Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / Bound in sin but set free in Truth - John 8:31-59

Transcript

Bound in sin but set free in Truth - John 8:31-59 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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The. Thank you so much.
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All right, good morning, everybody.
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My name is Pastor Dave. I am the middle school director
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here at Rez. Thank you guys.
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You guys. You have awesome kids, by the
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way. I know I was with them all week.
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My body is sore, my throat hurts, and I I wasn't even
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screaming and I'll probably never wear a Jedi costume to
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church again probably. But let me tell you, my heart is
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full. My spirit is full.
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If I got the chance to experience the hand of God in
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our presence, forever changing the lives of students and really
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everyone who was here that witnessed it all, I would do it
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all again tomorrow. And we kid you not, the baptisms
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were through. It was crazy.
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There were so many baptisms. It was it was wild.
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We were handing out wet used towels for kids to dry off over
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and over again. By the end of it, our waters, no
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joke, turned from this crystal clear to this delectable kids
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soup. There are all kinds of things
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floating in it. That murky water?
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It represented 22 lives being washed clean by the blood of
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Jesus Christ. Over 30 students realized that
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they were playing games with God and decided this week was the
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week that they were going to be serious, that they were going to
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rededicate their lives, they were going to follow Him with
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all they had. Amen to that church.
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This is what happens when the body of Christ shows up in
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Christ, honors it, when you show up with your time, your energy,
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your sacrifices. I know you've been giving.
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I know you've been encouraging students all week.
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We're encouraging students to become Jedi disciples who begin
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to abide in God's Word, to experience his spirit and life,
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to believe God who sent Jesus to follow him through darkness
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because he is the light of the world.
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We are learning this week after week.
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We're encouraging them all to memorize the fruits of the
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Spirit. If you ask any of the students
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in there, they probably will tell you I beat it into them
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because that was our goal for the whole week, to have love and
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joy and no peace and patience and kindness and goodness and
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faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
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Thursday we had this light bulb moment that these lifestyle
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changes, these choices, they come from one source.
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That source is having Jesus Christ in your life and abiding
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in him. So today join me in John chapter
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8. I give you a second to get there
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in your Bibles. If you don't have it, it's going
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to be on the screens. We'll be in verse 31.
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This is where Jesus is questioning.
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He questions if we are abiding in His truth or just memorizing
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facts, where he's questioning if we are true disciples or just
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knowledge gatherers. So let's read verse 31.
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So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide
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in my word, you are truly my disciple, and you will know the
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truth, and the truth will set you free.
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They answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have
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never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will
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become free? Jesus answered them Truly,
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truly. I say to you, everyone who
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practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the
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house forever. The sun remains forever.
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So if the sun sets you free, you will be free.
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Indeed. Our big idea for today is
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abiding, is moving from knowledge collecting to life
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transformation. I'll say that again, abiding is
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moving from life, from knowledge collecting to life
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transformation. Abiding in knowledge is much
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more than facts and information gathering.
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I would know my favorite way to pass a test is to memorize it.
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Memorize the questions so the instant I see, I know the
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answer. Or even worse, I'll just
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memorize the answer. I'll visualize patterns or
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themes. Can I?
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Can I be honest for a second? In seminary Bible college, I was
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a master at gaming the system. I remember this one question.
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In what way does Jesus divinity manifest itself?
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I knew that question had 7 answers and each of them, each
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of the words ended with ER or Orr.
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So I memorized the pattern, but I didn't dig into the truth.
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I aced the test. It's about Jesus without
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actually knowing Jesus any deeper.
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I turned the Son of God into a word puzzle, just collecting
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Bible facts while my heart stayed unchanged.
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Why? Because this is the fastest way
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for me to pass a test. It demands the least from me,
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keeping my involvement to a bare minimum.
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But does that actually change me?
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Did it develop my knowledge on the subject?
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Does it actually grow me, Prepare me?
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Did it instill any of the fruits of the Spirit into my character
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that we've been pounding into you all week?
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Was it transforming me into a better person?
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The idea of being transformed directly come from abiding in
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Jesus. Abiding.
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Abiding. What a weird word.
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We don't even hear it anymore, probably because we're too busy.
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Abiding means to remain, to dwell, to let something
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penetrate you so deep into your soul that it changes you,
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changing not what you know, but who you are and how you actually
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live. Back to verse 31.
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So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide
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in my word, you are truly my disciples.
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Jesus is laying out what it really means to be a disciple,
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or he's laying out what it actually means to be what we
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call a Christian, a follower of Christ.
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Through the past several weeks, if you've been sitting in
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church, you've been reading John chapter 8.
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Jesus is surrounded by people who are surface level in their
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beliefs. At best, one moment they believe
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Jesus is speaking the truth, giving amazing guidance and
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insight, and then in the next, like they turned off the lights.
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These people are living in the dark, disregarding Jesus for
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their personal opinions. Jesus is trying to lead them
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into a real a deep personal understanding of what what it
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means to be a follower of him, a follower of Jesus, a Christian.
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Just like the Jews here. It's possible for us, say me, to
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believe in God and not let His truths shape our lives.
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Abiding in His Word implies commitment, enduring continue
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practice, and obedience to His teaching.
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It's possible believing God, but not walk the life of a true
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disciple. How do I know?
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Because I do that all the time. I wear the title Christian.
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But sometime, sometimes I'm just tired.
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I'm exhausted. I'm worked out, tired of being
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strong, tired of pretending everything is OK.
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Christianity calls me to lay down my life and to pick up and
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carry a cross when I'm already caring so much.
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I read come to me, Jesus says this, come to me, all who are
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weary, but I keep running to the other things instead.
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Entertainment, every distraction I can think of, performance, and
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ultimately I just have to check out.
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I want peace but avoid the path that leads to it.
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Obedience. I want joy but I avoid pruning
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what I know is souring me. I want transformation but avoid
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surrender because even though I am exhausted, I am tired, I have
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done all I can. I still I think it's best for me
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to be in control. The real cost of discipleship
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isn't doing more, it's laying more down.
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Think about that. The real cost, what it really
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cost you to be a disciple, is not to do more, it's to give
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more. Up my pride, my pace, myself
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made strength. Jesus isn't asking me to hustle
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harder, but to trust deeper, to abide, not to strive, to rest in
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him. Not just for him.
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Because the title Christian does not transform me.
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Discipleship in Christ is a person who's developing,
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growing, changing. It's a person who's becoming
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more like the teacher, more like Jesus.
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And often I fall back into being more like Dave, less like Jesus.
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According to the Bible, there are two versions of you.
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One who was enslaved to sin, living under the power of
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fleshly desires. This is kind of our default.
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This is what we started from. The other is filled with the
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Holy Spirit, living as if we were originally created in the
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image of God as we were. So when I say I want to be Dave,
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I have to ask which Dave, the one that's redeemed and made
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holy by God, or the one who is still bonded to sin?
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And when did becoming like Dave become more appealing like than
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being like Jesus? When what makes me think more of
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me is better than more of God? When I stopped abiding in
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Christ? When I stopped recognizing that
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my life isn't how He intended it to be.
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This transformation is recognizing that I need God's
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word to shape my life. This is a disciple.
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This is what Jesus is talking about, or this is what we call
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in church sanctification. It's the growth in your capacity
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to be more like Christ, to be more like Jesus in your
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character. All right, think of it like
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this. You guys like food?
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Yes. OK, four people like food.
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OK, The foodies in here, you don't get intense flavour by
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brushing on marinade. Brush it on, throw it on the
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grill. How's it taste?
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If you want your rib eye to taste like garlic and balsamic
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and explode in flavours, you can't just dip it in and cook
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it. Nothing sinks in, nothing
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changes. Real flavor comes when you let
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it soak in, absorb when you work that marinade deep, give it time
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to break down the tough parts and then fuse into the middle.
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That's how transformation happens, not with a quick
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splash, but with the slow, deliberate soaking.
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And the same is true with God's Word.
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It has to soak in, not just sit on.
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Jesus says in order for you to become a true disciple, He says
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you must continue. In my Word, discipleship always
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involves 2 key components. Receiving His word #1 and being
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shaped by His Word. It's both truth learned and
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skill developed. Abiding means more than hearing.
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It means continuing in it, applying it, living it.
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Information must be married between practice and skill.
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Imagine you need something like a heart surgery.
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Something that's super important.
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And your surgeon walks in and he starts explaining it to you,
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This is what I'm going to do. And he shows you diagrams of how
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your heart's working. And you're impressed.
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Like, wow, this guy's pretty good.
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And then he's got his medical degrees on the wall.
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Wow. He doesn't go to a Skibby
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school. Then you ask him the question
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that changes everything. How many of these have you
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actually done? He goes Oh no, I've never done
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this before, you're my first. Suddenly all that knowledge is
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just surface level. When life and death is on the
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line, information without experience is worthless.
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Life is too big of a deal to not get this right.
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Abiding is moving from knowledge collecting to life
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transformation and in a life and death scenario, information is
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not enough. Knowing Christ or not knowing
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Christ is a life and death situation.
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We love to gain knowledge. We love to hear God's Word.
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We love the idea of living godly lives.
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We are so good at biblical knowledge gathering, but for
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informational purposes only. We want the data without the
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responsibility. That's truthfully what happens
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on a Sunday morning. So many people come in, but they
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don't continue in God's word. They hear God's word.
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They come in and say, give me a sermon, teach me, preach to me,
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make it good, make it exciting, let's get our lightsabers out,
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let's go crazy. But the second they leave those
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back doors, is it being applied to our lives or is it simply
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they love the feeling of church and excitement?
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And don't get me wrong, church is amazing.
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Church is here to lift us up, to refocus on the Lord.
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But Jesus says when we're not abiding in his word, when it's
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not changing you, when you love the way you live more than the
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way the Lord asks you to live, Jesus says, you're not my
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disciple. You may be a church attender,
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you may be taking tons of notes, but a disciple, No, you may be
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saved and on your way to heaven because you truly believe in
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him. But his disciple, No.
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Again, verse 31. So Jesus said to the Jews who
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had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly
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my disciple, and you will know the truth, and the truth will
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set you free. They answered him, We are
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offspring of Abraham, and I've never been enslaved to anyone.
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How is that you say you will become free?
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Become free? What is this freedom he's
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talking about? We live in America.
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What do we need to be free from? The Jews are asking the same
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question, which is blowing my mind.
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These are the same people that God had to save from an
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enslaving hand of Pharaoh. How could these people forget
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about their million people leaving Egypt where God had to
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intervene? Get in the middle of it
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physically do one of the most spectacular miracles of parting
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the seas. It's the same way we forget to
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put Christ in our lives. Somebody might be thinking this
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Jesus talk sounds great, but I'm not even sure this guy existed
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2000 years ago, let alone that he can set me free from the
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things that I'm dealing with today.
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That's a fair question, I get that.
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I understand what you're thinking, but let me show you,
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no matter how skeptical you may be, that freedom that Jesus
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talks about changes lives. All of us have a basic idea of
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tools. Yes, we have tools at home.
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OK, We have all kinds of tools. We have computers, we have
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phones. Some that's good, some of it's
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not so good. We have cars, we have drills,
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and there's a way to use our tools well, the way that they
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were designed. But if you don't use the tool
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correctly, you'll ruin the tool. If you took an electric drill
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and you used it as a hammer, eventually this will no longer
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be an electric drill. It'll be destroyed.
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There'll be pieces. If you take it and you start
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digging and trying to use it as a pry bar.
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Done it before, destroys it, by the way.
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It's pretty messed up. It's no longer optimum.
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The lie the devil tells you is that anytime you have a
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restriction, a barrier, a guideline, a guardrail in your
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life, you are not free. That's basically saying how dare
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you tell me how to use that drill?
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How dare you? If I want to use it as a hammer,
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I'm going to use it as a hammer. How dare you.
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You're so enslaved. Often in our culture, we look at
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guidelines and designs that the Bible talks about and go How can
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rules or guidelines lead to freedom?
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But here's what's wild the husband and wife who actually
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follow God's design, who choose exclusivity, who practice
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selfless love, who build their relationships on trust, respect,
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biblical commitment. These couples, they report the
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highest satisfactions in their marriage.
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The reality is when we actually live life the way our Creator
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designed for us to live, this is when we are the most satisfied.
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You were created for a dependent relationship with your Creator.
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Let me say it again, you were created for a dependent
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relationship. We don't like that word, but
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it's true. And life without Him will not
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feel satisfied. In fact, life without Him leaves
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you feeling broken, missing out. True freedom isn't about having
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no rules. It's about living within the
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right rules that actually fit how we were designed to work.
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So you can be your absolute best.
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Jesus is. True freedom means being
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liberated from bondages and limitations, bondage that is
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preventing you and I from becoming what we were created
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for. What Jesus died on the cross
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for. Bondage is such a shame and
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guilt. Unprocessed trauma, envy,
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addictions, goes on and on. Here's what's fascinating.
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Jesus is making a claim that every human can test this, that
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there are invisible chains holding us back from becoming
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our best selves. You don't have to believe in
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miracles to recognize that something inside of us sabotages
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our own happiness. We know what is good for us, but
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we keep doing what hurts us. Jesus says this pattern has a
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name, it's called slavery to sin, and he claims he has the
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key to break those chains off. How does an addict know that
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they're an addict? At one point do they say I am a
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drug addict, I'm a sex addict, I'm an alcoholic?
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The truth is, at first they don't, because addiction doesn't
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feel like slavery in the beginning.
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It feels like freedom. It feels like a choice.
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It feels like you're in control. From the outside, we say, how
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could they not see that they're a slave to this?
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But when we're doing it, we don't feel like a slave until
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you try to walk away and you can't.
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I didn't think I was a slave to working, being a workaholic,
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even though I've been told many times you need a vacation.
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Working myself to the point of depletion.
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I didn't believe it because I was doing it to myself.
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And I love working. It makes me feel good, makes me
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feel important. When I'm not working, I miss it.
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I can't stop thinking about getting things done.
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This is just me. Anybody else in this room have
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something in their life that is like that?
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Amen to that hand. Freedom isn't doing what you
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want. Freedom is being able to stop
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when you realize you need to stop.
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Freedom is having the sight that you need to stop.
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Slavery is when you can't stop. Verse 34 Jesus, answer them
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Truly, truly. I say to you, everyone who
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practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the
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house forever. The sun remains forever.
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So if the sun sets you free, you will be free.
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Indeed. Abiding is moving from knowledge
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collecting to life transformation.
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Our big idea for today is simply stated.
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It's easy to say, yet it's not often taken seriously.
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I know because I often fall short of abiding in His word,
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from dwelling in it, from pondering how His words should
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change my character, from letting it truly set me free.
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I do this because it's easier to skim than to soak.
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Because I will seek the Lord as an afterthought because I'm too
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caught up in everything else. And there's a lot going on.
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Romans 12/2 says do not be conformed to the patterns of
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this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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And it's crazy to me how I will only see transformation when
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it's so deep, when I'm in it so deep that it's hurting.
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My thought life, my prayer life, it becomes about me.
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I'm enslaved by what I want, ultimately letting the sin of my
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life overcome and enslave me. And if I'm being honest, the
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same split sin that's enslaving me is enslaving you, not
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allowing you to have and enjoy the benefits that God is
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promising us, keeping us from the benefits that we were
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created to receive. And that's my question I asked
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you today. Do you have true freedom from
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life's bondages? Christ offers freedom in his
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salvation. It's not merely enough to know
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that Christ can set you free. He has to be a part of you
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before you become free to take off those sinful chains of your
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life. Christ offers in this through a
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real relationship with Him and if you actually believe in
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Christ that Christ is who he says He is, He gives you the
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free gift of salvation and it starts to break you free.
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Our lives consequences may seem impossible to overcome, but the
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reality is without Christ most of them are right now I give you
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the opportunity to have a real relationship with Jesus today.
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The Bible says you must place your faith in Him to be saved.
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Romans 10/9 through 10 says because if you confess with your
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mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that
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God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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For with a heart 1 believes and is justified, and with the mouth
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1 confesses and is saved. If you would like to surrender
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your life to God today, I want to give you that chance.
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So if everybody could please bow your heads, close your eyes,
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just for a quick moment. This is just so you can focus on
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God, if you're willing to ask Him for forgiveness and
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salvation with every head bound you can quietly, silently repeat
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repeat this prayer or something similar.
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Jesus, I know I am messed up. I am a Sinner.
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I can't save myself. I want you to save me, adopt me
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into your family. I surrender everything to you.
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I receive your promise of forgiveness.
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I receive your adoption and eternal life.
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Jesus, please be my Lord with every head down.
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If you pray that prayer for the very first time, would you be
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brave enough to raise your hand? Amen.
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You may put your hands down in the amazing power of Jesus.
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Amen. If you just committed your life
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to Jesus for the very first time, welcome to his forever
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family. There are tables in the back of
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this room behind banners that says, I raised my hand and we
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just have a small gift for you, something to celebrate.
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But really we just want to pray with you and be there for you
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while you make this first step into having Christ come into
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your life and change your life and start breaking you free from
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the things that you know you're working through.
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And before we end today, let me give you some practical steps of
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abiding in God's word #1 hang out with God's Word.
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Hang out. Take a second.
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One of the best places to do this is in our community groups.
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Our community groups are not secular Hangouts.
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They are centered around the Word of God.
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Because community is nice, but biblical community is essential
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for everyone here. It's the word that changes us.
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Sometimes it's the word from other believers, so hopefully
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with a group of people, if not by yourself, take a verse, take
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a section of scripture and read it over.
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Ask God, am I living like this? Pray and ask Him.
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God, what are you telling me in this section of your word?
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Let it soak into you. Dwell on it.
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If you have no idea what it means, even better.
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Search, see, talk to people about it #2 be a doer, not just
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a hearer. Throughout the week, take a
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moment to ponder the word that you've been reading, that you
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opened up and read, and ask yourself, how can this change my
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outlook on a situation? How should it change my
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character or my actions? Lastly, find a verse that speaks
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directly to an area you know you are called to be transformed in.
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Utilize your pastors, your elders, your leaders, the people
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around you to find a verse that speaks into what you know you
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need to change in, Be transformed.
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Write that verse somewhere where you'll see it multiple times a
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day, every thought, Every time you see it, don't just read it.
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Confess your need for God's help to actually live it out, because
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we really need God's help. The goal is not perfection, it's
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authentic discipleship. It's when we get to see God,
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when we are face to face with God and he says, you, you were
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my disciple. It's allowing God's truth to
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slowly conform you to the image of His Son.
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As we close the song, I ask you all to please stand.
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Our prayer team will be up here if you need to pray about
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anything. And when I say anything, I
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really need it. These people have heard it all.
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If you need healing, if you need encouragement, if you need just
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to be with somebody, come forward and pray with them.