him.
Pray to him.
Spend time with him.
Do it relationally.
Our father, talk to your dad.
Spend time in his presence.
You ever notice that who you spend time with changes who you are?
You ever notice teens?
Athletes over here, band people over here, people in the choir over here, and glee clubs over here, and cheerleaders over here.
Isn't it interesting they all dress the same, talk the same, and look the same?
Isn't it interesting the Bible says bad company corrupts good morals?
You hang out with people with bad morals, they'll have more of an influence on you than you will on them.
You hang out with people that reflect the Lord, you'll look more like them.
Hey, how about this?
You hang out and linger with Jesus, you'll be more like him.
Amen.
That's what prayer is.
Prayer is spending time with him and speaking to him and then letting him speak back to you and telling him about you.
It's not just prayer requests, but prayer requests are great.
I mean, prayer requests are awesome.
You start seeing them answered.
I remember early in my walk with the Lord when I was going into seminary and doing other things, needing money, and that exact amount of money would come.
And I'd be like, where did that come from?
I can't even believe that.
That's amazing.
seen those things happen.
Just watching a documentary on Lewis Perry Chafer, who was the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924.
It's been the 100 year anniversary last year.
And, you know, talking about what he did.
And as the school had gotten started, they came to a place where they needed $10,000 to keep the school open.
They had about two weeks to get it.
This is in the back in the day where you can't wire transfer.
This is back in the day where $10,000 probably would have been like a million dollars today or something like this.
And so he told the Lord, he goes, two weeks from today at 9 a.m.
He goes, that's what I'll give you, Lord.
Whatever you want, that's what we'll do.
But I'm just gonna seek you and pray.
They sought the Lord, they fasted, they prayed together.
And on that morning, he got together with a couple of his faculty members.
There were three of them in the room at 8.30 in the morning.
About 8.35, the secretary came and handed him an envelope.
Would you like to guess what was in that envelope?
It was a check.
Guess how much it was for?
$10,000. $10,000.
And guess what?
A hundred years later, Dallas Seminary's trained hundreds of thousands of guys, not hundreds of thousands, but hundreds and thousands of men and women that have gone on and done great ministry around the world.
Why?
Because of people that have said, Lord, we gotta trust you.
We gotta trust you.
We gotta pray to you.
We gotta seek you.
There's nothing wrong with having vision and saying, this is where I think God is leading me.
That's fine, as long as you hold it open-handed.
What's wrong is when you tell God, this is where you're taking me and this is how you're gonna get me there, so bless it.
It never works.
God does not bless your plans.
And if you don't know that, you'll learn that.
All right.
So you got an opportunity to worship Christ, pray to Christ.
How about this one?
Grow in Christ.
You don't have to stay the same where you are.
Colossians 2.6 says, for just as you receive Christ, continue to grow in him.
It goes on to talk about putting down deep roots.
You don't have to stay the same way that you are.
You can continue to grow.
Titus 2, 11 to 13 talks about the fact that, you know what?
The same grace that saved you is the same grace that teaches you to say no to ungodliness and worldliness and say yes to righteousness and grow in Christ.
Or how about this one?
What about the fruit of the Spirit?
The fruit of the Spirit.
A lot of people say the fruits of the Spirit.
I understand why.
It's a nine-section fruit, but the Bible calls it a fruit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Against such thing there is no law.
You start yielding to the Spirit, lingering with Jesus, those things will grow in your life.
More love for God, more love for other people.
More peace, more joy, more self-control over the things in your life that are sinful.
More gentleness.
All those things grow over time.
Immediately, no, but progressively, yes.
You don't have to stay the same.
Who you are when you get saved.
And by the way, who you are now is not who you want to be.
And if a year from now, you're the same as you are right now, it'll be like a speed bump in your life.
I'm just not enjoying the Lord anymore.
Something's wrong.
It's because you're not growing.
The Lord never has you stagnant.
Even when you feel like you're in a stagnant place, there's things he's doing in your heart that are growing you.
And sometimes we think like a, you know, 60 minute church service, or if you come to brave more like an hour and 20 minutes or more, but is this going to change your whole life forever?
It doesn't.
It's just a catalyst to hear the word of God.
What's your next step to take?
Some of you go through seasons.
I've been through seasons that have been longer than a week or two weeks.
Sometimes they've been months of really sorrow and difficulty and challenge.
I've all been part of God's plan for my life, but he's growing me through it if I continue to seek him, amen?
And that's good.
You don't have to be happy every single day.
God's just growing you in holiness.
Let me give you a fourth one.
You also have freedom to venture for Christ.
Venture for Christ.
I use the word venture.
Venture is an undertaking involving uncertainty.
A venture is something that's risky.
It means you step out and take ground.
In the Bible, we would call that faith.
You know, we love the stories in the Bible of faith, and here's why you love them, because you know the ending.
And if you don't, you can read it in about five minutes.
What we have a hard time with when we take steps of faith is we don't even know where we're going.
We don't even know if the next step is going to be provided for.
We don't even know if God's going to show up in this.
And that's what takes faith.
That's why we venture for him.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen, Hebrews 11.1.
And Hebrews 11.6 says, and without faith, it's impossible to please him.
For anyone who comes to him must believe that he is and that he rewards those who earnestly or diligently seek him.
So what's he saying?
Venture out for me.
We've sensed my prompting through the word.
Have you ever noticed Christians?
We tend to be the most passive people by faith in the world.
God prompts us to do something.
We know he's telling us to do something.
And then we're like, all right, I'll pray about it.
And then when you're done praying about it, I better get a group of friends together and pray about it.
Then I better think about it a little bit longer.
And then by the time you're done three or four or five, six, seven weeks or months down the road, you don't even know what he was prompting you to do anymore.
And you wonder, why am I not experiencing the presence of the Lord?
Because he was prompting you to take this step of faith.
And he was saying he was going to show up.
And it's okay if you messed up because here's the beauty of the gospel.
All your sins paid for.
You're not in a condemnation.
Just start now.
What's your step today?
Amen.
He wants you to grow.
So venture out for him and trust him.
And God has a way of having you trust him in all sorts of different things.
He'll teach you how to trust people relationally, with your money, with your worship, with your family.
Whatever it is in your dreams, your goals, you start stepping out with the Lord and he will take you down a path where you realize he's got it all.
I mean, whatever he wants.
I tell people all the time, when I felt called out to Denver, I really sensed that the Lord was gonna call me here for the rest of my life.
I still believe that, but here's how I hold it.
The Lord ever called me to go somewhere else, I am not gonna miss out on the joy of the Lord because I have to be in Denver and I have to be a pastor.
I don't have to be any of those things.
I have to be a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen?
And when you live in that daily freedom, God really fills your heart with great joy.
So venture out for him.
I mean, Romans 12.1 says, therefore I urge you brothers in the view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
This is your spiritual service of worship.
Or how about this one in 1 Peter 4 in verse 10.
He says, each one
Each one has received a special gift.
Employ it in serving one another as a good steward of the manifold grace of God.
I mean, think about this.
When you think about venturing out for Christ, sometimes people will tell me, Pastor Jeff, you're pretty bold.
You'll share things.
Here's what I would say to you.
When I read through the Gospels, I look at the Apostle Paul, and he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament.
He risked his life for Christ and was ultimately killed because of his love for the Lord.
He was in mob violence.
He got beat up.
He got stoned to death.
He got shipwrecked.
I mean, the guy's just...
As far as a missionary theologian, he may be one of the top all time in the history of the church, right?
And yet you read through Ephesians 16 and here's what he's praying.
Here's what he's asking the church in Ephesus to do.
Pray that I'd be bold in sharing the gospel as I should.
I'm like, bro, you're in prison about ready to die and you're praying for boldness?
Like, how much more bold can you be?
And I'm like, if the apostle Paul needs to pray for boldness, how much more do we need to pray for boldness?
I mean, everything you need to venture out for the Lord, he's gonna meet.
He's gonna give.
If it's, because here's what the devil does.
Just let me real quick.
He's always gonna tell you you're inadequate.
You don't have enough money.
You don't have the education.
You don't have the resources.
You don't have the friends.
You don't have the influence.
You don't have enough.
You're not good enough.
You don't know enough.
You're gonna look stupid.
You're gonna fail.
That's his job.
Jesus' job says, hey, just come walk with me.
We got this.
You don't have to have any of that stuff.
I got it all.
Just come walk with me.
Stay yoked to me.
I'll provide everything you need when you need it.
But I'm not gonna give you a storehouse of resources for you to put in a knapsack.
You gotta come daily and get them.
Amen?
Amen.
That's what it means to venture for Christ.
And then finally is this one, and we're gonna get into this next week.
You have the freedom to serve Christ.
You have the freedom to serve Christ.
It's interesting, it's interesting to me that when it says you're saved by grace through faith, it's not your own doing, it's the gift of God, so no one should boast.
The next verse in Ephesians 2.10 says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so we would walk in them.
It means what God destined in your life is gonna come to pass if you continue to walk with him.
Or how about John 14, 12 to 14, where he tells his disciples, you've seen the works I do and greater than these will you do because I'm going to the Father.
I mean, God has amazing things for every single Christian.
Amazing.
And by the way, let me just say this.
His church is the vehicle that he established.
I'm not making this up.
Matthew 16, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.
He didn't build a parachurch.
He didn't build the government.
He didn't build all.
He built his church.
It's the most important vehicle.
You will never be the fullness of what God wants you to be until you use how he's gifted you to serve his church.
If you're miserable in your walk, ask yourself this question.
How well am I using how God gave me a gift to serve his church?
We're gonna talk about what some of those gifts are next week and how he does that.
But if you're not serving his church, you can't.
It's when you serve his church and you work in his church and you give in his church because all of us are ministers of the gospel.
We build up the body so we can glorify God and then we advance the kingdom.
That's the purpose of gifts.
You'll hear that next week.
But that's the purpose.
You're free to serve.
You're like, I'm not into serving.
I'm just into receiving.
I just come to church to hear the word.
I come to church to worship because I'm going to hope the songs are good.
I come to church to have people pray over.
I'm just, that's okay.
And honestly, there's seasons for that too.
And we'll talk about it.
Sometimes we have seasons of weeks or months.
I'm just, I can't serve.
I'm just, I'm getting ministered to.
I get all that.
But that season shouldn't be 30 years.
I mean, sometimes you got to get up and now I'm starting to serve again and I'm going to use my gift.
And as you use your gift, God brings healing through you using your gift.
Amen.
So you're free to serve.
Now when you're free to worship, pray, grow, venture, and serve, there'll be a fullness of God coming into your life unlike anything else.
That's what I want.
I want that.
And you'll hear the Lord more clearly.
Now let me give you this final one and this will tee up what we're gonna do next week.
But this is how should you serve.
This is what you're free to serve with.
It's one word.
Can I tell you what it is?
Love.
Love.
Love.
It's not about who you are or what you can do, because apart from Christ, you can do nothing.
It's about serving with the Holy Spirit inside of you and doing it in a way of love.
Jesus said, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
Love is the centrality of how we serve.
If you serve in pride or you serve in arrogance or you serve in insecurity or these things, you're not serving with the love of God.
Let me just read through 1 Corinthians 13, which we'll talk about next week, but it's uniquely positioned in the Bible.
We're gonna be in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, Lord willing, next week.
And between the gifts and the miraculous gifts that he talks about, he puts this passage here on love.
Now, most of the time when we hear this passage, it's at a wedding, which is totally great.
It fits a wedding, but really that's not the purpose.
The Holy Spirit put it in between gifts.
So when it's talking about your service, he's saying, here's how you should serve, serve with love.
So let me just read this over you and we'll close by just hearing me read it.
He says,
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It is not jealous.
It does not brag.
It is not arrogant.
It does not act unbecomingly.
It does not seek its own.
It is not provoked.
It does not take into account a wrong suffered.
It does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Next week as we talk about gifting, I want you to know a couple things.
And we laid a foundation now.
You're freed from all the things that are keeping you from serving the Lord.
And you're free to serve the Lord with everything that you have.
And here's how I want you to do it, in love.
If you're a martyr, but you don't, if you're not martyred with the love of Christ in your heart, it profits you nothing.
If you have the gift of prophecy, but you're not prophesying in love, it doesn't matter.
If you know all mysteries, what difference does that make?
I mean, what difference does it make if we don't have the heart of Jesus in our life when we're serving?
And we've all been around that, where it's like there's an arrogance or a pride or an insecurity.
No, no, no.
When we talk about gifts next weekend, we're talking about how do we do what God's given us in a way that we show love to his body.
Amen?
Friends, I want to let you know, whatever the Lord spoke to your heart is really, really important for you in your journey with him and your trajectory upward.
You are freed from all the garbage you thought you were freed from because you're dead and now you're alive.
And you're free to give Jesus your wholehearted allegiance.
And you're free to experience his love and pour out his love.
Amen?
And if you're not a believer, call out to Jesus and make him the Lord of your life.
Give your allegiance to him.
He died for you.
He was buried for you.
He rose for you.
He took all your sins so that you wouldn't have to.
Amen?
Would you stand with me?
Father, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are.
And Lord, we know.
that you're a good God.
Lord, we thank you for the gospel, which doesn't just save us.
It's a gospel that continues to free us.
And the one whose son sets free is free indeed.
Free our congregation today.
Free every single person here from all the condemnation and guilt that they felt.
It's for freedom you set us free.
Let us experience the liberty of the Holy Spirit to serve you fully and to prepare ourselves to learn about who we are in you with our gifts so we can give you the greatest glory.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen and amen.
Can we give God praise for who he is?
Amen.