Devil You’ve Held Me Long Enough

0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.439 Are you ready for my first sermon of twenty twenty two? 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.239 You sure you don't know what I'm gonna say? Yeah, 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:18.439 you sure you're right? Tell him you can't handle the truth. John, 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.160 chapter eight. That's kind of our on subject for today. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.680 John chapter eight, verse thirty one. Now listen to this 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.960 crazy confrontation between Jesus and the crowd of people who've 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.800 gathered to hear him teach John chapter eight, verse thirty one. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:41.080 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:45.879 you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples, 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.880 then you will know the truth, and the truth will 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.040 set you free. And they answered him, we are Abraham's 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.320 descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.120 you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied, 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.560 very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.720 slave to sin. Now, a slave has no permanent place 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.520 in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:26.560 So if the sun sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.720 I know that you're Abraham's descendants. You are looking for 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.520 a way to kill me because you have no room 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.399 for my word. Wooh, you thought it was just your 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.320 closet that was cluttered. No, it's more than just physical 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.840 spaces that we have to clear out. He said, you 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:55.919 have no room for my word. Wow, this is getting 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.560 intense here, Jesus, I'm telling you what I have seen 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.840 in the father's presence, and you are doing what you 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.720 have heard from your father. Abraham is our father. The answer. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.800 You are Abraham's children, said Jesus, Then you would do 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.240 what Abraham did as it is, you are looking for 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.400 a way to kill me, a man who has told 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:23.000 you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham didn't 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:28.160 do such things. You are doing the works of your 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.840 own father. We are not illegitimate children. They protested, can 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.560 you feel a fight fixing the break out? Kind of 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.600 want to sneak out the room before this gets violent. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.800 The only father we have is God himself. And Jesus 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.560 said to them, if God were your father, you would 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.280 love me, for I have come here from God. I 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.000 have not come on my own. God sent me. Why 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.799 is my language not clear to you because you are 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.520 unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:14.760 the devil. Jesus. Let's uh, let's think this through before 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.600 we say something we can't take back. This is not 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.720 good for your popularity or eating. You know what I'm saying, Jesus, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.680 little baby Jesus, and General Jesus. Oh man, The truth 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.079 is confrontational. He said, you belong to your father, the devil, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.560 and you want to carry out your father's desires. He 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.680 was a murder from the beginning, not holding to the truth, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.360 for there is no truth in him. When he lies, 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:45.360 he speaks his native language for everybody. Say this out loud. 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:52.960 He is a liar who is Yeah, So this is 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.640 the message God said to give you for the first 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.720 Sunday Sermon of this year. You ready, He told me 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.800 to you just like this. The devil has held you 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:13.120 long enough. They didn't believe it when I said it. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.000 Maybe if you say it to them, look at the 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.560 person next to you, right in their eyeballs, right in 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:23.599 their pupils. Tell them the devil has held you long enough. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.279 They didn't believe you either. Maybe you need to say 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.760 it for yourself. Let's try it like this, Say this 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:42.440 out loud, devil, You've helped me long enough. That felt better, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:52.440 and the truth will set you free. Be seated if 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:59.000 you can stand up, shout you got something inside you 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:06.440 truth insideing it. It's an amazing thing, you know, the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.200 way that the devil gets us in these type spaces 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.480 and makes us think that the best part of our 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.719 life is over and there's nothing we can do and 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.920 we might as well not even try. When we say 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.000 the devil is a liar, of course, we don't mean 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:29.560 that he runs around with a plastic pitch for it, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:35.000 telling you stuff that you know on the surface to 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:42.760 be untrue. The way that he operates is by deception, 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.920 which means that the devil specializes in saying things that 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:55.600 sound true. He slick with it. He says it in 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.080 such a way watch this, that you don't even know 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.919 it's him saying it, because when the devil talks, it 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:09.159 sounds like your voice, doesn't it. When the devil talks, 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.719 it sounds the same way as when God talks, because 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.400 it's happening inside of you. God doesn't speak to me 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:20.719 through out loud voices. Neither does the Devil except sometimes 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.440 when I'm watching the news and stuff. Then I hear 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:28.279 him just like right out loud, Oh God. But apart 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:33.440 from that is the devil's job to keep you from 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.720 even knowing. You know, I used to read this verse. 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.080 I'm gonna give you example of this. Okay, we take 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.920 the Bible and we want a verse of the day, 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:42.400 and then we don't even read the whole verse of 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:43.960 the day. We just want the half verse of the day. 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.200 And we start going through scripture like as salad bars 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.960 and I don't like radishes. The problem with that is 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.440 you'll hear a verse and think it's true, and it 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.320 is true, but it's not totally true because it said 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.560 the truth will set you free. How many have heard 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.680 that before? Just raise your hand. I didn't just say 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.479 the truth will set you free. I noticed some of 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.360 you were with me when I was reading my passage. 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.600 He said, you will know the truth, and the truth 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.680 will set you free. But you have to watch culture 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:19.920 because the enemy will use language that is common in 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.960 culture in order to get you to think you understand 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.240 the concept that really you have become blind to the 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.320 reality of I told my kids the other day, stop 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:36.360 saying that certain celebrities got canceled in my house. I 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.480 don't like the word canceled because the fact of the 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.640 matter is you use that term all the time, interchangeably 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.000 to mean people are saying something bad about them. I've 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.320 had people say bad things about me. But I'm not canceled. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:58.280 I'm still called So I don't know if they're annoyed 0:07:58.320 --> 0:07:59.840 with this or not, but I don't let them say 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:01.840 that in my house anymore. I mean, they still say 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:03.640 it because like what am I going to do about it? 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:08.120 But I tell them to stop, all right, just being real, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.520 I told them they shall not. They did not. No, No, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.480 they still do it, but I stop saying that. A 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.679 few years ago, I started hearing this phrase, this cultural phrase. 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.920 I didn't know why at first that it sounded good. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.200 It sounded good on the surface, but to me it 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:30.080 felt like there was something about this phrase that while 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.600 it sounded very good and even scriptural on the surface, 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.920 I first heard it from somebody. They said, I've got 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:41.560 to live my truth. I didn't know why. I didn't 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.560 like it, because it sounds good, right, be true to 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.960 my value. I've got to you know, I've got to 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.679 do what I'm supposed to do. More thought about it, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:54.440 I started hearing it more and more. How many of 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.280 you have heard this before? Like, I've got to speak 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.800 my truth. I think that's good if what we mean 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:04.160 by that is I've got to share the experiences that 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.120 I've had In an honest way, I've got to face 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.400 things that I've been through, and sometimes in sharing what 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.880 I've been through that I used to be ashamed of, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.200 somebody else can be set free. I think that's awesome. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.880 And if that's what you mean when you say you know, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.240 live my truth or speak my truth, I think it's good. 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.920 I think what bothered me about it was John eight 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:35.520 thirty two, where Jesus did not say your truth will 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:40.240 set you free. Put it back up, let's check just 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:46.920 to make sure. Then you will know your truth. I 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.240 think why I didn't like the phrase is because it 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:58.880 made truth sound like shoes. It made truth sound like 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:04.760 something that you can try on. It's too early in 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.720 the year for this. I should be preaching something like 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.920 you can make it, keep your head off, do it. Duh. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:21.640 It bothers me because truth is not choosable. Really, when 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.680 we say, oh, this is my truth, what we're talking 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:31.160 about is our belief. There's a big difference between a 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:36.120 belief and a truth. You don't believe me, that doesn't 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.880 make it untrue. What if I believe that all tall 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.800 people are arrogant because I met this tall guy one 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.520 time and he was kind of prideful and cocky. That's 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:53.160 an experience. It's a personal experience, but that doesn't make 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:57.440 it an absolute truth. What I'm noticing a lot of 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.840 in my own life. I'm not just talking about people 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.480 culture others. I'm not just talking about magazines or books. 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.280 I'm not talking about you and your house. I'm talking 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.760 about me and my heart. A lot of times, it 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:16.480 seems like I'm tempted to turn a personal experience into 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:29.040 an absolute truth. Have you ever had a bad haircut? Now, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.000 y'all be careful about this one, because my dad was 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.120 a barber and he's in heaven, so be nice. Are 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:39.280 barber's bad? And you're like, this is really stupid. Man. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:40.800 We did not come all the way out here with 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.199 the virus going around to hear you tell us this. No, 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:51.280 you've done it with church before. Oh, church people are hypocrites. No, no, no, no, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:59.960 Charlie was a hypocrite. Charlie was a hypocrite. All men 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:05.480 and our dogs. No, Mike was a dog. Not you 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.560 till my security I watch how I say that. No, 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.800 it wasn't church people. But now what's what you did? 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.320 You went you went to a restaurant. You had a 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:23.200 bad server, and now you decided to stop eating. You 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:28.880 went to one church, you had a bad experience, and 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.120 then you stopped. Not you, you're here, you're here. I'm 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.760 not talking to you, I'm talking to them. I'm talking 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.200 to them. I'm talking to them. You had one experience 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.920 with failure. You set out to do something and it 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.040 didn't work. So then you turned the event, the failure, 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.880 into an identity. I'm a failure. So what I want 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.880 to know today is it a truth or is it 0:12:53.920 --> 0:13:00.880 a trap? Because because when Jesus said the truth will 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:07.199 set you free, he wasn't talking to drug lords. When 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.959 Jesus said the truth will set you free, he wasn't 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.720 talking to gang bangers. When Jesus said the truth will 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.560 set you free, he wasn't talking to evil wicked. He 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.160 wasn't talking to pagans. He was talking Put Verse thirty 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:22.720 one back up. There's gonna blow your mind. This blew 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:30.199 my mind to the Jews who had believed him. He's 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.520 talking to people that believe him, and he's telling them 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.280 they don't have the truth. They only have a certain 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:44.800 level of belief. And there's a big difference between belief 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:52.840 and truth. Belief is based on your experience. Truth comes 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:58.600 from God. Beliefs can be altered, Beliefs can grow and 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.079 expand and should. There was a time in your life. 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.839 Let's talk about this. There was a time in your 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.520 life where most of you believed that somebody came in 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.880 your house and gave you money for your teeth when 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:14.320 they fell out. That made perfect sense to you. It's 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:19.400 probably worth about five dollars on a pillow. Holly got 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.680 abby up to ten dollars and I cut the tooth 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.520 Faerry out. I just pulled her aside and said it's 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:29.880 not real. It didn't too expensive. It got too expensive 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:36.080 for me not to tell her the truth. And have 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.080 you come to the point yet where it has cost 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:45.960 you enough to be stuck in a belief about who 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.520 you are and what life is and what they did 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:59.760 pass The devil held you long enough because for some 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.760 some of us, nothing in our life will change this year, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.200 because we are not sick enough of the way it 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:15.440 was last year. We are not sick enough of it. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.600 Yet we are like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Now. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.080 I studied all about this scripture today that I'm sharing 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.760 with you about these Jews who believed in Jesus enough 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:34.480 to know that they were not immoral, ungodly addicts. This 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.720 was not a case of them needing to give up 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.640 their sin. It was a case of them needing to 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:48.200 give up their story. There's a confluence in the text 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.200 of what Jesus is teaching about in when he's teaching 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.160 it and I really want to teach more this year. Okay, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:16:00.360 I'm fine to inspire you, but I'm sure I want 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.200 to get up here and just give you Christian cocaine 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.480 that makes you feel high for an hour and a 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:13.400 half and then just drops you off. I want to 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.600 give you something that you can that you can carry 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:21.760 out of here and be strengthened in faith. I want 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.840 to give you food that you can live off of 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:30.040 for days you can go back and study. So one 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.320 thing about the cliches that we quote is that when 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:38.880 we understand the context in this passage, Jesus is talking 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.280 to the Jews who believed him, and he is challenging 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.920 their belief that it doesn't go deep enough, which means 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.720 they believed in his signs, but they did not commit 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:59.440 to his teaching. They liked listening to his message, but 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:07.160 it was made flesh in their life. The people he 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.320 was talking to are people like me and you who 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.480 believe in him. But he is telling them that it 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:21.760 is possible to believe and still not be free. Indeed, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.440 it is impossible for you. This is one thing that 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.359 we all have to understand. It is impossible for you 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.280 to live in a sustainable way above the level that 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.719 you are willing to believe God at, because eventually you 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.720 will either shrink your belief down to the level of 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:49.080 your experience or allow God to expand your belief to 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.879 the level of his promise. Which one is happening in 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.480 your heart so far this year? I don't know yet, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.399 pastor has only been a week. That's long enough, you 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.840 know about a weekend. Are you shrinking what you think 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.040 God can do, will do, is gonna do? Are you 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.560 shrinking your belief to the level of your experience or 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.440 are you allowing God watch this to raise your experience 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:26.280 up to the level of his power. Jesus talking to 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.880 the Jews who believed in him, and he said, if 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.760 you hold to my teaching, if you hold to my teaching, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.119 be my disciples, then you'll know the truth, and the 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:42.840 truth will set you free. I remember one January, the 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.840 little boy I walked in on my mom and dad. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.879 Hold on. I walked in. My mom and dad were 0:18:54.920 --> 0:19:00.800 get we edit this. They were watching how many of 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:08.119 y'all remembered Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes? They were watching 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.879 Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes? And this is the kicker 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:18.479 eating a bowl of ice cream. It scarred me for life. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.719 I walked in and saw them watching Jane Fonda eating 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.720 ice cream. We'll never forget that. Can't remember my kids' 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.960 names most days in the correct order, but I will 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:34.679 never forget watching them watch a workout eating ice cream, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.119 because now I think about it every time I preach, 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:48.200 because I wonder will this work if you just watch 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.880 me do it? And I don't even look as good 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.399 as Jane Fonda. I'm not even that attractive. I'm not 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:01.560 wearing tights for y'all. And yet there is a sense 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.080 in which we live. Now. This is the life. This 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.600 is how crafty the devil is. If you knew more, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:14.040 you could do more. He didn't say, if you would 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.760 know more truth, it would set you free. He said, 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:23.199 if you hold to my teaching, you will be my disciples. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.400 Then you will know the truth and truth to say free. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.360 So if I knew, I would do no no, If 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.320 you would do, you would know if you would do, 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.080 you would know how many of you have had the 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.679 thought in the last two years. I just don't know 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.280 what to do. You thought that I don't know what 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:46.560 to do. Everybody whose hand didn't go up when I 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.199 asked that question, I need to have a meet, a 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.159 consultation with you, either to cast out that devil of 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.760 lying or to pay you to tell me the future. 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:57.879 I'm gonna ask again, because I think y'all are asleep 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.000 on me. How many of y'all have had the thought 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.879 in the life. I just don't know what to do. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:05.479 Raise your hand, raise your hand, raise your hand, raise 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.720 your hand, raise it online, raise it online. All right, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:14.679 Yes you do, Yes, you do. You know what to 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:21.399 do with the truth that you have been given. But 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.960 we don't want to hold to the teaching that Jesus 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:30.119 gave us when it's hard to hear or when it 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:35.000 makes us confront ourselves. He said to the Jews who 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:39.240 believed in him, you are so addicted to the lies 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:41.840 that you don't want to hold on to the truth. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:44.399 And you know a lot of times when I'm asking 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.280 God to change me in my life and God is 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.440 telling me to hold on to the teaching. A lot 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.359 of times I picture myself, come here, Elijah. I picture 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.240 it like this simple picture. God gave me, simplest picture 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.159 in the world. I pictured it like this is my 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.400 oldest son. I was telling you about how we work 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.920 out together in the pound, and now listen, I can 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.240 still out bench him, out squad him and all that stuff. 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:07.320 He's taller than me, but that doesn't mean he can 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.400 take me, all right. The devil is a liar, father 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.400 of lies. When we go in the gym, I try 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:17.040 to train him not only in weights, but I try 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.760 to train him in truth. Hey man, there's some stuff 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.480 God has put in you, and the lies that you 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:27.719 believe can become a lit on your life. They can 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.920 become a limitation. But the first thing I got to 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:34.960 teach you is lie detection. So you'll even know it's 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.760 happening because it'll sound so true. Right, and yet all 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:42.520 the time Jesus is saying, you will know the truth, 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.919 hold to the truth, and the truth will set you free. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.480 So here's how. Let's stand over here where everybody can 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.480 see us. You stand there, U stand here. Just picture this. 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.359 This is the truth. This is the Word of God. 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.920 This is the Bible, sixty six books. It's all true, 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:00.840 from the Book of Genesis to the maps in the 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:08.720 bat the truth. And I saw it like this, he said, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:10.960 give me verse thirty two. Again, the part of the 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.880 verse is so important. If you hold sorry, verse thirty one. 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:21.639 If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:27.880 Thirty two, and then you will know. So you have 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:32.880 to hold it to know it, not hear it. Hold it. 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:36.879 That means it is not the word that I preach 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.919 that sets you free. It is the word that you practice. 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:46.800 And that's where it happens. When I speak, something from 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:48.399 God doesn't come from me. If it comes from me, 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:52.520 it's empty calories, all right, it's Briar's ice cream if 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:55.439 it comes from me. But if it comes from God, 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:58.680 and it comes through me, and the Spirit of God speaks, 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.080 whether it's in a sermon or in your life, or 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.560 something that God shows you over and over again, or 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:08.880 something he speaks through your wife. Not every word from 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.520 God comes through somebody with a callar. Not every word 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:16.800 from God comes on a Sunday morning. But when God 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:20.080 feaks to you. You know that was harsh. You know 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:22.760 you're being stubborn right now. You know you just need 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:24.800 to think. You need to be right right now. And 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:27.399 when God corrects you with that, well, the Lord doesn't 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:29.960 to Lord is loving. Did you hear Jesus and John Hay? 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:37.520 He said, this is your father, the devil speaking through you. Okay, okay, 0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:41.480 people are too coddled. We have this coddle Christianity where 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.120 you just come up alongside people and always just teach 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:45.960 them that God will give you grace every time you 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:47.880 screw up. What about teaching me how to get better 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:54.800 so I don't screw up so much? Huh? Is there 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:57.480 an axe that and shut this thing down at the roof? 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:08.800 Because I what, I don't just want to pop God's 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.560 promises like pills to take the pain away. I want 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:16.600 to make progress in my life, to see things how 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:19.960 they are and to not have to live in denial 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:26.720 because listen sayings of God. Jesus was talking to the 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:30.040 Jews who believed him, and they thought they had the 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:31.600 way of life that honored God and they didn't know 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:34.840 the truth and it was standing right in front of them, 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:37.879 and he said, you can't hear it, and if you 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:41.240 will hold to my teaching on three one two three, 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:47.120 now that's what sets you free. The problem is, come here, 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:50.200 bring me out what I gave you earlier from wherever 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:52.119 it's back there somewhere. I know it is because I 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:55.080 planned this out. I told him. I said, this is 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:59.120 so simple. The church is gonna laugh at me. They're 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:01.000 gonna think, oh, past so didn't have time to study 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:06.800 this week. He had to bring out the props. But 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:11.600 I saw it like this because I keep seeing people 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:14.919 that can't hold the truth, and I wonder why you 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:17.080 can't even hope. Some of us. We can't even hold 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:23.000 a compliment for ten minutes. He can't hold it. Some 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:26.760 of us. The Lord can give us a really good direction. 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:30.879 We can know that he spoke to us, and we 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:34.359 can since war God as us and I can't hold. 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:37.560 Has anybody noticed other than me, your attention span is 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:42.560 getting almost zero these days? Does that have anything to 0:26:42.640 --> 0:26:48.960 do with the technology by which advertisers are rewarded for 0:26:49.040 --> 0:26:53.360 disrupting our attention and redirecting it to some product which 0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:57.040 they hope for us to buy, or some truth which 0:26:57.080 --> 0:26:59.480 they hope for us to consume. We can't even hold 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:07.199 the truth in anymore because it's kind of hard to 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:16.520 have room for truth holding on. So trash put him 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:18.920 in the shot. They can't see him online. Yeah, y'all 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:21.439 gotta get a wide shot or something. You know, you 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:22.920 face me, you face me. They need to do it 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:32.199 with the cameras. This is the illustration. But son, I 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:36.800 need you to know that it's really hard for you 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:41.159 to hear from the Holy Ghost if you scroll six 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:46.119 hours on TikTok. Sound like an old man right now, 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:50.000 forgive me, lord, I sound eighty three right now. But 0:27:50.119 --> 0:27:54.760 I'm trying to tell you that you can't hold truth 0:27:56.240 --> 0:28:05.359 and hold trash. So what are we gonna do? What 0:28:05.400 --> 0:28:08.280 are we gonna do? How many need to be set 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:13.119 free in an identifal and identifiable specific area of your 0:28:13.160 --> 0:28:17.480 life this year? I need freedom, But I don't know 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:20.840 what you need? Freedom from God does? The Holy Spirit does, 0:28:21.040 --> 0:28:24.840 and really, deep down you do. You know exactly what 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:28.320 it is, the compulsion, the obsession, the addiction, the torment. 0:28:28.520 --> 0:28:30.919 You know exactly what you need free from You know 0:28:31.480 --> 0:28:34.360 now the scripture says, who you be set free by? 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:36.800 You be set free by the sun, You be set 0:28:36.840 --> 0:28:40.080 free by the truth. Bye, bye bye. That doesn't mean 0:28:40.200 --> 0:28:47.000 Jesus automatically sets you free just because you believe in him. 0:28:47.200 --> 0:28:50.600 Jesus sets you free as you hold to his teaching. 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:57.640 And the first thing to hold to his teaching. I'm 0:28:57.640 --> 0:29:04.040 gonna throw this again on three, give me why shot one? Two? Three? 0:29:04.760 --> 0:29:09.600 Do you see what he did? Do you see what 0:29:09.640 --> 0:29:14.280 he did? He did it at the very last minute. 0:29:15.960 --> 0:29:19.640 He did it at the very last minute. But he 0:29:19.720 --> 0:29:25.920 knew enough that when I threw him the truth, he 0:29:26.120 --> 0:29:34.080 dropped the trash to hold the truth. He almost didn't. 0:29:34.720 --> 0:29:38.640 He was confused for a moment because he thought he 0:29:38.760 --> 0:29:42.280 was doing something important standing up here. But when the 0:29:42.280 --> 0:29:46.160 truth comes. Now, this is the year you've been me. 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:52.960 You know. The devil has held you long enough. The 0:29:53.040 --> 0:29:56.280 devil has held you. I'm done with you long enough. 0:29:58.120 --> 0:30:02.480 You have been holding all to the hurt long enough. 0:30:02.760 --> 0:30:12.040 But this year, this year, this year, I prophesied Jesus' name, 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:16.520 in the name of Jesus, the nassery, the way, the truth, 0:30:16.760 --> 0:30:21.240 the life, we beheld his glory, the glory as of 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:26.320 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 0:30:27.800 --> 0:30:32.440 So when the truth came, I had to drop the trash. 0:30:32.640 --> 0:30:44.400 To hold the truth. Oh God, Oh God. Problem was 0:30:45.800 --> 0:30:52.360 you thought this was true because the devil lied to 0:30:52.400 --> 0:30:59.200 you so good. He started telling you your trash and 0:30:59.280 --> 0:31:03.760 you started thinking, and it was truth because he got 0:31:03.840 --> 0:31:09.840 you into an experience, turned it into a belief, and 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:21.640 now you call it your truth. Look at me, Look 0:31:21.640 --> 0:31:26.320 at me. And then he the devil is so crafty. 0:31:26.680 --> 0:31:28.440 And I don't like to give so much time to 0:31:28.480 --> 0:31:30.480 the devil, but it was in the passage, and that's 0:31:30.480 --> 0:31:33.600 why I'm addressing it directly. Okay, I understand, I don't 0:31:33.600 --> 0:31:35.800 want to give the devil too much credit. But Jesus said, 0:31:35.840 --> 0:31:39.960 the problem of this is that your desires have been 0:31:40.000 --> 0:31:44.960 informed by the lies of the devil, and so it's 0:31:45.000 --> 0:31:49.240 coming from him. So now he's got you locked into 0:31:49.440 --> 0:31:51.760 the truth, will set you free. Well, that means a lie. 0:31:51.800 --> 0:31:54.880 He can keep you bound, but only if he gets 0:31:54.920 --> 0:32:01.520 you to think it's true. So imagine, like Satan means accuser. 0:32:01.720 --> 0:32:04.480 That's the enemy's job. He's the accuser of the brethren. 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:11.080 So imagine if you're Satan and you can convince somebody 0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:15.920 who God has called his inheritance, somebody who God has 0:32:15.920 --> 0:32:20.440 called his precious possession, his masterpiece, his workmanship a saint. 0:32:20.640 --> 0:32:23.160 Imagine if you can convince somebody that Jesus died for 0:32:23.320 --> 0:32:28.920 that they're worthless, or that they are trash. And maybe 0:32:28.960 --> 0:32:30.720 you do it, I don't know. Maybe you do it 0:32:30.760 --> 0:32:36.360 with the suggestion of rejection. You know, the reason they 0:32:36.440 --> 0:32:44.040 left you is because there's something lacking about you. Now, again, 0:32:44.880 --> 0:32:49.480 let's be balanced. Sometimes relationships end because we could have 0:32:49.480 --> 0:32:52.560 been more responsible, more thoughtful, right, So we want to 0:32:52.600 --> 0:32:55.600 analyze that. But to take the lessons that you could 0:32:55.680 --> 0:32:58.400 learn from the end of a relationship and to turn 0:32:58.440 --> 0:33:06.240 it into a personal judgment. The reason people leave is 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:17.120 because I'm unlovable. Before you know it, you start to 0:33:17.120 --> 0:33:24.280 treasure the trash more than the truth because this feels 0:33:24.280 --> 0:33:29.920 familiar to you. I always worried about Elijah when he 0:33:29.960 --> 0:33:33.440 was little, because his favorite Sesame Street character was Oscar 0:33:33.520 --> 0:33:38.600 the Grouch. I start praying for him early. I pray 0:33:38.640 --> 0:33:40.840 in tongues, I pray in Latin, I pray in Greek 0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:45.640 and Arabic because it would bother me. All the kids 0:33:45.640 --> 0:33:49.160 would be at the playground, going around and on the 0:33:49.160 --> 0:33:52.760 monkey bars, in the jungle gym, in the sandbox, and 0:33:52.800 --> 0:33:55.640 he'd be looking in all the trash cans. O, they're 0:33:55.680 --> 0:34:02.680 on the blackground looking for Oscar. And I didn't want 0:34:02.720 --> 0:34:08.840 him to turn sixteen eighteen looking in trash cans, you know, 0:34:10.719 --> 0:34:14.439 looking in backwards ways of thinking or thinking that being 0:34:14.480 --> 0:34:16.680 famous is where it's at, when really that's just another 0:34:16.719 --> 0:34:22.320 trash cans, that's diamond studded. There's goal play the trash cans. 0:34:25.400 --> 0:34:31.440 I didn't want him looking for treasure in the trash. 0:34:31.800 --> 0:34:36.920 Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, I need 0:34:37.000 --> 0:34:42.279 Jesus to teach me. I need Jesus to teach me. 0:34:42.400 --> 0:34:44.239 I don't just need him to save me from my sin. 0:34:44.600 --> 0:34:49.840 I need him to teach me his ways, not just 0:34:49.880 --> 0:34:52.399 so I can be saved from my sin. He said, 0:34:52.400 --> 0:34:57.839 if you if you sin, you're a slave descin. That's 0:34:57.880 --> 0:35:01.000 what happens when we there's an interest phrasing the scripture. 0:35:01.480 --> 0:35:03.279 Are y'all good if I go a little deeper on this, 0:35:03.320 --> 0:35:05.360 because I can save it for next week, but I'd 0:35:05.360 --> 0:35:07.880 like to share it with you today. He said, you 0:35:07.960 --> 0:35:12.440 called yourself Abraham's children, and you are technically the descendants 0:35:12.440 --> 0:35:14.680 of Abraham. He was the one God spoke to and said, 0:35:14.719 --> 0:35:15.960 go to the land. I'll show you and the whole 0:35:16.040 --> 0:35:18.040 nation came out of him, even though his wife was 0:35:18.040 --> 0:35:21.400 beyond child bearing years. God can do the impossible, because 0:35:21.480 --> 0:35:23.760 no word from God will ever feel. If he speaks, 0:35:23.800 --> 0:35:28.720 it is true, even if the facts say otherwise. Jesus 0:35:28.800 --> 0:35:32.520 did not say the facts will set you free. He said, 0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:36.239 the truth will set you free. So Goliath might be 0:35:36.400 --> 0:35:40.000 nine foot nine, but the truth is, you come against 0:35:40.080 --> 0:35:43.840 me with a spear. I come against you in the 0:35:43.920 --> 0:35:50.560 name of the Lord. Yeah, sorry, I'm of course. The 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:53.640 truth is we're surrounded you. Remember the prophet said, there 0:35:53.680 --> 0:35:56.280 are more with us than with them. And he prayed 0:35:56.320 --> 0:35:58.640 God opened the eyes of my servant that he may 0:35:58.680 --> 0:36:01.360 see because the fact said, there's no way out of this, 0:36:01.920 --> 0:36:04.160 but the truth from a point of view that can 0:36:04.200 --> 0:36:08.640 see with spiritual eyes. I'm seated in heavenly places with Jesus. 0:36:09.560 --> 0:36:13.600 So so so so so so so so. There's a 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:16.920 big difference between facts and truth. There's a big difference 0:36:16.920 --> 0:36:22.399 between feelings and truth. Many of you think, if if 0:36:22.400 --> 0:36:25.239 I feel it is true, or here's worse, if I 0:36:25.280 --> 0:36:31.560 think it, it must be true. I promise you, I 0:36:31.600 --> 0:36:34.440 promise you. I don't even know how smart you are. 0:36:34.440 --> 0:36:36.399 I don't care if you went to Harvard, I don't 0:36:36.400 --> 0:36:41.040 care if you dropped out of Harvard to go to Yale, 0:36:41.239 --> 0:36:43.640 I don't care. I don't care. How much intelligence you 0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:47.360 have in your life. You cannot believe everything you think. 0:36:49.560 --> 0:36:51.880 One scripture set as high as the heavens are above 0:36:51.880 --> 0:36:55.400 the earth, So were God's ways above your ways, and 0:36:55.480 --> 0:36:59.680 his thoughts above your thoughts. The truth will set you 0:36:59.719 --> 0:37:03.200 free if you hold to it. But Jesus was talking 0:37:03.200 --> 0:37:07.319 to people who identified themselves with Abraham. They said, we're 0:37:07.360 --> 0:37:12.120 Abraham's children. He said, you're not acting like you're trying 0:37:12.160 --> 0:37:15.080 to kill me. You believe in my signs, but you 0:37:15.120 --> 0:37:19.799 don't hold to my teachings. You think of me in 0:37:19.840 --> 0:37:23.359 a superstitious way, but you don't allow me to get 0:37:23.400 --> 0:37:33.399 into the bs the belief systems of your heart. I'm 0:37:33.400 --> 0:37:35.920 gonna wake you all up today. This is a new 0:37:36.040 --> 0:37:38.960 Year's sermon. New year, new year. No no, no new year, 0:37:39.160 --> 0:37:46.360 new truth, not your truth. Your truth has you trapped 0:37:47.120 --> 0:37:51.520 in the wilderness. He said, if you were Abraham's children, 0:37:51.600 --> 0:37:55.520 you would do what Abraham did. If you were you 0:37:55.560 --> 0:38:01.279 would do if you were you would do, if you 0:38:01.480 --> 0:38:10.279 were identity, you would do behavior identity drives behavior. If 0:38:10.320 --> 0:38:15.160 you see yourself as trash, you cannot hold the truth. 0:38:16.280 --> 0:38:18.640 And that's where you've been, don't you see it? Every 0:38:18.680 --> 0:38:20.759 time you go to change, there are two lives. When 0:38:20.800 --> 0:38:25.640 you go to change number one, you can't change number two. 0:38:26.120 --> 0:38:29.720 You don't need to either way. The devil has you trapped. 0:38:30.600 --> 0:38:33.040 Oh no, they need to change, They need to do 0:38:33.080 --> 0:38:35.640 it different. They need to appreciate me. No, you need 0:38:35.680 --> 0:38:43.360 to be less needy. Truth, truth to power, and the 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:51.759 Lord is calling you to freedom. And the devil has 0:38:51.880 --> 0:38:57.000 held you long enough in a lie and a sermon 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:07.920 can't set you free. Decisions do decisions? Do decisions to do? 0:39:07.960 --> 0:39:13.319 What to be a disciple? Teach me Holy Spirit. Only 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:17.000 God knows the truth about you. Even your parents can't 0:39:17.000 --> 0:39:20.920 fully see your potential. They're too busy trying to keep 0:39:20.920 --> 0:39:25.239 you from getting in a car rack. I'm serious. There 0:39:25.239 --> 0:39:26.919 will be things in my kids that I can't see 0:39:26.920 --> 0:39:29.840 in them that their heavenly Father can. And it's not 0:39:29.880 --> 0:39:33.640 my job to limit God. There are things that nobody 0:39:33.719 --> 0:39:36.080 has seen you. There are blind talk about bs. You 0:39:36.160 --> 0:39:43.000 got blind spots. You got blind spots. You can't see it, 0:39:43.040 --> 0:39:47.040 but God does. But now you squeeze your whole belief 0:39:47.080 --> 0:39:52.600 into an experience. Well, somebody that God really could use 0:39:52.600 --> 0:39:56.880 would never do this, and that you know Moses was 0:39:56.880 --> 0:40:03.239 a murderer, right, You know, David had one of his 0:40:03.360 --> 0:40:05.719 main warriors killed in battle, the one that wrote the 0:40:05.719 --> 0:40:11.680 little Sami Samius that we like to sing, man after 0:40:11.719 --> 0:40:17.840 God's own heart. You're not trash. You just need new truth. 0:40:20.920 --> 0:40:22.440 And I kind of see some of the things that 0:40:22.480 --> 0:40:31.080 you did before, like baby teeth, baby truth, and it's 0:40:31.120 --> 0:40:34.759 got to fall out for this new thing to grow. 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:37.200 And there's no truth theory coming around to your house 0:40:37.239 --> 0:40:38.879 to give you ten dollars for it either, all right. 0:40:41.120 --> 0:40:45.080 In fact, the devil is so crafty and he's so lazy. 0:40:45.800 --> 0:40:50.120 He convinces you that you're trash, that you can't trust God, 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:52.879 that it's over. And then he's so he's so good 0:40:52.920 --> 0:40:55.880 at his job that he delegates it to you, and 0:40:55.960 --> 0:41:02.560 you start collecting evidence for why he's right. You start 0:41:02.600 --> 0:41:05.120 collecting evidence this is not trash from our house. I 0:41:05.160 --> 0:41:09.160 had somebody put this together for me professionally. I don't 0:41:09.160 --> 0:41:13.080 want y'all to see in my trash bag. If he's 0:41:13.120 --> 0:41:16.480 good enough at his job, he will convince you this 0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:18.399 is who you are. This is all you can be. 0:41:18.640 --> 0:41:20.600 This is why that happened to you. Some of you 0:41:21.040 --> 0:41:23.080 people did things to you. You didn't even do it 0:41:23.080 --> 0:41:29.120 to you, and now you feel ashamed about it. How 0:41:29.360 --> 0:41:33.360 in hell do you believe that I'm not cussing? How 0:41:33.600 --> 0:41:38.560 has hell? How has the devil gotten so strategically in 0:41:38.640 --> 0:41:42.400 your mind that you think that somebody did something to 0:41:42.440 --> 0:41:45.800 you and that makes you dirty? The devil is a liar. 0:41:46.080 --> 0:41:50.920 I'm clean. I'm clean and even if I did it, 0:41:51.280 --> 0:41:55.080 I'm still clean because I've been through the waters and 0:41:55.239 --> 0:42:01.520 it's under the blood of Jesus. That's much. That's my truth, 0:42:03.719 --> 0:42:06.760 and it doesn't come from me. Don't do the devil's 0:42:06.840 --> 0:42:10.800 job for him, just finding reasons why you should feel bad. 0:42:11.040 --> 0:42:13.640 Oh well, now I'm just in the market for misery. 0:42:15.880 --> 0:42:18.040 Now he doesn't even have to lie to me. I'm 0:42:18.040 --> 0:42:22.640 on autopilot. I'm just collecting lies to support the truth 0:42:22.719 --> 0:42:24.440 that he told me. And he told me it was 0:42:24.480 --> 0:42:26.600 my truth. And this is how I can go. This 0:42:26.680 --> 0:42:28.440 is all I can do, and this all I'll ever be, 0:42:28.640 --> 0:42:30.719 and this is why it happens. And God's not with me, 0:42:30.960 --> 0:42:33.520 and oh God, twenty twenty two, it's gonna Be twenty twenty, 0:42:33.560 --> 0:42:39.919 Part two. Shut up. If the devil's gonna lie, make 0:42:40.040 --> 0:42:45.200 him log his own hours. Don't have them. You know 0:42:45.239 --> 0:42:51.360 what I'm saying. Don't help them. I dare you to 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:57.480 delete the app. I dare you to block the number. 0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:01.920 I dare you. I dare you to trump touch three people. 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:04.399 Tell him. I tear you to trump it. I dare 0:43:04.480 --> 0:43:07.359 you to drump it. I dare you to let come 0:43:08.160 --> 0:43:12.560 thrown your bat. The devil has helped you long enough. 0:43:13.760 --> 0:43:19.200 The devil is a liar, and he's on a legs. 0:43:19.719 --> 0:43:24.440 He can't do it forever, and the sun south set 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:34.480 you free. You gotta drop something to receive something. You 0:43:34.560 --> 0:43:39.880 gotta drop something to do something. You gotta drop something 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:46.759 to be somebody. I'm a child of God. Baby, I 0:43:46.920 --> 0:43:53.200 got the truth. I've set free. You've helped me. Hey, devil, 0:43:53.600 --> 0:43:57.880 you hear that, get under my feet. You've helped me 0:44:00.120 --> 0:44:08.399 long enough, long enough, long enough, long enough. I'm forty one. 0:44:08.480 --> 0:44:14.239 That's long enough. I'm twelve, that's long enough. I'm six. 0:44:14.400 --> 0:44:21.279 I'm sixty seven. That's long enough. Tired of this, I'm 0:44:21.320 --> 0:44:24.280 tired of trading the truth of God for a personal 0:44:24.320 --> 0:44:31.799 experience and worshiping at the altar of my background. I'm 0:44:31.840 --> 0:44:35.239 tired of shrinking my life to the level of what 0:44:35.280 --> 0:44:40.000 I've seen or heard from others that is possible. I'm 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:43.040 gonna hold on too. That's like I'm on it, like 0:44:43.120 --> 0:44:47.120 I'm on a ski. I'ma hold on to Jesus. I'ma 0:44:47.120 --> 0:44:50.560 hold on this year and I read where Peter tried 0:44:50.600 --> 0:44:53.239 to hold on and he couldn't ski, so Jesus picked 0:44:53.280 --> 0:44:55.200 him up. If I can't hold onto him, he'll hold 0:44:55.280 --> 0:44:58.320 on to me. But in only it only it only 0:44:59.040 --> 0:45:07.400 happens hm hm, when you decide long enough, because Jesus 0:45:07.480 --> 0:45:12.359 is talking to people who believe him, but they're still 0:45:12.400 --> 0:45:20.200 not free. They're not bad, but they're deceived. You're not bad, 0:45:21.400 --> 0:45:24.399 You're deceived. You have no room for his word. Could 0:45:24.400 --> 0:45:30.680 be your schedule, it could be you got so much lies, y'all. 0:45:30.680 --> 0:45:33.000 When I was holding that trash back, I felt like, 0:45:33.440 --> 0:45:37.239 in your trash back, there might be offenses, there might 0:45:37.280 --> 0:45:43.000 be memories. You like to lie to yourself. After a while, 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:48.560 it excuses you because if you're trash, you get to 0:45:48.600 --> 0:45:56.799 act like it. If you are nobody, you don't have 0:45:56.840 --> 0:45:58.799 to do anything to do. If you're a child of God. 0:45:58.840 --> 0:46:01.640 That means, well, now, thank you, will want to live 0:46:01.760 --> 0:46:08.759 like it. I'm still naive enough to believe that there's 0:46:08.760 --> 0:46:12.280 at least thirty people in this room, or maybe even online, 0:46:12.360 --> 0:46:14.920 or maybe even at one of our other locations. La 0:46:15.000 --> 0:46:19.319 Norman's having an anniversary today. Maybe it's Lake Norman who 0:46:19.400 --> 0:46:30.080 are ready to trade the trash for the truth. Who 0:46:30.080 --> 0:46:33.160 don't want to run around the playground another year looking 0:46:33.200 --> 0:46:42.360 for Oscar? Yeah, who don't want to spend another forty 0:46:42.400 --> 0:46:48.319 years in the wilderness. It's long enough. The wilderness. What 0:46:48.360 --> 0:46:50.080 does that have to do with John chapter eight? That's 0:46:50.080 --> 0:46:53.359 the Old Testament, the wilderness. Not really, It all goes 0:46:53.400 --> 0:47:00.040 together because Jesus is teaching at the festival called the 0:47:00.080 --> 0:47:04.720 Festival of Tabernacles. That's the context of John. A remember 0:47:04.719 --> 0:47:07.879 when he fed the five thousand and John six five 0:47:07.920 --> 0:47:12.680 thousand men and women and children? Pretty cool. John chapter 0:47:12.719 --> 0:47:19.239 seven is really different though, because John chapter six is 0:47:19.239 --> 0:47:23.120 about how God feeds you. John chapter seven and eight 0:47:23.200 --> 0:47:29.120 is about how God frees you. So if I just 0:47:29.120 --> 0:47:31.160 sit around asking God feed me, feed me, feeding me, 0:47:31.200 --> 0:47:33.040 feeding me, bless me, bless me, bless me, blessed me, 0:47:33.040 --> 0:47:34.399 pay it off, pay it off, pay it off, payd off, 0:47:34.400 --> 0:47:36.040 fix and fix it, fix it, fix it, make away 0:47:36.040 --> 0:47:37.919 and make a make me go go away. That only 0:47:37.920 --> 0:47:41.080 gets you so far. You can believe that God does 0:47:41.120 --> 0:47:43.440 those things for you, and he will. But now it's 0:47:43.480 --> 0:47:47.000 about freedom. I want to be free this year. I 0:47:47.000 --> 0:47:49.840 want to be more free of what people think about me. 0:47:51.280 --> 0:47:52.719 I don't I don't know. I can get there not. 0:47:52.880 --> 0:47:55.680 I still think all those things, you know. I hope 0:47:55.680 --> 0:47:58.680 they like it. Nobody said anything, Is it okay? Isn't 0:47:58.680 --> 0:48:01.160 it a I mean, I'm I'm not saying it, but 0:48:02.040 --> 0:48:04.320 I've been I've been a slave to that long enough. 0:48:04.880 --> 0:48:07.960 I'm sick of it. It's boring, it's old. I know 0:48:08.000 --> 0:48:11.680 how that movie goes. They don't pay attention because they're 0:48:11.719 --> 0:48:16.480 thinking about themselves. I'm sick of that. I'm sick of 0:48:16.520 --> 0:48:21.680 being a slave to my feelings. I'm sick of that. 0:48:22.640 --> 0:48:25.680 I'm sick of being a slave to cynicism. I can 0:48:25.680 --> 0:48:28.600 tell you thirteen ways it's going to go wrong. I'm 0:48:28.600 --> 0:48:32.080 sick of that. Been there, done that, bought the T shirt, 0:48:32.120 --> 0:48:33.880 took it back because it didn't fit. I'm sick of 0:48:33.880 --> 0:48:40.520 being cynical. So what does the wilderness have to do 0:48:42.600 --> 0:48:45.480 with if the truth will set you free, you will 0:48:45.480 --> 0:48:49.280 be free. Indeed, well, when Jesus went to this festival, 0:48:50.320 --> 0:48:54.480 the Festival of Tabernacles or the Festival of Shelters, it 0:48:54.520 --> 0:48:57.520 says it's a week long festival. He comes right in 0:48:57.520 --> 0:48:59.920 the middle of the festival, and it was a festival 0:49:00.080 --> 0:49:03.239 after the harvest, where they came together to celebrate and 0:49:03.440 --> 0:49:10.759 commemorate when God brought his people out of Egypt and 0:49:10.800 --> 0:49:15.719 then in the wilderness, they decided to believe the report 0:49:16.760 --> 0:49:20.520 of the spies that said we can't go in, rather 0:49:20.600 --> 0:49:23.759 than to believe what God had spoken and take the 0:49:23.840 --> 0:49:27.200 land by faith. That's the context you follow me, that's 0:49:27.239 --> 0:49:30.799 the context of John chapter seven and John chapter eight. 0:49:31.120 --> 0:49:34.799 So as Jesus is teaching this truth, it's in the 0:49:34.840 --> 0:49:38.000 middle of a festival. We're in order to commemorate this 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:41.520 time when God led his people through the wilderness for 0:49:41.520 --> 0:49:45.640 forty years, they stayed in Egypt four hundred years. They 0:49:45.680 --> 0:49:48.880 came out through the wilderness and were only supposed to 0:49:48.920 --> 0:49:53.000 be there for eleven days. Look at this. In Deuteronomy 0:49:53.080 --> 0:49:57.120 chapter one, it says, these are the words that Moses, 0:49:57.200 --> 0:50:00.400 the servant of the Lord, spoke to all Isra in 0:50:00.440 --> 0:50:05.960 the wilderness. Everybody say wilderness, the wilderness east of the Jordan, 0:50:06.440 --> 0:50:09.360 and then there's a bunch of different places that it mentions. 0:50:09.360 --> 0:50:12.080 But I want you to see this next verse verse two. 0:50:12.160 --> 0:50:15.560 Put it on verse two. Please. It takes eleven days 0:50:16.200 --> 0:50:18.960 to go from Horeb, the mountain of God where the 0:50:19.000 --> 0:50:22.759 covenant was given to katish Barnea. That's where he sent 0:50:22.800 --> 0:50:24.759 the spies out to go into the land. How long 0:50:24.800 --> 0:50:26.759 does it take to go from Horreb the mountain to 0:50:26.880 --> 0:50:30.560 the promised land? Eleven days? You could almost skip right 0:50:30.600 --> 0:50:32.759 over that and it would be insignificant, and I could 0:50:32.760 --> 0:50:34.960 have stopped this sermon while we were shouting. But I 0:50:35.000 --> 0:50:37.879 need to show you this because it is the context 0:50:37.880 --> 0:50:42.280 of freedom. It is the context of freedom. It takes 0:50:42.400 --> 0:50:45.960 eleven days to get from where they were to where 0:50:46.000 --> 0:50:49.600 God was taking them by the Mount Sierraro. But look 0:50:49.640 --> 0:50:54.360 at verse three. In the fortieth year is when Moses 0:50:54.400 --> 0:50:58.480 prepared them to go in. How did they turn an 0:50:58.480 --> 0:51:04.359 eleven day journey through the wilderness into a forty year 0:51:04.800 --> 0:51:11.640 wandering where they were stuck because of what they believed, 0:51:14.360 --> 0:51:18.640 because they would not believe the truth. The truth is, 0:51:18.960 --> 0:51:20.719 we can do it if God is for us. Our 0:51:20.800 --> 0:51:24.480 enemies don't stand a chance. The truth is, God is 0:51:24.560 --> 0:51:27.640 melting down your enemy's defense even as we speak. If 0:51:27.680 --> 0:51:30.200 God is for you, who can be against you? That's 0:51:30.239 --> 0:51:36.239 the truth. Ah. But the facts, the facts, oh, they're 0:51:36.280 --> 0:51:39.839 bigger than us, they're stronger than us. We can't do it. 0:51:40.000 --> 0:51:43.719 We're not prepared for this. You are staying in frustration 0:51:44.320 --> 0:51:47.680 forty years because of what the facts are saying to you, 0:51:48.440 --> 0:51:54.760 when faith could get you there in eleven days. After 0:51:55.080 --> 0:51:58.440 forty years, Joshua led the people there. But it didn't 0:51:58.480 --> 0:52:00.880 have to take forty years, and it doesn't have to 0:52:00.920 --> 0:52:03.200 take you forty years. And you'll have to pass it 0:52:03.239 --> 0:52:05.400 on to your kids, and you'll have to live like 0:52:05.440 --> 0:52:07.680 this until you die and hope to get to heaven 0:52:07.760 --> 0:52:11.760 one day and imagining glory if the sun sets you free. 0:52:12.239 --> 0:52:18.080 You will be free if you hold to the teaching, 0:52:19.080 --> 0:52:23.400 If you hoe to the teaching and stop holding to 0:52:23.480 --> 0:52:33.640 the trash. The moment you do this, God it's gonna 0:52:33.640 --> 0:52:43.239 start doing this. And what what you've wandered in for 0:52:43.239 --> 0:52:48.120 forty years, God can bring you out of in eleven days. 0:52:50.880 --> 0:52:54.120 Let he that has an ear hear what the spirit 0:52:54.200 --> 0:53:00.280 is saying. Today. The devil has held you long enough 0:53:01.400 --> 0:53:06.759 in your truth. It's time for God's truth. Let this 0:53:06.840 --> 0:53:11.280 year be the year where you trade trash for truth. 0:53:13.640 --> 0:53:15.320 Let this year be the year that you let the 0:53:15.360 --> 0:53:18.040 surgeon get inside of you and tell you what needs 0:53:18.080 --> 0:53:21.200 to be cut out. You keep doing surgery on yourself. 0:53:21.239 --> 0:53:26.279 That's why you bled all over us all twenty twenty one. 0:53:26.920 --> 0:53:29.240 Let this year be the year the great physician writes 0:53:29.280 --> 0:53:32.840 your prescriptions. I'm gonna spend more time. I'm going to 0:53:32.920 --> 0:53:35.799 tune my heart to truth this year, God help me. 0:53:37.040 --> 0:53:40.440 In music, they call it a four forty, that standard 0:53:40.440 --> 0:53:43.279 tuning play that a note above middle CLJ. Let him 0:53:43.280 --> 0:53:49.160 hear what it sounds like. This is that's the note 0:53:49.640 --> 0:53:54.520 that you tune the instrument to. The Lord wants you 0:53:54.600 --> 0:53:58.160 to start your day tuning your heart to truth where 0:53:58.200 --> 0:54:03.080 you can hear most of our days. Hit a bunch 0:54:03.080 --> 0:54:08.720 of keys where it sounds ugly l J. You start 0:54:08.800 --> 0:54:15.160 your day tuning your heart to so much trash, Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, 0:54:15.360 --> 0:54:23.080 so much so much trash that no wonder, it sounds 0:54:23.120 --> 0:54:28.680 like chaos before you've even had your caffeine. So this 0:54:28.760 --> 0:54:35.480 year starts with what God says. I'm not walking around 0:54:35.520 --> 0:54:38.959 in circles forty years. What God can bring me through 0:54:39.160 --> 0:54:45.840 in eleven days, I'm not doing it all right? So 0:54:48.760 --> 0:54:52.440 what is God teaching you right now? What did he 0:54:52.520 --> 0:54:55.799 teach you the hard way last year? You're gonna hold 0:54:55.800 --> 0:55:02.040 on to the lesson or live in the pain of it. Father, 0:55:03.400 --> 0:55:07.759 your word is truth, and you're seeking worshippers who will 0:55:07.760 --> 0:55:14.759 worship you in spirit and in truth. You brought your 0:55:14.760 --> 0:55:18.759 people out of Egypt, only for them to wander in 0:55:18.760 --> 0:55:22.560 the wilderness for forty years. And I'm afraid that happens 0:55:22.560 --> 0:55:25.799 to so many of us. That we believe in You, 0:55:27.280 --> 0:55:30.239 we believe in God, we love you, we want to 0:55:30.280 --> 0:55:33.920 trust you, but we got so much trash that we 0:55:34.000 --> 0:55:37.799 think is true, so many feelings that we put our 0:55:37.840 --> 0:55:45.439 faith in, so many fears that we receive as evidence. Well, 0:55:45.480 --> 0:55:48.600 this year, Lord, you told me to make a declaration 0:55:49.640 --> 0:55:54.239 from this pulpit, and I'm gonna make it now to 0:55:54.360 --> 0:55:58.200 everybody who will hear this message. Whenever they hear it. God, 0:55:58.239 --> 0:56:00.600 if it's right now, if it's in a week, if 0:56:00.600 --> 0:56:06.560 it's in five years, the devil has held you long enough, 0:56:08.160 --> 0:56:12.000 the lies have held you long enough. That's it now, 0:56:12.719 --> 0:56:17.520 that's it. We speak the truth of Jesus Christ into 0:56:17.520 --> 0:56:21.000 your life, that you are more than a conqueror through 0:56:21.080 --> 0:56:24.360 Him who loves you. We speak the truth of Jesus 0:56:24.480 --> 0:56:27.200 Christ in your life. That greater is he that is 0:56:27.239 --> 0:56:30.399 in you than he that is in the world. We 0:56:30.600 --> 0:56:33.480 speak the truth of Jesus Christ into your life that 0:56:33.560 --> 0:56:36.200 you don't have to stay in guilt and shame, just 0:56:36.400 --> 0:56:38.840 holding clutch and tight to the events of the past 0:56:39.160 --> 0:56:41.680 or the bitterness over what was done. If the Son 0:56:41.800 --> 0:56:47.440 shall make you free, you shall be free in Indeed, 0:56:47.960 --> 0:56:50.319 so everybody who wants to put your faith in this 0:56:50.400 --> 0:56:54.880 word of God, say, that's enough. All the lies that 0:56:54.920 --> 0:56:58.600 have been terrorizing your mind, things that have happened will happen. 0:56:58.680 --> 0:57:02.359 That's enough. The Son has set me free. And I'm 0:57:02.400 --> 0:57:05.719 holding on to what God showed me going into this 0:57:05.920 --> 0:57:11.680 next moment, this next tomorrow, this next season, and I 0:57:11.719 --> 0:57:18.840 am free. Indeed, everyone's standing hands lifted high, just like 0:57:18.880 --> 0:57:21.920 You're releasing all the things you're worried about. You're releasing 0:57:21.960 --> 0:57:24.480 all the things you can't control. You're releasing all the 0:57:24.480 --> 0:57:27.040 things that you can't see, that you can't make sense of. 0:57:27.320 --> 0:57:31.479 I'm releasing that, and God, I want to hear truth 0:57:31.560 --> 0:57:35.360 from you. Yeah, I want to hear truth from you. 0:57:36.880 --> 0:57:39.040 I don't want to let my trauma become my truth. 0:57:40.680 --> 0:57:42.960 I don't want to let my trials become my truth. 0:57:43.680 --> 0:57:50.640 You are my truth, my way, and my life. Father. 0:57:50.720 --> 0:57:52.600 See how our hands are right now, that's how we're 0:57:52.640 --> 0:58:00.160 coming before you, wide open to you, our father, who 0:58:00.200 --> 0:58:05.720 are in heaven. Hallow it be your name, your kingdom. Come, 0:58:07.000 --> 0:58:12.520 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, 0:58:12.520 --> 0:58:14.600 We don't just want you to feed us this year. 0:58:15.440 --> 0:58:18.320 We want you to free us this year. Now we 0:58:18.400 --> 0:58:21.760 need you for it. We don't know what's true. There's 0:58:21.800 --> 0:58:25.160 so many accounts and so many scrolls things to scroll through. 0:58:25.480 --> 0:58:32.160 We need you, you, you, you, you, you you. Let 0:58:32.160 --> 0:58:35.840 your word be our mirror. Let your promise be our 0:58:35.880 --> 0:58:41.520 north star. Your word is truth, and we're holding on 0:58:41.600 --> 0:58:45.600 for dear life this year in Jesus' name, our teacher, 0:58:46.320 --> 0:58:51.680 our preacher, our savior. If the sun makes you free, 0:58:52.560 --> 0:58:57.959 you will be free. Indeed, I need you to find 0:58:57.960 --> 0:58:59.640 eight people and tell them the devil has held you 0:58:59.640 --> 0:59:03.680 long enough. Find eight find out the devil has held 0:59:03.720 --> 0:59:11.920 you long enough. In the God of all grace, after 0:59:12.040 --> 0:59:15.880 you have suffered a little while. Come on, it's been 0:59:15.920 --> 0:59:19.640 a little while. Come on, you cried a little while, 0:59:21.240 --> 0:59:28.040 stayed a little longer than you should have. Somebody declaring, demo, hey, 0:59:28.200 --> 0:59:34.720 devil out, you've helped me. Long it out not drop 0:59:34.760 --> 0:59:39.520 a praise on his head, drop it right now, right now, 0:59:40.080 --> 0:59:45.360 right now, right now, right now, Come on. Twenty two 0:59:45.480 --> 0:59:54.040 seconds of pride, NY two, putty, what pled Come on? 0:59:54.200 --> 0:59:59.640 Come on, come on, come up, give that prize. Well, 0:59:59.640 --> 1:00:01.760 if you join today's podcast, there are a couple of 1:00:01.800 --> 1:00:05.479 things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 1:00:05.760 --> 1:00:08.760 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 1:00:08.800 --> 1:00:12.600 others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash GiB 1:00:13.040 --> 1:00:15.880 and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast