The Word has a Home || RE(A)D Letters Pt.1 || Pastor Adam Mesa

Welcome to the Lesse Podcast. Here at Alec, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciplis. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. We're are going to be starting a new series. So

if you have your Bible, would you turn your Bible out and pull it

out. And this is what we call our Red Letters season. We've done

this series before. This one particularly we're calling read the Red Letters. And

if you have a physical Bible today, you'll see that when you open up

the Gospels, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Those

are the four books that talk about the life and ministry of Jesus. And

so when you open up, you'll notice whenever Jesus is talking, more than

likely your Bible will have Jesus's words in red. And so it wants us

to kind of jump out for us and really recognize that Jesus is speaking here.

But I don't want you to get caught too caught up with that because

the reality is Jesus and we're talking about today. He is the Word of

God. So all scripture is fundamentally of Christ and about Christ. The entire

word of God is Jesus. And so, but what we see is in

his humanity. The red letters are his living ministry that he taught. And

that's what we're gonna go over the next four weeks. We're gonna look at

some key moments that Jesus spoke that are meant to radically shift our perspective on

who Jesus is. So I encourage you, if you've never owned a physical

Bible before, let this month be the month that you go grab one.

I know we have some over at our bookstore, or you can go on

Amazon and you can find one. But if you don't have a physical Bible

yet, I encourage you there's nothing like opening the Bible. I know we

got you version Bible app and other things like that, but that can sometimes

be a little distracting. You know, if someone you like text you while

you're trying to read through your phone, you'll jump. Even if someone that

you don't like text you, that'll actually really distract you from your Bible.

And so physical bible helps us put our Bible to the wayside. And if

you think about it, if I was reading the Bible, I would never

place my phone on top of it to try to make sure I can do

both at once. So in the same way when we just read out of

our Bible app what you're doing is you're kind of living simultaneously in that digital

world. Why reading your word and so always have a little moment where you're

physically reading this Bible. And then additionally, we want to challenge you for

this month of October to read the Book of Mark. Let's read the Book

of Mark together. Okay. Mark is the best book for jumping into the

Gospels for the first time because Mark doesn't have a whole lot of cultural contexts.

The Book of Mark, Mark jumps into story after story after story,

so you really get an understanding of Jesus's life and ministry really fast. Like

if you read the Book of Matthew, which is incredible, they got Jewish

tradition in their Jewish context. But Mark, he really jumps into those stories

and you really get a good survey of Jesus's life and ministry. So we

want to encourage you over the next four weeks read the Book of Mark.

So this week read Mark one to four, and then next week read six

to nine, and so on and so forth up untill chapter sixteen. We're

gonna all do that together. But today we will be in the book of

John John chapter eight, verse thirty one. So, family, would you

join me in standing for the reading of God's word today as we honor God

with this time. It says this in John eight thirty one. So Jesus

said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and

the truth will set you free. How many guys ever heard that before?

In a movie or something else? The truth nobody recognized, says Jesus was

the first to say that. They answered him and said, we are the

offspring of Abraham and have never enslaved to anyone. How is it that you

say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, Truly, I

say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave. To sin.

The slave does not remain in the house forever. The sun remains forever.

So if the sun sets you free, you will be free. Indeed,

I know that you are offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me

because my word finds no place in you. Where is Jesus's word today?

Is it in me? Or is it not in me? That's the question,

and he says this, I speak of what I speak of, what

you do, and what you have heard of from your father, And then

I'll just read more of my verses, says They answer him. Abraham is

our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you

would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me,

a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

Let's pray today, Lord, we thank you so much for your word today.

God, I pray as we go to open up your word, Lord,

may it radically transform us in new ways. God. May we understand

Jesus in a deeper light today. God, may you encourage us, but

also challenge us today to continually follow the steps of Christ in our life.

Lord, I pray, if some day have come in with burden or burden

some Lord, may today be a day that the truth can be something that

will set them free. God. And so today we set ourselves apart today

to hear your word in Jesus name a man you maybe seated. God bless

you today. If you're taking notes, I want to share a message titled

the Word has a Home. The Word has a home that's what Jesus is

talking about when he's speaking to these religious leaders is Jesus is saying that all

of these religious leaders who are on the outside doing everything right. They go

to church every single day, they pray every single day, they give money

every single day. I mean, these guys, if you put a perfect

picturesque person, these guys were those type of guys. But what Jesus begins

to do is he doesn't talk about their habits or their attitudes. He begins

to speak to what's being held on their inside. Because just because you're doing

great philanthropy or you have great habits doesn't mean that the drive and the reason

why you're doing it is healthy or is producing health. And that's what Jesus

is talking about. You know, my wife, my son plays soccer,

and Matthias is five years old and he loves soccer. And one of the

things about my wife, Ashley, because she was a professional soccer player.

Sports is my wife's thing. So so when our boys out on the field,

you would think that it's the Super Bowl. I mean, Ashley just

I mean said let's go my dayah come. I mean there's energy and her

family does the same thing. And people often look at them like they're ludicrous.

And so because they're the way they act is as if it's a championship

professional game. And so if you know anything about me more personally, I'm

actually much more of a quiet, reserved person. The outgoing side is more

kind of that teaching gift. But if you're around me in a personal life,

or we gonna get coffee or you go to my house, I'm much

more quiet, much more reserved. And so the idea for me of cheering

for anything is a is a subtle golf clap or under my breath, a

quiet little yes, you know like that. That's about as energetic as you're

gonna get from me. But I've noticed that now that my son plays because

his mom is well, what happens is is is the louder my voice gets,

and the more he can actually hear my voice, the more passion he

plays with because he can hear Dad and he can hear Dad cheering. So

so now I become that guy with him. I'm cheering as well. I'm

shouting as well. I'm telling him to cut the ball or to do this

or do that, and you know what, he's listening. But what always

happens is whatever team we're on, the other kids want that same type of

encouragement from us, because half the parents are on their cell phones. The

other half are just sitting in a in a half they're just like some of

them are bringing just like you know, they're bringing hammocks and just like chilling

and and so and so I'm always thinking of myself, like what's going on?

So so now what happens is we we are what we always end up

doing as we end up cheering for all the other kids on his team as

well, and they all play so much better when someone's cheering for them,

like like when they know what's going on and when they know what's happening and

what should be done, I mean, they really start driving. But it

just so happens that this year because how many guys know these COVID babies,

A lot of these kids never had any social interaction, so so now that

they go to kindergarten, it's kind of first time they're around anyone else.

So it just so happens. One kid on matthiasis team, the home language,

the language they speak at home is Spanish, and so Santiago doesn't know

English yet, and so Santiago's on my son's team, and where we're trying

to cheer for Santiago, Santiago doesn't understand us, so we're all the other

kids. When we start cheering for Hendricks and Adam and all these other kids

on his team. When we try Santiago, it doesn't go anywhere because he

doesn't understand us. And so we're trying our best right for me, my

last name B and B Messa. But all I know is like Polota football,

and that's about as far as the Spanish and soccer goes on. Anything

I can do well is I can order food in Spanish. I got that

down to a science. But when we're on the soccer field, I can't

order food. There's no food to be ordered. So in that case,

what we learned is like it's very hard for us to cheer for Santiago.

But just so happened last weekend some of our friends and family came to hang

out with us and watch Matthia's play. So Pastor Aaron's wife, Erica came.

If you do know anythink about acause she's she's Hispanic, so she speaks

Spanish. And then and then my sister in law, Chris, comes and

she speaks Spanish too, So as we're cheering for everyone, someone at one

point says, what's that little boy's name? We said his name Santiago.

So they start trying to cheer on Santiago and I look and I say,

hey, guys, Santiago doesn't speak English, and they went oh, and

then a light bulb went off. I two people with me who speak Spanish,

and so what I said was, I said, Erica, Chris,

what's gonna happen is is when Ashley yells in English for what Santiago needs to

do, you guys need to yell it in Spanish so that he understands it.

What happens is is as Ashley's like, Santiago, grab the ball,

turn around, all of a sudden, Erica and Chris, my sister alive.

We gotta sampleving know. I like, that's about as far as let

go, and so and so, all of a sudden, Santiago got this

clarity and this gear that that he didn't know was there because now someone's speaking

his language, so now he can engage with the game. You see.

What happened was is the Pharisees were out on the field, but they weren't

speaking God's language, nor did they understand God's language. And so when Jesus

is talking to them, what he's saying is he says, here's God's language

for you. It's the language of freedom. Everything that Jesus is doing with

his word is to speak the truth. This word right here, this Bible

is meant to set you free from the bondage of sin. That's God's language.

But for the Pharisees, what they were doing is they were reading the

Old Testament, and they thought that God was trying to get them to do

things, but not release things. And so when Jesus tells them, guys,

you're out, you're going to church, you're praying, you're listening to

worship music. But in your heart you have not received the word of God

that will set you free. So Jesus says, until you receive freedom and

receive the truth, which is Jesus, then you will live in bondage the

rest of your life. Because following Jesus is not about attitudes or habits.

It's about what you receive from him. And you release from Satan say saying,

you don't have this. So what God's trying to do with his word

is to speak a language that you should ought to understand. And it is

this language of his desire to set you free. Jesus wants to set us

free. Want you to look at this John chapter one. This is a

reality that we see about who Jesus is and what it is the Famous verse

and we just read John chapter eight being the word being the thing that sets

you free. But here we see it from the start. It says this

in John chapter one, in the beginning, in the beginning of what if

you write in your Bible, this would be a good time to write in

it. In the beginning of what in the beginning of the world, this

Genesis one right here, okay, So right away it starts with in the

beginning of the creation of the world, before Adam and Eve, four animals,

before a planet formed, what was the word okay? Well they're okay.

The word okay, all right, So maybe the word is God then

okay, And the word was what with God? Oh shit? Oh okay,

ding okay, The word was okay. So at the beginning there there

were there were multiple persons at the beginning of the world and what and the

world was God? Okay, So there were multiple persons in the beginning,

and so one is Yahweh because it the word was with Yahweh. And then

and then the word was God. So now this person is also God.

So therefore when I say God, I'm speaking of multiple persons, not just

one being. Okay, we're not we're not muddle as Christians, we don't

believe that. In the Old Testament, God came as Yahweh, and then

in the New Testament math Mark, Luke, and John God came as Jesus

incarcerated, incarnate, and then and now in the New Testament, starting and

acts, God came as the Holy Spirit. That's not what we teach.

God didn't come in different seasons as different things. What we teach is we

right here says it right here. In the beginning, there was the word,

and the word was what with God. I've never been anywhere with my

wife and anyone think there was just one of us. But now that we're

married, God sees us as what one, oh man man. Someone's head

is hurt and so is mine. So so what he was, now,

let's make it clear. He was in the beginning with God, this person

who is God, and things were made through him. What things all things

were made through him, all things. So so you have Yahweh, God,

the Father, you have the Word who as this person the Word would

begin to form the planets. It was by his voice and his word that

all things were created. So they're working in unison together. Some people always

ask, well, who does what? And win? And then how can

I give credit? I'll tell you this, If me or my wife ever

do anything good, just give us both credit. Okay, don't get caught

in those weeds. Were both gonn't take credit for that. Okay. So

if we're gonna bless someone, it's like, did Adam do it? Did

Adam go to Wells Fargo? Or did Ashley go to Wells farg Nah's both

of our accounts. We both did it. So this blessing that God has

bestowed to us is is of God. And so now we see and without

him was not anything made. That was made in him was life, and

that life was the light of men. And so this word gave us life.

It gave us life. Who took this life away? Well, say

in as a serpent took this life away. Adam and Eve, our mother

and father took this away from us by their decisions. But it also represents

if Adam and Eve didn't make that decision, we would make that decision,

we would eat of that tree. And so therefore there was this desire of

God to give us the light of life, the lights of life, and

so the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When you continue to read in Job chapter one is then you'll see in

just a few verses it says, and the Word became flesh, and his

name was Jesus. And so we begin to see this reality that Jesus is

the Word. And as you receive Jesus, and you receive the Word of

God for your life, that desire for God to instill the light of life

in man begins to be what we would call regenerated. If you could read

the Old Testament and talks about your old self having a heart of stone.

And when you receive Jesus, you become a new creation, and you receive

a heart of flesh, this beating heart. Because God, in order for

God to redeem us, he has to be able to do a transformative work

inside of us. And so when we receit, you have to receive the

Word. There's no other way to be regenerated. That that that's like That's

like me. If you have a car that runs on oil and you run

out of gas, no matter how much you pay for it, pray for,

or hope, you are not going to be able to put water in

it and run your car. You gotta go find gas. So you have

a world today where people who need to be full of the spirit and the

life of God, who need to be free, who are looking for,

paying for and praying for all other things in all other areas, they are

searching for it everywhere else. But I'll tell you this, if you are

looking for the light and life of God, it can only be found in

Jesus. It can only be found in his Word. And the only place

it can be housed is in our hearts. That's why Jesus says, you

may be around the Word, but the Word has no home in you.

And so it's very easy to get caught up with being around Christianity and being

around Jesus but not having Jesus have a home within us. Jesus calls it

out. Max Luccado, the great author, said this, the ultimate freedom

is found in surrendering our lives to Christ and living in alignment with His purpose

for us. That's the true test of freedom. It's being able to freely

follow Christ in alignment with God's purpose for your life. The true test test

of freedom is not your ability to drink a twenty four pack of beer in

one sitting and have no consequences for it. That's not what freedom is.

Well, I'll have the freedom to do this, Yes you do, but

you ain't free from the consequences that come from doing that. Free freedom isn't

the fact that you could go and lay with as many people as you so

want to. There are consequences that come with that. True freedom is that

God created you and I. And when we can truly understand that God created

us and live in His purpose and live in His will, now you are

truly living free without any burden? Now are you truly living free with peace?

But so many times we want the freedom that says that I can then

do whatever I want, and I could choose whatever I want. So here's

what we have to do. The first thing we have to do, if

you're taking notes the three c's first thing we have to do in seeking freedom

is you have to choose freedom. You have to choose it. Freedom is

a choice. Okay, I really really want us to understand this, because

freedom is not something that exhibited just by standing around it. Okay, freedom

is not something that just because we are present in the room that intaels that

then I will be free. So just because maybe we have an emotional moment

where we come to the altar and we lay down, or maybe a worship

moment because we're going through things, and then we put our face to our

ground, the ground, that is not a choice of freedom. Because what

happens is you can lay on the face of God and the altar of God.

But if your hands are like this with what it is that you're holding

onto, then then then you can in your head, you can do all

the right things. At the end of an altar call, you can raise

your hand. The amount of people that come to me and say, pastor,

I've done at all, I'm not seeing anything changed. I go,

you've done what all? I've done? It all? Man, I'm sorry.

You're gonna have to help me. You're gonna have to help me understand.

You've done what all we've done? All that? You said? What

did I say? Well, I went about a Bible, I go to

church every Sunday. I raised my hand during that thing. Those people who

do prayer after I've gone to them and then and then after so they just

list the things they've done, and I say, tell me, what have

you given to God? They go, I don't understand, well, I

don't understand. What have you given to the Lord? I don't understand what

have you received from God? I don't understand. I'm saying you didn't understand

me, and I don't understand you because this thing that you were looking for

called freedom, was not in the fact that you raised your hand. It

wasn't in the fact that you asked someone to pray for you. It's in

the fact that what you're holding on to you release to God and you receive

from Jesus. That's what it is, you know. I many years ago,

it was some years ago, I used to I used to hold the

Monday night Bible study for about five years. We just we just go verse

by verse and all young adults and we we we did this early on,

and so me and my wife would do this, and so Monday nights,

young adults would come and sometimes we would do it Friday nights and we just

spend time. It took us two and a half years to go through the

Book of Mark in one of our Monday night Bible studies one time, so

we would just really study the scriptures together. And so one time we had

a girl come that one of her friends invited her, and so, you

know, she had been really lonely, she'd been really pursuing well why is

she here? What's her purpose for life? And so one time she goes

to my wife Ashley, and she says, I would she's talking to her,

I just I just would love to talk to you for a second.

I'm dealing with some things, some loneliness and somebody like I don't know what

my purpose is and I just feel so empty. And Ashley goes, why

don't why don't we get lunch and we'll talk about it. And the girl

goes, almost like a checkmate, like okay. She goes, just you

know, I know you're not gonna go to lunch with me, because just

so you know, I'm lesbian and I have a girlfriend and I live with

my girlfriend. And Ashley looks at her and she goes, so do you

want lunch or not. The girl goes, well, yeah, yeah,

I would love lunch, and so they begin to have lunch, and then

through some conversations, were be gonna say, Hey, as you were honest

with us, we'll be honest with you. And so as you told us

what your life is like, we'll tell you this. We believe God has

a different purpose for your life. We believe God has created men and women

distinctively different, and God has created us distinctively to be male and female relationships.

But outside of that, we want you to know you are welcome,

you are loved. You were honest with how you're living. We'll be honest

with what we believe. The Word of God says, And so we start

having a conversation and she says, thank you for your honesty. I would

love to still come here. We said, no one in our church will

ever look down on you, no one in our church will ever treat you

different, because that's not the type of church that we are. And so

she starts coming for five months and loves it, loves it. She did

it all, She did the hand raise. She'd come to prayer with me

all the time. She would come to me and say, past, your

arm got a job thing coming up? Can you pray? I'd pray with

her and we we believe God. And she she started hanging out after service,

she started making friends. About five months later, she comes up to

me. She's coming every single Sunday night, back when we had Sunday Night

fresh Start. And she came and she said, Pastor Adam, mind you

and my sermons. I never talked about anything. I never preached at anything.

But she says, Pastor Adam, I just want to let you know

this is gonna be my last Sunday. I just felt my heart drop.

I said why. I mean, she was so engaged in the community.

I said, is there anything we failed you in? Is there anything but

we could have done? Is there is there something? Oh? No,

no, no, no, you you guys are amazing. I have seen

Jesus. I've found so much purpose for my life. But God is telling

me to leave my girlfriend. God has been encouraging me to say this is

not the lifestyle I need to live. And she goes, and I don't

have the strength to do it. She says, we have an apartment together,

we got a cat together, we have a life together. She goes,

I do not want to break her heart, and so she goes,

I'm not ready to make the kind of commitment that God wants me to make.

Man, it broke my heart. This happened six years ago. There

is not a week that goes by that I still do not pray for her.

Because she heard Jesus, she knew what God was saying, but in

that moment, freedom was just too far away for her, and freedom took

too much of a commitment. And so this message today is not just a

message for a new believer. It's a it could be for a saint that's

been in church fifteen twenty twenty five years, because you can be in church

and you could be around Jesus, you could be believing God for things.

But if you will not release it, if you will not give it to

Jesus, then there is nothing God can't do. He will not override your

will because then it won't be a decision anymore. And so there is a

place that just because you've been there. If you've never given God your bitterness,

then there's nothing that can be done. If you've never given God your

unforgiveness, there's nothing could be done. If you've never given God your addiction,

then there there's nothing that could be done. If you've never given God

your habits, then there's nothing yet be done, because freedom is a choice.

God is not a police officer that just saw weed on you. He

ain't gonna confiscate it from you and say give me, give me that hey.

He gonna fights you over it. If you want to hold on your

hey so bad, he'll say, hold on to it. That's on you.

And so when we're going to the autor say God help me, but

it's like this and we're not willing to leave. Amount of times I've heard

people that I've said, you know, I've been a church a long time,

so I've been to conferences and I've seen friends that have gone to the

altar and just heartbroken blah blah blah, and they say, man, I'm

given to God that thing that my ex wife did to me. And I'll

be like, man, that's good. And then all of a sudden,

we're at dinner and he's talking about how no good she is for what she

did, and he's sharing it as a testimony, and I'm like, didn't

you just have a great moment at the altar where you just gave it to

God. You didn't give nothing to God. The only thing you gave God

was tears. That's the only thing that was given to God. God wants

more than tears. God wants this, The Lord wants our heart. It's

on the same way, we have to choose freedom. And the next thing

I encourage use is we have to be able to choose and carry freedom.

Choose freedom and carry freedom. It's something you got to carry with yourself every

single day. Roman chapter six, verse fifteen to twenty three says this.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which

you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is dead. But

now that you have been set free from sin and it becomes slaves of God,

the fruit that you get leads to sanctification. That's progressively looking more and

more like Jesus. That's what sanctification mean. And it ends with what it

ends with, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but

the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Freedom, freedom is a gift of God. But it's something we have to

receive. And so many times, so many of us, we want to

walk everywhere that we go and we just want to stay in bondage. And

so you can be in bondage, and you could be in sin and guess

what. You could lift your hands up during worship. Guess what you could

be in sin, and you could be in bondage and you got you can

open up a Bible. There are a lot of attitudes and habits that you

can have while you stay in bondage. Just because you read scripture, the

Pharisees did that. Just because you lift a hand up, the Pharisees did

that. Just because you get on your knees, the Pharisees did that.

That doesn't mean that bondage breaks. Bondage breaks when you say, you know

what, satan, not me anymore, not me anymore. I'm pursuing Jesus

and I'm gonna find healing. I'm gonna find restoration. I'm gonna find forgiveness.

I'm gonna find hope, I'm gonna find joy, I'm gonna find love,

I'm gonna find God. That is a choice that's made where you say

that's not me no more. I don't live in that bondage no more.

That person that I was, that thing that was in the medicine cabinet,

that thing that was in the refrigerator, that thing that was under the bed.

I don't mess with that no more. That's not me anymore, because

I've found Jesus. That's a decision. It's a choice. God initiates the

investigation of your heart. But what we have to do is receive that.

It's the Lord who initiates, you know, the same way. Couple of

weeks ago, my wife was we were leaving church together, and I was

helping her put my boys in the car. She knows what I'm gonna tell

right now. It's very contentious in our family. Right now. I was

helping her put the boys in our car after church, and all of a

sudden, as I'm walking up, what happened was is my son's ended up

liking my car better than they liked my wife's car. And so my son's

asked, Mommy, can you switch cars with daddy because she drives the boys

around more than me. And so so now she's driving my car, and

so I'm putting Thomas in the car, my youngest, and then I see

about a seven inch tear in the rim of my car, like full on

gashes cuts all the way around the rim. Me. It just looks horrible.

It looks like a shark bit into the rim. That's literally what it

looks like. And so as I'm walking out and say, Ashley, what

is this? She backs up. She says, oh, my lord,

I don't know. I said, what do you mean you don't know?

I said, how did this happen? She said, I don't know.

Did I drive over something? I said, listen, this type of issue

does not come from driving over something. She said, Man, I think

security is gonna have to look at the cameras and see if someone took my

car. I said, Ashley, no one took your car, went to

Starbucks, came back, parked it exactly where you left it, and did

that to your car. She's like, I don't know, but I'll see

you at the house. So she gets in the car and we actually end

up going over to Pastor and Erica's house. And as we're there, the

first thing I do I walk in I need community, we need accountability.

So I call Family Meeting everybody nathansonas someone needs to get from my wife what

happened to my car? And finally she goes, you know, I was

leaving Burger King the other day and I didn't see the curb and I just

ran straight into it as I was turning, and so it was me.

I said, thank you, thank you. Does that feel good? She

says, no, that doesn't feel good. I said, but it feel

good to me because now we got to the point. And sometimes when you

and I confess our sins to God, it may not feel good in the

moment. It may not feel good in the moment, it may not give

you the exact release that you're looking for, because to share your burdens and

to share your sin sometimes you gotta let some things go with that, so

it doesn't come off solely as who but to God. God says, thank

you. Now we can move forward. Now we can get some things done.

Now I can do something in your life. Now you'll be able to

find that piece you're looking for. Now you've been to be able to find

that hope you're looking for. Because what happens is we have to be able

to carry this freedom. The Great Battle of iwa Jima during World War two,

it's one of the most iconic pictures all of us would have known,

and we would see this picture. What happened was is the Americans won the

Battle of Iwa Jima. And what they did is over the shrapnel of all

of the debris and all of the bombs, a group of Marines in February

twenty three, nineteen forty five, they went and they affixed the flag to

a pole, and then they lifted it and carried it as a sign of

victory. You know, the American flag is known as the flag of victory

and the flag of freedom. It's known the great freedom flag. But I'll

tell you this, greater than that freedom of that battle, you and I

can see freedom in Jesus, and we could find freedom in God's word.

And the reality is when you and I recognize truly what Christ has done for

our life, we are meant to carry it with us. Carry it with

us so many times, so many of us Christians. We go to church,

we carry bibles, we listen to worship music, we do everything.

But we walk around like this, just oh, yeah, you could come

to church with me. It's nine eleven o'clock. And do they have small

groups? I'm there. I don't know. I don't do that. What

do I don't know? It's the or Christian right, it's a it's a

Christian that looks like or. But here's the reality. A lot of a

lot of people don't know it. When it comes to or, here's my

friend, or well, a lot of people don't know his name. That's

spelled e E y O r E. That's where we in America call it.

Or well, well, Winnie the Pooh is actually made in England.

It's English. So so the English that's written in the books is actually British

English, not American English. So in Britain with an English accent, y

O r you're what we would say you're, they actually say yaw. It's

it's almost like y'all, you know, in South but they would say y'all.

So, so e Or's actually name. His name is actually an Amanopeia.

It's the way donkey sound. So his name is Eon Eon. That's

his name. He's not or. When you're when you're in Brittain and you

read the book and you say, oh, that donkey's name is eo,

because that's all someone who is a donkey and who's like or who's just sad

and depressed, that's the only sound they can make is EO eol. And

there's a lot of eol Christians who say that we receive Jesus, but everything

that comes out of our mouth is EO EO. And so you're wondering why

your neighbor hasn't been to church with you yet, you're wondering why your co

worker isn't getting with this Jesus that you know, because you come into work

and you're just like seven o'clock Wednesday, and they're like, I ain't interested

in all that. You don't got no hope, you don't got no freedom.

We're meant to walk and carry freedom, and we're meant to exhibit the

voice of Jesus. That's why this is the word of God. This is

meant to express and exuberate out of our mouth. That's what God has given

us the word for. And we'll close with this last thought right here.

The last thing is is you and I were conduits of freedom, conduits of

freedom. Second Corinthians, chapter three, verse seventeen says this, now the

Lord is the spear, and where the spirit of the Lord is there is

freedom. You know, you and I are conduits of freedom. You know,

electricity is something that's really beneficial. Electricity powers all the phones that are

in our pockets. Electricity powers all the lights here. Electrictricity powers all of

the ac But if it is not surrounded by a conduit, and it is

just naked and it's exposed, it'll kill, It'll kill, it'll literally like

you can't touch and you can't play with electricity, no matter how much you

want. But if you can contain it in a conduit, then you can

control it and you can put it where it needs to go. You and

I are conduits of freedom in the same way that that the word of God

is near and dear, and the word of God shouldn't be expressed from your

mouth. But if it is not contained through the conduit of being led by

the spirit and being filled with love, if it's not covered in love,

how many times do we say, man, I'm just speaking truth on them,

I'm trying to set them free. Your truth is naked electricity, That's

what that is. And you burning everyone that you come in contact with.

What Jesus says to those men was the truth, but it was exposed with

an outlook that says, I want to set you free, I want to

love you, I want to redeem you. Receive me. Jesus's works and

his grace was filled with love, There was conduits to his truth. There

was love filled in his truth. And so when we walk around and we

say, yeah, I'm on Facebook sharing that truth, and no one wants

to hear it. That's why I get unfollowed all the time. No,

because you're mean and you're grumpy and you're angry, and you're not filled with

hope. You have no hope. Well, this world, it's the Satans,

it's Satan's. He just got it all. He got every politician,

he got my neighbor, he's got my boss man saying, got a lot

of people. Why would I go to church with you y'all angry at everyone?

You see? So freedom has a can do it. And God's grace

is meant to set us free, and they're meant to see our fruit in

our lives. And to say, man, the way that person finds freedom

in Jesus and found it in his word, that's what I need for my

life. That joy that that person has in their life. And then when

someone asked me and they say, hey, where'd that joy come from?

Well, that joy came from giving to God all of my sexual past,

my perversion, my addiction. It came from my ability that I don't need

alcohol anymore to make it through a day. It came from the point that

I don't need to cuss out everyone in anyone in order to find value and

feel value. Man. That that's where my joy came from. Came from

the fact that in order that I chose freedom, I had to give some

things away to God at the same time. So when Jesus says the truth

will set you free, it's a lot more than just say, yeah,

I'm gonna go to church and that word's gonna set me free. It's no,

I'm gonna receive the free gift of God that he has available for me.

That's found in his word, and it's his freedom. Let's pray this

morning. God, we thank you so much for this word. Lord,

we thank you for what you've done today. Father God, I pray if

there's anyone in here, Lord that's struggling with carrying some things with them that's

not freedom, that's not your word. Lord. I just pray right now

that you give them a miraculous sense of peace. Father God, I pray

if they have their hands clinched tight with things that they're holding onto, may

in this moment be the moment that they begin to release that and give that

to you. God. I truly believe your words, Jesus that when you

say, if we are tired and heavy laden and burden some, that we

can come to you and your yoke is easy and your burden is like God.

The beauty is you've told us that we have to come to you and

give you our burden. It's an exchange. So God, today, way

we exchanged our past. May we exchanged our sins. May we exchanged our

pains. May we exchange our addictions, and may we give them to you

today God, so that we can find peace in our hearts. We leave

you today, God and Jesus name, Amen and Amen, God bless you

if you give me two more minutes before you get out of your seat or

head out. It's the most important part of our service where we believe heaven

and health stands at the balance. The reality is is tomorrow may come or

tomorrow may not come. We hear it all the time. Someone goes to

our church that either checked into a hospital and never checked out, or God

on a freeway and never got off. The reality is that tomorrow is in

promise for any man or woman. And so before we leave here today,

we just want to be able to offer you encourage you to receive Jesus as

your Lord and savior. We read today that the gift of God is completely

free. All it has to do is be received. And with this free

gift comes a relationship with God here on earth, but also an eternal relationship

with God in heaven. And so today as we would receive and believe in

Jesus, his goodness and his mercy, where he died on the cross and

he rose three days later. For us, Jesus is the only one that

was in the beginning, and he's the only one that will be in the

end. Jesus will be the one day are standing by your side that will

look at the Father and say, this person confessed me on earth. In

the same way today, the Holy Spirit is there, the third part of

the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart and knocking and

encouraging you to respond to the message of Jesus. And so today I encourage

you to be the day that you say yes to Christ. That today be

the day that you say, Jesus, I repent of my sins and I

fully believe in your death and resurrection. So if you're here today. What

everyone join me right now and saying this prayer out loud. It's a prayer

of affirmation and a prayer of repentance, and we do it together. But

you may be here and you may say this for the first time, or

you may be rededicating your life, and we want to celebrate that with you.

So family, would you join me and saying this today, Dear Lord

Jesus, in this moment, I confess you as Lord and Savior. I

believe in my heart that you died on the cross and you rose three days

later, and I commit to follow you for the rest of my days.

I choose freedom today in Jesus name. Amen. We really hope you enjoyed

the message, and if you said yes to Jesus, we just want to

say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk out your faith.

Click the link in the description or head over to grow dot Faith to

download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with

your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC podcasts and I hope you tune in again.